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Att göra livet (över)levbart : Transpersoners ontiska, relationella och reflekterande arbete för att skapa minoritetsro och hantera utsatthet i vardagen

Lundberg, Tove LU orcid ; Wurm, Matilda and Malmquist, Anna (2023) In Tidskrift för genusvetenskap 43(1). p.7-26
Abstract
Transgender people report significantly poorer mental health than cisgender people. In psychological research, these health disparities are explained by theories of minority stress and microaggressions, while other disciplines use theories on normativity, livability, affective work, world making and utopias. Such theories are seldom picked up by psychologists even though they could serve to help psychological research and practice improve mental health in transgender people.The aim of this interview study was twofold. Empirically, it was to explore how 29 transgender people in Sweden (aged 17-63 years), experience and cope with vulnerability to make life survivable/livable. Analytically, psychological theories of minority stress,... (More)
Transgender people report significantly poorer mental health than cisgender people. In psychological research, these health disparities are explained by theories of minority stress and microaggressions, while other disciplines use theories on normativity, livability, affective work, world making and utopias. Such theories are seldom picked up by psychologists even though they could serve to help psychological research and practice improve mental health in transgender people.The aim of this interview study was twofold. Empirically, it was to explore how 29 transgender people in Sweden (aged 17-63 years), experience and cope with vulnerability to make life survivable/livable. Analytically, psychological theories of minority stress, microaggressions and coping were put in conversation with theories of livability and emotional labor. Queer phenomenology was used to orient our analysis of the empirical material, as well as orient us theoretically, to find new ways of understanding transgender people’s vulnerability psychologically.While participants’ negative experiences are interpreted as covered by theories on minority stress and microaggressions, these theories do not explain all nuances of the exposure. In addition, theories on coping do not fully capture the constantly ongoing work participants need to do to manage everyday situations. The analysis resulted in three themes. One theme describes the ontic work that participants do in response to existential challenges of not being recognized as a subject. Another theme visualizes the relational work that partici-pants do to deal with subtle exposure in their everyday life, trying to relate to oneself and others simultaneously. The final theme shows that participants utilize reactive and agentic reflexivity to try to achieve minority peace and a livable life. We hope that this dialogue between psychology and gender studies can continue in a Swedish context to better serve transgender people’s livability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
trans, levd erfarenhet, levbarhet, emotionellt arbete, minoritetsstress, mikroaggressioner, coping, hantering, kritisk psykologi, minoritetsro
in
Tidskrift för genusvetenskap
volume
43
issue
1
pages
20 pages
publisher
Tidskrift för genusvetenskap, Karlstads universitet
ISSN
2001-1377
DOI
10.55870/tgv.v43i1.10003
project
Queer Psychology in Sweden
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
7340dff1-33e0-4eb1-b84d-9a85781e2143
date added to LUP
2023-01-11 17:22:00
date last changed
2023-03-06 15:11:20
@article{7340dff1-33e0-4eb1-b84d-9a85781e2143,
  abstract     = {{Transgender people report significantly poorer mental health than cisgender people. In psychological research, these health disparities are explained by theories of minority stress and microaggressions, while other disciplines use theories on normativity, livability, affective work, world making and utopias. Such theories are seldom picked up by psychologists even though they could serve to help psychological research and practice improve mental health in transgender people.The aim of this interview study was twofold. Empirically, it was to explore how 29 transgender people in Sweden (aged 17-63 years), experience and cope with vulnerability to make life survivable/livable. Analytically, psychological theories of minority stress, microaggressions and coping were put in conversation with theories of livability and emotional labor. Queer phenomenology was used to orient our analysis of the empirical material, as well as orient us theoretically, to find new ways of understanding transgender people’s vulnerability psychologically.While participants’ negative experiences are interpreted as covered by theories on minority stress and microaggressions, these theories do not explain all nuances of the exposure. In addition, theories on coping do not fully capture the constantly ongoing work participants need to do to manage everyday situations. The analysis resulted in three themes. One theme describes the ontic work that participants do in response to existential challenges of not being recognized as a subject. Another theme visualizes the relational work that partici-pants do to deal with subtle exposure in their everyday life, trying to relate to oneself and others simultaneously. The final theme shows that participants utilize reactive and agentic reflexivity to try to achieve minority peace and a livable life. We hope that this dialogue between psychology and gender studies can continue in a Swedish context to better serve transgender people’s livability.}},
  author       = {{Lundberg, Tove and Wurm, Matilda and Malmquist, Anna}},
  issn         = {{2001-1377}},
  keywords     = {{trans; levd erfarenhet; levbarhet; emotionellt arbete; minoritetsstress; mikroaggressioner; coping; hantering; kritisk psykologi; minoritetsro}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{7--26}},
  publisher    = {{Tidskrift för genusvetenskap, Karlstads universitet}},
  series       = {{Tidskrift för genusvetenskap}},
  title        = {{Att göra livet (över)levbart : Transpersoners ontiska, relationella och reflekterande arbete för att skapa minoritetsro och hantera utsatthet i vardagen}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.55870/tgv.v43i1.10003}},
  doi          = {{10.55870/tgv.v43i1.10003}},
  volume       = {{43}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}