A Marathon Search for My Deserved Body: How a Chinese Male- to-Female Manages Gender Nonconformity

Fung Kei Cheng

GÉNEROS –Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies Vol. 9 No.3
October 2020 pp. 234-262
 
 
 
2020 Hipatia Press
ISSN: 2014-3613
doi: 10.17583/generos.2020.6206
 
A Marathon Search for My Deserved Body:
How a Chinese Male-to-Female Manages
Gender Nonconformity
 
Fung Kei Cheng
Hong kong     
                 
Abstract
The hegemony of dichotomous gender identity dominates the discourse on the issues
of  sex  and  gender.  Through  this  means,  irrational  fear  brings  about  prejudice,
stigmatisation,  discrimination,  and  exclusion  towards  individuals  who  suffer  from
gender nonconformity. Despite relevant substantial literature, there is a paucity of
research on Chinese transgender people. This case study investigates how a Chinese
trans-woman  deals  with  her  gender  incongruence  and  anxiety  through  sex
realignment surgery. It conducts in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and processes
data  by  means  of  interpretative  phenomenological  analysis,  with  the  help  of  a
computerised qualitative data analysis package. It also carries out member checking
to enrich triangulation effects. The results unmask the way the participant is being
incrementally liberated from being a pretend man in her current state of half-man-
non-woman,  and  her  efforts  in  achieving  the  gender  that  she  desires.  This  study
reveals factors that influence the embodiment of bodily integrity and psychological
adjustments against distress induced by gender nonconformity, therefore supporting
the  development  of  a  gender-affirming  society  that  benefits  both  individuals  and
public interests
Keywords: bodily integrity, gender dysphoria, stigma management, transphobia,