Expectations of cisnormative purity: Intersectional negotiations of gender identity in Swedish schools

Taking inspiration from Maria Lugones’ argument that “fragmentation [is] a form of domination” (1994, p. 464), this presentation discusses that ‘trans issues’ in schools are not restricted to transphobic comments, and need to be analyzed intersectionally. Normative whiteness and fat-phobia, as well as adultism and schools’ reluctance in instituting non-discrimination regulations reliable practices and support violently affect gender nonconforming young people as much as schools’ and teachers’ poor knowledge about gender identities.
Drawing on a qualitative interview study with 13 trans and nonbinary young people and young adults, this presentation argues that schools and teachers express a desire for cisnormative purity in their interactions with gender nonconforming students. Based in transfeminist knowledge production, this presentation is guided by Maria Lugones’ discussion of the politics of purity as a tool of gendered oppression based in coloniality, and the analysis of cisnormativity, the normative productions of gendered otherness. Following Lugones, I will discuss the negotiations of cisnormative purity not only as the moments of oppression they are, but also as moments of negotiation and hope.