Transsexuals' sexual stories.

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Gender Studies
• Psychology

Background:

• Popular culture often misinterprets male-to-female transsexuals' sexual histories, conflating them with male transvestitism, heterosexuality, or homosexuality.
• Sociological and psychological frameworks are needed to understand how transsexual individuals construct their identities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how male-to-female transsexuals narratively construct their sexual pasts to establish transsexual identities.
• To examine the "identity work" involved in subverting societal misinterpretations of their sexual biographies.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with nine male-to-female transsexual individuals.
• Analysis of participants' sexual life stories using K. Plummer's (1995) approach to sexual narratives.

Main Results:

• Participants strategically "queered" and "straightened" their sexual histories to align with their transsexual identities.
• They utilized gendered sexual scripts, biological discourse on arousal, and therapeutic individualism to reframe autoerotic crossdressing and sexual experiences.
• This narrative construction served to "defetishize" past behaviors and challenge heteronormative and homosexual interpretations.

Conclusions:

• Male-to-female transsexuals engage in sophisticated "identity work" to assert their authentic selves.
• Sexual narratives are crucial tools for challenging societal stereotypes and constructing a coherent transsexual identity.
• Understanding these narrative strategies provides insight into the lived experiences of transgender individuals.