Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Bodies in relation--bodies in transition: lesbian partners of trans men and body image
1University of Michigan, Department of Sociology, 500 South State Street, 3001 LSA Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382, USA. cpfeffer@umich.edu
Abstract:
Presenting published narratives of transgender and transsexual men (henceforth "trans men"), along with case study interview narratives from five lesbian-identified partners of trans men, I consider how body image issues may surface both individually and interpersonally in relation to the body dysphoria of a trans partner. In addition to self-reports of negatively shifting body image among some interviewees, I also discuss how negative body image may adversely affect these relationships in terms of sexual and non-sexual intimacy, bodily self-expression, and self-confidence. I term these processes and effects relational body image in order to trouble dominant conceptualizations of negative body image as primarily an individual issue arising from external, macro-sociological forces and pressures. I present these cases as a starting point for future sociological theorizing and empirical work with this under-studied population.
Related Concept Videos
Free-falling Bodies: Introduction
Composite Bodies
Composite bodies have widespread applications in mechanical engineering, from automobiles to aircraft to rockets. For example, an automobile wheel comprises...
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience
Impression Management Techniques I: Managing Appearances
Factors Influencing Attraction II: Physical Attraction
Relationship Formation

