Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment
Published on: March 8, 2019
The clothes make the trans: region and geography in experiences of the body
1Department of Sociology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CPR 107, Tampa, FL 33620-8350, USA. scrawley@cas.usf.edu
Abstract:
Written as an autoethnographic essay, the article explores the relationship between LGBT experience and geographic differences. The author discusses her experiences of forming a butch self while living in a suburban, subtropical environment and comparing herself to images of urban lesbian pop culture. If gender is performative, how do clothes permit us to or impede us from envisioning the body or being seen by others as butch/trans/masculine/multiple-gendered/diverse? Does the fashion uniform of the urban tranny boi and the publicizing of urban youth movements as the measure of LGBT experience impede LGBTs in other regions from envisioning themselves as "trans" or "butch: enough? Using interactionist sociological theory and gender performance theories, she considers the relationship between the visually sexed body and gendered embodiment. The goal in this piece is to open the conversation about regional LGBT experiences and their influence on physical embodiment.
Related Concept Videos
Regional Terms
Primarily, the human body has two major regions, the axial and appendicular regions. The axial region comprises regions from the head to the abdomen and makes up the central body axis. In contrast,...
Impression Management Techniques I: Managing Appearances
The Role of Culture
Factors Influencing Attraction II: Physical Attraction
Self Within Cultural Contexts
Body Planes
The sagittal plane is the plane that divides the body or an organ vertically into right and left sides. If this vertical plane runs directly down the middle of the body resulting in equal division, it is called the midsagittal or median...

