Multiple Selves Essay

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A research study was conducted on "Beyond Single Identity &Pathology: Revealing Coherent Multiple Selves and Transformative Activism in the Narratives of Two Transgender Women" by VanOra and Ouellette (2009). This paper used a conceptual framework based in critical personality psychology and a narrative strategy of inquiry to understand how two transgender women, whose lives and identities are depicted by sociological and clinical literatures as unidimensional and pathological, construct a set of multiple, coherent, and transformative selves. Through their unique approaches to questions posed in McAdams’ (1995b) Life Story Interview, these women depicted multiple selves, a multiplicity not identified in previous research that focused on a single transgender identity. These women’s selves include female selves, activist selves, gay-community based selves, and selves related to race, class, and culture. These women demonstrate authentic commitments to social justice and social transformation through their attempts and capacities to establish coherence among these and other multiple …show more content…

This article begins by examining sociological studies of intimacy and suggests that, despite a rise of interest in non-normative practices of sociality, transgender lives and experiences are absent from analyses of changing social relationships. Drawing on research data in the form of three case studies, the researcher explores the experiences of intimacy within the context of gender transition: first to consider the impact of gender transition upon partnering relationships, and second to reflect upon how gender transition is negotiated within parenting relationships. The researcher conclude by suggesting that the incorporation of transgender experiences into analyses of contemporary practices of intimacy enables a richer understanding of wider social changes in patterns of

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