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On Being Trans in Norway: Negotiating Belonging Through and Within the (Cis)Gender Imaginary

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Abstract

Despite the legislative advances Norway has made for trans rights, and the reputation of Norway as an egalitarian and happy country, trans people continue to feel pressured to maintain gender norms. This paradoxical interpretation is made possible through what I call the ‘(cis)gender imaginary’. In my chapter, I explore the theoretical concept of the (cis)gender imaginary by drawing on two interviews conducted in the months following Norway’s 2016 implementation of its gender recognition act. Using thematic narrative analysis, I demonstrate how the gender norms at the foundation of Norwegian culture infiltrate the modes by which trans individuals interpret their gendered experiences and restore their personhoods, with special attention on how they negotiate these norms and carve spaces for belonging through self-expression and survival. It is hoped that the discussion will encourage thought and discussion on how the image of gender equality can easily obscure the lack of actual progress in fostering gender diversity, even in a nation as revered for gender-based progress as Norway.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture (Gender Studies), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    France Rose Hartline

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  1. France Rose Hartline
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Correspondence to France Rose Hartline .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst of Demography Campus Condorcet, Paris 1-Pantheon Sorbonne University, Aubervilliers cedex, France

    Marianne Blidon

  2. Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Stanley D. Brunn

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Hartline, F.R. (2022). On Being Trans in Norway: Negotiating Belonging Through and Within the (Cis)Gender Imaginary. In: Blidon, M., Brunn, S.D. (eds) Mapping LGBTQ Spaces and Places. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-03792-4_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-03792-4_27

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