Navigating Normative Narratives: Understanding Familial Communicative Behaviors and Practices About Trans Young People’s Embodiment

Trans young people navigate a complex journey of self-discovery, embodiment, and identity formation amidst societal expectations and rigid gender norms. Dominant trans narratives, which often uphold and reinforce a medicalized, binary model of gender identity, can marginalize diverse gender experiences. This article examines how the cisgenderist social order operates through familial communicative behaviors and practices with regard to trans young people’s embodiment. It utilizes baseline data from a qualitative study carried out across six countries, where semi-structured family interviews were conducted with 45 families (46 young people aged 8-16), and the data were thematically analyzed. The findings illustrate how parents who are accepting and affirming of their child’s gender may, intentionally or unintentionally, reproduce and perpetuate cisgenderist social assumptions. Themes generated from the data highlight how parental fears of children not being read as cisgender and their expectations of inhibiting a certain kind of body may inadvertently reinforce transnormativity. This can contribute to burden and invalidate the current embodiment of trans young people. The study underscores the critical need to work with parents to help them recognize these practices, challenge existing hierarchies, and promote more comprehensive affirming parenting approaches that empower them to become agents of social change. The implications of these findings offer valuable insights for fostering more inclusive understandings of diverse trans embodiments and for promoting a society that is truly expansive and affirming.