IGS Seminar, Legal Gender Recognition & Messy Trans Experiences in Norway

Dates: Thursday, 24, OCT, 2019 13:20-14:50
Venue: 408 , Graduate School of Humanities & Sciences Building, Ochanomizu University

Speaker: France Rose Hartline (PhD Candidate, Gender Studies, Norwegian University of Science & Technology)

In 2016, Norway legalised gender self-determination, allowing for one to change legal gender (male/female) without the previously required sterilisation. The questions at the crux of my presentation is, What impact does legal recognition of one’s gender identity have on one’s sense of self? And, is the law really as progressive for trans people as it appears to be? Drawing on interviews I conducted in late 2016 with 12 individuals who changed legal gender following the law’s implementation, I explore a diversity of experiences to shed light on how gender, power and identity are experienced by individuals compared to how these concepts are applied by legislation and interpreted on a societal scale. In doing so, I seek to address the limitations of state recognition in trans materialisation, by considering how socio-legal interpretations of affect contradict the messy, tangled queerness of trans experiences.

Prior registration required, Registration Form　*Closed Seminar, Ochadai students only

Organizer: Institute for Gender Studies (IGS), Ochanomizu University