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Between Layers: Understanding the Communicative Negotiation of Conflicting Identities by Transgender Individuals

This study employs the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) to theorize transgender-identity-negotiation processes. My analysis explores messages contained in narrative texts to attend to articulations of struggles pertaining to binary classifications of gender. Specific sites of struggle were identified through the articulations of three identity gaps (personal-enacted, personal-relational, and enacted-relational). Furthermore, four discursive strategies (Closeted Enactment, Disengagement, Passing, and Label Changing) used to navigate tensions within each gap are discussed. Findings illuminate the complex ways trans-identities are communicatively negotiated among multiple, intersecting layers of identity.