Research Proposal: Intersectionality and Trans Experiences in American and British

Transgender Fiction
Introduction

Mis-gendered, transsexual, consent rights, misfit, God's anger, academically challenged,

sexual orientation and many interconnected words to misogynies the particular sexuality of
trans people. In this research proposal we’ll investigate and discuss the intersectionality and
trans experiences in two of the highly popular literature in this era, American and British
transgender fiction. The study aims to examine the way in which transsexual characters
navigated and mediocrely mediated their way through multiple forms of oppression,
furthermore, by reviewing both of the fictional material which will be further jotted down to
develop a deeper understanding of the perception and multifaceted nature of the transsexual
identity. Throughout this analysis we’ll be discussing the importance of transgender
character representation in literature and how the authors have portrayed them in different
narratives. Emphasizing the need to broaden the spectrum of this particular literature to
reflect the diversity and complexity of various gender identities, allowing for nuanced and
self-evident portrayal of trans identities. Secondly, we’ll be discussing different gender
identities to further support our findings, in which we’ll discuss stories about diverse identities
and voices and who will appreciate commentary about a wide variety of social issues
impacting the characters’ lives, gender, sexuality, privilege and class, immigration status,
religion and race, feminism, politics, racism, relationships and sexuality. Sexual reputation,
domesticity, and mother/daughter relationships. To further define and correlate our main
objective to develop an in-depth understanding of the topic. We’ll be adding Transgender
Discussion, Conversations with Feminist Theory, Queer Theory and Transgender Theory.
Furthermore, we’ll be discussing social and psychological aspects developed in the
characters throughout the story, supporting our claims with non-fictional material, which will
justify our arguments.
To briefly introduce this research proposal, we’ll be first introducing the fictional literature that
we have selected for our research, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel that follows the life of an intersex man, exploring themes of identity, migration, and the
intersections of gender and ethnicity. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo is the
author of Lara, winner of the Emma Best Book Award in 1999. She is a former Poet in
Residence at the Museum of London, and her fictional work has been widely anthologized. If
I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo, this young adult novel follows a transgender girl
navigating her identity and relationships, highlighting the intersections of gender and
sexuality. All the Things We Never Said” by Yasmin Rahman, this contemporary novel
features a diverse cast of characters, including a transgender girl, and delves into issues of
mental health, identity, and cultural expectations. These four fictional writings have entirely
different-themes, characters, stories, sectionals, writing styles, writers but the main themes
that interconnects these writing is the Intersectionality and Trans Experiences, advocacy of
suppressed individuals, survival dilemma, the voices which were never heard and the words
that strangled our sense of belonging. Choosing these fictional stories wasn’t just to build an
emotional connection with the reader’s but to build the gap that still exists in our society
today that we haven’t been able to fill, these stories which we’ll be further narrating won’t be
just utilized to support our findings or to narrate their experiences but to depict a broader
context of our literary world with the barbaric narrative of the world. Middle sex is a family
saga fiction writing that explores multigenerational differences of gender and sexuality,
immigration and assimilation, focusing on the context of natural identity. Ancestry,
Inheritance, and Fate. That develops through this chronicled chain of events depicting
multiple generations of an immigrant family from Greece to the United States. The novel
emphasizes the importance of ancestry and underlines the concept of fate correlating it with
social and biological history. Girl, Woman, Other” a tale of twelve Black British women’s
lives, written in different timelines, discoursing race, gender, sexuality and identity. The novel
is a classic example of diversity and a challenge to social norms. A non-linear structure,
moving around different characters to represent each woman’s story uniquely, that makes
them connected through marginalization and resilience. Exploring the complexities faced by
a colored skin in a predominantly white society, from the challenges of racism and sexism to
the triumphs of self-discovery and empowerment. Our third fictional supportive literature is If
I was your girl, a poignant coming of age story about a transsexual girl named Amanda. She
moves to a new town after a traumatic encounter to take a fresh start and vows to keep her
secrets close to her heart, but fate has different plans for her. As she forms a connection
with an opposite gender, a boy named Grant, her carefully constructed world begins to
change. Identity, acceptance, and tangled feelings. Exploring these emotions in a thematic
way to further discuss her journey. Through her experience, the writer tried to make readers
realize empathy, a deeper understanding of the obstacles faced by a transgender person.
Briefly introducing our fourth novel, All the Things We Never Said” by Yasmin Rahman. This
contemporary writing features a diverse cast of characters and a transgender girl, who, by
time, drowns in the chaos of mental health, identity and cultural issues. A perfectly crafted
collection of poetry and journal entries that delves into personal experiences of the author
with love, loss, identity, and mental health. Candid and evocative pieces are glued together
in this series to create a metaphoric experience for the readers sharing her emotions and
thoughts that she entombed from the world. This literary piece explores the journey of self-
discovery, an exposed and deep portrayal of the struggles and triumphs that could be
related to non-fictional life. A poetic piece that speaks to the resilience and vulnerability of an
individual.

Moving forward with another main objective of this research, “Intersectionality was a
prism to bring to light dynamics within discrimination law that weren’t being
appreciated by the courts,” Crenshaw said. Nolwen Cifuentes for Vox.

Intersectionality as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race,

class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of
discrimination or disadvantage”.

The terminology is an acknowledgment that each living being has their own unique
experiences of discrimination and oppression. One needs to consider everything and
anything that can marginalize any gender, race, class, sexuality, physical appearance and
anything that falls into the category of normalization. The word was first coined by Professor
Kimberlé Crenshaw back in 1989, intersectionality was added to the Oxford Dictionary in
2015 with its importance increasingly being recognized in the world of women’s rights.
Although there may not be any word in American conservatism more hated than the term
intersectional. Another argument that is made is that it creates a new caste system’ placing
nonwhite, non-heterosexual people on top. It means “because you’re a minority, you get
special standards, special treatment in the eyes of some.” It “promotes solipsism at the
personal level and division at the social level.” It represents a form of feminism that “puts a
label on you. It tells you how oppressed you are. It tells you what you’re allowed to say, what
you’re allowed to think.” Intersectionality is thus “really dangerous” or a “conspiracy theory of
victimization.” Moving forward with Feminist Theory, Intersectional Feminism and
Conceptualizations of Transgender Identities
Feminist theory has used gender, as seen through both cultural and historical contexts as
well as biological understandings, to tackle issues of sexism and the oppression of people
based on their gender. Scholars that have been engaged with many of the branches of
feminist theory have seen to define gender in a number of ways to theorize how the
patriarchy affects those who do not inhabit the privileges men have in their assumption as
the standard in society. The patriarchy can be seen to implement this through the various
social and symbolic effects that the institutional powers that uphold it have in the world,
whether this is legislatively or not, as these institutional powers have far-reaching powers
that often render it invisible.
Queer theory has been a prominent contributor to philosophical, sociological and political
understandings of gender identity and sexualities that divert from the traditional
understandings from heteronormative philosophies. These theoretical understandings
developed from feminist and deconstructive theories that theorized that the traditional
understandings of both gender and sexuality were subjected to social constructs.

Transgender theory addresses many of the complexities and intersections that are faced by
those inhabiting transgender experiences, bodies and lives. It compromises a
comprehensive and integrated framework for understanding and empowering individuals
with their self-realized identities. Its use in this thesis will integrate itself with literary theory to
examine how these lives are constructed within fictional narratives. Applying transgender
theory in this thesis will reveal the way in which contemporary literature approaches
narratives that find themselves immersed in transgender identities. Transgender theory and
it’s understanding of trans people will inform and allow this thesis to interpret characters’
trans experiences as intelligible or unintelligible within their respective novels. In using theory
and close reading the thesis seeks to understand how the trans character is placed in
literature and, possibly, where literature is failing to represent these people.

Research Questions
This research aims to provide a detailed account of how are transsexual identities
represented in both American and British trans fiction and which themes have influenced the
audience and which narratives were further explored?

Defining different sexualities (e.g., race, class, sexuality, disability) and drafting a
comparison between them and transgender characters representation in both fictional data
available?

How has the fictional representation changed the perspective and position of the particular
identity and shape broader cultural and social discourse?

Has the belonging and ownership of individual right of freedom differentiated through the
fictional advocacy of the literatures?

Implications of intersectionality to further develop the understanding of trans individual

comparing it to a different sexuality representation in the fictional world?

Outlining how literature has evolved within few timelines and challenged the dominance of
various gender and sexuality over different narratives?

(Will intersectionality ever gain its position among the ideologies that have been widely
utilized as a rebuttal?)

Over the years of fictional stories and non-fictional events that have somehow changed the
narrative of intersectionality and its prominence among the ones who aren’t connected to it
but on the other hand the continuity of oppression and struggles aren’t minimal. So, can we
still not conclude the idea of freedom through these two aspects of life?

Per se that the fictional characters are merely an exaggerated thought of a writer but
comparing it with realistic experiences has held oppressive power to be accountable of these
people to spend their lives in submissive way?
The significance of the study is firstly analyze the Intersectionality and Trans Experiences in
American and British Transgender Fiction but also to develop an understanding on the
authors perspective, audience dynamics, shaping of broader cultural and social discourse,
ownership of individual right of freedom differentiated through the fictional advocacy of the
literatures, comparison of gender roles in fictional narratives. Furthermore, to develop a
comprehensive analysis on the subject of gender representation

Methodology

In this research will be opting qualitative research methodology to develop a combination of

textual analysis and critical theory. To further elaborate on our research methodologies

1. Literature Review: comprehensively reviewing the literature of existing scholars on the

subject transgender experience, study, queer theory, intersectionality, feminism and
American and British literature will be core element to identify key theoretical frameworks
and relevant research.
2. Textual Analysis: Textual Research will be concise to a selection of American and British
transgender fiction texts that we’ll be analyzing in detail, focusing on the representation of
transgender characters, their experiences, and the ways in which they intersect with other
disesteem identities.
3. Critical Analysis: Theories that will be discussed to critically analyze the underlying power
dynamics and construction at play will be theoretical frameworks such as intersectionality,
queer theory, and postcolonial theory
4. Comparative Analysis: After conducting all the research methodologies mentioned above
a comparison will be drafted between the two American and British fiction literature. Which
will further identify and define the representation, intersectionality and interaction with the
different elements of the world.

This research is expected to contribute to the following areas:

* A deeper understanding of the intersectionality of transgender experiences in American
and British transgender fiction.
* A critical analysis of the ways in which transgender identities are constructed and
represented in literature.
* An exploration of the implications of intersectionality for challenging dominant narratives
about gender and sexuality.
* A contribution to the ongoing conversation about the representation of marginalized groups
in literature and the importance of diverse perspectives.

Literature review

Girl,Women,Other
Bernardine Evaristo’s, Girl, Woman,Other is the story which tells the massively
interconnected weave of the twelve Black British women’s journey which is spreading to
generations focusing on the themes of race gender sexuality, and identity. This story openly
talked against the typical social traditions towards gender divergence.
The narrative follows a nonspecific pattern which is changing with the time and jumping in
characters from one to another one. Every woman has her own story exploring the
marginalization and the flexibilities. The novel talks about the complications in the life of
black women in the society which is already have prejudice towards black women from the
white ones. Which is creating more difficulties for black women for their race and their
gender and the journey of self-discovery.
The story of 12Black British women who are unified but in unexpected process. The process
which is like a series of shattered thoughts and ideas with divided sentences providing a
ground to blur all the stories of those women using the steam-of-consciousness techniques
regardless their locations and the time period.
The novel started with Amma’s who is still imagining her 20s enjoying with her lesbian friend
Dominique, continuing her talent in the theatre world. There was a theatre company which
supports the women who were the victims of racism and got no recognition from the
mainstream theatre, never in history. Amma, even talked strictly to her friend Dominique for
not believing in herself and being sold at the middle age and considering her play couldn’t
make it to the National Theatre because of social norms of racism. As Amma’s daughter
Yazz, who is in college and a member of “woke generation’’, now criticize her mother and
other women of her mother’s generation for not being capable enough to develop a healthy
relation in white society.
Yazz is still struggling to have a good love life and to develop good relations in a
predominant white society at the same time she was trying to realize that it’s been really
difficult to be the part of society where her race is inferior regardless her devotion to the state
or any other contribution to environment.
Girl, Women,Other present 12 different chapters with 12 different stories and the characters
who were interconnected in anyway.It started with theatre director Amma, who took a stand
against racial prejudice and decided to challenge the established radical social norms with
feminist approach.Well it arouses the question if Amma was the most favourite character to
writer as her story feel like a real personal story attaching the strings to Evaristo’s own
journey.
In this novel all the stories create a bond with reader and gained the sympathy for the
characters although Evaristo, didn’t developed the characters as a perfect human in-fact
added some flaws and complications as well.
Feminist have always faced a lot of difficulties such as the social prejudice about the color
and consideration for beauty have a very different criterion. Adding strength to the concept
we could have a look at Gloria, Germaine and Angela in their young age. Evaristo, explains
these struggles in a symmetrical expression without providing grounds for a debate.
Evaristo, even proceed with some ingenious conversations still having privilege, although
those are the simple conversations which could be developed by any of us. The author’s
some of other conversations which she developed in the novel is controversial like one of
her characters creates a trans-exclusionary festival, but she handled it very carefully. But
she also proved through this events that sometime political discourse could fail us but the
emotional manipulation could win in a lesbian bond, “only A black women can truly love a
black woman”.

All the things we never said

This is the book written by Yasmin Rehman on mental health. The story deals with three
protagonists: Mehreen, Cara and Olivia. All the girls dealing with me mental health issues. In
first three chapters author talked about the dullness and about the weakest stages of these
three girls in their lives and their journey when they developed their friendships and because
of that bond they skipped their suicide plans. Although their life events and all the difficulties
in their lives they faced made them disappointment and leads them to their death date.
This book is the first book of Yasmeen Rahman in which she presents Mehreen’s character
as a Muslim girl, and she portrays this character in a positive manner who is very embrace in
her faith. The story has a very strong structure with clear concepts. Narration is done by all
the three girls turn by turn although Olivi’s section is a little poetic one. Novel deals with
boarder issues like sexual abuse, surviving with disabilities, anxieties and depression but
these topics are not explained so deeply, still the story developed the emotional connection
with reader. Although novel talked about personal mental health issues but still it wasn’t
enough to develop a personal connection.
If I Was Your Girl
Transgenders have to face many complications in their lives. Being oppressed and being
troubled throughout their lives because they are different, according to my opinion its being
more complicated and difficult for trans female. For trans male people use words like coward
and bully you for being trans male. As we have different terms for trans females but not for
trans males like tomboy for boyish girl. This book explores the complications about being
trans female and how being different creates more difficulties for them.
This book has developed amazing concepts. The story is about a girl named Amanda shifted
to have a new life at a new place with her dad. At this new place she met a guy named Grant
and he was handsome and intelligent.
The book initially didn’t amuse me enough but the story of a trans female captured my
attention to read about the life of a person who is different from the others and that struggle
to get some recognition in the society but at the same time not sure about exposing her
different condition and the curiosity goes on throughout the story. The thirst for a significance
in the society. The end of the story was interesting as it was the result of that curiosity
weather Amanda got courage to talk about her reality to the people or not. The cherry on the
top was the relationship of Amanda’s and Grant. This relationship adds spice to the story,
although this relationship last till she exposes that she was a trans female but before this big
reveal their relationship was beautiful because of the understanding and the space to feel
free to be loved like a perfect relationship. Although this book has a lot of attractions but at
the same time there are few things which confused the reader about the scenes, reader may
get confused in linking the scenes. Like the confusion about weather if this scene is from her
past or from present or other confusions about weather this scene is before her big reveal or
after it.
The book is interesting from its starting but gradually its plot got weak in the middle. Like the
story is very sweet and fluffy in the starting with all the love story it has and the plot after
middle also attract readers reading about the struggle of the Amanda to come out and to
cope with all difficulties she has to face after revealing her truth. Although according to my
opinion that reveal of her gender should be a little early that would shape the story more
interesting and the other flaw is that the ending of the story is incomplete, it's the end reader
wants to read. After all end should be satisfying for the reader who invested his time and is
excited about the end as the separation of Amanda and Grant gave the confusing vibe to
readers as the relationship remain confused throughout the story because of Amanda’s
gender.

This dissertation is delimited to a focused analysis of Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, All the things we never said by Yasmin Rehman
and if I was your girl by Meredith Russo with specific attention being paid to the themes of
intersectionality and trans experiences. The dissertation will not include other novels written
by Jeffrey Eugenides, Bernardine Evaristo, Yasmin Rehman and Meredith Russo; neither
will it include works by other fictional authors in order to better examine how these four texts
particularly share the intersections concerning gender, race and identity. The discussion will
explore the representation of trans characters or experiences in light of what happens at the
intersections with other forms of marginalisation and privilege in both society and culture as
these novels present. It is thus limited to discussing how Middlesex, Girl, Woman, Other, all
the things we never said and if I was your girl represent the complicated matter of trans
identities at an intersection with many other forms of identity such as ethnicity or socio-
economic standing.

Also, out-of-scope for this research are non-novelistic formats such as essays or
autobiographies; nor are works included if they can be considered outside the body of
contemporary English literature. This delimitation allows for an elaborate comparative
investigation into the depiction of trans experiences and intersectionality in these significant
literary memoirs.
Chapter outline

Middle sex
Introduction:

The chapter started with the detailed explanation of Stephanides family and their journey of
migration from Greece to America and how they settled down in Detroit. Chapter described
about all the complications and the difficulties they faced while adjusting in a new life in a
new town.
Cultural and Familial Dynamics:
The story explains the cultural conflicts and generational gap which leads to the
complications in between the family members to adjust. That cultural and generational gap
specifically effected the relationship of immigrant parents and their American- born children.
Basically, the conflict was based on the difference in old Greek cultural values and the
modern American trends.
The impact of migration:
The chapter explores the effect of migration on a family and on their traditional values. The
effects of migration are not limited to their cultural values but it leads to the struggle of
identity, sacrifices and conflicts in close relationship as it effects all the family members
individually.

The Greek-American community:

In this chapter contribution of local Greek American in the American society is being
questioned no matter what they support and how they get a belonging to the American
society. All these factors effected the migrated Stephanides family.
Personal Anecdotes:
The chapter described how each character talked about their own real-life incidents that
challenged them to adopt the new culture and modern values in America.

Girl,Women,Other
This chapter of the novel enfold the journey of Amma how she was being a part of theatre in
her 20s and all her contribution to the theatre. It talks about all the hardships and the
challenges she faced during her journey and how it influenced the people around her.
Amma, mother of Yazz in the story and a writer. This story is built in London city.
Amma’s career and struggles:
Amma was the artist who experienced challenges because of radical prejudice in London.
She was one of the marginalized group due to her race and her gender. Although she got
talent to craft exceptional plays and portray all her experiences in her writings but was
limited to a number of audience due to the racial oppression.
Complications in the Family:
Amma’s gender and all her failures in developing a good relationship with predominant
white society her daughter Yazz blame her for not getting enough recognition and a healthy
relation in the society. As all these elements were affecting yazz’s life as well. She was
having difficulties to find her love and recognition in the society.
Resolution Legacy:
This chapter explores the thoughts of Amma about her self-recognition as an artist and as a
mother.
What Yazz inherited from her and what are her responsibilities towards the society and
towards her daughter. As yazz blamed her mother and other women of her mother’s
generation for not developing a stable relation in white society.

If I was your Girl

This chapter narrates the Amanda’s-life struggle, how she copes with all the challenges she
faced in her journey. Struggles that she faces throughout with her Image and about being
different from others. Difficulties to build her social status. Furthermore, this chapter
highlights her feeling of being lonely in her social circle and all the complexities she
developed about her personality because of social behaviour of others to her.
Inciting Incident:
She heard about an upcoming event in her school. Her classmates were talking about that
event and about a new student who got instant attention from everyone. Amanda feels an
increasing sense of isolation and she doubted herself for not being able to get recognition.
Amanda’s internal conflicts:
This chapter explains the internal struggle of Amanda, how she keeps talking to herself
about her recognition in her social circle and about all the hardships she is facing being a
third gender. She wanted to be accepted by the society so she can live her own identity
peacefully.
Foreshadowing:
This chapter ends with Amanda’s strong intentions to face all the challenges and to make
some developments to live her life strongly. This chapter set the stage for her journey
throughout the novel.

Conclusion

To conclude this research proposal will be a core part of our extensive research on the topic
that we’ll be further working on. Fictional literature that we’ve introduced and all the theories
and theoretical frameworks that we’ll be analyzing to firstly explain the two aspects
transsexual experience and intersectionality, further developing an understanding of our
research questions that we’ll be exploring from the literature framework that we’ve outlined.
To refine the research and further develop our research findings we’ll be using chapter
analysis that primarily addresses the research questions and how they can be applied as a
new approach for literature advocacy in terms of the research topic and critical analysis that
we’ll be drafting at the end of this research through