10.00-11.00 am on Wednesday 21 April.

Abstract

Vanessa's  PhD research investigated the experiences of adult trans women and families of adult trans women concerning grief and loss. Hermeneutic phenomenology was used as the methodology to understand the meaning that participants had in relation to grief and loss. The findings highlighted that both cohorts of participants did experience grief and loss and there was a range of loss experienced. The emergent dominant theme for both cohorts was an ambiguous loss. Trans women retrospectively experienced ambiguous loss from childhood, with the confusing and conflicting loss of the authentic gendered-self.  The women also experienced a range of life-long losses regarding the ambiguous loss of loved ones in the context of gender transition. Family members experienced a range of losses on becoming aware that their loved one planned to gender transition, and there was evidence that the loss was confusing, conflicting, and in many respects unresolved. There was evidence that both sets of participants also experienced ambiguous gain and traumatic growth and they developed the resilience to help them live with the boundary ambiguity. 

Vanessa has included a significant section on researcher reflexivity in line with hermeneutic phenomenology and will speak about these experiences during the webinar.

All Welcome

 Jointly organised by LGBT+ Staff Network & ISS21 Genders, Sexualities and Families Research Cluster