The discovery of trans man identity and the wrong body metaphor

Abstract

This article deals with the moment in the life trajectory of two trans men, more specifically, the period in which they discover the existence of the identity of trans men. The discovery of this identity is accompanied by an interpretation of their experiences heavily influenced by biomedical knowledge and based both on the idea of ​​separation between a man's soul and a woman's body as well as on the idea of ​ “the wrong body”. The present article will, then, problematize the assumption of separation between self and body and propose, through the phenomenological paradigm, another interpretation for these experiences. To this end, the article is based on the analysis of life narratives built on the basis of experience reports and open and in-depth interviews. The result of this article is the perspective that the idea of ​​separation between self and body is the result of the assumption of separation between nature and society that underlies modernity. It is demonstrated that, more than a separation between body and soul, what is constituted is a feeling of mismatch between a perception of oneself, in terms of gender, and the perception of the other. More than providing finished answers to the questions posed, this article aims to present interpretive possibilities and, with that, expand the scientific debate on the subject.