Transgressive Narratives at the Margins: Exploring Romanian Transgender Identities in the Online Sphere

Abstract

This study explores how Romanian transgender users construct their identities in the digital space. It analyses the transgressive self-narratives, the reactions from digital audiences, and the intersection of these two dimensions. The study looks at a collection of multimodal online discourses from the perspective of Internet linguistics and identity studies. It identifies patterns in users' attitudes and positions towards transgender identity. The findings reveal that these online discourses frequently exhibit polarisation, with consensus on transgender identities being difficult to achieve. The study contributes to understanding online (self-)presentation and sheds light on stance-taking regarding (trans)gender identities.