Arts, Faculty of
Political Science, Department of
DSpace
UBCV
Reimer, Katie-Anne
Master of Arts - MA
University of British Columbia
Graphic novels are a tool to track and resist the silencing of transgender youth. I first provide a literature review including a brief framing of trans youth identity, an analysis of the violence targeting transgender youth in the United States and Canada, a theoretical framing for epistemic violence (including a general framework on hermeneutical injustice, testimonial quieting and testimonial smothering) with a specific focus on the epistemic violence targeting transgender people. Second, I analyze why graphic novels are uniquely positioned for studying epistemic violence facing trans youth. Third, I contend that while trans youth currently face massive amounts of visible and direct forms of violence (legal attacks on rights, high rates of physical assault, etc.), studying the epistemic violence is imperative as the silencing of trans youth's voices leads to these other forms of violence and is deeply harmful in and of itself. I use graphic novels as an analytical tool to track this epistemic violence and the impacts of this injustice. Finally, I consider the emancipatory potential in graphic novels as unique vehicles through which trans youth's voices can be heard and honoured. My central argument is that graphic novels provide a unique visual medium through which trans folks can both communicate the reality of epistemic violence facing trans youth and combat it by providing a different set of language resources, encouraging audience engagement and giving trans youth their voices.
Speaking and Drawing Out: Graphic Novels to Track and Resist the Silencing of Transgender Youth by Katie-Anne Reimer B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2023 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Political Science) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2024 © Katie-Anne Reimer, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Speaking and Drawing Out: Graphic Novels to Track and Resist the Silencing of Transgender Youth submitted by Katie-Anne Reimer in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Science Examining Committee: Afsoun Afsahi, Professor, Political Science, UBC Supervisor Bruce Baum, Professor, Political Science, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Graphic novels are a tool to track and resist the silencing of transgender youth. I first provide a literature review including a brief framing of trans youth identity, an analysis of the violence targeting transgender youth in the United States and Canada, a theoretical framing for epistemic violence (including a general framework on hermeneutical injustice, testimonial quieting and testimonial smothering) with a specific focus on the epistemic violence targeting transgender people. Second, I analyze why graphic novels are uniquely positioned for studying epistemic violence facing trans youth. Third, I contend that while trans youth currently face massive amounts of visible and direct forms of violence (legal attacks on rights, high rates of physical assault, etc.), studying the epistemic violence is imperative as the silencing of trans youth's voices leads to these other forms of violence and is deeply harmful in and of itself. I use graphic novels as an analytical tool to track this epistemic violence and the impacts of this injustice. Finally, I consider the emancipatory potential in graphic novels as unique vehicles through which trans youth's voices can be heard and honoured. My central argument is that graphic novels provide a unique visual medium through which trans folks can both communicate the reality of epistemic violence facing trans youth and combat it by providing a different set of language resources, encouraging audience engagement and giving trans youth their voices. iv Lay Summary I use graphic novels to consider how society silences transgender youth in three main ways. First, trans youth are silenced as people do not see them as knowledgeable and dismiss what they say. Second, a transgender kid may refrain from speaking honestly as they do not trust that people listening will understand them. Third, they may not have the language to express themselves. Overall, the silencing creates an inability to understand and communicate the self to others. This quieting can lead to harm, including feeling disconnected from family and friends, increased likelihood of attempting suicide, silencing BIPOC and Indigenous trans youth’s cultures, and an inability to communicate medical needs to doctors. However, the graphic novels used also show the potential to resist silencing by improving information for transgender and cisgender people alike. v Preface I identified a research program to tackle the limited literature regarding epistemic violence (silencing) of transgender youth. I used graphic novels as a lens to perform my research study. I focused on this medium as the images allow for the visualization of silencing impossible in written text alone, and the form is read and used by my prime demographic (transgender youth). I analyzed the data through a close "reading" of the words and images. I emailed all four authors and received permission. I provided a copy of the draft for my thesis so the authors could see how their work was being analyzed and used. I also provided details on copyright information, notably that the thesis will be publicly available in UBC's online digital repository and that I would be granting non-exclusive licences to UBC, UBC Library and Archives Canada. I included a link for more information on the copyright process at UBC here is the link: https://copyright.ubc.ca/theses-and-dissertations/ or info about cIRcle: https://circle.ubc.ca/submissions/license-form/ I have a contract from Maia Kobabe detailing my rights. These include: Non-exclusive permission is granted to you (the “Licensee”) to include three images (the “Images”) from pages 70, 130, and 151 of the book GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR (the “Work”) by Maia Kobabe (the “Author”), in your master’s thesis (the “Thesis”) for the University of British Columbia (the “University”), upon the following terms and conditions only: 1. It is understood and agreed that the Images shall be included in the Thesis only, and that said Thesis explores how transgender graphic novels both track and resist societal attempts to silence transgender youth. 2. It is understood and agreed that the Thesis shall be publicly available in the University’s online digital vi repository, as well as licensed non-exclusively to the University and to Library and Archives Canada. 3. Other than the use above, there shall be no further use or distribution of the Images in the Thesis for any reason whatsoever. 4. If the Thesis ceases to be available through the University, this permission shall immediately terminate and all rights granted herein shall automatically revert to the Author. 5. The Licensee shall give full credit for the Work in the Thesis as follows: “Illustrations from GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR © 2019 by Maia Kobabe. Originally published by Lion Forge, a division of Oni Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission.” If said credit does not appear in the Thesis as specified above, this permission shall immediately terminate and all rights herein granted shall automatically revert to the Author. 6. All rights not specifically granted are reserved to the Author. Min Christensen granted consent for inclusion upon assurance that the work is not available for profit or AI training. Both of these are respected, as I am not selling my thesis for profit and not transforming or using their art for any AI training). Rhea Ewing provided consent for inclusion through written email. Sabrina Symington, I met in person during training and a camp for LGBTQ+ youth (CampOUT 2024). She provided consent, support and kindness through conversation, an email and her friendship. vii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................... iv Preface .............................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations .....................................................................................................................x Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ xi Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... xii Dedication ................................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Defining Terms, Context and Theoretical Framework ................................................... 2 1.2.1 My Positionality .......................................................................................................... 2 1.2.2 Defining Transgender in a Settler Colonial Context ................................................... 3 1.2.3 Socio-Political Framing: Violence Targetting Transgender People ........................... 5 1.2.4 Theroetical Framework of Epistemic Violence .......................................................... 5 1.2.5 Epistemic Violence Targeting Transgender People ................................................... 6 1.3 Lens of Analysis…………………………………………………………………………..8 1.3.1 LGBTQ+ Graphic Novels as a Lens of Analysis ....................................................... 8 1.3.2 Advantages of the Graphic Novels ............................................................................. 9 1.3.3 The Four Graphic Novels Used to Analyze Epistemic Violence ............................. 10 viii Chapter 2: Body of Thesis ...........................................................................................................12 2.1 Tracking Epistemic Violence Against Transgender Youth through Graphic Novels ... 12 2.1.1 Tracking Testimonial Quieting ................................................................................. 12 2.1.2 Tracking Testimonial Smothering ............................................................................ 16 2.1.3 Tracking Hermeneutical Injustice ............................................................................ 21 2.2 Resisting Epistemic Violence Against Transgender Youth through Graphic Novels .. 25 2.2.1 Resisting Testimonial Quieting ................................................................................. 25 2.2.2 Resisting Testimonial Smothering ............................................................................ 28 2.2.3 Resisting Hermeneutical Injustice ............................................................................ 30 Chapter 3: Conclusion .................................................................................................................32 3.1 Overview ....................................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Limitations and Future Research .................................................................................. 33 3.3 Importance of the Research .......................................................................................... 33 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 36 ix List of Figures Figure 1 Testimonial Quieting "Binding and Ignorance"(Christensen, 2023, p. 84) ................... 12 Figure 2 Testimonial Quieting "Resilience to Colonial Silencing" (Ewing, 2013, p.294) ........... 14 Figure 3 Testimonial Smothering "Medical Discrimination" (Kobabe, 2019, p. 130) ................. 16 Figure 4 Testimonial Smothering "Balance" (Kobabe, 2019, pp. 124-125) ................................. 18 Figure 5 Testimonial Smothering "Black Masculinity" (Ewing, 2023, p. 55) ............................. 19 Figure 6 Testimonial Smothering "Hormones" (Ewing, 2023, p. 122) ........................................ 20 Figure 7 Hermeneutical Injustice "Whose Language?" (Symington, 2021) ................................ 21 Figure 8 Hermeneutical Injustice "Plant of Gender Queer" (Kobabe, 2019, p. 103) ................... 23 Figure 9 Testimonial Smothering & Hermeneutical Injustice "Heartbeat" (Reimer, 2019) ......... 34 Figure 10 Testimonial Smothering & Hermeneutical Injustice "Shaking Closet" (Reimer, 2017)....................................................................................................................................................... 34 x List of Abbreviations 2SLGBTQ+: an acronym that stands for Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and other non-heterosexual/non-cisgender identities. BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and Person of Colour. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT): hormones that are used to change physical and other physiological factors to help a trans person more closely align their physical body with their gender identity. xi Glossary Binding: Biding involves wrapping oneself in tightfitting material to flatten breast tissue. This gender-affirming practice is used by some non-binary people and trans-men. Cisgender: A person who aligns with their sex-assigned at birth Gender Dysphoria: unease from one’s sex assigned at birth misaligning with gender identity. For example, a trans man may experience gender dysphoria seeing his breasts. Gender Euphoria: joy felt when a person can enact their affirmed gender. Gender Pronouns: a word that refers to a person in place of their name. For example, he/she/they/e/ze etc. Graphic Novels: a novel length compilation of images used in sequence Non-Binary: People who do not exclusively identify their gender as male or female. Neo-Pronouns: Gender neutral pronouns that are not she/he/they pronouns. For example, e/em/eir, or xe/xem/xyr. Settler-Colonialism attempts to displace, assimilate and/or exterminate a nation (typically Indigenous people) and replace with a new settler population. Transgender: A person who does not align with their sex-assigned at birth. This is an umbrella term to include anyone who identifies with the identity (including transgender women, transgender men, non-binary folks, Two-Spirit people that use the terms, and other non-cisgender identities). Two-Spirit: another gender role believed to be common among most, if not all, first peoples of Turtle Island, one that had a proper and accepted place within native societies. This acceptance was rooted in the spiritual teachings that say all life is sacred' (Neptune, 2018) xii Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to many people and communities who have cared for, laughed with and supported me. I wish I could capture more relations in these two pages. To my friends who provided support, grounding, and acceptance, I appreciate the conversations that got me overcaffeinated on cafe dates, feeling chaotic in text chains, or getting overstressed ordering dinners. I want to thank my trans friends and community—notably my CampOUT relations. Thank you for being my role models of what trans resilience, joy, and revolution can be. You inspire me. I am grateful to my friends in the UBC MA program. They inspire me with their works but more so through our conversations – Ariette Choi (she/her), Talia Holy (she/they), Charlie Picui (they/them), Thelma Muñoz Barajas (she/her) and Amara Pottinger (she/her). I am also grateful to the students I taught; I was lucky to learn from many bright young folks. I want to thank Jasper Lorien (they/them) in particular. Their courage to be authentically trans in my class inspired me to come out at UBC. I also appreciate them gifting me Gender Queer. I know they will have many critiques of this thesis, and I look forward to hearing all of them. Next, I want to thank the authors Min Christensen (they/them), Rhea Ewing (they/them), Maia Kobabe (e/em), and Sabrina Symington (she/her), whom I had the honour of reading and building my work. Thank you for your bravery in speaking and bringing your stories into existence. I quite literally could not have made this thesis without their funny, authentic and brave works. I also would not have wanted to do this work without the excitement and engagement each author gifted me. Next, thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Afsoun Afsahi (she/her), for her continual investment in critiquing systemic injustice and her many hours and investment in my work. To my younger trans self - thank you for asserting to people that you were "not a girl or a boy," even though everyone said that was impossible. You were right all along. Thank you for continuing to try to find yourself by borrowing all the gay graphic novels at the library – which you kept hidden under other book sleeves. I wish you had found one of the four books I analyze here (or anything about trans xiii identity). I think you would have felt a little less alone. I am even more amazed you took what you read and crafted yourself into comics (Fig. 9 and Fig. 10). Finally, I am deeply grateful to my loving, learning, and thoughtful parents. Thank you to my mom for providing a close reading of every expression of this thesis. More importantly, I appreciate you being close for every expression of me. To my dad, who most certainly did not read every draft of this paper, I appreciate sharing moments of destressing through yelling at sports games. I am even more grateful for your immediate pauses to sports, even the most exciting games, when I needed to talk. No two people affirmed and supported my voice more. This work was most certainly not done alone. xiv Dedication I dedicate this thesis to trans youth - present, past and future. Thank you for the work, joy and authenticity it takes to draw, speak or come out. I am inspired by each of you that embraces and honors your transness - whether that be to the broader world, a loved one, or yourself. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction The rights of transgender youth are currently under attack across Turtle Island. In the United States, there are around 590 anti-trans bills that have been proposed or enacted, and 80% of these bills explicitly target trans youth (Trans Legislation Tracker, 2023; Funakoshi, 2023). In Canada, various provincial governments are proposing or have passed anti-trans bills that specifically impact youth, notably Saskatchewan's Education Act (the Parents' Bill of Rights), New Brunswick's Bill 713 and Alberta's Parent's Bill of Rights (Trianon, 2023; Dubé, 2023). These bills inflict direct harm on individual transgender youth. For example, around 144,500 transgender young Americans have lost or are at high risk of losing access to medical care due to pending legislation (Williams Institute, 2023). This lack of care is harmful as access "was associated with 60% lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality over a 12-month follow-up" (Tordoff et al., 2022, pp.4-6). These political attacks on trans youth also constitute a collective form of cultural violence. The right-wing is consistently using transgender youth as a pawn to gain political points, which leads to increased community hate and feelings of non-belonging (Smith, 2021; Scaramanga, 2023, p. 75; Velte, 2023; Cecco, 2024). In fact, 85% of transgender youth in the US report that anti-trans bills and general scapegoating through political tactics have harmed their mental health (The Trevor Project, 2022, p.6). This increased rate of suicidal ideation is further terrifying as trans youth are five times more likely to consider suicide and 7.6 times more likely to attempt it compared to their cisgender peers. How does this legal attack come to fruition? I will argue that it involves the silencing of transgender youth voices and the stripping of their ability to voice and express their identities, experiences of harm and their ability to emancipate from systemic oppression. I use graphic novels as a tool to track and resist the silencing of transgender youth. I first provide a literature review including a brief framing of trans youth identity, an analysis of the violence targeting transgender youth in the United States and Canada, a theoretical framing for epistemic violence (including a general framework on hermeneutical injustice, testimonial quieting and testimonial smothering) with a specific focus on the epistemic violence 2 targeting transgender people. Second, I analyze why graphic novels are uniquely positioned for studying epistemic violence facing trans youth. Third, I contend that while trans youth currently face massive amounts of visible and direct forms of violence (legal attacks on rights, high rates of physical assault, etc.), studying the epistemic violence is imperative as the silencing of trans youth's voices leads to these other forms of violence and is deeply harmful in and of itself. I use graphic novels as an analytical tool to track this epistemic violence and the impacts of this injustice. Finally, I consider the emancipatory potential in graphic novels as unique vehicles through which trans youth's voices can be heard and honoured. My central argument is that graphic novels provide a unique visual medium through which trans folks can both communicate the reality of epistemic violence facing trans youth and combat it by providing a different set of language resources, encouraging audience engagement and giving trans youth their voices. 1.2 Defining Terms Context and Theoretical Framework 1.2.1 My Positionality As a researcher I cannot, nor do I want to, separate my identities from my analysis. My lived experiences of privilege and marginalization contribute to my analysis and understanding of epistemic violence. I identify as a transgender, non-binary and queer person. As a young transgender person, I personally experienced the epistemic violence and silencing that. Furthermore, I used graphic novels to help myself track and understand these harms – as depicted in Fig 9 and Fig 10. A full analysis of my own work is included on page 48. Throughout this writing journey, I attempted not to separate myself from this kid but to integrate their wisdom. I am so grateful for their resilience, authenticity and self-knowing at a young age. I am a white settler living primarily on traditional, ancestral and unceded (stolen) territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and the Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Much of my research involves the utilization of an intersectional frame to analyze how 3 Indigeneity and race intersect with transgender youthhoods to contribute to silencing practices and revolutionary potentiality that is distinct from white transgender youth. I am considerably limited in my ability to understand the harms, the joys and the experiences of living as a person of colour and/or Indigenous person when engaging in this analysis. I include analysis from intersectional lenses as I contend it is necessary to understand and work towards emancipation. I will argue that settler-colonialism and racism not only contribute to transphobia facing youth but are, in fact, the very root of the harm (discussed on page BLANK). Thus, despite my limitations as a white settler, I contend that analysis necessitates consistent attention to race and Indigeneity. However, I open, welcome and encourage BIPOC authors to engage in correctional analysis of areas and gaps that I miss. 1.2.2 Defining Transgender in a Settler Colonial Context Gender, as I use it here, refers to "an individual's personal and social identity - notably how a person feels internally … A person's gender may differ from their sex [assigned] at birth and from what is indicated on their current identification or legal documents. [Furthermore] a person's gender may change over time (Statistics Canada, n.d.). Following from this social constructive understanding of gender, transgender is an "umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to them at birth" (Human Rights Campaign, 2023). This broad framing includes all people who self-identify as trans, such as trans women, trans men, non-binary folks and other non-cis-identifying people. Two-Spirit is a related but distinct term from transgender. It is critical to define this distinction due to the central role that colonialism has played in attempts to erase Two-Spirit identities. Geo Neptune (they/them)1, a Passamaquoddy Two-Spirit person, defines the identity as "another gender role believed to be common among most, if not all, first peoples of Turtle Island, one that had a proper and accepted place within native societies. This acceptance was rooted in the spiritual teachings that say all life is sacred" 1 Following Schuyler Bailar’s (he/him) practice in his book He/She/They, I provide pronouns for every author upon their first introduction. This practice attempts to render comfort to trans folks who are often the only ones who share pronouns (Bailar, 2023). Ideally, a person provides pronouns (either in their biography, orally or on social media). However, if there are no self-disclosed pronouns, I use the most commonly used pronouns for the person. Any errors in that regard are my errors. 4 (2018). Two-Spirit is an umbrella term to represent various Indigenous genders, as there is no essentialized Indigenous gender experience and nations differ in culture, practice and embodiment. For example, Leanne Simpson (she/her) writes of Saagiig Nishnaabeg gendered traditions as expansive and changing: "There is a fluidity to my use of the term kwe that gestures to the gender variance within Nishnaabewin. Kwe does not conform to the rigidity of the colonial gender binary, nor is kwe essentialized. In my mind, kwe has the capacity to be inclusive of both cis and trans experiences" (Simpson, 2022, p. 38). Kathy Walker (she/they) writes of the 'okâwîmâwaskiy' in Cree as not only fluid but involving many genders. okâwîmâwaskiy is the unweaving colonial heteropatriarchy and revitalizing multiple Cree genealogies that enable pluri-gendered representations of land. Rather than a balancing of opposite hetero-genders, this holistic balance enables a 'coming in' for people of diverse genders and sexualities" (Walker, 2021, pp.171-172). While this multiplicity exists, Indigenous nations share an experience of colonizers coming to their lands and attempting to erase their genders (Simpson, 2017, pp. 95-96; Coulthard, 2014, p. 80). The colonizer's imposition of a gender binary "were intense sites of assimilative education designed to … remov[e] Indigenous peoples from the land completely and eras[e] those who did not conform to the colonial gender binary completely" (Simpson, 2017, p.96). Thus, the imposition of a cisnormative gender binary is one tool of assimilation and attempted Indigenous erasure, and a consideration of our gender hermeneutics is an understanding of violent colonialism. Despite these violent intentions, through resilience and revitalization efforts, Indigenous nations return to and evolve traditional gender practices (Coulthard, 2014, p. 153; Simpson, 2022; Bowra et al., 2020, p. 132). This process involves the reclamation and enactment of Two-Spirit identities and practices (White Hawk & Hayes, n.d.)2. 2 This is a very brief overview of the interconnection of trans and Two-Spirit identities. I encourage reading of Indigenous authors on gender including: Walker, K. (2021, June). Okâwîmâwaskiy: Regenerating a Wholistic Ethics. Any of Audra Simpson but notably The Gender of the Flint: Mohawk Nationhood and Citizenship in the Face of Empire, and White Hawk, S., & Hayes, L. (n.d.). “Understanding and Reclaiming our Two-Spirit Relatives. 5 It is important to note that some Two-Spirit people reject the transgender label because the term comes from Western thought and gender practices. Lenny Hayes argues that automatically categorizing all Two-Spirit folks as transgender is a colonizing act by putting Indigenous peoples into Western language and boxes (Hayes, 2009, p.3). I avoid engaging in this practice while including Two-Spirit voices by including people who identify as both Two-Spirit and trans. 1.2.3 Socio-Political Framing: Violence Targeting Transgender Trans youth face high rates of violence in their daily lives. Ruari-Santiago McBride (they/them) and Aoife Neary (she/her) reviewed 83 empirical studies on violence against transgender youth from around the world. They find that trans youth face very high rates of violence compared to their cisgender peers (McBride & Neary, 2021). In one of the most extensive American studies (transgender n= 1055; cisgender n=773), Brian Thoma et al. find that 73% percent of trans youth report psychological abuse, 39% face physical abuse, and 19% report sexual abuse (Thoma et al., 2021, p. 8). All three forms of violence are higher than their cisgender counterparts: psychological abuse (1.84 times), physical abuse (1.61 times), and sexual abuse (2.04 times) (2021, p.8). Trans youth also face high rates of violence at home. 43% of trans and nonbinary youth have been abused by a family member (Galop, 2022, p.6). Violence extends to forced houselessness as 38% of transgender girls/women, 39% of transgender boys/men, and 35% of nonbinary youth in the United States have experienced homelessness (The Trevor Project, 2021, p.4). This rate is vastly higher than the national youth homeless average of 0.3% for thirteen to seventeen-year-old Americans (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2023). 1.2.4 Theoretical Framework of Epistemic Violence Within this background on the general experience of violence against trans youth, I focus on the specific and often unseen form of epistemic violence. First, I use Kristie Dotson's (she/her) framework of testimonial oppression, including testimonial quieting and smothering (Dotson, 2011). Testimonial quieting "occurs when an audience fails to identify a speaker as a knower" (p.242). This form of silencing has long traditions of theorizing by women of colour, notably Black feminists. For example, Patricia Hill 6 Collins (she/her) notes that societies' construction of stigmatized images of Black women systematically removes Black female voices from our collective knowledge (Hill Collins, 200, p.72). Second, testimonial smothering is the "truncating of one's own testimony to ensure that the testimony contains only content for which one's audience demonstrates testimonial competence" (Dotson, 2011, p.244). Three aspects lead to this self-truncating: a speaker identifies their material as "risky," the audience does not show competence for the speech, and harm (pernicious ignorance) occurs from the audience's incompetence to interpret the information adequately (p.244). The third form of epistemic violence I consider is Miranda Fricker's (she/her) conceptualization of hermeneutical injustice. She defines hermeneutical injustice as "the injustice of having some significant areas of one's social experience obscured from collective understanding owing to a structural identity prejudice in the collective hermeneutical resource" (Fricker, 2007, p.155). Structural identity prejudice occurs when a group with social, linguistic and political power creates the very language by which everyone understands themselves in relation to the world. Injustice occurs when a person or group with less power lacks the epistemic resources to make sense of their own experiences and/or to communicate with others. 1.2.5 Epistemic Violence Targeting Transgender People There is some literature directly addressing how transgender people experience epistemic violence. Miranda Fricker, in her article with Katharine Jenkins (she/her), “Epistemic Injustice, Ignorance, and Trans Experiences” notes her initial conceptualization completely ignored transgender people and attempts to amend her framework by providing examples of epistemic violence against transgender people (Fricker & Jenkins, 2017). Transgender folks face testimonials quieting as doctors often provide gender-affirming care to women who are highly feminine in presentation, are heterosexual and experienced a deep loathing of their body since early childhood (pp. 8-9). Smothering occurs for trans authors who alter their stories to fit normative transgender testimony while omitting the more "risky" parts of speech cisgender publishers will take up some of their stories (pp.9-11). Finally, transgender folks experience hermeneutical injustice as they were not involved in constituting our hermeneutical resource 7 (p.11). Trans people "suffer the full range of harms" from this epistemic violence including an unjust intelligibility deficit as trans people cannot understand their genders, or society dismisses them when they do affirm their identities. Second, there are negative secondary harms from the transphobic structures leading to lower rates of employment, and housing and increased risk of physical violence (p.13). Third, trans people may suffer identity-related harm as transphobic media informs their self-understanding of their social identity. Fricker explicitly encourages others, notably trans folks, to expand her conceptualization of epistemic violence: For our conception of trans experiences we shall rely almost entirely on the written testimony of people who are trans. It goes without saying that our bringing these experiences under this or that category of epistemic injustice is done tentatively, and in an exploratory spirit that welcomes multiple corrective responses on these complex and fast-evolving issues (Fricker, 2017, p.8). Various authors, primarily trans people, have contributed to scholarship on epistemic violence facing transgender people. Viviane Namaste (she/her) argues that Eurocentric feminism perpetrated epistemic violence against transgender people as the language and knowledge created prejudicial understandings, including ignoring distinctions between violence against trans men and women (and trans women's increased risk of harm) and missing complex relations between trans women and sex workers rights. B Lee-Harrison Aultman (they/she) argues that the United States judicial system – notably the process of judicial reasoning - reproduces hermeneutical injustice through assertions of normative cisgender experiences that makes it difficult for a transgender person to render themselves legible (Lee-Harrison Aultman, 2016). Diane Kuhl (she/her) contends that the mainstream psychological field also inflicts epistemic violence upon trans folks through the enforcement of a "psychologized" view of childhood that erases transgender childhoods and identities (2016). Luka Lim-Anapu-Cowley-Bunnin (they/them) analyzes how White colonial forces, including some queer/trans language production, engage in epistemic violence towards Samoan people and Indigenous people generally (2022). The Samoan 8 fa'a'afa, fa'a (fa)tama, fa'afafine, trans and non-binary people face erasure from White forces that deny these genders by forcing colonial structures on them (p.77). B. R. George (they/them) and Stacey Goguen (she/her) focus on trans youth specifically (2021). They argue that trans youth face a unique form of epistemic violence, hermeneutical backlash, which involves resistance to attempts at amending language. It is evident amongst trans youth as they attempt to emancipate themselves from cisnormative language (for example, claiming pronouns and names) but face resistance to progress through audience refusal to adopt or integrate this language (George & Goguen, 2021). While I incorporate the insights from the preceding literature on how trans people are subject to epistemic violence, my central goal is to address a significant gap within it, namely the limited attention to trans youth, specifically. Indeed, I can find only one scholarly article on transgender youth experiences of epistemic violence - George and Goguen (2021) - even though they are particularly vulnerable and currently experiencing significant levels of substantive and epistemic violence (as discussed above). I contend this necessitates a particular, continual and increased focus on their experience of violence through silence. I use Fricker and Dotson's theoretical framings to address three kinds of epistemic violence concerning trans youth - hermeneutical injustice, testimonial smothering and testimonial quieting. Unlike the other lenses used above by various scholars to examine transgender adults, I have chosen the specific lens often used by this demographic (both authors and readers) to share their experiences of different kinds of epistemic violence and their resistance to it – the graphic novel. 1.3 Lens of analysis To analyze how transgender youth experience epistemic violence of hermeneutical injustice, testimonial smothering and testimonial silencing, I examine graphic novels written by trans people about their youth. I begin with a definition and brief discussion of graphic novels and their application by the LGBTQ+ community. Comics can be defined as images in sequence used to tell a story or elicit a response from an audience, and graphic novels represent a novel-length compilation of comics (McCloud, 1993, p. 9). Graphic novels are still typically linked to superhero storylines. In their book Bandits, Misfits, 9 and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels, Joseph Benson (he/him) and William Singsen (he/him) trace how the medium of graphic novels have often focused on White "ubermensch" superheroes (Superman, Spiderman, Batman), that reified White supremacy, hegemonic masculinity and settler colonialism (2022). However, they acknowledge that graphic novels also have the potential for emancipation from dominant hierarchical systems (2022). Hillary Chute (she/her) in her book Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere outlines this history of comics as liberatory amongst marginalized communities – including the LGBTQ+ community with the underground comix movement (Chute, 2017, p.351). It was not until the underground comix movement, starting in the early 1970s, that gay comics as a self-conscious genre took root. In the underground, comics were reinvented as a medium for self-expression. It follows that the underground was also where political identity-based comics were first developed, bolstered by the energy of left-wing counterculture's attention to disenfranchised voices -and also by women cartoonist reactions to what they perceive as the overly straight, overly male first wave of underground cartoonists. (p.351) Today, there is a proliferation of LGBTQ+ people using graphic novels for self-expression, education, and community building (Chute, 2017, p. 349; Moystad, 2024). 1.3.1 Advantages of the Graphic Novel The graphic provides many advantages for studying epistemic violence faced by transgender youth. First, as discussed above, the graphic novel is increasingly becoming associated with the queer community as a tool for expressing their lives and resisting hate (Chute, 2017). Second, the target audience of graphic novels is often children and young adults; thus, this medium directly speaks to the demographic I want to hear and celebrate. Third, the graphic novel enables an in-depth analysis of my central focus of studying silencing or epistemic violence. As Dotson notes, "too often, identifying practices of silencing is a seemingly impossible exercise" (Dotson, 2011, p. 236). The difficulty arises from attempting to study a lack of words through the written form itself. However, graphic novels, with the inherent inclusion of images, provide visualizations of silencing that are impossible to express in 10 written text alone. Finally, graphic novels allow for resistance to the silencing and oppression by providing space for trans graphic novelists to express and interpret their experiences in creative and multifaceted forms. 1.3.2 The Four Graphic Novels Used to Analyze Epistemic Violence I chose four graphic novels to study the experiences of transgender youth. First is Gender Queer, a graphic autobiography by Maia Kobabe (e/em/eir). This autobiography is useful as a significant focus is the silencing of trans identity. Second, the focus on one person provides a deep analysis of experience, which can be traced across time and shows changes in identity. Third, attacks on this book itself show the societal silencing of trans voices. The American Library Association (ALA) tracked 1,269 challenges to library, school, and university materials; Gender Queer has been the most banned book in America since it was first published (from 2019 to 2024) (American Library Association, 2022). Thus, right-wing politicians are attempting to keep this book and its knowledge from society, notably kids (Oltmann, 2023; Pérez, 2023). My inclusion of this book attempts to resist the societal silencing of trans voices and graphic novels by highlighting Kobabe’s voice and art. The second novel I use is Fine: A Comic about Gender by Rhea Ewing (they/them) (2022). Ewing is a White trans/non-binary graphic novelist. They became "obsessed with the question of what gender is;" they approached finding answers by interviewing Americans about their gender and various intersecting identities/factors (Ewing, 2022, p.1). Ewing's methodologies involved semi-structured interviews with people across the United States, and this book is a graphic compilation of interview responses. Although there are cis people included, my analysis focuses exclusively on trans respondents. This book is beneficial as it provides many trans voices, and Ewing interviews several BIPOC trans folks, enabling an analysis of the intersections of racism, settler-colonialism and transphobia. Finally, Ewing organizes the book thematically, allowing analysis of specific topics; I focus on the sections of masculinity, race, embodiment, hormones, and "what we build." Similarly to Ewing, Sabrina Symington's (she/her) biographical compilation Coming Out, Again: Transition Stories chronicles various transgender people from Vancouver in a graphic compilation 11 (2021). This book is beneficial as Symington focuses on trans folks with multiple marginalized identities, enabling expressions from various undervoiced community members. Furthermore, it is unique in its focus on a singular geographic community to show conflict and connections within the transgender community. Ewing and Symington’s books involve an author interpreting and visualizing someone else’s stories. There are benefits to this approach: including an ability of taking the workload from people to create graphic novels themselves and an ability to hear similar and contrasting opinions within the trans community. However, this method provides limitations: people’s stories are interpreted through an outside voice and artist. Furthermore, as both authors are White trans folks they must interpret and articulate the stories of BIPOC trans folks. Both authors note that they take steps to limit translation issues and give space to BIPOC folks to express how they want to be portrayed and the information they want to include. Thus, we need to consider that these BIPOC stories are translated through a White artist, but there was some input and labour from trans folks of colour on the best ways to express and visualize their stories. Finally, I analyze The OUTSide: Trans & Nonbinary Comics, compiled by The Kao (he/him), Min Christensen (they/them) and David Daneman (he/him) (2023). This book is a graphic compilation of twenty-nine transgender/non-binary authors. Thus, this book provides many trans voices and eliminates the translation issue as it is a compilation of trans artists' stories in their own voice/art. A limitation of this book is that the entries are short and provide less tracking across time. Thus, I use four novels and various trans voices to balance limitations and offer different means of hearing and seeing trans stories. 12 Chapter 2: Tracking Epistemic Violence through Graphic Novels 2.1 Tracking Epistemic Violence Against Transgender Youth 2.1.1 Tracking Testimonial Quieting Figure 1 Binding and Ignorance (Christensen, 2023, p.84) In this section, I demonstrate how graphic novels track three forms of epistemic violence, the ensuing harms, and how visual representations of these processes exceed what written texts alone can convey. Min Christensen depicts an experience of testimonial quieting - an audience failing to recognize a speaker as a knower. In Fig. 1, they depict themselves binding as a step to affirm gender and increase comfort in their physical body (Christensen, 2023, p.84). Thus, they are a knower of self as they recognize their gender dysphoria and take steps to decrease their unease. However, their immediate audience - Min's grandmother interprets this gender-affirming clothing as mental illness and does not give them space to explain themselves. Thus, Min's audience does not recognize them as a knower of self. The comic visually represents this testimonial quieting. Min's depictions of their eyes and mouth directly contrast their grandmother's. Their grandmother's eyes are non-existent, representing an inability to see her grandchild. However, while she fails to see Min, she speaks over them, visualized by her wide mouth. In contrast, Min's eyes are very wide, representing that they can see themselves, the world, and what 13 is occurring. Nonetheless, their mouth is invisible, metaphorically showing the testimonial quieting because, despite their vision, their family does not recognize them as a knower. This form of testimonial silencing inflicts harm. Trans youth who lack access to binding and other gender-affirming clothing are almost twice as likely to attempt suicide in comparison to those with access (The Trevor Project, 2023, p. 25). Furthermore, as Min's family fails to see them as a knower of self and gender, they refuse to use their affirmed name and pronouns (Christensen, 2023, pp. 83-85). This ignorance of a trans youth's pronouns is harmful as it almost doubles the suicide attempt rate (suicide attempt rate based on people in life respecting pronouns: no one 22%; some 20%, all or most 12%) (The Trevor Project, 2023, p. 24). Furthermore, the testimonial silencing of dismissing gender-affirming names has directly harmful impacts. Russell et al. consider the impact of respecting trans youth's names in four different environments (work, school, friends and family) and find an increase in "one context in which a chosen name could be used predicted a … decrease in depressive symptoms, a 29% decrease in suicidal ideation, and a 56% decrease in suicidal behavior" (Russell et al., 2018, p. 503). Thus, the testimonial quieting of trans youth through refusal to see them as knowers of gender (and affirming that knowledge through using names and pronouns) is dangerously harmful as trans youth are increasingly likely to attempt suicide. 14 Figure 2 Ignacio's Resilience to Colonial Silencing (Ewing, 2022, p.294) Fig. 2 shows a second form of testimonial quieting unique to Two-Spirit and trans youth of colour. Ewing illustrates a response from Ignacio (they/them), who is trans, genderqueer, Taīno, and Yamokd-hu/Two-Spirit person (Ewing, 2022, p. 51). They note that White trans folks can engage in testimonial quieting of BIPOC trans folks. In this case, the White-settler trans community does not recognize Two-Spirit, Indigenous, African and non-White centred ideas of transness; thus, they fail to see BIPOC trans folks as knowers. This dismal by White folks is a silencing of cultures, genders and selves. The graphic form serves our understanding of silencing. First, it enables an allusion to colonialism and its harms while centring the Taīno people. The third panel uses a visual representation of a boat to show the structural nature of colonial imposition. However, the only visible people are the Taīno, disembodying white colonizers. The format of written text would make it challenging to acknowledge colonial imposition, 15 but also disembody White people to center Taīno people as the only embodied force. The constraints of a sentence - where we read from left to right and only see words - make it challenging to depict this centeralized/decentralized relationship to highlight the nuanced relationship and removal of power. In contrast, the graphic format allows an entire scene to be taken in, which enables the centring of the Taīno and the sidelining/cornering of colonizers. The testimonial silencing of Two-Spirit genders causes harm. Colonialism and the attempted erasure of Indigenous culture – including gender – have massive mental health impacts. Indigenous LGBTQ+ youth, in contrast to non-Indigenous LGBTQ+ youth, are more likely to seriously consider suicide (54% vs. 44%) and attempt suicide (23% vs. 14%) (Trevor Project The Mental Health and Well-Being of Indigenous LGBTQ Young People, 2023, p.3)3. The ongoing legacy and intersections of colonialism, racism, transphobia and homophobia contributes to these higher rates of mental illness (2023, pp. 5-7). As Kiera Munroe, (she/they) a Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer person of the Yellow Quill First Nations who serves as the co-national postsecondary youth coordinator with the 2 Spirits in Motion Society (2SIMS), notes that "before colonization, two-spirit youth were free to be themselves… [however, after colonization], two-sprit youth have to get permission to live as [their] identity, or when other students aren't learning about this, it continues to harm our Indigenous youth, which adds another barrier for them in our society" (Munroe, 2023). 3 Currently there exists no research on Two-Spirit and/or transgender Indigenous youth mental health in contrast to White trans youth. This study by Trevor project compares LGBTQ+ Indigenous folks to non-Indigenous LGBTQ+ people. A total of 66% of the Indigenous respondents self-identified as transgender or nonbinary and around 25% identified as Two-Spirit (some youth identify with both identities as discussed). 16 2.1.2 Tracking Testimonial Smothering Figure 3 "Medical Discrimination" (Kobabe, 2019, pp. 124-125) 4 The second kind of testimonial oppression is testimonial smothering. Smothering occurs when a "speaker perceives one's immediate audience as unwilling or unable to get the appropriate uptake of preferred testimony ... it is ultimately the truncating of one's own testimony, in order to ensure that the testimony contains only content for which one's audience demonstrates testimonial competence" (Dotson, 4 Illustrations from GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR © 2019 by Maia Kobabe. Originally published by Lion Forge, a division of Oni Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission 17 2011, p. 244). Kobabe’s experience with eir doctor shows the testimonial smothering of trans youth. In this panel, e does not share medical concerns with eir doctor. Kobabe’s doctor is cisgender; thus, e does not see her as a knower of transgender health needs. Kobabe visually depicts self-smothering as the second and third panels show thought bubbles and have little empty space, showing e has many concerns. The fourth panel shifts from thought to speech bubbles. There is sharp contrast in these bubbles as there is considerable empty space. This contrast shows self-smothering through the truncating of eir own speech as, despite many concerns, e does not speak. Fear of medical discrimination is a considerable issue within the trans community, leading trans folks to distrust their audience and self-smother. There are reasons why trans people do not trust their healthcare professionals, as almost half of the trans people, and sixty-eight percent of trans people of colour - report mistreatment by medical professionals, including "refusal of care and verbal or physical abuse" (Medina et al., 2021, p.5). The harm or fear of transphobia by medical professionals has led to twenty-eight percent of trans people missing or delaying care (Medina et al., 2021, p.17). Furthermore, of the trans folks who continue to seek care, many report hesitation in expressing their health needs with doctors - similar to what Kobabe visualized in Fig 3 (Kobabe, 2019, p.130). Thus, many transgender folks self-truncate their speech by either not engaging in dialogue at all (avoiding medical appointments) or smothering speech as they fear the doctors will be hostile to information. Harm ensues as trans folks have vastly lower rates of physical and mental health than cisgender people owing to these health inequities combined with systemic discrimination. Figure 4 "Balance" (Kobabe, 2019, pp. 124-125) 18 5 Testimonial smothering extends beyond speech to physical appearance. Gender expression is a form of speech because it involves communication from one person to another. Physical presentation is partially an exchange of information, conveying who we are to the world, including gender. In Fig. 4, Kobabe describes the feeling that e must present as masculine for society to read em as genderqueer. In this case, the speaker is Kobabe, the audience is society, and the speech is gender expression. Thus, e uses physical presentation to communicate with society eir gender as e uses various traditionally masculine physical signifiers to "counterbalance" eir assumed femininity from eir sex assigned at birth. How is this testimonial smothering? E wants to "speak" or express eimself with femininity. However, e does not engage in this expression for fear the audience will see em as a cisgender woman; thus, e does trust eir audience to interpret the expression adequately. Figure 5 "Black Masculinity" (Ewing, 2022, p. 55) 5 Illustrations from GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR © 2019 by Maia Kobabe. Originally published by Lion Forge, a division of Oni Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission. 19 Understanding gender expression as speech necessitates intersectional analysis, meaning accounting for how various forms of identity always exist concurrently in structuring an individual's experience - notably race, gender and class (Crenshaw, 1989). Rhea Ewing portrays Daiquiri's (they/them) expression of how society reads their gender (2022). They are a Black non-binary person who notes that their audience's understanding of their gender - notably masculinity - is inextricable from their race. This connection occurs as society holds racist myths that cause people to interpret a Black person's masculinity as inherently "antagonistic" or "brutish" (pp. 56-57). In contrast, there are no similar racist stigmas about White people; thus, White people can express masculinities of confidence and competence that are not adversarial or aggressive (pp. 54-55). Therefore, in considering the expressions of gender 20 identity to audiences, we must consider the intersecting identities a person holds as factors influencing how the audience will read a person's gendered communication. Figure 6 "Hormones" (Ewing, 2022, p. 122 ) However, not all transgender folks feel they must alter their "speech" or gender to appease their audience. Dutchess (she/her) is a Black trans woman. She took hormones but began having adverse emotional side effects from her HRT (Ewing, 2022, p.122). She went off the hormones as she affirmed her identity through self-knowledge and not from external validation. This act counters testimonial smothering as she refuses to change her speech to appease an audience6. Dutchess acknowledges that her 6 It is vitally important to note that hormone replacement therapy is necessary care for many transgender people. While I have argued that Dutchess' individual choice to stop hormones is a turning away from needing to validate the self from external gaze, for some trans folks, the opposite action, starting HRT is a validation of self. HRT is a vital and necessary option for some trans people as a "vital and life-saving" procedure for many to better align and affirm a person's internal sense of gender with their external presentation (Campbell et al., 2023). HRT usage should be led by and centred on each trans person's needs. 21 audience may be incompetent as they may not correctly see her as a woman (p.121). However, she does not change her desired expression (taking hormones that she felt had some adverse impacts) to validate the audience's incompetence. Dutchess does not self-truncate but honours her selfhood. 2.1.3 Tracking Hermenetuical Injustice Figure 7 "Whose Language?" (Symington, 2021, p.31) Epistemic violence is related to hermeneutical injustice. In fact, Fricker and Jenkins argue that "The testimonial injustices of various kinds suffered by trans people offer a particularly stark illustration of the connection between testimonial injustice and hermeneutical marginalization… Since trans people were not able to contribute to this discourse on a footing of equality, rather than being seen as experts on their own lives their voices were effectively overridden by those of cis people with … no first-hand 22 experience of being a trans person" (Fricker and Jenkins, 2017, p. 11). In Fig. 7, Sabrina Symington visualizes hermeneutical injustice for transgender people (2021). Hermeneutical injustice occurs when "some significant areas of one's social experience [is] obscured from collective understanding owing to a structural identity prejudice in the collective hermeneutical resource" (Fricker, 2007, p.155). The top panel shows that Molly (she/they) is trying to understand herself as a woman, but they only have Western cisnormative language to understand the self. A significant area of social experience for Molly - her gender - is obscured as she operates from this Western hermeneutical resource with limited language and around trans identity. The bottom panel visualizes that Molly's inability to see herself as a woman is not an individual failing but structural in origin. While Fricker notes the exclusion of transgender voices from the conceptualization of gender, she fails to analyze the foundational root of this development - settler-colonialism. The powerful who crafted our language were exclusively cisgender and White colonizers coming to Turtle Island. Symington provides visualization to this structural identity prejudice with this consideration of how those that constituted our language were not only exclusively cisgender but also White, non-Indigenous Christian, able-bodied, neurotypical and male. Figure 8 Plant of Gender Queer (Kobabe, 2019, p.103) 23 7 Hermeneutical injustice impacts transgender youth in an ability to understand the self. In Fig. 8 from Gender Queer, Kobabe notes that e did not have the language to make sense of eir "plant." This plant is a metaphorical representation of Kobabe’s gender identity. Thus, hermeneutical injustice occurs as e cannot make sense of a significant social experience, gender, for eimself or to others. The graphic form enhances an understanding of hermeneutical injustice. The plant visualizes a lacuna in our collective hermeneutics; it shows how experiences can be connected, yet the lack of language (the lack of a plant) means a person cannot understand oneself. Hermeneutical injustice materializes when these gaps in language are not neutral but cause harm. First, hermeneutical injustice injures an individual as it 'prevents [a person] from understanding a 7 Illustrations from GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR © 2019 by Maia Kobabe. Originally published by Lion Forge, a division of Oni Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission 24 significant patch of her own experience: that is a patch of experience which it is strongly in her interest to understand, for without that understanding she is left deeply troubled, confused and isolated" (Fricker, 2007, p.151). Trans youth are prevented from understanding significant experiences - gender - as society provides limited education on trans identities. This causes trans youth to feel "troubled" as they do not align with the gender assigned to them at birth and have no language to express themselves as their true genders. Further, trans youth may have "confusion" around various gender dysphoric/euphoric experiences. For example, a non-binary person without the language of gender dysphoria will be confused as to why they hate their breasts, or a trans girl may question why she feels joy and like her authentic self when wearing her sister's dress. Finally, trans youth without language to express themself may feel "isolated" from their family and society that do not seem to share feelings or an understanding of their experiences. Second, hermeneutical injustice harms society. As hermeneutical injustice limits self-understanding, this leads to a restricted ability to communicate with others. Thus, this limits the general community, as trans people cannot express or fully be themselves with those they love. Furthermore, the lack of language prevents trans youth from finding a trans community. Without language to self-understand, transgender people cannot form communities of people with shared experiences. Finally, there is harm to our collective hermeneutical resource. "The primary harm of (the central case of) hermeneutical injustice concerns exclusion from the pooling of knowledge" (p.162). Fricker, in her consideration of sexual assault, argues that while a person experiencing sexual assault suffers from epistemic harm, her harasser does not (2007, p.155). The harasser does not experience trauma and does not suffer from an inability to describe the experience. Furthermore, the individual may benefit from the lack of hermeneutical resources as the person facing abuse lacks resources to report (p.155). However, the assumed colonial cisnormativity harms both transgender and cisgender people. The first critical difference is that no physical and/or sexual abuse occurs. Instead, the lack of language causes structural violence as there is a lacuna in language for the expression of self and gender. This cisnormativity implies that your gender is your genitalia, which hurts cisgender people by limiting gender 25 identity development. All people deserve the space to determine how they want to enact their gender beyond sexual organs and hormones. People should have space to develop a gender that incorporates various intersections of selfhood, including culture, individual experience, relationality, and more. It is critical to note that while cisnormativity and the gender binary hurt everyone, trans people face the most significant impacts. For example, only transgender people will have challenges getting people to use their pronouns and will have to fight for access to gender-affirming healthcare, access to bathrooms and other gender-segregated spaces in society. 2.2 Resisting Epistemic Violence Against Transgender Youth 2.2.1 Resisting Testimonial Quieting Trans graphic novels not only track but also resist epistemic violence. The use of stories can counter testimonial quieting of transgender youth from society's unwillingness to accept identities and voices. Vivek Shraya (she/her) is an Indian-Canadian transgender woman who runs transgender educational seminars. She recounts that people were resistant to gender-neutral washrooms. However: When I would describe stories about actual students and staff at the college who'd been harassed in washrooms or had either not eaten or relieved themselves in their pants due to the stress of not being able to safely use a washroom because of their gender expression, the mood would shift dramatically. Filled with outrage and sympathy after hearing these stories, the participants were often more receptive to engaging with the rest of the material. They more willingly reflected on their privileges and considered how they could be better allies (Shraya, 2018, pp. 60-61). Thus, she concludes that personal narratives, particularly with traumatic accounts, can be uniquely positioned to encourage acceptance of trans identities (p. 61). However, it is upsetting that trans-acceptance necessitates the sharing of trauma; "I have always been disturbed by this transition, by the reality that often the only way to capture someone's attention and to encourage them to recognize their own internal biases (and to work to alter them) is to confront them with sensational stories of suffering. Why is my humanity only seen or cared about when I share the ways in which I have been victimized and violated?" (Shraya, 2018, p. 61). Despite these discomforts, she continues to engage in sharing traumatic 26 experiences as she feels it is the most effective means to push cisgender people to personal and structural changes and create a better world for trans folks (p.61). All four graphic novels analyzed provide the personal and sometimes traumatic experiences of growing up trans within a structurally cisnormative world.8 Thus, these personalized accounts of transgender experiences may encourage hostile audiences to listen to trans folks and trust them as knowers. For example, Fig. 1 shows Min's grandmother dismissing her grandchild's gender identity and their gender euphoria from binding (Christensen, 2023, p. 84). I consider how this image could impact two different hostile and non-trustworthy audiences. First is an audience similar to Min’s family that is explicitly transphobic and dismisses their child. In this case, I argue that the graphic novel has a limited potential to change transphobia instantaneously. A transphobic parent could read this story and see the distress and loneliness of Min, moving them to reconsider their transphobia. However, this goal feels aspirational because it is unlikely that reading a story is enough to counter their blatantly transphobic views. Thus, how can this story serve to counter the testimonial injustice of the most transphobic relatives? It involves a slower and more gradual process. People are not born transphobic; they come to learn this hatred. If we can increase the number of trans voices and affirming stories, over time, we will shift the teachings around transness and increase acceptance. However, this slow, gradual process does little for trans youth who currently live with hostile parents. In this case, graphic novels can exist as a different form of resistance - escape. Some trans youth whose families dismiss their gender, or whom they cannot come out to for real fears of being disowned, resist transphobia by turning to creativity as resilience (Austin et al., 2020). They use stories to see themselves represented, imagine their futures and come to accept themselves (Austin et al., 2020). Thus, these books may do nothing for testimonial injustice but instead validate and affirm a person without the support of a trustworthy audience. 8 Critically, the books also portray experiences of trans joy. A full analysis of trans joy as resistance is beyond the scope of this thesis and represents a major limitation of my work (this limitation is discussed in the conclusion). I encourage reading my peer Addye Susnick (they/them) who is writing their PhD on Trans Joy and Community Care (2019-). Furthermore the book Gender Euphoria compiled by Laura Kate Dale (she/her), is an essential compilation of trans, non-binary and intersex people’s stories of joy. 27 In contrast, this story has liberatory potential from testimonial injustice for different, less openly hostile parents. This audience recognizes youth for their trans identity (and would never disown their child); however, they are hesitant to empathize and listen to their experiences of harm. These parents may note that society is so much more accepting of identities today compared to their youth and claim that anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is long gone. These kinds of comments constitute testimonial injustice as they do not trust the speaker (trans youth today) as a knower of identity and/or harm by dismissing their ability to interpret realities. However, Min's story shows a traumatic experience of transphobia occurring today. This depiction encourages readers to reflect on the continuation of transphobia. Furthermore, Min describes the impact of dismissing trans youth's needs and that they were only able to understand themselves after leaving their family (p.85). Thus, they show how family ignorance has long term effects and encourages a cisgender audience to listen through expression of trauma. The graphic form is uniquely positioned to confront neglectful audiences. The images encourage empathetic engagement by visually showing the harms of quieting. With written words alone, we could not see the sadness in Min’s eyes and the tilting down of their shoulders in response to their family’s dismissal. Further, we could not see the audience's hostility – the image visualizes Min’s grandmother wrapping her hands around Min’s shirt which visualizes her taking over their bodily autonomy. Further, we see Min’s mother crossing her arms across her chest, signalling she is closed off to their child. Thus, this personal, traumatic, visualized story forces a confrontation with the bias that transphobia is not present and encourages empathetic engagement from audiences. Fig. 2 encourages a countering of testimonial quieting of Indigenous/Two-Spirit and BIPOC trans folks by White trans people. Testimonial quieting occurs as BIPOC folks speak as knowers of gender rooted in their culture, but the White audience dismisses this knowledge and these people as "non-knowers." This graphic novel has the potential to fight this injustice through calling in White trans folks and then calling out harmful actions. The graphic novel first makes parallels that White trans folks can understand, commenting that cisgender people often are the first to bring up gender. This understanding engages White trans folks. Next, Ignacio shows a parallel way this White trans community can perpetrate 28 similar violence – through the failure to bring up race as central to gender and society. Thus, Ignacio engages a White trans audience to start or continue active reflection on racism and/or colonialism within trans spaces and society at large. This comic has the potential to decrease testimonial injustice as White audiences may become less hostile audiences and listen to Two-Spirit and BIPOC trans folks as knowers of distinct genders, systemic oppressions, cultures and joy. 2.2.2 Resisting Testimonial Smothering Similarly transgender graphic novels can counter testimonial smothering. First, as discussed, graphic novels can help educate cisgender folks, decreasing testimonial quieting. This increased education also counters smothering as smothering occurs when speakers' distrust an audience's ability to uptake their testimony. Thus, if trans youth know their family/acquaintances are reading and increasing their understanding of trans issues, they are more likely to trust their audience and not self-truncate speech. Second, graphic novels allow transgender youth to articulate transness even if they have untrustworthy audiences. Dutchess describes that she has gone off hormones not because her audience is accurately reading her gender in all scenarios but because she is affirming herself. Thus, she resists smothering by changing the prioritization of listeners - she prioritizes herself as the audience over external viewers9. Third, all three graphic novels provide complex articulations of transgender identity and, at some points, counter traditional narratives of transgender experiences. This refusal by trans authors counters testimonial injustice as they do not truncate speech to fulfill speech that audiences will easily understand. I argue that graphic novels are uniquely positioned to counter testimonial smothering. Comics provide amplification through simplification: "When we abstract an image through cartooning, we're not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details. By stripping down an image to its 9 While Dutchess engages in resilience through her ability to affirm herself without hormones this self-honouring should not be expected of all trans people. Other trans folks may engage in their own resilience by using hormones to create, mold and honour their bodies as spaces that better align with internal sense of gender. Thus, resistance to self-smothering of gender may involve opposite actions (going on HRT or going off HRT). 29 essential "meaning," artist can amplify meaning in a way that realistic art fails to achieve" (McCloud, 1994, p.30). Concerning trans graphic novels, I consider how Kobabe highlights to cisgender medical audiences what they must focus on. In Fig. 3 Kobabe uses simplification as we see limited expressions on eir face except for flushed cheeks. Through simplification, the message of trans youth feeling uncomfortable and/or shame in medical spaces is amplified. This forces cisgender audiences to see the pain Kobabe experiences as e focuses attention on eir discomfort. This visualization and amplification through simplification highlights problems of transphobia within medical space and encourages potentially hostile medical professionals to engage with trans youth. Furthermore, these graphic novels resist testimonial smothering by empowering trans youth as speakers. Graphic novels are unique in format in terms of enabling universality: the simplification of comics enables readers to see themselves in the comic, not simply as another narrator (McCloud, 1994, p.36). "When you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face you see another face but when you enter the world of the cartoon, you see yourself" (p. 36). Thus, transgender youth can read themselves into various stories and articulations and develop a trans identity that feels the most authentic to them. Further, various comics express that trans youth can continue speaking even if the audience does not initially adequately uptake information; for example, Kobabe expresses that eir parents were not accepting of eir gender and pronouns at the start, but e continued to assert these pronouns as e knew who e was. Thus, e is resisting testimonial smothering as e refuses to alter eir speech to an uninformed audience. This empowerment decreases testimonial smothering as transgender youth do not feel that their speech of self is dependent upon a knowing audience. However, not all trans people have the safety to dismiss their audiences. For some trans youth, asserting gender identity leads to disowning and forced homelessness. Thus, they are forced into testimonial smothering - the trans youth (speaker) cannot trust their parents (audience) with speech as the audience is so profoundly incompetent that they are hostile. However, these comics can still counter testimonial smothering by changing the audience. For example, Min expresses that they had to leave their biological family before coming into their identity as non-binary. However, even when they were young 30 and dismissed in their expression and experience, they were very much still non-binary, valid and an example of transgender youthhood. Thus, the graphic novel empowers youth to become both the speaker and audience (individually able to express and validate their own gender identity without an outside audience). 2.2.3 Resisting Hermenetuical Injustice Finally, these trans graphic novelists resist hermeneutical injustice by providing trans readers with more language to understand a significant aspect of self - gender and intersecting identities. For example, from an interview with Paul Bowers, Kobabe recounts that trans youth expressed before reading Gender Queer, they "had no idea anyone else felt this way [and they] didn't even know that there were words [to express their gender identities]" (Bowers, 2023). Thus, trans youth are encouraged to emancipate from cisnormative assumptions of their genders to become their true genders. Hermeneutical injustice also leads to difficulty communicating the self to others. Trans youth highlight this harm, notably rendering their identities legible to cisgender parents (Kobabe, 2023). However, Kobabe recounts that "struggling kids told me my book helped them talk to parents" (2023). Thus, hermeneutical injustice is resisted as both the trans speaker and the audience are gifted tools to understand and communicate about gender identity. The graphic novel is a particularly useful medium for resisting hermeneutical injustice. First, they simplify information. It is challenging to understand trans identity and come to understand the concept as it applies to the self. With drawings and straightforward language, the graphic novel provides accessible, simplified and engaging ways to see and understand transgender identities. Thus, this format decreases injustice as people close to transgender youth people gain an understanding of trans identity that they can easily understand and integrate into daily lives. Second, due to the effort of Two-Spirit and trans voices, there is increasing visibility of affirming language for trans folks (Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2022; Branigin et al., 2023; Commissioner for Human Rights, 2024). However, various forces - notably conservative groups - claim that youth are "too young" to have access to this language about gender identity (George, 2021; Strangio, 2021). However, graphic novels resist hermeneutical injustice by 31 explicitly appealing to young audiences and affirming that transness is not reserved for adults but something for youth. In Fig. 2, Ignacio combats hermeneutical injustice unique to Two-Spirit and/or BIPOC trans folks. They express that their transness is rooted in Taīno gender practices - through the visual and written depiction of cultural revitalization and continuity. Ignacio's story combats hermeneutical injustice by amending our language and understanding around gender to show Two-Spirit youth that they can emancipate from Western gender constructs by continuing, reclaiming, or revitalizing their true genders from their communities' practices and languages. Furthermore, this depiction combats ignorance amongst audiences - notably White and non-Indigenous - that lack an understanding that Western gender constructs are far from the singular means to express and exist in one’s gender. 32 Chapter 3: Conclusion 3.1 Summary In sum, I have argued that transgender youth face silencing through epistemic violence, which is tracked and resisted through graphic novels. First, transgender youth face testimonial silencing as their audiences fail to see them as knowers - including cisgender parents struggling to see trans youth for their true genders and White people inability to recognize BIPOC trans youth’s genders if they are based on Indigenous or non-Western teachings. Second, testimonial smothering occurs when trans youth self-truncate their speech owing to an audience lacking the competence to uptake preferred testimony. Self-smothering includes trans youth feeling unsafe to share health concerns with doctors lacking trans-affirming training and challenges sharing an authentic gender identity and/or presentation with an audience who do not show competence in adequately interpreting their gender. These communication barriers between trans speakers and an audience owed to structural deficits in the language constitute a third form of epistemic violence - hermeneutical injustice. Hermeneutical injustice occurs as there is a structural identity prejudice in our language, which creates deficits for trans youth to understand and communicate identity. These forms of silencing cause harm to trans youth, including feelings of isolation from society, increased likelihood of suicide attempts, worse physical health through medical neglect and an inability to engage in authentic self-expression. In addition to these individual injuries, epistemic violence perpetuates structural harms, including the perpetuation of colonialism through assimilating and erasing BIPOC and Indigenous cultures and the reproduction of cisnormativity, which denies all people an ability to understand and connect to their genders. While these harms continue, these graphic novels counter epistemic violence. The books represent the potential for emancipation from systems of harm by providing trans-affirming language/images to understand and communicate the self, encourage 33 empathizing with hostile audiences, and empower trans youth to affirm their genders to potentially an outside audience but most critically to themselves. 3.2 Limitation and Future Directions My thesis had several limitations, and there is a considerable need for others to continue this research. First, I noted that comics as resistance involve expressing and claiming trans joy; however, this area remains undertheorized and needs more critical thought. In particular, I noticed a theme of humour to express trans self and resist systemic transphobia; however, I provided no analysis on this theme. I hope other scholars take up the necessary work of studying this joy and play in an inherently fun medium. Second, B.R George and Stacey Goguen analyze how transgender youth face hermeneutical backlash as a central form of epistemic violence impacting their lives (2021). I did not consider this form of epistemic violence through graphic novels and encourage others to look at how cisgender relatives look to undermine and discredit hermeneutical liberation. Third, I focused on graphic novels as a medium to illuminate silencing of transgender youth. However, there are other mediums that would provide useful to celebrate and center queer culture. Notably online spaces and apps provide considerable outlets and spaces of education and voice for transgender youth. I encourage other authors to consider these mediums and spaces. Finally, while I acknowledged the role of settler-colonialism and racism in the perpetuation of epistemic violence towards trans youth of colour, my theorization and readings remain primarily centred on Western thought. I encourage other scholars - in particular Two-Spirit and/or BIPOC trans folks - to center other gender traditions to tackle silencing. 3.3 Contribution I contend that my research on epistemic violence facing transgender youth analyzed with graphic novels is essential work. Studying the violence of silencing is imperative even as trans youth face the more visible forms of physical, social and legal violence. First, the silencing of trans youth leads to other more visible harms. For example, physical and sexual abuse often involves dehumanizing a person (Bevens & Loughnan, 2019; Shahbazi et al., 2023). If a perpetrator engages in testimonial silence of trans 34 youth and dismisses their very gender and self as knowers, they can dehumanize and more easily continue to engage in violence. Second, they constitute their own forms of harm. As discussed, testimonial silencing of trans youth's names and pronouns makes it more likely that trans youth attempt suicide. Thus, we need to continue tracking and resisting the silencing of transgender youth. The usage of graphic novels as a tool of analysis is likewise critical. It not only allows the visualization of silencing but is one medium used by many transgender youth for self-realization. The centering of mediums utilized by the community is essential to provide the most accurate portrayal and celebration of trans youth. Fig. 9 Testimonial Smothering & Hermeneutical Injustice "Heartbeat" (Reimer, 2019) Fig. 10 Testimonial Smothering & Hermeneutical Injustice "Shaking Closet" (Reimer, 2017) 35 This research has not simply been analytical but personally necessary. I have been reflecting on why it took me so long to understand myself as transgender. I presented very androgynously and told people I was not a boy or a girl. However, people would - incorrectly - inform me that this "was not possible" as there "are only two genders." Thus, I can see my young self facing testimonial silencing as my audience failed to see me as a knower of my gender and dismissed my testimony. Furthermore, I would self-smother. Due to this dismissal of self, I did not trust society (my audience) to accept my expression of queerness. Thus, I stifled my authentic expression. My comics in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, portray testimonial smothering (self-silencing) as I refrain from expressing my queerness visualized through the rainbow colours of my heart (Fig. 9) and in my background (Fig. 10) being shoved back into the dark cavern of my chest or closet. Finally, in retrospect, I can see my experience of hermeneutical injustice. I did not have the language of transness nor access to "non-binary" as an identity. Thus, I worked to stifle this selfhood into a wrongly fitting identity of "girl". This gap is visualized as there are no trans colours present (light blue, pink and white). Through this academic research and other personal work, I have loved and admired this younger kid. I can forgive the young people who tried desperately to make themselves look like a cisgender girl. I now see that they were not too ignorant to understand themselves, but societal structures worked to silence their authentic voice. 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Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Political Science
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Afsahi, Afsoun
Speaking and drawing out : graphic novels to track and resist the silencing of transgender youth
Text