Att bli till genom att vara någon annan : En kvalitativ studie om rollspelande transpersoners upplevelser av att konstruera könsidentitet genom textrollspel online

Sammanfattning: The aim of this paper is to examine how trans people who embody fictional characters in text-based roleplays online construct gender identity through immersive representations of their understandings of gender as performance. I have conducted semi-structured chat interviews with seven participants and examined the transcripts with a queer phenomenological theoretical framework. I have found that the participants have a deep understanding of the differences between the physical and the digital world and that they use this knowledge to safely explore gender identity and expression within the online roleplay. Furthermore, the participants express how the digital world allows them to experience material bodies that they do not possess in the physical world. This affords them the freedom to explore bodies as expressions of gender identity as well as the opportunity to experience their hopes for the future in the physical world.