Transgender Interactionist Perspective

From an interactionist perspective, we have to look on the micro level of things. Several different views we could possibly look at are the symbols attached to and shown to transgender persons and how they have received or perceived them, the events that may have led them into their present roles and the relationships that continue to impact them on a daily basis.
Symbols are in every portion of society as we know it; conversations, relationships, material things, facial expressions and things of the like. Some symbols, more than others have a major role in the life a transgender person. Studies suggest that transgender persons may not have received the different sanctions when they exhibited gender expressions opposite to their birth genitalia. For example, a present day transgender, born male but identifies as female, may have grown up in a single parent home with his mother where when he dressed in mommy’s shoes and earrings , she just smiled and thought it was cute. Where as if the father was in the home, it is very possible that the father would show disapproval and that child would have experienced a negative sanction and therefore a certain expectation of the “correct gender expression” would have been etched into the childs mind. Symbols can be as subtle as a smile and as abrupt as a rejecting rebuke. Either one can be the influence that shapes a confused boy who feels like a girl into a ostentatious transgender who tattoos the transgender flag as a nonverbal symbol which states he is “transgender and proud” or turn a tomboy girl into a depressed introvert fearing she will be ostracized by family and friends if she expresses her true inner identity.
Many transgender persons today can remember a certain event(s) or relationship(s) that steered them into their transgender revelation or is still influencing them today. For instance, I was told by a childhood classmate who now identifies himself as a female that it was easier for him to be a girl rather than a boy because he had been raped repeatedly by his father and uncles. Another friend remembers her mother being brutally beaten repeatedly over the years by a boyfriend and growing to hate both her mother and her abuser. She states, “I loathed my mother and her weakness to not be able to leave, but I hated her boyfriend even more, which led me to hate men all together”. She then admits to be a better man than her mother’s abuser or any other man for that fact. In addition, I was told by a friend on a social network that his being brung up in a Christian home by his single mother, he was taught that what he felt inside was wrong and upon him sharing his sexual preference being the same sex, he was repeatedly scolded and ridiculed for being and participating in acts that God saw as an abomination. He said it was not until he went to college, that he was able to feel accepted and be free to be the woman that was inside of him. In all instances, the events within their relationships played vital roles in their everyday lives which affected them and their transgender revelations.
Lastly, in their present day identities as transgender persons, they live out daily interactions with their significant others. Countless occurrences have been documented through transgender support groups, faith based organizations that are federally funded and research studies that document a transgender’s need to be accepted by family, friends and other members of society being the number one reason most experience bouts of depression where suicidal thoughts and or attempts are a reoccurring solution to a negative reaction from their loved ones and or peers. It is also documented that many transgender persons interact with their unapproving family members and peers in a dramaturgical approach and feel forced to indulge in face-work, in hopes to gain their acceptance and affection. The young lady who had hate for her mother also stated that as long as she was in her mothers house she put on facides and her mother and boyfriend were oblivious to the inner hate she held towards them. Likewise, the young man whom lived in the Christian single parent home said he always was befriending girls and having them over to try and mislead his mother. He remembered going to prom with the date that made his mother happy and spending the night with the date that made him happy. In any case there are sad and happy accounts and I know the previous are a damper for those I’ve mentioned; however, there has also been cases documented where transgenders have transitioned and live out their sole desire of being the identity that was trapped inside. Point in case, is my childhood friend who is now recognized as a woman in every aspect of the word. He has successfully been able to transform into the identity that gave him peace in accepting who he was on the inside.