The Gender Identity Law and the building of transgender people's identities

Abstract

This work shows the results of a qualitative research that was carried out in San Luis, Argentina. It focuses on how the Gender Identity Law influences the identity construction process of transgender people, (tranvesty, transexual and transgender). The concept of identity is understood as a constant construction process, in which the exchage of self-definitions with other people has a central rol. This construction process is influenced by social interactions that support or negate the gender identity, what causes transgender people to develope more or less confident identities. By acknowledging transgender people by the names they decide to adopt, and offerring them the possibility to adecuate their bodies to fit their self-perceived gender, the Gender Identity Law enables the construction of these identities in a positive way.