Talking with Iranian trans women: Their experiences and identity development

Abstract

Introduction

This research sought to discover the psychological experiences of trans women born and raised in Iran, which incorporates the cultural surround unique to Iran.

Method

Fourteen trans women aged from 18 to 48, narrated their lives through in-depth interviews. We applied Corbin and Strauss’ (2015) approach to analyze the data in developing a Grounded Theory.

Results

Confusing Gender Identity (the Core Category) and eight other categories, including macro- and micro-contextual factors, actions/interactions, and consequences, depicted the processes in trans women’s lives; namely Destructive Family Environments, Traumatic Backgrounds, Impediments in Legislative and Medical Systems, disturbed feelings about Masculine Violation, Insecure Relationships, Self-devaluation, Gray Fortunes, and Social Insecurity. A conceptual model is developed from the findings that represent their relationships most comprehensively.

Conclusion

Findings shed light on female trans individuals’ lives and clarifies the contextual factors in gender-related fields that need extra care from scientific, educational, legislative, and health care associations and professionals in Iran to enhance the overall health of the transgender community as well as the rest of the society. Also, as most findings of the transgender population result from western cultures, this research provided a comprehensive understanding of trans women in a different cultural and political climate.

Keywords:

• Qualitative research
• gender dysphoria
• transgender studies
• Iranian trans women
• gender identity

Ethics statement

This research was reviewed and approved ethically by Tarbiat Modares University (Iran) and the University of British Columbia (Canada).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Dr. Parviz Azadfallah. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Notes

1 Telegram and Instagram are used as the most popular social media in Iran.

2 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–5th edition.

3 Schools are sex–segregated in Iran.

4 Public transportations (sky trains and buses) are sex–segregated in Iran.

5 Generation born from the mid-to-late 1990s until the 2010s.

6 Generation born from the early 1980s until mid-1990s to the early 2000s.