“Nasci em um corpo errado”: um estudo sobre a moda como estratégia de expressão de identidade das mulheres trans na Cidade de Maputo

Abstract

This work was carried out with the objective of understanding how fashion can be used as a strategy for expressing the identity of trans women in Maputo City. The problem brought up is really the fact of trying to understand how fashion starts to suggest an identity to trans women, and in which circumstances they are effectively based on fashion. Nevertheless, this subject is little explored in the Mozambican context. In order to make our study, we used the following theories: firstly, "Representations of the self in everyday life” by Goffman, as the main one, and the second "Construction of identity, by Dubar as auxiliary, which guided our research. This study used a qualitative approach, based on semi-structured interviews and for data collection, were interviewed 8 trans women whose ages start from 23 to 35 years. Data analysis was performed using the content analysis technique. The data collected showed that trans women constantly struggle for the recognition and social acceptance of the gender identity which they identify themselves. However, it was clear that the greatest concern was to be able to play roles of this gender in which the following strategies were adopted: make part of a group of other heterosexual women, wearing women's clothing and other fashion devices to enhance the body. About the process of the identity construction from fashion, it, the process, is carried out through two main pillars which are: transmitting to others the perception that they have of themselves and the perception that others have about the way they present themselves. It was also found that fashion can transmit an identity to trans women yet. However, through the components of fashion, they do not build just one identity, but multiple ones, depending on the context in which they are inserted.