Screen-births: Exploring the transformative potential in trans video blogs on YouTube

This article takes as its point of departure the numerous amounts of video blogs (vlogs) on YouTube (youtube.com) where transsexuals (using hormones and/or surgery to alter their body) document and discuss their gender transition. The transition is often articulated as a birth or a re-birth signalling a new start in life and a new identity. ‘Trans-‘ in its many meanings and configurations seems to be a suitable name for these vlogs as well as a fruitful and thought-provoking frame for engaging with them. In this article I will touch upon ‘trans’ in three different ways, as an identity category (transsexual), as a movement of becoming (transitioning) and as a characterisation of the vlog medium (transmedia). I will argue that the vlog operates as something in-between an autobiography, a diary, and a vehicle of communication and social connection. The questions that I will pursue are: how are these various forms of –‘trans-‘ played out in the vlogs and what might the transformative potential be?