The research

The empirical material on which this book draws comes from two research projects. The first research project – ‘Transgender Identities, Intimate Relationships and Practices of Care’ – was completed for doctoral study (2000–04). The research was funded by the ESRC research project ‘Care, Values and the Future of Welfare’ (CAVA) at the University of Leeds. The second project – ‘Transgender Practices of Identity, Intimacy and Care’ – was funded by an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Leeds (2004–5). The aim of the project was to conduct detailed further analysis of the previous research in light of the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.

Communication was first established with transgender community, self-help and campaigning groups. A range of transgender organisations that publish regular newsletters and journals agreed to carry an outline of my research and a call for participants. Further access to sources came from placing requests for participants on transgender websites. I had two personal contacts that put me in contact with other people. I also made contact with academics working within transgender studies. Over a period of several months prior to interviewing, I visited a range of transgender spaces, such as self-help groups, social events, workshops and community meetings. I also made use of internet transgender discussion forums to talk about the research. In selecting people to interview, I used a theoretical sampling strategy (Weston, 1991; Weeks et al, 2001) whereby participants were purposively selected in relation to a range of variables (gender, sexuality, age, occupation, geographical location, partnering and parenting status, and transitional time span) in order to maximise diversity of the sample group. However, research findings do not presume to be representative of transgender people as a whole group.

The research was carried out in a UK setting and research on non-UK, and particularly non-Western, transgender cultures would have produced different findings. Time limitations of the research meant that I was unable to interview all the people who were interested in participating in the project. I am aware that the people who contacted me are connected, to varying degrees, with a wider transgender ‘community’, or, at least, subscribe to transgender newsletters, journals or email mailing lists where I placed the requests for participants. This is not the case for many transgender people who have no contact with other transgender people and transgender groups.