Transexuality and trans visibility in digital media: the narratives of Mandy Candy on YouTube

Abstract

This article aims to explore visibility in new media, especially on YouTube, from the study of autobiographical narratives broadcasted on that platform by a Brazilian transsexual woman, Amanda Guimarães. Better known as Mandy Candy, she had her channel / profile on the site selected for being the first Brazilian transexual youtuber woman (BBC Brazil, 2016), with the greatest amount of inscriptions among other trans youtubers and post publicly her personal experiences. Using Mandy Candy’s channel as the starting point of estimation, were selected the 5 most popular videos of Amanda, directly related to transsexuality. The content of the videos was critically analyzed, through an interdisciplinary perspective, articulating studies of narratives from Social Psychology, Social Sciences’ contemporary Gender Studies and reflections in the field of Social Communication. Oscillating between entertainment, instruction and personal testimony, Amanda’s videos spotlight the transsexual condition in a frank and direct way helping to reduce stigmas and transphobia. However, they also reveal that transgenital process and the search for a feminine body that may be recognized as cisgender involve conformity to normative esthetic patterns of femininity.

Keywords

• Transexualidade
• Narrativa autobiográfica
• YouTube
• Identidade de gênero
• Mulheres-Trans.