ABSTRACT
In Western culture, a non-normative gendered life, such as a transgendered or transsexual life, is seen by many, even by the individuals themselves, as problematic, morally bankrupt or sick. Terms such as transsexual or transgendered carry so much stigma that most who could be so labelled go to extraordinary lengths to avoid this labelling. In overview, the author uses life story, cultural texts, poetry, photography and prose to examine and critique the interplay between gender nonconformity and normative cultural forces that impacted on his life. Sara Delamont contends autoethnography is unethical, a narcissistic self-obsessive substitution for research and an abrogation of the honourable trade of the scholar. In contrast, she suggests autobiographical reflexivity on fieldwork is central to the progress of ethnography. Delamont concludes that ethnographic research is only worthwhile if it meets two criteria: to study the social world and to move the discipline forward. Without critical analysis, interpretation and commentary, autoethnography would default to being autobiography.
