ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Resilience and Resistance: The Narrative of a Transgender Youth in Rural South Africa
Sadiyya Haffejee1 · Lisa Wiebesiek1
Accepted: 22 June 2021 / Published online: 3 August 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
In spite of progressive and inclusive laws, gender and sexual minority individu- als in South Africa continue to experience high rates of violence. Drawing on a single descriptive case study, this paper explores the adverse experiences and the sources of individual and relational resilience of Dee, a transgender youth living in a resource-poor, rural community in South Africa. Through her narrative, Dee provides a rich, textured description of the resources she draws on to strengthen her resilience and the resistance she stages in addressing violence and discrimina- tion within a traditional community. Referencing a socio-ecological framework of resilience, rooted in social justice, the article considers the ways in which personal, interpersonal and systemic factors intersect to both hinder and foster resilience. The paper emphasises the need for multi-systemic interventions that challenges adversity rather than adjusts to it.
Keywords Transgender · Resilience · Social justice · Social-ecological · Rural · South Africa
Introduction
Unlike the majority of countries on the African continent, SA has a progressive and inclusive legislative and constitutional framework that acknowledges the rights and legal protection of people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender1 and queer (LGBTQ) [1]. However, as evidenced by empirical research, testimonials,
* Sadiyya Haffejee sadiyyah@uj.ac.za
Lisa Wiebesiek wiebesiekl@ukzn.ac.za
1 Benoni, South Africa
1 Transgender is an umbrella term encompassing individuals whose gender identity is different to their sex assigned at birth.
and news reports, a failure to uphold and implement the constitutional commitments and legal policies as well as adherence to conservative societal values means that LGBTQ-identifying people in SA continue to experience high levels of violence, abuse, and discrimination in their homes and communities, and while accessing basic services including education, health care and justice [2, 3]. In this context, South African trans activist Thekwane Mphisholo [4] asks, “If the constitution understands and includes me, why can’t you do the same?”.
In 2016 the South African Love Not Hate Campaign [5] reported that nationally 56% of youth aged between 16 and 24 reported experiencing some form of discrimi- nation at school based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. This figure was highest in Kwa-Zulu Natal with 79% of school students experiencing discrimination.
Verbal insults were the most common form of violence reported (55%) followed by actual threats of violence at 35%. Trans and gay students appeared to be primary tar- gets of physical abuse with one in 10 youth reporting rape or sexual abuse [5].
Research [3] suggests that sustained exposure to violence, abuse and discrimina- tion may result in a host of negative consequences for LGBTQ-identifying people, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and risky behaviour. Indeed, preva- lence of mental health difficulties appears to be particularly high amongst LGBTQ- identifying people. Hendricks and Testa [6] suggest that elevated rates of psycho- logical distress are, in large part, a result of the negative manner in which the social ecology views and responds to LGBTQ individuals. The combination of real experi- ences of victimisation and discrimination with the fear and anticipation of this abuse contribute to high levels of psychological stress which may, over time, lead to sig- nificant mental health difficulties [7, 8].
These findings are consistent with those reported by Müller et al. [9] in their study on the mental health and well-being of individuals identifying as LGBTQ.
They [9] reported that 80% of the trans women in their South African study expe- rienced verbal harassment due to their gender identity, 67% had experienced sexual violence, and 63% had experienced physical violence. Two thirds of transwomen (66%) reported signs of depression and 39% showed signs of moderate or severe anxiety [9]. This is in contrast to population statistics which suggest that 30.3% of adults in South Africa will have suffered from some form of mental disorder in a lifetime [10]. Müller et al. [9] further found that approximately three in five trans- women had thought of suicide in their lifetime, and two in five had attempted sui- cide in their lifetime. Of this number, 14% had attempted suicide in the past year. In the same study, almost half the individuals identifying as transwomen (48%) used alcohol at levels that were harmful to their health.
In SA, individuals identifying as trans are able to change their legal gender marker in their legal identification documents upon proof of gender affirming treat- ment, and may also change the name they were registered with at birth to a pre- ferred name [11]. While hormone replacement therapy may be accessed at public healthcare facilities in at least four of the nine provinces, accessing gender affirming healthcare in South Africa remains a challenge [12]. Further, although the Psycho- logical Society of South Africa has developed practice guidelines for professionals working in the field of sexual and gender diversity, there is a lack of training related to trans people’s physical and mental health needs [11, 13, 14].
In spite of the challenging circumstances faced by LGBTQ-identifying individu- als, there is a growing body of research that suggests the presence of resilience in sexual and gender minority individuals. For example, trans activist Liyana Madiki- zela [4] says,
‘I have decided to be myself. I am a gender non-conforming body and I want to be a role model to the future generation of queers to come. Someone who is unapologetically non-conforming and who navigates their lives against all the hostile odds of living in a township.’
The narratives of both Mphisholo and Madikizela [4] allude to the challenges and hostility experienced by LGBTQ individuals while simultaneously highlighting their resilience.
The aim of this article is to draw attention to the adaptive processes employed by transgender youth in the face of significant adversity by describing the experiences of Dee, a transgender youth2 living in a rural area in South Africa. Through her narrative, Dee provides a rich, textured description of the challenges she faces, the resilience she draws on, and the resistance she stages in addressing the discrimina- tion she experiences. Using a case study design and drawing on a social-ecologi- cal framework of resilience, in this analysis of Dee’s narrative of her experiences in claiming her identity, we consider the way in which personal, interpersonal and systemic factors intersect to enable and/or constrain resilience within a rural South African context. This analysis focuses on a small but significant part of Dee’s life narrative. Understanding the experiences of transgender youth and what enables resilience is critical for informing effective service delivery, and adequate imple- mentation of policy, as well as guiding resilience research in this area [15].
Resilience and transgender youth
Resilience, the ability to adapt successfully following significant adversity, is con- ceptualised as a dynamic and complex process that is subject to change depending on developmental stage, context and risk exposure [16]. The focus of resilience research is an understanding of the protective resources that mitigate the risk of adverse conditions to allow for better outcomes [17]. While early resilience research focused on intrapsychic factors, contemporary understandings of resilience draw attention to the importance of the interaction between individual-level resources as well as interpersonal-, and structural-level resources in the way that individuals respond to exposure to adversity, and their ability to adapt positively following this exposure [18, 19]. From this multi-systemic perspective families, communities and environmental factors co-facilitate functional outcomes, the impact of which are dependent on a combination of the internal characteristics of the individual as well
2 In discussing Dee’s experiences, we use the terms ‘trans’ and ‘transgender’ interchangeably as these are the words used by Dee herself.
as the availability, accessibility, relevance and stability of resources in the environ- ment [20].
The bulk of resilience research with youth in South Africa has focused on expo- sure to a wide range of risks [21], however a specific focus on the resilience pro- cesses of gender and sexual minority youth is limited. Importantly, Colpitts and Gahagan [22] note that heteronormative and cis-normative models of resilience are inadequate to understand the experiences of sexual and gender diverse individuals and suggest a need to explore and develop specific models and measures of resil- ience that consider individual, social and structural determinants of resilience in this population.
Existing, international studies focused on resilience in transgender youth found that transgender youth drew on a number of resilience processes when navigating stressors in their lives, including (a) the ability to self-define and theorize one’s gen- der, (b) self-advocacy, proactive agency and access to supportive educational sys- tems, (c) connection and place within a trans-affirming community, (d) reframing of mental health challenges, and (e) navigation of relationships with family and friends [23]. Similarly, Grossman, D’augelli and Frank [24] found that higher self-esteem, a sense of mastery and greater perceived social support predicted positive outcomes for transgender youth. The positive benefits of social support on the wellbeing of sexual minorities is supported by a number of scholars [5, 25, 26]. Nodin et al. [26]
reported that resilience and a positive sense of self-worth was enhanced by support- ive and understanding family contexts and connecting to other LBGTQ individuals, all of which assisted by providing a sense of belonging. Tapping into trans social and support networks enables individuals to access information, resources, skills and support that serves as a buffer against discrimination and victimisation [25].
Materials and Methods
Contextualising the Study and Introducing Dee
This study forms part of a larger, six-year long project called the ‘Networks for Change and Well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy-making to address sexual violence in Canada and South Africa’ (henceforth Networks for Change).
Led by McGill University in Canada and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, a core aim of this transnational, multi-site project is to use participatory vis- ual methodologies to understand gender-based violence (GBV) from the perspec- tives of indigenous girls and young women, and to use these perspectives to advo- cate for social change [27]. In SA, the focus of the Networks for Change has been on working with girls and young women living in rural communities. Dee, the primary informant in this case study, is a participant in in the Networks for Change from one of the sites in KwaZulu-Natal, SA. Located in the central Drakensberg region, the rural community in which Dee lives is affected by poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, a lack of infrastructure, and poor service delivery; this community is affected by high rates of HIV, tuberculosis and GBV [27]. It is also a community in which conservative gendered traditional beliefs and values are dominant [28].
When recruitment for the Networks for Change began in this community in 2016, the intention was to recruit girls and young women from the local high school through their peer education programme. Dee was the only youth who was assigned male at birth who attended our introductory meeting at the school. Dee’s peers insisted that Dee be included in the group of co-researcher participants who would come to name themselves the Leaders for Young Women’s Success. At the time, Dee identified as gay. Access to the nearest LGBTQ organisation was facilitated by the adult co-researchers to ensure that Dee would be able to access accurate, youth- friendly information and support in addition to the support she was receiving as part of the Networks for Change. After approximately a year of working together, Dee informed the research team that, with an increased understanding of sexuality and gender identity, she came to know herself as trans. This disclosure was met with support from both the youth and adult co-researchers. Dee’s pronoun (she/her) and name (Dee) was adopted.
At the time that the data reported in this article were generated, Dee was 19 years old and was living with her four siblings, her mother having died some years previously.
Strategies of Inquiry and Data Generation
To understand Dee’s experiences of adversity and resilience within a rural commu- nity in South Africa, a single descriptive case study design was used. Through this case study, the article explores the transgender experiences on the assumption that this ‘case’ is in some ways typical of a broader phenomenon [29]. Inviting Dee to be the primary informant in this case study was, therefore, purposeful and was based on prior knowledge of Dee’s unique journey, her participation throughout the Networks for Change project, as well as her growing advocacy around LGBTQ issues within her community.
In addition to an in-depth interview with Dee as the primary informant, an inter- view was also conducted with a secondary informant: BF (Dee’s closest friend).
BF was identified by Dee and approached with her permission. Supplemental documents included in the data set include a transcript of a speech Dee shared at a national conference. We conducted all interviews and data were transcribed by an adult member of the Networks for Change research team.
In line with the participatory methodology adopted in the Networks for Change project, the interview with Dee involved a participatory visual activity, specifically participatory diagramming in the form of a timeline. This activity enabled Dee to structure and tell her narrative in a manner that was meaningful to her. The narra- tive approach appealed to Dee, who shared that she had thought about writing her own story. We discussed how this guided approach might serve as a first draft of an autobiography. Sharing the transcript with Dee and confirming its authenticity was therefore important not only to ensure the trustworthiness of the transcribed data but also as a useable output for Dee.
The interview with Dee took place in a classroom after school hours. This was a convenient time and an accessible location for her. The interview was conducted in English with Dee’s permission and no translator was needed. During the session, Dee chose to populate her timeline with both drawings of herself, as well as text.
The unstructured interview was conducted based on this timeline. We shared the transcript of the interview with Dee to ensure that it accurately reflected our discus- sion and her narrative, and we encouraged her to add anything that may have been left out in the first session. The interview with BF was conducted telephonically, using a semi-structured interview guide.
Interviews were conducted and analysed by Author 1. Author 1 and 2 were part of the Networks for Change research team and are GBV activists. Author 1 is a registered psychologist and identifies as cisgender and heterosexual. Author 2 is a researcher and identifies as cisgender and queer.
Data Analysis
The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were then coded using Atlas ti. 8.0 [30] and analysed using thematic analysis [31]. This involved multiple readings of the transcripts, generation of initial codes and the generation of themes. Author 1 initially coded data and Author 2 and members of the Networks for Change research team familiar with the data and transcript reviewed themes as well as findings.
Trustworthiness was further ensured through member checking (Dee reviewed the transcript), extended interactions with informants (throughout the Networks for Change project), and triangulation (interview with the secondary informant). The inclusion of lengthy excerpts from Dee’s narrative in the article also allows for thick description and conveys a deeper understanding of the context.
Ethics
Ethics approval was obtained from McGill University in Canada and the Univer- sity of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa. Written and verbal consent was obtained from participants prior to the interviews informing this paper. Given the longitudi- nal nature of the project and the frequent interaction between participants and the university team, Dee and BF were comfortable with the research process. Never- theless, Author 1 reminded them that the interviews could stop at any time should they so wish. Author 1 was particularly mindful that re-telling her narrative may be emotionally distressing for Dee. Author 1 took care to monitor Dee throughout the interview and checked in with her after the interview to ensure that she was not in any distress. Dee was also made aware that therapeutic services were available if she needed to debrief after the interview. In addition to this, because of the close long- term relationship between Dee and Author 2 through the Networks for Change pro- ject, Author 2 also checked in with Dee after the interview and was confident that if she felt in any way distressed or uncomfortable Dee would have communicated this with her.
Findings: The Story of a Life
As mentioned above, Dee chose to populate her timeline with a number of stick figure images, breaking down her life narrative into distinct phases roughly cor- responding with age. For each image, Dee shared an account of what she recalls experiencing during that phase. In sharing Dee’s story, we have included both her drawings and substantial excerpts from the transcript of her interview. In this way, rather than representing her narrative as a monologue narrated by us, Dee speaks for herself [32].
Dee describes her early years as happy and carefree. During this phase of her life, she had no awareness of her physical body as gendered, and engaged in the activities expected of boys by her family and community. Her drawing (Fig. 1 above) shows a full-bodied stick figure with a smiling face. In the images that follow, this changes as Dee continued to narrate her life story, describing her growing sense of gender incongruence as she grows older.
Dee’s earliest challenges emerged from her own attempts to understand herself and her place in a context that favours heteronormative gender roles. Through her purposefully incomplete drawings of herself cut off at the waist with a face that is neither smiling nor sad (Fig. 2 above), Dee draws attention to the conflicting and
Fig. 1 The uncomplicated early years
Fig. 2 Awareness of difference
confusing thoughts and feelings about her body which emerged early on for her.
Without other LGBTQ people in her family or community with whom Dee could identify, she struggled to understand and make sense of what she was experienc- ing. Dee wrote about her drawing, ‘Then the prombem (problem) started whe (when) I have to have a girlfriend cause all my MALE friends had a girlfriend that is where the confusion is.’ Dee went on to describe that she began to feel more comfortable once she began playing with girls, in this way defying gen- dered expectations; this exposed her to bullying and verbal assaults: ‘… the boys started …calling me bad names, calling me a confused person, who doesn’t know his or her journey.’
In spite of finding comfort in her friendships with girls, as she developed, so did Dee’s sense of not belonging. She said of this phase, ‘I was confused and unhappy’. This confusion and uneasy relationship with her body escalated to the point where for Dee physically ridding herself of that which caused her feelings of incongruence, that is, the male genitalia, appeared to be the only solution: ‘I was asking myself… why is this happening to me? Why I am like this? ‘Cause there was a time I didn’t want it, there is a time I tried to cut my penis.’ Dee recounts sharing her confusion with her mother following this incident, and her mother’s attempts at supporting and protecting her: ‘I sit with her (mum), but I didn’t have that much information, telling her that ‘mom, I am not feeling this way…I am attracted to boys. I don’t know what is happening to me … My mom did understand, she was the one who was protecting me …’.
In Fig. 3 above, Dee chose to continue drawing herself without the bottom half of her torso and her legs in this way depicting herself as neither male nor female; in this way perhaps avoiding the dysphoria or incongruence between her body and identity. It was during this period, however, that Dee first realised she was trans and began socially transitioning by dressing in ‘traditionally’ feminine clothing. This intensified the violence and discrimination she experienced. Her internal difficulties were exacerbated by the numerous challenges posed by the conservative gendered norms of her traditional community.
Dee continued to speak with love and gratitude about her mother who accepted her, and provided an important source of support. Dee struggled to cope after her
Fig. 3 Increasing exposure to discrimination and violence
mother’s death. Feeling guilty and unsupported, she attempted suicide: ‘I also did that (blamed myself)…that is when I tried to commit suicide’. Fortunately, Dee’s sis- ter saw the suicide note and intervened. While her sister eventually came to accept and support Dee, the rest of the family were not as supportive: ‘Even my own family did not always accept me and wanted me to stop dressing and acting like a girl.’
Dee recalls her nervousness upon entering high school where verbal aggression and threats and physical aggression marked much of her experience at school. In the excepts below, she recounts an experience of other learners trying to pull down her trousers to establish her sex based on her genitals: ‘… during grade 8 there was a time where the boys tried to open my private part to see what actually I am, a boy or a girl. I was telling them, no, I am a boy, it’s just that my feelings do not match…’. BF also mentioned Dee’s challenges with other learners: ‘She was insulted in school. Like every time if she want to come to a toilet of girls [girls’ toilet], then girls just bad mouth her.’
When asked about physical violence at school, Dee responded, ‘some have slapped me’ and ‘sometimes they do beat me, even in classroom, but not that much.
It does happen that they would slap me out of nowhere’. Dee also added that groups of boys often threatened violence. She describes one incident during a cultural day at school, when students wore traditional Zulu attire and carried traditional weap- ons. Dee chose not to wear the traditional clothes of a Zulu boy. She says: ‘there would be a mob of boys… they would be busy chasing me around here in school with those sjamboks (whips) and some they do beat me’.
In their failure to protect Dee and take action against the harassment and violence perpetrated by other learners, adult figures at school condoned and normalised these acts of homophobic and transphobic aggression: ‘So I did record them and I took the report to my class teacher, and she did what everyone is doing … They (say, they) will make the punishment for those boys …and after that nothing is followed. I am becoming annoying to them when I ask what is happening on the case that happened here at school and nobody is cooperating’. Dee’s disappointment in the school’s lack of disciplinary action is evident: ‘even now if they [other boys at school] beat me, I won’t go there, ‘cause there is no need for me to go there cause they [teachers]
won’t do anything, so I just let it be’.
The harassment that Dee experiences extends beyond school into the community.
In the excerpt below, she describes an incident that took place at a local wedding involving a group of boys from a neighbouring community who, having seen Dee dressed in feminine clothing, began to verbally abuse her and threaten physical vio- lence, including threats to cut off her penis: ‘those boys, were part of the wedding and they told me that they will come for me when I am going to school, they will take me, pick me up and take me and cut off my penis because there is no need for that.
My penis is not working, I don’t have a penis I am having a coffin. It is dead’.
It was also during this phase that, believing that her gender identity was the result of her being possessed by demons, a number of Dee’s extended family members enlisted the ‘help’ of traditional and religious leaders to try and ‘treat’ her: ‘They did pray for me…taking me to pastors, taking me to Sangomas (traditional healer)’. In search of acceptance and spiritual guidance, Dee chose to become a Christian rather than follow the traditional, cultural beliefs of her family. However, her experiences
with churches were disheartening for Dee: ‘I would get to a church and they would welcome me and they would be nice, and …they start telling that I have to change, what I am doing is wrong.’ BF also mentioned the rejection Dee suffered, adding that in support of Dee, she too left such a church: ‘We’ve once been in a church whereby she wasn’t allowed and then we went out of that church.’
In an attempt to please and appease her church and community, Dee pretended to accept the community narrative that she was possessed by a demon and allowed a pastor at a church to ‘cure’ her. The following excerpt captures a feeling of hopeless- ness, and the emotional fatigue of having to constantly assert her choices: ‘there was a time that I thought, ok because my family doesn’t like me the way I am, so let me…
just pretend as if I am not gay or what. Like there was this pastor … ‘cause they were like praying for me, for like three hours, I think. But there was nothing happen- ing…he was busy pushing me and I was not falling and then I was like, you know what? ‘I am tired let me just collapse ‘cause if I go down they will be like the demon has gone.’ Dee describes this incident with a sense of shame and indicated that ‘it was like I had died during that time.’ Dee indicated that it took a toll on her mental well-being and her academic performance: ‘during that time I was pretending, I was not doing well.’
In addition to discrimination and harassment from the wider community, lack of access to adequate health information continues to be a challenge for Dee. In the address she made at the national conference, Dee highlighted the lack of support and information available at clinics: ‘For me as a young trans woman I get very little help from the clinic. The nurses don’t know what to do with me or for me. For exam- ple, when I ask for condoms they give me both male and female condoms. When I ask how I can protect myself from STIs, they tell me that I can’t get infected because I am in a same sex relationship. This means that I get no help about how I can pro- tect myself from HIV, for example.’
In this final image (Fig. 4 above), Dee confidently claims a trans identity and is seen smiling. This reflects her current state of mind. Although the discrimination and abuse she suffers has not completely abated, and she describes having to perse- vere and constantly teach others, Dee’s smile comes from having decided to accept who she is and live in a way that reflects her gender identity.
Fig. 4 Resilience enablers
External Resources
In response to a question regarding what enabled her to continue in light of the adversity she experiences, Dee answered ‘Just support’. In this simple response, Dee highlights the important role that external, supportive systems play in the resil- ience of youth experiencing adversity. Similarly, BF highlights the importance of support for resilience and resistance, saying ‘you can’t fight being alone, you can’t say anything if you are alone.’
For Dee, external support has come in the form of BF, a teacher at school, mem- bers of the wider LGBTQ community, and participation in the Networks for Change project. For Dee, the close friendship she shares with BF appears to be a primary enabler of her resilience. Dee recounts how important BF’s initial and continued support of her has been, particularly in moments when Dee questioned her decision:
‘She was the one who said to me ‘you are you, god created you, she, he, knows why you are like this’ and she was the one who gave me hope of life’. A teacher, relatively new to the school, appears to be another important source of support for Dee. Unlike the other teachers at school, this teacher sought external guidance by making contact with the LGBTQ community and created a space for Dee to liaise with them and receive information and support: ‘After Mrs S. came here (to the school)… (I) tell her my situation then she started seeking help for me’.
Dee’s sister appears to provide an important source of support, similar to that provided by their mother before her death: ‘My sister is understanding… but then the other family still do not actually understand, but then I do not care about them because they do not even support (me). So my sister is the one who is important to me. She is the one who is supportive.’ Participation in the Networks for Change has also been a positive resource for Dee. Through this process, Dee has had a number of opportunities that she may otherwise not have had, including access to resources and learning opportunities.
Internal Resources
Throughout Dee’s narrative, there is a strong thread of agency and self-efficacy.
Her initial disillusionment with teachers and the school, and the lack of information available in her rural community does not appear to have curtailed Dee’s own advo- cacy and attempts to improve the situation. Dee took the initiative to educate herself about what she refers to as LGBTQ issues: ‘I had to find out all the information I could on my own and educate myself about what it means to be trans.’
Resisting the school’s lack of action to protect her from violence and punish vio- lent learners, Dee describes how she approached the school, asking them to change the system for her: ‘I started to dress and do my hair the way that I feel comfortable.
I went to the Learner Support Agent at my school, and the Life Orientation Teacher and Principal and asked them if I could wear the slacks that are part of the girls’
uniform instead of the trousers that are part of the boys’ uniform.’
Dee rejects the narrative that she is sinful or possessed, and instead views herself positively and sees her journey as part of a bigger plan: ‘God created me in this way.
Which means he has plans for me.’ Instead, Dee says she has decided ‘to accept who I am and face my life head on’. The importance of living in a way that feels authentic for her is captured in the excerpts below: ‘So I was like ok, you know what, what they are saying I don’t care, I am getting out of this life and I am living my life, living my true self…I started coming back again and being me … So I am willing to sacrifice everything to just live my life and be happy’.
Part of Dee’s understanding of her purpose is the need she feels to educate the community about LGBTQ people: ‘So for me to be alive it is a very good thing and a valid thing. … I am saving lives, many lives of people. …discrimination comes from … people who do not understand… so if they do have knowledge they will start by understanding. If they have siblings and children …and they get into this life, it will be easy for them to understood, and there would be no souls that would be bro- ken.’ BF also suggests that it is Dee’s willingness to discuss her life, and to educate people that has contributed in a change of mindset and acceptance from some mem- bers in the community, the school and the church: I think it’s because of her and all the effort she’s doing, trying to make people understand what a gay really is. ‘Cos she is like open to everybody.
Discussion
This article describes Dee’s challenges as a trans youth, living in a conservative, rural community in South Africa. It focuses on what has enabled Dee to develop positively in spite of a number of challenges. As revealed by Dee’s narrative, although her social ecology threatens her ability to positively adapt to adversity, her self-awareness, agency, and her ability to make meaning of her experiences are con- sistent with individual characteristics that resilience researchers recognise as essen- tial to positive adaptation [16]. Further, we see that for Dee, a few key relationships serve as important resources that further enable her resilience. This is consistent with existing resilience research which emphasises the centrality of supportive rela- tionships as sources of resilience, acting as buffers against multiple stressors [17, 19].Dee’s own confusion regarding her gender identity, the continuous threats of and exposure to violence, and the limited support offered by her social ecology have caused Dee significant psychological distress. This culminated in self-harming behaviours and suicidal ideation. Later, the fear of on-going discrimination as well as emotional fatigue resulted in Dee attempting to deny her sexuality and gender identity by participating in conversion therapy and practices. Dee’s experiences in her family and community support existing literature regarding the experiences of LGBTQ individuals in South Africa. Her nuanced understanding of the gender binary and her willingness to assert her sense of self within a small, rural commu- nity position Dee at odds with prevailing, hegemonic expressions of masculinity, and make her the target of the violence and discrimination that accompanies these expressions.
Consistent with the findings of other research involving LGBTQ youth [32, 33], Dee’s experiences within the education and health care sectors draw attention to the discrimination experienced in these institutionalised spaces. Based on a review of 27 South African studies focused on school experiences of LGBTQ youth, Francis [32] found that prejudice and discrimination is perpetrated by peers, teachers and school managers. Similarly, Sanger [33] states that transgender youth experience high levels of stigmatisation from both peers and teachers (who are meant to be their support) and adds that the education around sexual and gender minorities is non- existent in South African schools and other educational institutions. The current cur- ricula, teaching methods, pedagogy, and the dominant school culture favours hetero- cis-normativity [34]. This is in contradiction to South African education goals of inclusivity and equality, and as Francis [32] states, it requires revision.
Throughout Dee’s narrative we are witness to both the challenges she faces as a transgender youth living in a conservative, traditional rural community in South Africa, and to the manner in which she navigates her way through adverse experi- ences, seeking out resources that are available and supportive. Dee is neither consist- ently resilient nor is she in constant distress. In this tenuous balance, the complexity and dynamism of resilience processes is apparent. Ungar [19] reminds us that in contexts where there is an unusually high environmental load (as in Dee’s case in terms of rurality, lack of access to resources, high rates of violence, orphanhood and identifying as a trans woman) successful adaptation is related to a range of bio- logical, psychological, relational and sociocultural factors. This suggests a need for multi-systemic interventions to support and facilitate adaptive processes for young LGBTQ people. The environment has to respond in ways that are appropriate and contextually meaningful. Information, education and awareness raising about gen- der and sexual identity should be made available across community structures; these include schools, community based organisations, clinics and religious institutions.
This requires institutional structures, like the Department of Education (DoE), to be actively involved in education and advocacy. For example, DoE should ensure that the curricula is not steeped in hetero-cis-normative ideals [32] and should be more inclusive (as mandated). Health services (public and private) should also be recipi- ents of training and consciousness raising [12]. Gender affirming treatment, includ- ing mental health services, should be made available at all public health facilities.
Dee’s constant and consistent tenacity and her active navigation to supportive external resources, may be seen as an act of resistance, which is, by necessity, staged against extended family, peers, teachers, religious leaders and community members.
In this regard, findings from this case study differ to other South African studies on youth resilience processes in which stoicism emerges as a protective factor, ena- bling resilience [35]. These studies found that South African youth residing in low resourced communities who are exposed to adversity often assume the responsibility of adjusting to unjust social and structural circumstances, while those circumstances remain unchanged. A growing number of resilience researchers assert the impor- tance of advocating for change to eradicate adversity rather than simply applaud- ing the ability of youth to adapt well in the face of adversity [35, 36]. In this con- text, resistance, defined as ‘practices which express opposition to rules and norms in specific contexts, and which contain critiques of social relations, from the lived
experience of marginalisation’ [37:599], is suggestive of an adaptive response in the face of adversity and can be seen as a pathway to resilience. Through her advocacy at home, at school, and within her community, Dee demonstrates her resilience by choosing to work to challenge the adversity created by her context, and in this way demands accountability and responsibility for social change from her ecology. Dee’s openness with regards to her gender identity, her agency in educating peers, teach- ers, religious leaders, and community members can also be seen as acts of resist- ance. The failure of the social ecology to uphold her constitutional rights and to respond to her needs, led Dee, perhaps unwittingly, towards activism. Within her context, Dee represents the LGBTQ community, and through her efforts she has gained a national platform. In her study with transgender youth of colour, Singh [37, 38] also found the development of self-advocacy skills contributed to resilience.
In line with this then, Hart et al.’s [36] conceptualisation of resilience as ‘over- coming adversity, whilst also potentially changing, or even dramatically transform- ing, (aspects of) that adversity’ (p.3), may be more appropriate. From this perspec- tive, the mediating processes of resilience challenges adversity rather than adjusts to it [18, 39]. This social justice perspective is line with the socio-ecological frame- work on resilience that emphasises the role and the responsibilities of the social structures surrounding the individual. A social justice perspective takes this frame- work a step further by emphasising the need to challenge social structures and advo- cate for change.
Recognising resistance as a pathway to resilience makes an important contribu- tion to a growing body of resilience research [18]. The social justice approach to resilience provides exciting and much needed opportunities for new research in this area. This is particularly useful in contexts, like South Africa, that are hampered by social inequalities. Young people, like Dee, have enormous potential in moving forward discussions around social justice and for educating society. It is imperative, however, that the burden of this change is not placed on individuals. Instead, collec- tive activism is needed; social arrangements that create adversity need to be targeted for intervention, instead of individuals alone [36, 37, 39].
Limitations
This paper is limited by the focus on one transgender youth, within a particular con- text. The purpose of this paper has been to provide a description and a deeper under- standing of the experiences and the sources of resilience of a transgender youth living in a resource constrained rural community in South Africa. In this, the rich, detailed accounts provided by Dee and the other key informant fulfils this purpose.
These findings are however not generalizable. Future studies should seek to include a larger, more representative sample of transgender youth from different geographic locations in South Africa. It would also be useful to explore and nuance the impact of colonisation and constructions of gender and sexual diversity from the Global North in the South African context [40].
Conclusion
In their #Blackdragmagic photovoice project, Belinda Qaqamba Ka-fassie and Lee-Ann Olwage [4], note that for many transwoman, their homes, which includes their communities, become sites of harassment and violence. This was true for Dee as well, but Dee, like many trans activists, does not accept this reality. In her daily activism she is pushing back against hate and ignorance and reclaim- ing her constitutional rights and her space in her community. Dee demonstrates her resilience by choosing to transform the adversity created by her context, and in this way encourages accountability and social change from her ecology. I end here with another excerpt from the writing of Mphisholo [4] that captures the resilience and resistance of many trans individuals: “I owe no-one an expla- nation. I am comfortable in my own skin, start to recognise me. Trans-gender.
Trans-formation.”
Acknowledgements This would not have been possible without Dee, whose courage and generosity knows no bounds. We are privileged and indebted to her for sharing a part of her story with us. Our col- leagues on the Networks of Change project have provided invaluable assistance for which we are hugely grateful. We would also like to thank Chris McLachlan, who very generously reviewed this paper and provided expert guidance.
Funding International Development Research Centre (IDRC) grant and a South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Grant.
Declarations
Conflict of interest There is no conflict of interest to declare.
Ethical approval As indicated in the text above, ethical clearance was obtained from the relevant aca- demic bodies. The study includes data generated through interviews with human subjects and in all cases informed consent was obtained from the participants
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