Nonnormative embodiment and systems of control: Transgender bodies and punitive societal structures in literature and the real world
Date
2025-05
Authors
Deputy, Ellis W.
Major Professor
Advisor
Shenk, Linda
Betcher, Gloria
Schaal, Michèle
Committee Member
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Abstract
This thesis discusses transgender and disability themes in literature, connecting them to real-world social, medical, and carceral institutions. Specifically, the pieces of literature discussed are The Exterminating Angel (2016) opera, the Original Plumbing (OP) magazine, and the Psycho-Pass (2012) anime. The intersection of transness and disability is conceptualized as "nonnormative embodiment." Nonnormative embodiment is analyzed in each of these literary artifacts, connecting them to real-world discriminatory practices like ableism, eugenics, and transphobia. The thesis argues that the societal structures that echo in these pieces reveal that gendered behavior is subject to surveillance and punished through social, medical, and carceral actions.
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thesis