Objects of Curiosity: Transgender College Students' Perceptions of the Reactions of Others

ABSTRACT Increasing numbers of youth are beginning to come out and transition while in college. This qualitative study examines the perspectives of male-to-female (MTF) and female-to-male (FTM) transgender students as they reflect upon the reactions of family and friends. While friends tended to be supportive, parents often had a negative reaction to their children coming out as transgender and sought to dissuade the students from transitioning. The study participants who were pre-transition and living part time as their self-identified gender often felt that the reactions of others reinforced their sense of not being normal. The students who had moved into living full time as their self-identified gender began to feel some sense of normalcy in their lives.