Video blogging as a vehicle of transformation: Exploring the intersection between trans identity and information technology

This article explores the intersection between trans identity and technology as it manifests in trans video blogs on YouTube. Taking my point of departure in eight case-study vloggers I analyse the different ways that the vlog can work as a medium of transformation. The vlogs engender the ongoing process of ‘becoming’ man/woman/trans by inscribing the vlogger in multiple and intersubjective reflections, being visible to themselves and others as an image. I argue that the co-production of trans identity in/through the vlog takes the shape of a mirror, a digital diary or autobiography, and as artistic explorations and communications. The article demonstrates how vloggers take advantage of the multimodality of the medium to tell stories of trans that can animate and motivate others to dare to be visible or claim an identity as trans.