Queering intimate emotions: Trans/nonbinary people negotiating emotional expectations in intimate relationships

I analyze the ways in which trans/nonbinary participants queered gender labor and emotion work in intimate relationships by negotiating expectations to feel “proper” ways for intimates and to educate intimates about cis-ness/whiteness. Based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 trans/nonbinary individuals utilizing photo elicitation methods, participants queered intimate emotions by negotiating, reconfiguring, and resisting emotional expectations. They did this through selectively dating trans/nonbinary people and/or queer/trans people of color. Queering intimate emotions functioned to mitigate the effects of whiteness and cis-ness within intimate relationships. I build upon literature on gender labor, emotion work, and trans emotionalities.