Not female-to-male but shadow-to-human: an exploration of body tracing in terms of embodiment and identity definition during gender transitioning

ABSTRACT Background and context This paper wishes to help heal the lack of trans people’s representation in art therapy research that coincides with the lack of art therapy literature theorising body tracing. Approach Supervisor, art psychotherapist and service user have come together to offer a research process that questions power dynamics and uses lived experience to explore an approach of body tracing that differs from body mapping and so contributes a further approach in this field for working with people whose identities question the status quo of power. Outcomes Specifically, we wish to demonstrate the relevance of body tracing as a tool for facilitating the gender transitioning process. We explore how it offers a lived experience in the here and now that promotes agency and an internal locus of control over what is to be modified and what is to be maintained. Conclusions It creates an embodied space for a new identity to be shaped. We examine how the contextualisation of creative process modalities (sensory experience, formal decision-making and symbolic meaning) within the resulting body-space aids the integration of states of self and bodily awareness and connectedness. Implications for research We hope to inspire further research in this field that can support an institutionalised adoption of body tracing within an art therapy setting for gender transitioning service users. Plain-language summary Art therapists have only written a little about working with trans people. The same is true of the technique of body tracing. This paper speaks about both of these areas. The service user has taken the role of lived experience author in order to work together with the art therapist and her supervisor, so that all three voices can talk on equal terms about their experiences in these areas and explore a way of using body tracing that they believe can empower people who are gender transitioning. A technique called body mapping already uses body tracing to help people who feel disadvantaged because of their identity (for example, their sexual orientation, the colour of their skin, religion, nationality etc.). Our research offers an additional approach with some distinct features. The lived experience author describes how the act of drawing around the body and then being able to modify this outline promoted a sense of control over his body, leading to a feeling of greater control over his life. This helped him reclaim ownership of his body at a time when other people were deciding the hormones he took and the options available. Our method integrates bottom-up and top-down processes to help a person feel more connected with their body. Working on the body tracing involves many physical sensations that vary for each of the four stages of the process. Memories and thoughts may also come to mind connected with lived experiences and fantasies. The physical feelings in the body can be filtered thanks to the images and colours in the representation of the body on the paper. We hope that other people will join our research so that institutions supporting trans people can offer this service to their users. Video Abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group