Storm Clouds and Rainbows: Visual Metaphors of Parents of Transgender Children in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

This article explores the discourses parents adopt to support their transgender children in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Previous research with parents is limited by its focus on trauma rather than resistance and its lack of attention to intersectional experiences. To investigate how parents resist gender-based oppression, we use the method of reflective drawing, asking twenty parents of diverse social and cultural backgrounds to draw their experience of parenting a transgender child and discuss this in interview. We identified eight visual metaphors of storm clouds and rainbows, a maze, family portraits, blank space, standing side-by-side, hearts, arches, and question marks. These represent parent discourses of family resilience, personal transformation, shifting gender ideologies, depathologisation, child-led parenting, unconditional love, protection, and uncertainty about their child’s future. The parents’ discourses serve several interests: enabling them to focus on the hope of overcoming adversity, foreground the positive aspects of raising a transgender child, justify their gender-affirming approach, reframe their family gender ideologies, normalize their child’s experience, deflect stigma from their child and themselves, construct themselves as good parents, draw strength from solidarity, and express incertitude about what lies ahead. These provide parents with a means of enacting discursive resistance, with potential for driving broader social change.

本文探讨了新西兰跨性别儿童的父母如何通过话语策略支持孩子成长并抵抗社会压迫。研究首先回顾了关于跨性别儿童父母经历的相关文献，强调关注“话语抵抗”的重要性，即父母通过构建肯定性话语来应对针对跨性别儿童的压迫性社会叙事

本文采用交叉性研究方法，从多层次视角探讨权力如何影响跨性别儿童父母的经历，强调身份间的交织性，而非孤立分析。研究通过视觉和语言相结合的多模态话语分析，特别关注父母绘制的视觉隐喻与访谈内容的关联。数据收集包括参与者的手绘图及深入访谈，分析方法结合福柯话语分析与社会符号学的批判多模态分析，识别视觉与语言表达中的权力关系及社会意义。研究不仅探讨父母如何通过话语支持跨性别子女，还揭示了这些话语在社会变革中的传播和影响力。

这篇文章研究了新西兰跨性别儿童父母如何在压迫性社会话语中建构其养育经历，揭示了八种视觉隐喻（如风暴与彩虹、迷宫、家庭画像、空白空间、并肩而立、心形、拱门与问号），展现了支持孩子的多种话语。这些话语包括家庭韧性、个人转变、性别意识形态的转变、去病化、以孩子为中心的养育方式、无条件的爱与支持、保护，以及对未来的不确定性。这些话语帮助父母应对挑战，抵抗压迫，同时促进社会变革。研究表明，父母通过这些话语框架，不仅提高了自身的韧性，还通过传播这些话语对更广泛的社会产生影响。本文倡导以肯定的视角研究跨性别儿童及其父母，强调抗压与积极生活，而非受害者叙事。这些发现为研究与实践提供了重要启示，也为父母群体间的支持和话语策略共享提供了可能性。