Limitations of Study

Most of this research was conducted over a period of four weeks, on a budget of R4,200. With more time and money to spend traveling across South Africa, I would have been able to provide a more in-depth examination of the lives of transgender men and masculine women, as well as the South African NGOs that serve the LGBT community. Ideally, I would have liked to have spent more time in the offices of these NGOs. Because I did not, I was unable to fully measure the effectiveness of programming directed at transgender and gender non-conforming people. I also would have liked to spend more time in social environments with transmasculine identified South Africans, as a participant observer.

Additionally, language proved to be a barrier in some situations. Though all of the participants were fluent in English, it was not always their first language, and some of the nuance and detail of the statements they made may have been lost as a result. In addition to this, the language that I am familiar with in terms of describing queer/LGBT identity was did not always have the same meanings to the participants I interviewed. For example, some participants had never heard the word “transgender,” and others had heard the word but did not define it in the same way as I did.

Users' Comments (0)

Add your comment