Amplification and the limits of visibility: Complicating strategies of trans voice and representations on social media

Abstract

In this article, we explore how the concepts of listening and voice influence trans communication and how communicators give voice to their identities and lived experiences through the communication work they perform. We examine amplification as a strategy for elevating historically marginalized voices within institutional and mediated spaces. Through interviews with trans communicators, findings reveal gaps that strategies of visibility leave unfilled, drawing attention to symbolic and material resources that are needed for generating effective change. We find that visibility-based strategies, such as amplification, can be instrumental in producing an inequitable distribution of power and exacerbating the burden of representation that complicates transgender communicators’ ability to navigate organizational politics.