Introduction

Abstract

‘Transgender’ has emerged as a subject of growing social, cultural and social-scientific interest in recent years. Alongside an ever-increasing cultural focus on transgender, for example, in the media and popular culture, shifting attitudes towards transgender people are evident through recent legislative changes across many countries in Europe, and in the UK by the Gender Recognition Act (GRA, 2004). These social, cultural and legislative developments reflect the ways in which gender diversity is acquiring visibility in contemporary society and mark transgender as an important and timely area of study.