Vem får man vara i vårt samhälle? - Statens folkhälsoinstitut

construction of social gender. We need to increase our awareness of
what is involved in the development of a “male femininity” (Ekins
1997) and a “female masculinity” (Halberstam 2003) including the
creation of traditional male masculinity and female femininity (Ekins
1997).
An increased effort put into the development of knowledge in this
area should focus on how we create our identities as a whole. This
is an issue requiring more explicit descriptions of the relevant factors
important in developing a stable gender or sexual identity as a man or
as a woman. There is a need to focus more on how a man creates and
expresses his female side and how a woman can construct her femininity
and relate to the male sides of her personality. Also, those of us on
the fringe of these kinds of processes must endeavour to understand the
development of different variations of transgender identities.
It is also important to continue to build upon research reviews that
include the latest international developments regarding knowledge of
the transgender phenomenon. To raise the level of public knowledge of
how we can understand our identity and our self-awareness researchers
and others must write popular scientific books intended for the general
public. In addition, seminars and conferences focusing on LGBT and
sexual identification should be organised with an interested public as
the target group.
56 • summary