In the world we live in, a person has to have the right over what happens to the things they create. And if they don't have that control, they may be less inclined to create, and the rest of us will be less for it.[1]
—Jamie Walker, FTM International Copyright Notice
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a constellation, in part, as “an assemblage, collection, or group of usually related persons, qualities, or things.” Such assemblages are often considered to create or reveal a recognizable pattern from fixed points or objects. However, these patterns were arbitrarily assigned by those who observed them millennia ago. They were often named according to cultural references, such as regional animals or mythological figures. In some cultures, there are beliefs that the patterns of the stars at the time of one’s birth influenced the course of that person’s life.

To me, this is reminiscent of the very real system of sex/gender assignment at birth. The performative of naming the sex/gender happens according to which of, usually, two culturally recognized patterns the visible material body most closely resembles or can be made to resemble (Butler, 2004, 2007; Namaste, 2000; Wilchins, 2004). This assignment holds much influence over a person’s life because of the expectations of cultural norms that accompany it. And like the constellar stars' fixed appearances despite their constant motion, sex/gender are neither readily apparent nor always fixed.

Social networking sites are also constellations. Their borders that appear fixed and closed through interface access procedures such as user login and intrasite connection parameters (e.g. user in/visibility levels within the site) belie the constellar qualities of dynamism and malleability (Ramírez, 2004) and capabilities for nearly "endless series of groupings, juxtapositions, and connections" (Maroja & Winograd, 2014, p. 84) in which networks operate.

Navigate the Constellations

The constellations for this study are Facebook and Tumblr as separate interrelated sections while YouTube is interwoven. These constellations make up parts of my personal learning network (PLN).
To allow readers the ability to easily navigate within these constellations, I have embedded my points from the existing networks to the extent possible in this framework. Therefore, readers may view some of my YouTube transition videos that I have shared on these networks or visit and explore my related Tumblr blogs without leaving or closing this site. To begin your journey through these constellations, click on the constellation name or image to enter it. Different clusters within the constellations are accessible through links in the overviews beneath each image.
Four interrelated groupings comprise the Facebook constellation. The first is an explanatory guide to the technical functions, possibilities, and limitations of Facebook. It highlights the vulnerability of any user's privacy on the popular social networking site but especially how transgender Facebookers are subject to multiple forms of precarity through the platform's structures.
The second is a conversation during a fictional Facebook event with four trans authors whose work continues to inform trans theory, policy, and advocacy. In a fashion much like the majority of conversations that occur on Facebook, the discussions are at times fragmented and incomplete.
The third section, which has been published in a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of art education, concerns the creation and online sharing of popular but problematic viral content related to trans representations. The last grouping of the Facebook constellation concerns various forms of dis/appearances on/from/through/by the site and its users. Specific attention is given to how oppositional and cissexism increase precarity for trans Facebookers.
Three groupings form the Tumblr constellation. The first is a look at the forms of oppositional and cis- sexism that play out in and between trans communities offline and on the social networking platform. I discuss my conflicted positionality as a binary-identified man of trans experience who negotiates strategies to prevent invalidations of others. The second grouping is my external trans-related Tumblr blog that I embedded on this site. Thus, this dissertation website has live components that interact with external emergent spaces. The last grouping is through an external link that will open a new window or tab. The link is to a website on Tumblr that I created to supplement a visual essay, "Ontology of the Pee-Cock Gen2 3-in-1" (Jenkins, 2018) that was published in an international art education journal. I speak at length about this site in the chapter "Trans/Digressions to Un/Educate."
[1] The irony to Walker's quote above is that it comes from a dual copyright/copyleft notification on an abandoned and later archived site for FTM International that was last updated in May 1995 and that the Internet Archive houses in its Way Back Machine project. Therefore, he no longer maintains control over the site or its content. As an archived site maintained on the Way Back Machine, there are few options to access it. One would either have to know of it's existence and maintenance in the archive and search for it there or stumble upon it accidentally, as I had, by following a series of hyperlinks on poorly updated or abandoned web pages and sites. My journey to it started with the outdated site for the LGBTQ+ Interest Group of the National Art Education Association.