Pleasure through the Absence of (Mis)Perception

Abstract

Because moving in society requires being perceived and being gendered, for transgender and non-binary people it regularly means being misperceived and misgendered. Daily, non-binary people have to navigate spaces that do not account for them. In this article I engage with potential ways for non-binary people to experience freedom and pleasure through the absence of misperception. I, therefore, went on hikes, alone as well as with different people. I draw from the insights gained during these experiences and analyse them in relation to existing concepts and theories. The concepts of the panopticon and social flesh are used to analyse the possibilities and limitations that the absence of outside perception presents for the aim to experience freedom outside the gender binary.