“Click me: literary hypertext as illness narrative for womxn with hyperandrogenism" - Megan Perram
Channel: Bibliographical Society of Canada
Date: 2021-06-25

Megan Perram, University of Alberta

In The Wounded Storyteller Arthur Frank wrote that major illness has the potential todisrupt the planned destination of our life, and that through the practice of illness narrative thecapacity for telling our story is reclaimed. During times of global uncertainty, finding methodsto cope with illness digitally has become especially vital. This project traces the evolution ofthe traditional book into the digital space by evaluating how multilinear cyberliterature can beused as an avenue for womxn (inclusive to trans, nonbinary, and femme identities) withhyperandrogenism to write illness narratives that construct positive relationships between theiridentities and the world. Multilinear cyberliterature is a form of digital story writing that callson the reader to participate in the narrative’s unfolding by selecting hyperlink options whichbranch the narrative into nonlinear directions. Hyperandrogenism is a medical conditioncharacterized by “excessive” levels of male hormones such as testosterone which, whenidentified in the female body, are associated with “masculinizing” symptoms. The conditionhas been employed as a justification to call into question which bodily signifiers and hormonalnuances quantify biological sex. Due to experiences of perceived subjugation in the medicalencounter, some womxn with hyperandrogenism are turning to online illness narratives towrite their “abject” bodies into a budding corporeal politic. Through an online story-writingmodule and hypertext tutorial, 10 participants with hyperandrogenism are currently writingtheir own stories based on their illness experience. This research will lead to the concreterealization of a novel pathway to inform therapeutic approaches for emotional well-beingrelated to gendered illness.