Who Thinks Outside the Gender Box? Feminism, Gender Self-Esteem, and Attitudes toward Trans People

Abstract

Trans people are targeted with widespread prejudice and discrimination in the United States. In order to better understand this hostility, we examined how different gender beliefs (gender traditionalism, gender self-esteem, feminist attitudes, and feminist identity) are associated with cisgender heterosexual individuals’ trans prejudice. We found that cisgender heterosexual men reported more trans prejudice, more gender traditionalism, less feminist attitudes, and a weaker feminist identity than cisgender heterosexual women. Participants who reported less traditional gender beliefs and more feminist attitudes reported less trans prejudice. Although feminist identity was not associated with trans prejudice for cisgender heterosexual women, cisgender heterosexual men who more strongly identified as feminists reported less trans prejudice. These findings underline the complexity and multiplicity of gender beliefs and their distinct associations with trans prejudice. Our results also have implications for clinicians and feminist activists, calling on them to critically examine their own gender beliefs and to advocate for the inclusion of trans people within their respective contexts, as well as trans rights more broadly.