Gender Nonconforming Communities Research Articles

Catholicism, Gender-Affirming Care, and the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community

Analysis of the relationship between Catholicism, gender-affirming care, and transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) communities is critical given the extensive influence of Catholic thought within healthcare systems. Limited research on this subject and the politicization of gender-affirming care makes this analysis especially valuable at this time. Examination of literature reveals that Catholics often condemn gender-affirming practices and advise professionals against offering such care. Justification for this perspective is rooted in the Catholic understanding of human dignity, which includes respect for life beginning at conception and adherence to the principles of totality and integrity. Data on TGNC health outcomes shows that gender-affirming care is beneficial for TGNC individuals. Catholic hospitals retain the right to refuse provision gender-affirming care under U.S. law; however, this refusal is a significant barrier to care for TGNC individuals, who already face disproportionate burdens when accessing care. This research reveals the connection between healthcare barriers created and/or upheld by Catholic principles and lower overall health outcomes for TGNC people.

Mobility of non-binary and gender nonconforming individuals: A systematic literature review

The gendered nature of travel behaviours and experiences have long been recognised in research and policy making. However, research on non-binary people and their mobility is scarce, as is the acknowledgement of a spectrum nature of gender within the transportation discipline. This paper presents the first systematic literature review, using PRISMA guidelines, of the mobility and travel experiences of non-binary people. The review identified that to date the main research domains for non-binary people's mobility considered issues of harassment and violence on public transit, fear, security measures, intersectionality, and strategies to deal with discrimination. The paper highlights spatial and geographical constraints, such as immobility and inaccessibility, that non-binary people face when interacting with public transportation system. Strategies to improve mobility for the gender nonconforming community included upgrading public transport stations, increasing funding for public transportation, and providing gender diversity training for transit workers. The findings draw attention to the need for substantial further transportation research into the field. By including non-binary perspectives in transport research, a unique range of insights and experiences can be unlocked, while increasing inclusivity in transport research.

Coconstructing (Trans-)Capitalist Realism

Recent legislation targeting transgender individuals has relied on trans-antagonistic discourses depicting transgender communities as led by a perverse ideology and as attaining the status of a cult. Trans-affirming opponents to these laws have responded with a biopolitical analysis suggesting that the state is denying the means of life to a marginalized group or that right-wing pundits are manufacturing a transgender crisis to expand state power via a state of exception. However, trans-affirming activists overlook political economy in their biopolitical analysis such that both these legislative attacks and their trans-affirming opposition validate late capitalism. In the following, I use post-Marxist theory to reveal a catch-22 whereby both anti-transgender legislation and its ostensible opponents uphold neoliberal authoritarianism qua democracy. Whereas anti-transgender legislation appears aligned with neoliberal austerity and the seemingly implacable privatization of (previously) public space, opponents continue to recapitulate medicalizing narratives for transgender subjects that are bound up in late capitalist tensions and erase class within these discourses (plausibly resourcing transgender subjects who become “respectable” through whiteness and wealth). In the process, trans anti-capitalist activisms are overshadowed or occluded, perhaps constituting a trans capitalist realism in which trans anti-capitalism is rendered impossible. Implications for global gender nonconforming communities are explored within the context of US and Global North cultural imperialisms, and more explicitly leftist opposition to legislative attacks are reviewed.

Recognition, citizenship and rights: the dilemma of India’s gender non-conforming communities in the light of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act

ABSTRACT Recognition and citizenship issues play pivotal roles in understanding the complex interaction between different forms of inequalities. Citizenship should be treated as a practice intimately linked with individuals’ identities and rights, their sense of belonging and their actual nature of participation in the different spheres of their life. Exclusion is not just deprivation from the more tangible economic and social processes but also denying people their voice and their right to be unique. In this context, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act concerning India’s transgender community lies within the crucial junctures of identity politics and the country’s legal and social structures. This work critically analyses the TG Act and raises few questions on the nature of recognition given to transgender individuals. Does a transgender person get citizenship that guarantees representation and equality? To what extent does the new Act do justice to the transgender community in living as a member of the society and not just as a product of ‘othering’? The paper concludes that recognition is not just for citizenship and identity rights – it is the right to be different but equal.

A Gender Affirmative Model of Training and Service Provision Among HIV Service Organizations in the U.S. South.

Data were collected from Southern HSOs (n=207). Relations between GAM training and service provision were examined through frequency distributions and logistic regressions. Few (46.6%) received training. Most (73%) used clients' asserted names and pronouns. Only 62% engaged with transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming (TGNC) communities and 55% provided a gender autonomous (i.e., based on self-determination) facility. Gender affirmative model-trained HSOs had at least twice the odds of implementing GAM elements compared with non-trained HSOs. Barriers included funding (61%), expertise/knowledge (59%), capacity/staff-ing (52%), and political climate (23%). This study identifies gaps and highlights the urgent need for funding, training, and meaningful TGNC community partnerships.

Experiences of the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the University Setting

Background: Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals face daily challenges in higher education due to a lack of gender-inclusive resources. This shortcoming is rooted in the minimal knowledge about what barriers affect this population. Aims: The aims of this study were to identify fitness-related barriers faced by the transgender community in higher education and emphasize the need to develop fitness standards for the transgender population to reduce those barriers in higher education. Methods: Participants completed one or both aspects of this study. A survey was sent to students to gather information about experiences in fitness at a university and how it relates to their gender. Several of the survey respondents then agreed to participate in a series of fitness assessments to evaluate muscular strength, endurance, and body composition. Results: Seventy-nine students responded to the survey (n = 68 cisgender females, n = 5 cisgender males, n = 2, non-binary, n = 4 transgender males). Proportionally, more transgender and non-binary people (84%) felt that gendered fitness standards did not apply to them when compared to cisgender people (31%). Further, more transgender and non-binary respondents (50%) reported that they were not comfortable working out in all areas of their gym when compared to the cisgender respondents (37%). Twenty-eight students participated in the fitness assessment. The BOD POD assessment of body composition utilizes gender to calculate body fat percentage. When using both male and female classifications, results were not different, meaning the estimated body fat percentage was calculated as the same despite a different gender in the calculation. Conclusions: This study begins to identify fitness-related barriers faced by the transgender community in higher education. Additionally, these small-scale results provide a starting point for future research on developing gender-neutral fitness standards.

Minority Stress and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in the Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Community

Prior findings have provided preliminary evidence that minority stress may be related to posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) in the transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) community. To contribute to the existing literature, the authors examined the relationship between distal stressors and PTSSs after controlling for history of sexual victimization. The authors also tested proximal stressors as mechanisms in that relationship. A sample of 242 adult participants who identified on the TGNC spectrum completed an online survey of minority stress, sexual victimization history, and PTSSs. The results demonstrated a positive association between distal stress and PTSSs, above and beyond history of sexual victimization. The authors also found that negative expectations about future events mediated the association between distal stress and PTSSs after controlling for sexual victimization history. The findings are discussed in terms of clinical implications and future directions for the field.

Minority Stress and Psychological Distress Among Asexual Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals

The presence of minority stress has been well-documented among members of the transgender and gender nonconforming community, as has the effect of minority stress on their psychological distress. Little attention has been given to transgender and gender nonconforming people who identify as asexual. This study examined the relationships among minority stressors and psychological distress among individuals holding the intersecting identities of transgender and gender nonconforming and asexual. Data were collected from 300 adults using various listservs and social media platforms. It was hypothesized that all minority stressors assessed would predict psychological distress. However, multiple regression results revealed that only vigilance (β = .22, p < .001) and gender expression minority stress (β=. 24, p < .001) were significant positive predictors of psychological distress, F(11, 258) = 10.21, p < .001, f2 = .43; the overall model accounted for approximately 30% (R2 = .30) of the total variance in psychological distress. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

A Stranger in One’s Own Community

In the Schutzian tradition, Berger and Luckmann expand upon the concept of the stranger and discuss the social reality of ritual purification as a coping strategy for reality-maintaining procedures and mental hygiene whereby individuals reconcile their encounter with a foreigner or stranger and their official reality. Using examples from the trans, gender non-conforming community (TGNC), the central question of this paper is: What about those considered a stranger in their home community? Given the hardships that TGNC people have encountered and continue to face, “unsuccessful socialization” does not offer the best account of their challenges, obstacles, and sufferings when marginalized by others. Advancing Schutzian research, we offer two terms that can be applied to the idea of the stranger: ritual desecration and reverse ritual purification. Using a dialectical framework, a social and interpersonal conflict occurs between ritual purification and ritual desecration. Consequently, two personal iterations emerge: those who experience ritual desecration by remaining in their home environment and those who migrate to another community for the possibility of acceptance and belonging, hence, reverse ritual purification. The iterations between ritual purification, ritual desecration, and reverse ritual purification lead to incremental changes and hardships, potentially creating a new social reality.

Capsizing the gaze: gender non-conforming communities as monitorial citizens

ABSTRACT During the current pandemic, gender non-conforming communities (GNCs) in India have been engaging themselves as critical citizens through a demonstration of civic engagement and social responsibility. This paper, based on narratives, documentary evidence and media reports, demonstrates how GNC volunteers are playing a decisive role in accentuating the virtues of representative democracy by serving as ‘monitorial citizens’ in India. It also considers the social dynamics involved in GNC people becoming ‘monitorial’ in a heteronormative society. This means consolidation of their community network and its strategic and instrumental use not just to serve their community, but also a diverse cis-gendered population consisting of migrants, homeless, marginalized, and the poor. In this process, they are creating a shared sense of belonging, based on mutual experiences of discrimination, with other communities that are not categorized as gender non-conforming. Their actions also challenge the normative standards set by mainstream society and create an alternative to existing power hierarchies by capsizing the heteronormative ‘gaze’.

Transgender Rights & the Urgent Need for Social Work Advocacy

ABSTRACT The human rights of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals are under attack at unprecedented levels all over the United States. This article begins by defining and describing human rights and explaining in detail the threats to the human rights and safety of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. Finally, the article urges ongoing social work engagement in advocating for the protection of those rights by utilizing the policy window created by the Bostock v. Clayton County ruling and recent executive orders issued by the Biden Administration to promote safety for transgender and gender non-conforming community members. The article concludes with suggestions for social workers practitioners and educators.

A Qualitative Evaluation of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Patients' Experiences in Southern California's Inland Empire.

To evaluate negative and positive health care experiences within the racial-ethnically diverse transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) community in the Inland Empire, California. Three focus groups were conducted with a racial-ethnically diverse sample of 20 TGNC-identified individuals in California's Inland Empire. The rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RADaR) technique was used to systematically analyze the qualitative data and identify salient themes. Key themes included the following: a lack of TGNC cultural competency among providers, interpersonal barriers to health care, perceived systemic barriers to health care, and the effects of improper care on TGNC patients' health. Lack of cultural competency included providers' conflations of gender and sexuality and unawareness of nonbinary gender identities. Interpersonal barriers included patient experiences of being misgendered, refused treatment, and referred to by their deadnames. Perceived systemic barriers included insurance coverage, transportation issues, and a lack of expedient care. The effects of improper care were highlighted by participants seeking alternative and sometimes unsafe forms of care when timely and appropriate care was inaccessible. Participants recommended increasing representation of TGNC perspectives into provider trainings, involving providers in outreach with the TGNC community, and requiring letters of recommendation and certifications for providers to be deemed TGNC culturally competent as means of improving TGNC patient care.

Reading Gender Trouble in Southeast Asia

Judith Butler's book Gender Trouble, published in 1990, enjoyed its thirtieth anniversary in 2020. To that end, the Association for Asian Studies, the United States’ largest association of academics working on Asia, invited scholars to consider the importance of her arguments and ideas for Asian studies and scholarship in Asia, including how scholars have diverged from and expanded their studies of gender and sexuality in ways not anticipated by Butler when she first published the book. In this essay, I examine the impact of Butler's book in Southeast Asia. Out of the abundance of scholarship stemming from and about the region's eleven diverse countries and their histories, I prioritize those works that explicitly engage the theoretical insights in Gender Trouble to elucidate the lives of gender-nonconforming communities in Southeast Asia. I include scholarship that allows me to explore the disjunction between categories of analysis that are foundational to Butler's theory and those at work in Southeast Asia. Far from rendering Butler's theory and methodological intervention inapposite, this mismatch has catalyzed productive rethinking of Gender Trouble and its implications for the region.

‘Let fa’afafine shine like diamonds’: Balancing accommodation, negotiation and resistance in gender-nonconforming Samoans’ counter-hegemony

In the Pacific Island country of Samoa, a gender-nonconforming community known as fa’afafine is said to constitute part of customary tradition and therefore enjoy cultural legitimacy. Yet fa’afafine are also confronted with a binary gender discourse that daily marginalises them within families/communities. This article explores fa’afafine’s gendered positioning in contemporary Samoa and the ways in which they have negotiated it to carve out space for oppositional agency, focusing on the strategies employed by the Samoa Fa’afafine Association. Based on semi-structured interviews with fa’afafine and other gender-nonconforming Samoans, and guided by Pacific methodology of Talanoa, the article examines fa’afafine’s collective pursuits as a case of counter-hegemonic struggle through a Gramscian theoretical lens. If their acts of resistance are covert and incremental, they are effective in aligning Samoa’s powerful cultural institutions with an alternative gender discourse to cultivate social change. The article closes with reflections on possible challenges to this counter-hegemony.

Gender punitivism: Queer perspectives on identity politics in criminal justice

The article examines the convergence of identity politics and punitivism, two tendencies that profoundly affect current LGBT activism and state criminal policies. It considers the case of Argentina, a country often deemed exemplary in terms of gender-related legislation, and analyses a 2018 sentence that incorporates the concept of ‘travesticide’ in order to examine how the role of identity in political strategies, added to prevailing notions of gender, limits the possible approaches and answers to violence against gender non-conforming communities. It then takes this a step forward to understand how these answers are, in turn, often reduced to punitivist outcomes, narrowing the understanding of reparation and exposing the most vulnerable subjects in the community to further violence. As a contribution to Queer Criminologies, the article seeks to expose the limitations of identity politics, and in particular of its advocacy for gendered rights, showing how they can force gender non-conforming subjects to choose between rights, most notably between legal recognition of their gender identity, and safety vis-à-vis the state apparatus of criminal justice.

Voice-Gender Incongruence and Voice Health Information-Seeking Behaviors in the Transgender Community.

Purpose Voice-gender incongruence has predominantly been investigated in the past through the perspective of feminine-identifying individuals seeking feminine-sounding voices. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-reported voice-gender incongruence in the transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming (TNG) community and to describe health information-seeking behaviors exhibited when individuals attempt to address their voice and communication challenges. Method An online survey was designed with questions targeting the self-reported prevalence of voice-gender incongruence, characteristics of this complaint, and health information-seeking behaviors. Valid standardized measures, including the Voice Handicap Index and the Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale, were also included. Results Four hundred five participants were sorted into three groups based on gender identity (feminine, masculine, gender-neutral) to facilitate comparative analysis. Ninety-six percent of participants reported the experience of voice-gender incongruence in the past, and 88% reported that they currently experience voice-gender incongruence. There were no significant differences in reported voice-gender incongruence between groups. Voice Handicap Index scores were significantly higher for those who currently experience voice-gender incongruence (p < .0001) and reflected differences in how much this concern bothers participants, as rated on a Likert scale, ranging from no problem to a very big problem (p < .0001). Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale scores indicated that the masculine group perceived greater barriers to seeking help as compared to the feminine group. Discussion We present foundational evidence for the prevalence of voice-gender incongruence within the TNG community and barriers encountered when individuals attempt to access care. Future work should investigate the specific needs of subgroups within the TNG community and whether those who desire feminine-, masculine-, and/or androgynous-sounding voices experience voice-gender incongruence and access to services differently. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12462422.

Assessing transgender and gender non-conforming pedigree nomenclature in current genetic counselors' practice: The case for geometric inclusivity.

Healthcare professionals rely on national organizations for guidance; the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) have differing guidelines for acceptable pedigree symbols to represent transgender patients and minimal recommendations for gender non-conforming (GNC) patients. Inconsistency in accepted pedigree symbols to represent these patients is a barrier to providing them appropriate care. We assess variability in pedigree practice among genetic counselors and students, as well as reported education on serving the needs of the transgender and GNC communities, through a survey distributed through NSGC. Participants felt symbols similar to NSGC's (41.1%) and NCCN's (29.7%) recommendations for transgender patients are appropriate and emphasized a desire to affirm gender identity. We identified greater variability in symbols representing a GNC patient; 19.2% of participants selected 'other', explaining they were unsure of the appropriate choice. A high interest (99%) in further training demonstrates a recognition of education as an effective strategy for improving awareness and competency. Promotion of existing resources could help address the fact that 81% of participants were unaware of any standardized symbols used to represent transgender individuals. Creating affirming, standardized pedigree nomenclature is necessary for appropriate and consistent care.

An Exploratory Case Study of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Inclusion at a Metropolitan Library in the Southeastern U.S.

This article examines the existing diversity and inclusion responses to transgender and gender nonconforming patrons at a large, metropolitan public library in the southeastern U.S. Research shows that transgender and gender nonconforming individuals face unique challenges when navigating libraries. These challenges include inadequate collections, microaggressions from reference staff, a lack of gender-neutral bathrooms, and circulation policies preventing remote name changes. To compensate for these difficulties and increase accessibility for transgender and gender nonconforming patrons, libraries should incorporate diversity and inclusion initiatives into their functions. The author evaluated current collections, programs, services, policies, and resources for inclusivity, equity, and accessibility and created a strategic diversity action plan for the institution. The strategic diversity action plan identified six steps the library should take to foster inclusion and increase accessibility for its transgender and gender nonconforming patrons. These six steps include: 1) create an official, transgender-friendly bathroom policy; 2) develop a diversity and inclusion statement that includes gender identity in its language; 3) invest in staff training and continuing education about gender, sexuality, and transgender issues and service needs; 4) conduct a needs assessment of the transgender and gender nonconforming community; 5) establish programming based on the needs and wants expressed by the transgender and gender nonconforming community; and 6) implement a remote name-change or preferred name-change process.

Poetic explorations of cisgender privilege: How teacher candidates learn to advocate for gender non-conforming youth

Undergraduate students training to become educators—unfamiliar with schooling and student populations beyond their alma mater—center on their own PK-12 milieu, rather than challenge their dispositions to acknowledge varied lived experiences. Their struggle to comprehend identity intersections can complicate diversity and social justice discussions in teacher preparation. Thus, pushing future teachers to better understand other lived experiences, as well as their own levels of privilege, is paramount in preparing them to effectively teach all populations. This article is an autoethnographic study of instructing teacher candidates (TCs) in a multicultural education course to investigate issues of transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities—exploring literature, current events, and classroom discussions through poetic inquiry. Analysis of arts-based curriculum interwoven with TC-authored poetry demonstrates: (1) one course’s evolving understanding of TCs’ cisgender privilege; and (2) how privilege impacts TC interactions with gender non-conforming youth.

Dance/Movement Therapists’ Attitudes and Actions Regarding LGBTQI and Gender Nonconforming Communities

This study examined dance/movement therapists’ attitudes and actions regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex (LGBTQI), and gender nonconforming communities (GNC). Building on similar studies conducted by music therapists and drama therapists, 42 survey questions were used to understand dance/movement therapists’ knowledge, preparedness, and how competent practice is being defined and enacted. The findings were analyzed based on 361 responses (26% response rate). Respondents were primarily professionals from the US (88%) who identified as female or cisgender female (91%) with a master’s degree (67%). The majority (87%) of dance/movement therapists reported being open and affirming, and 50% reported seeking supervision to counsel clients from the LGBTQI and GNC communities. However, a gap between the attitudes and applications of clinical skills was found. Sixty-two percent identified socio-political and/or legal issues, 48% named specific open and affirming approaches, and less than 1% reported the use of supervision as an approach to work with these communities. Fifty-two percent reported that clients’ sexual orientation had no influence on their choice of music, movement, or other interventions, and 43% reported the same for gender identity. The lack of knowledge and preparedness point to the need for more training and supervision. Advocacy counseling on the individual, institutional, and societal levels are suggested. More aesthetic research on movement, music, and prop choices are also recommended.