Non-binary Research Articles

Sex/gender differences in how plurisexual attractions contribute to young adults’ thoughts and feelings about their sexual selves

Purpose Sexual self-schema (SSS) are cognitive frameworks for one’s thoughts and feelings about oneself as a sexual being. These schema interpret and organize sexual information and attitudes, and can guide sexual behavior. This study examined how plurisexual attractions may interact with gender to predict SSS. Materials and methods I surveyed 602 young adults about their gender, patterns of attractions to men, women, and gender non-binary people, and SSS using the validated SSS Scale. Results In this sample, SSS were similar across participants with monosexual vs. plurisexual patterns of attraction. However, a few significant effects emerged. Cisgender women with low attraction to any gender reported significantly lower romantic/passionate self-schema relative to women with at least some attraction to one or more genders. In contrast, cisgender men with exclusively same-gender attractions reported higher open/liberal self-schema relative to men with either exclusively other-­gender or plurisexual attractions. Novel to this study, 22% of participants reported attractions to gender non-binary and gender non-conforming people, and these attractions significantly predicted SSS. Conclusion These findings point to subtle gender differences in how attractions interact with young people’s conceptualization of their sexual selves.

The Politics of Menstruation

Menstrual blood is still regarded as embarrassing and taboo in many places all over the world. This article focuses on the study of the Red Tent as an example of feminist-spiritual menstrual activism established in 2007 in the US because it represents an important form of breaking the menstrual taboo. Although contemporary spiritualities present themselves as nonhierarchical and gender equal, spirituality and well-being in the women's circles is predominantly practiced by cisgender, heterosexual, and white middle-class women, excluding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and others (LGBTQ+). Constructs around the sacredness of female experiences (menstruation, menopause) are problematic for transgender women who do not share these experiences, and a lack of diversity may perpetuate systematic inequities and discrimination. This article discusses whether the Red Tent in Slovenia is open to include transgender and nonbinary people. By creating alternative domains of representation in which nonnormative bodies can exist, we disrupt the sex/gender system and dismantle normative femininity and masculinity. The article argues that in this way the Red Tent has the potential to subvert the dominant ideology of gender binary construction by providing alternative models for the embodiment of gender to challenge traditional conservative gender essentialisms in society. The methodology employed consists of ethnographic fieldwork, which was performed in the Red Tent gatherings and semistructured in-depth interviews with participants who host or participate in them. Because a part of the scope of the research “lives” in the cyber world, the ethnographic research methodology was integrated with the phenomena and data obtained from the internet in the form of netnography.

Special Issue: Health Outcomes of Gender-Affirming Care Among Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth: Deadline for Manuscript Submission: September 17, 2024.

Special Issue: Health Outcomes of Gender-Affirming Care Among Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth: Deadline for Manuscript Submission: September 17, 2024.

“I got given all these keys”: a photovoice study examining master and alternative narratives and nonbinary identity formation in London’s queer communities

Background Nonbinary people may rely on queer communities to resist cisnormative erasure and shape their sense of identity. However, transnormativity within queer communities may repudiate nonbinary identities. The Master Narrative Framework informs our understanding of how cis- and transnormative narratives are negotiated within queer communities, but no study has yet applied this framework to specifically study nonbinary identity formation. Better understanding of nonbinary identity formation is a key task for clinicians and researchers to offer appropriate care to these populations. Aim The study aimed to understand trans + intra-community processes and their impact on nonbinary identity formation, exploring dominant master and alternative narratives and developing further recommendations for research in this under-studied area. Methods Grounded in a constructionist framework and feminist theory, the study used photovoice. Ten nonbinary individuals were trained on photovoice and participated in focus groups and interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Findings identified four prevalent master and alternative narratives: The different one: master narrative of imposters; and the three alternative narratives of To be queer is to reject the norm; To be nonbinary is to appear androgynous and To be queer is to go out. Participants’ identity shifted and took shape in response to their lived experience of these narratives; however they resisted the pressure to present an unchanging identity. Discussion Results were presented in light of previous findings. Further research is warranted on nonbinary identities that looks beyond deficit-based understandings and nuances processes of identity formation and narrative creation.

Bystanders to Sexual Violence: Findings From a National Sample of Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents.

Mobilizing bystanders to prevent sexual violence is an increasingly popular prevention strategy. While research has identified characteristics related to opportunity and actions around helping, a more nuanced understanding of how helping behavior and its modifiable levers may differ for youth of various genders is needed. The current study examined bystander-helping behaviors in sexual violence situations in a national, social media-recruited sample of adolescents 14 to 16 years of age. Measures of opportunity and self-reported actions were included in an online survey along with items assessing attitudes related to violence and helping. Given that prevention programs may work differently for cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary young people, between-group differences in amount of opportunity and helping behaviors were examined. Further, we examined correlates of opportunities to help as well as helping behaviors within each group. Overall, few attitude and personal experience characteristics consistently predicted opportunities and behaviors across groups. Group differences that emerged, such as the association between attitudes supportive of rape and lower helping for cisgender but not trans or nonbinary youth, support attending to these group differences in both basic and intervention research to inform tailoring of prevention programs.

Framing discomfort on YouTube: Narratives of non-binary dysphoria

In Western thinking, the binary gender system has long held a central position, often side-lining identities that exist beyond this binary framework. This facet of gender discourse frequently leads to the omission of non-binary individuals from discourses not only of gender, but more broadly of societal concern. As a result, it is not unusual for these individuals to experience discomfort, both in respect of their gender identity and in relation to societal expectations, often leading to gender dysphoria. It is no chance, in light of the above, that clinical definitions and comprehension of gender dysphoria predominantly center on a binary understanding of gender, even though the experience of gender dysphoria extends beyond this binary framework. Over the past decade, social-media platforms have emerged as dynamic arenas where non-binary individuals can openly express their gender identities. In this context, social-media holds considerable influence as a potent tool (Angouri, 2021) for the construction and portrayal of non-binary identities online. Within this discourse, the articulation of discomfort with one’s own physical appearance seems to be a recurring theme. This study explores the articulation of emotional discomfort among non-binary YouTubers, in relation to their gender experience. It employs a methodology relying on Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies (Gillings et al., 2023), using the Sketch Engine software (Kilgarrif et al., 2014), to identify distinctive lexical patterns that characterize the expression of discomfort and dysphoria. The dataset includes YouTube videos from five channels owned by non-binary YouTubers, which could be considered, by virtue of their content and stated purpose, as explicit non-binary communicative gender performances. The paper primarily investigates how discourse surrounding suffering and discomfort contributes to the portrayal of non-binary identities in online spaces, and seeks to observe whether the expression of this discomfort can be construed as a means of seeking validation for these identities within the social-media domain.

The comparative inclusion and acceptance of LGBT+ people in the UK construction industry

The Equality Act of 2010 forbids discrimination based on gender and sexual identity; however, many lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary and people with gender expressions outside traditional norms (LGBT+) working in the UK construction industry experience hostility in the workplace. There has been a lack of research that focuses on LGBT+ professionals in construction, so this study investigates the topic and looks at how acceptance varies across different groups under the LGBT+ umbrella. The research uses thematic analysis to probe in depth the experience of 11 LGBT+ interviewees working in the UK construction sector. The study finds that majority of the LGBT+ employees have experienced some prejudice, each group in a unique way. Bisexual, trans and nonbinary people experience more discrimination than Lesbian and Gay people. Acceptance depends on workplace context. The respondents perceive construction sites more linked to harassment, discrimination and inappropriate comments toward the LGBT+ community than office environments. The visibility of senior LGBT+ employees and leadership of both LGBT+ and non-LGBT+ senior management are important for inclusion in organisations and for supporting junior LGBT+ employees. This study contributes to understanding of LGBT+ acceptance and raises issues that need to be addressed in the industry, challenging heteronormative culture.

Receipt of Gender-Affirming Surgeries Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Veterans.

Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) can be an important part of comprehensive care for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals, but this care is not provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) because of an exclusion in the medical benefits package. To describe the receipt of GAS by veterans and assess the associations between key sociodemographic characteristics and receipt of chest ("top") and genital ("bottom") surgeries. Cross-sectional national survey (the GendeR Affirming Care Evaluation (GRACE)), among TGD Veterans conducted between September 2022 and July 2023. A total of 6653 Veterans (54% response rate) completed the survey. Self-reported "top" and "bottom" GAS were key outcomes. Covariates included gender identity, sex assigned at birth, age, race, ethnicity, income, employment status, education, relationship status, sexual orientation, and geographic region. Among all respondents, 39% had ≥ 1 GAS. Among the 4430 veterans interested in top surgery, 38% received it; 23% of 3911 veterans interested in bottom surgery had received it. In multivariable models, older age (50 + vs. 18-39) was associated with higher receipt of top and bottom surgery while nonbinary gender identity (vs. binary gender identity), lower household income (< $50,000 vs. > $75,000), less education (less than a college graduate vs. Master's degree or more), sexual orientations other than heterosexual, and residing in a region other than the Pacific were associated with lower receipt of top and bottom surgery. Individuals assigned male (vs. assigned female) at birth had lower receipt of top surgery and higher receipt of bottom surgery. GAS receipt was low and there were important disparities by gender, sex, income, education, sexual orientation, and region. By removing the exclusion to providing GAS, VA could reduce barriers to accessing GAS and decrease disparities among TGD veterans.

Women’s experiences of needing abortion care whilst incarcerated: a systematic review of the international literature

Incarcerated women are confined in institutions designed to punish. These sites often ignore the complex mental and physical health needs of people who are incarcerated. Despite the World Health Organization stressing the need for access to reproductive healthcare in carceral institutions, stigma surrounding abortion care and health inequalities create contextually specific issues for incarcerated people seeking to access these services. There is also a dearth of research conducted directly with incarcerated women, trans men and non-binary people to examine their experiences of abortion. A systematic review of international peer-reviewed and grey literature was completed to summarise existing evidence from research conducted on the experiences of needing abortion care whilst incarcerated. Various experiences were identified including: conditions of confinement shaping abortion decisions; bureaucratic obstacles to accessing abortion services; incarcerated women, carceral staff and carceral healthcare staff’s lack of understanding of abortion rights and procedures; and a scarcity of support and empathy, including experiences of stigmatisation and lack of confidentiality. There exists a significant gap in research examining the experiences of incarcerated people who may need an abortion, emphasising the need for international collaboration and advocacy to address systemic issues that extend beyond local contexts.

Psychometric Properties of the Bisexual Microaffirmation Scale: For Women in a Sample of Bisexual + Women and Nonbinary People of Color

Though the Bisexual Microaffirmation Scale: For Women (BMSFW) was originally created to help mental health clinicians and researchers understand bisexual women’s experiences of stigma and affirmation, the scale has so far only been used with predominantly White samples. The present study used a sample 209 majority bisexual cisgender women from marginalized racial-ethnic backgrounds to test the psychometric properties of the BMFSW. This study’s findings include the BMSFW’s convergent validity with previously developed bisexual and queer specific scales and discriminant validity with the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Short Form Impression Management subscale (BIDR-IM). This study also suggests a different factor structure than the one initially proposed by the original authors. The present study provides insight to the still underexamined construct, microaffirmations, and also extends beyond previous research on bisexual + individuals by highlighting the importance and need for more research and scales that look at the intersection and experiences of bisexual + women and nonbinary people of color.

Transgender Solidarity and Gender Out of Place

In recent years, conservative attempts to erase gender diversity—directed at transgender youth in particular—have taken on new momentum. Schools are restricted from respecting students’ identities, libraries are being censored, and families are being prevented from seeking gender affirming counseling. At the same time, it is also clear that transgender, nonbinary, and other gender creative youth are increasingly demanding respect. Education about and through gender is being prevented and sometimes criminalized precisely when all students and educators need to be considering gender in more depth, breadth, and intersectional complexity. The transgender rights movement has been attentive to forms of gender diversity that draw more people into solidarity. This paper suggests following that strategy of building connections among genders while also understanding different forms of gender have different needs, structural positions, and histories, too. Understanding how to balance both a complex analysis of gender and a firm commitment to act in solidarity of gender diversities can help us to teach about and through gender, as well as resist how gender diversities are literally being pushed out of place in many states.

'Are We Gonna Have to Pretend to Be a Straight Couple?': Examining the Specific Detriment that Cisgenderism Places on Non-Binary Adoption and Fostering Applicants in the United Kingdom.

This exploratory qualitative study aimed to find out more about how the children's social work system interacts with non-binary parents. It highlights the specific detriment that can be faced by non-binary people hoping to adopt or foster in the United Kingdom. Three key themes emerged: (1) Barriers for non-binary carers, (2) Prejudice in adoption and fostering matching processes and (3) Intersectional disadvantage. The study found that non-binary people experience specific detriment when endeavouring to start or grow their families, examining how cisgenderism operates to privilege some identities over others. Multiple barriers affect the way non-binary people try and navigate how their family lives in a society that is organised around binary gender identities. Cisgenderism can subtly and pervasively exert a devaluing of identities that sit outside of entrenched binary gender norms, influencing how people can understand and express their gender identities within society.

Gender fluidity and “other left-wing superstitions”: problem representations in the inquiry report on the NSW Parental Rights Bill

ABSTRACT Policies and other governance initiatives that attempt to limit or prohibit gender diversity inside (and outside of) schools are increasing in frequency. One core discourse that has been deployed to restrict curricular engagements and school policies around gender and sexuality diversity in schools is that of “parental rights”, which seeks to position any discussions of these matters as requiring consent of parents. This paper reviews an inquiry report into proposed legislation that sought to enshrine “parental rights” in education and prohibit the teaching of “gender fluidity” in schools in New South Wales, Australia. Produced in 2021, the inquiry report included inputs from advocacy groups, citizens, and lobbyists alongside substantial contributions from politicians, representing multiple constructions of gender, identity, young people, and schooling. Using Bacchi and Goodwin’s “What is the problem represented to be” framework, this paper analyses the conceptual logic and prominent discourses within the Report. Three key problem constructions dominated: “gender fluidity”, unsafe schools and radical teachers. We argue that the Report engaged in a moral panic of gender diversity as contagious, teachable, and dangerous. The logic of the Report depended upon the imagined but often cited crisis of teacher quality and a subscription to antiquated discourses that frame children as innocent, asexual, and cisgender. Findings demonstrate that the Report silenced the perspectives and experiences of transgender and gender diverse children and adults. Ultimately, the Report reproduced and amplified transphobic discourses that proliferate in international publics that seek to limit and admonish gender diversity and gender diverse young people.

The Relationship between Gender Identity and Gender Centrality among Transgender, Cisgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex Individuals

ABSTRACT This study highlights the relationship between gender identity and gender centrality, including self-reported measures of the centrality of masculinity and femininity in individuals’ interactional expression, physical expression, interests, and feeling masculine or feminine. This is a secondary data analysis of a larger study (The 2019 Pleasure Study). In this analysis, it was found that there is a notable relationship between gender identity and levels of gender centrality. Transgender men and transgender women reported higher levels of gender identity centrality (“How important is your gender identity to the way you think about yourself?”) than cisgender men and women. Nonbinary people and intersex individuals reported higher levels of gender identity centrality than cisgender men and cisgender women, but lower levels than transgender men and transgender women. In an average of centrality measures (“How important are how masculine/feminine your physical expression, interactional expression, feelings, and interests are?”), trans women had the highest average centrality scores while cis men had the lowest.

‘Boy smell’: transgender and nonbinary people’s experiences of bodily smell

Although smell is sometimes treated with little regard, it is invested with cultural meaning and conveys a great deal of information, including about gender, sexuality and identity. This article draws on interviews with 11 transgender and nonbinary people who have accessed gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), and focuses on how they understand and explain changes in how their own bodies smell. Although it is well documented that GAHT causes changes in skin oiliness, changes in smell are inconsistently documented, and within the medical literature are often commented on only in passing. Taking a discourse analytic approach, the article finds that participants noticed changes in their own smell during hormonal transition, that in many cases this change was understood as significant in some way, and that these changes could be experienced as affirming. Understandings of what changes in bodily smell meant were often derived relationally or socially, although participants’ discussion of the experience frequently focused on their own embodiment. Smell seems to form part of a process of (re)identification with the physical self and gender affirmation that can be facilitated by GAHT.

Review of Cordoba (2022): Non-Binary Gender Identities: The Language of Becoming

Review of Cordoba (2022): Non-Binary Gender Identities: The Language of Becoming

Early marginal ulceration prevalence following primary RYGB: a rare events model of the MBSAQIP 2015-2021

PurposeMarginal ulceration (MU) following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is an established complication, with early MU (within 30-days of operation) being less understood compared to its late counterpart. This study aims to identify risk factors for early MU in patients undergoing primary RYGB. MethodsUtilizing data from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation Quality Improvement Project (MBSAQIP 2015-2021), 1,346,468 records were evaluated. After exclusions for revisions, conversions, pediatric cases, nonbinary gender, missing body mass index (BMI) data, and missing operative time; 291,625 cases of primary RYGB were included for full analysis and rare events modeling of early MU. ResultsThe prevalence of early MU was .29% (n = 850). Higher rates of early MU were associated with BMI, race, history of diabetes mellitus (DM), prior thrombotic complications (deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE)), prior percutaneous cardiac intervention (PTC), immunosuppressive therapy, and anticoagulation status. Additionally, procedural aspects like the nonspecialization of the surgeon and longer operative times also correlated with higher early MU rates. Rare-events regression modeling noted significant associations of early MU with younger age, diabetes requiring insulin, history of PTC, DVT, immunosuppressive therapy, and anticoagulation status. ConclusionEarly MU remains a relatively rare complication. The lower than previously reported occurrence suggests possible improvements in both patient preparation and surgical technique. The identification of relevant risk factors enables better perioperative and intraoperative management of patients at risk of developing early MU.

Erased But Not Forgotten

The Harlem Renaissance is a decade known for its fluidity and non-conformity that allowed for a thriving underground culture where Black queer Americans could organize and interact, as long as they remained hidden. While the queer community and the Black community flourished independently, the Black queer community was left behind in the wake of great progress for Black Americans, erased from the historical narrative despite its major contributions to Black and queer advancement. This presentation will examine how the Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s) fostered an underground network that allowed for the expression of the natural fluidity of sexuality and gender, unavailable to the heteronormative White Western society that existed above ground. Secondly, despite the Black queer community being credited for Black and queer progress, it was simultaneously victimized by a Black society so desperate for progress that it conformed to the colonial way, developing internalized racism and constructing an elite, heteronormative hierarchy through discursive distancing. This presentation will argue that the Black queer American experience of the Harlem Renaissance was erased from the historical narrative by White, Black, queer and straight masculinities, and that the repression of this community further subordinated both the Black and Queer communities.

Experiences of body image in the gender non-binary community: A qualitative analysis

Body image concerns are prevalent within transgender communities – many transgender people engage in disordered eating to suppress or accentuate secondary sex characteristics and reduce gender dysphoria. However, this research has mostly been conducted with binary transgender people. Here, we examine how non-binary people experience and relate to their bodies. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with 13 gender non-binary individuals living in Australia. Photo elicitation techniques were utilised, and the transcribed interview data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Six themes were identified: Expansive Understandings of Body Image, Body Image can be Linked to Gender Dysphoria, Cultivating a Preferred Body can Lead to Gender Euphoria, Appreciating Diversity in Non-Binary Body Ideals, The Androgynous Body Ideal is not Universally Accepted, and Experiencing the Body as Functional rather than Aesthetic. The present findings highlight the diversity of experiences of body image for non-binary people. The non-binary concept of body image was found to be expansive, stressing various physical attributes involved in social gender recognition and physiological sources of gender dysphoria. Some participants valued gender-affirming medical intervention, others were accepting of their bodies as they are, attributing their body confidence to the process of affirming their non-binary gender.

Rationale and design of the Self-TI Study protocol: a cross-sectional human papillomavirus self-testing pilot study among transgender adults in England

IntroductionPersistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causal agent of several cancers including cervical, anal and oropharyngeal cancer. Transgender men and transmasculine non-binary (TMNB) people with a cervix...