Transgender Experience Research Articles

Stakeholder Perceptions and Experiences Regarding Access to Contraception and Abortion for Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender-Expansive Individuals Assigned Female at Birth in the U.S.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care often excludes the needs and experiences of transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive (TGE) individuals. This study aimed to collect diverse stakeholder perspectives on barriers and facilitators to contraception and abortion for TGE individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB), assess knowledge and attitudes about unintended pregnancy prevention in these populations, and identify recommendations for improving SRH services for people of all genders. Between October 2017 and January 2018, we conducted 27 in-depth interviews with SRH stakeholders, including five TGE individuals who had obtained contraception or abortion care, and 22 clinicians, researchers, and advocates experienced in transgender healthcare. We iteratively developed a codebook and conducted thematic analysis to capture the spectrum of perspectives across interviews. Stakeholders reported a range of barriers to contraception and abortion access for TGE people AFAB, including inability to afford services, lack of gender-affirming clinicians, difficulty obtaining insurance coverage, and misconceptions about fertility and unplanned pregnancy risk. Deterrents to care-seeking included gendered healthcare environments, misgendering, and discrimination. Stakeholders described provider knowledge gaps and a perceived lack of medical education relevant to the SRH needs of TGE people. Recommendations included using gender-inclusive language and gender-affirming patient education materials and improving provider training on gender-affirming SRH care. Stakeholders identified substantial barriers to high-quality contraception and abortion care for TGE AFAB people in the U.S. They recommended specific interventions at the provider and institutional levels to improve experiences with care for TGE people and ensure broader access to gender-affirming SRH services.

Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Persons' Health and Well-Being: Reducing Minority Stress to Improve Well-Being.

This article describes minority stress theory as applied to health disparities and health-care experiences of transgender and gender nonbinary (TGNB) persons. The combination of stigma, social and structural inequalities, and actual discrimination events result in mutually reinforcing dynamics that drive persistent and stubborn disparities in physical and mental health for TGNB persons (Halkitis, Kapadia, Ompad, & Perez-Figueroa, 2015). Together with distrust of the medical system and discomfort of health-care providers in caring for TGNB persons (Smith & Turell, 2017), minority stress contributes to poorer health outcomes and reduced quality of care for sexual and gender minority populations. Ways to reduce health-care-related minority stress for TGNB persons are proposed, with the goal of improving TGNB health and well-being.

Gender Fluidity and Nonbinary Gender Identities Among Children and Adolescents

AbstractA growing number of children and adolescents report having gender identities or expressions that differ from their birth‐assigned gender or from social and cultural gender norms. Some identify as transgender, whereas others consider themselves nonbinary or gender fluid. Nonbinary and gender fluid youth are distinct from transgender youth in that they typically report that their gender identity (i.e., their internal sense of gender) or their gender expression (i.e., their public presentation of their gender through appearance, dress, and behavior) fall outside the traditional male–female binary. For example, nonbinary youth may identify as both male and female or neither male nor female. In this article, I discuss what we know about nonbinary forms of gender identity and expression among children and adolescents, and how these experiences converge and diverge from binary forms of the transgender experience. I also identify the most important priorities for fostering well‐being among all youth.

The experiences of transgender and gender expansive youth in Juvenile justice systems

PurposeRecent research finds that youth who identify as transgender or gender-expansive are disproportionately incarcerated in juvenile justice systems and are treated differently from their non-trans peers (Himmelstein and Brückner, 2011; Hunt and Moodie-Mills, 2012; Irvine, 2010; Mitchum and Moodie-Mills, 2014). Juvenile justice systems have paid little attention to this group of young people in terms of their unique service needs and risk factors. Using qualitative methods, the researchers analyze in-depth interviews and focus group findings from formerly incarcerated trans youth in juvenile justice settings to better understand their experiences. This paper aims to examine the challenges for young people, and, as well as considered recommendations for juvenile justice professionals to study toward making changes in policies, practices and programs that are needed to support young people who are transgender or gender expansive.Design/methodology/approachUsing qualitative, case examples and descriptive analysis, this paper describes the experiences of trans youth in juvenile justice settings and studies toward developing models of promoting trans-affirming approaches to enhance juvenile justice institutions for trans and gender-expansive youth placed in them. The paper describes the evolution of an approach used by the authors, in New York state juvenile justice settings to increase a trans-affirming perspective as a central role in the organization’s strategy and design, and the methods it is using to institutionalize this critical change. Findings culled from the focus groups and in-depth interviews with 15 former residents of juvenile justice settings and several (3) key staff members from the juvenile justice system, focusing on policies, practices and training models are useful tools for assessing progress and recommending actions to increase the affirming nature of such systems. At its conclusion, this chapter will provide clear outcomes and implications for the development of policies, practices and programs with trans and gender expansive youth in juvenile justice systems.FindingsFinding are conceptualized in six thematic categories, namely, privacy, access to health and mental health care, the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, name and pronoun use, clothing, appearance and mannerism, and housing issues.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited as it focuses on formerly incarcerated youth in the New York City area.Practical implicationsThe following implications for practice stemming from this study are as follows: juvenile justice professionals (including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers and detention staff) must treat – and ensure others treat – all trans and gender-expansive youth with fairness, dignity and respect, including prohibiting any attempts to ridicule or change a youth’s gender identity or expression. Having written nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy is also essential. These policies can address issues such as prohibiting harassment of youth or staff who are trans or gender expansive, requiring the use of respectful and inclusive language and determining how gender rules (e.g. usage of “male or “female” bathrooms, gender-based room assignments) will be addressed for transgender and gender-nonconforming youth. Programs should also provide clients and staff with training and helpful written materials. Juvenile justice professionals must promote the well-being of transgender youth by allowing them to express their gender identity through choice of clothing, name, hair-style and other means of expression and by ensuring that they have access to appropriate medical care if necessary. Juvenile justice professionals must receive training and resources regarding the unique societal, familial and developmental challenges confronting trans youth and the relevance of these issues to court proceedings. Training must be designed to address the specific professional responsibilities of the audience (i.e. judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers and detention staff). Juvenile justice professionals must develop individualized, developmentally appropriate responses to the behavior of each trans youth, tailored to address the specific circumstances of his or her or their life.Social implicationsProviding trans-affirming services to youth in juvenile justice settings is a matter of equity and should be the goal strived for by all systems that care for these young people. Helping trans and gender-expansive youth reenter and reintegrate into society should be a primary goal. There are many organizations and systems that stand ready to assist juvenile justice systems and facilities in supporting trans and gender expansive youth in their custody and helping them to rehabilitate, heal and reenter a society that welcomes their participation and where they can thrive and not just survive.Originality/valueThe paper is original in that it examines the lived experiences of trans and gender-expansive youth in juvenile justice systems. An area, which has not been fully explored in the professional literature.

Exploring health care experiences of transgender people living in Texas

BackgroundAlthough the transgender population in the United States is greater than 1.4 million, health care experiences in this group are underaddressed. PurposeTo explore the health care experiences of transgender people in Texas. MethodsThis was an exploratory, sequential multimethod study. In Phase 1, to identify key health-related topics, a self-selected sample of 14 participants completed an online survey. In Phase 2, the focus was understanding care experiences for 12 participants using audio-recorded interviews and theme identification. NVivo software was used for data management. FindingsIn Phase 1, findings included needing to: educate providers (89%), correct care staff on pronoun use (75%), tolerate staff's refusal to use one's preferred pronoun (50%). In Phase 2, four themes emerged: discrimination, provider practices, challenges to navigating the health care system, and gender identity. DiscussionValuing transgender experiences is a first step in addressing care gaps. Change will require provider introspection and application of care guidelines.

Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale - Gender Spectrum (UGDS-GS): Construct validity among transgender, nonbinary, and LGBQ samples

Background: Researchers combined both versions of the original Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale (UGDS) to create a single gender spectrum version (UGDS-GS) which measures dissatisfaction with gender identity and expression over time as well as comfort with affirmed gender identity.Aim: This study examined the construct validity of the newly revised, UGDS-GS.Method: Tests of measurement invariance were conducted in stages to assess measurement invariance of the UGDS-GS across three groups: cisgender, binary transgender, and nonbinary/genderqueer.Results: Findings indicate that the UGDS-GS functions acceptably in all three gender groups (configural and metric invariance). Also, across binary transgender and nonbinary/genderqueer groups, the measure functions very similarly with all four types of invariance. Item level findings highlight the specificity of the measure to distinguish experiences of binary transgender and nonbinary/genderqueer persons differently from cisgender LGBQ individuals.Conclusions: The UGDS-GS demonstrates a large degree of invariance across binary transgender, nonbinary/genderqueer, and cisgender LGBQ subgroups; and therefore, findings indicate this revision to be a substantial improvement. This 18-item self-report, Likert-type scale measure is a) inclusive of all gender identities and expressions (e.g., transfeminine spectrum, transmasculine spectrum, genderqueer, nonbinary, cisgender); b) appropriate for use longitudinally from adolescence to adulthood; and c) administered at any point in the social or medical transition process, if applicable, or in community-based research focused on gender dysphoria that examines cisgender and transgender persons.

Suicide and the transgender experience: A public health crisis.

Given the rise in the visibility of the trans community, increasing attention has been paid to mental health disparities in trans populations. Specifically, research findings conclude that suicide is considered 1 of the major health disparities in trans populations. Across several studies it has been found that 40% or more of trans people have attempted suicide at least once in their lifetime. There are a multitude of reasons why trans people experience suicidal ideation and attempt suicide, with minority stress being theorized as a primary cause. To address minority stress-focused suicide, a psychologically adapted public health model is proposed. This model includes the following steps for preventing suicidal thoughts and behaviors: (a) defining the issue, (b) identifying causes and risk factors, (c) developing and testing psychological interventions, and (d) implementing psychological interventions. Key components discussed include the evidence and practice for supporting trans people through their social and medical transition processes, which have been demonstrated to improve mental and physical health outcomes. The implications of the prevention model indicate that psychologists play a key role in supporting trans people, regardless of the clinical concerns that bring them to therapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Challenging the Cisgender/Transgender Binary: Nonbinary People and the Transgender Label

Interviews with 41 nonbinary individuals reveal a considerable amount of ambivalence among nonbinary people regarding transgender identification. There is also disagreement about which model of transgender legitimacy determines group membership: the binary and medicalized model or the umbrella model. Those who do not identify as transgender either do not consider themselves to be “trans enough” to claim group membership alongside trans men and trans women or otherwise consider their gender experience to be qualitatively different from the transgender experience. Meanwhile, those who do identify as transgender credit the umbrella model as authoritative while acknowledging that their claims to group membership are often resisted by those who uphold the binary transgender model. Finally, those who defy an easy yes/no transgender categorization schema qualify their transgender identification with admissions of doubt that they are really “trans enough” to claim the label or through linguistic practices that position themselves as tangentially transgender or as distinctly nonbinary transgender. This range of responses illuminates the diverse gender identities that coexist among nonbinary people that cannot be neatly sorted into a man/woman or cisgender/transgender binary. Research on the sociology of gender must expand beyond both of these binary frameworks to reflect the reality of gender diversity.

Packers, dilators and the options for either male or female: Navigating movement of transgender and gender non-conforming bodies, appearances and luggage through airport security

Abstract In this article, we investigate the experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) individuals leading up to and moving through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport lines. We used a qualitative research method and analysed fourteen in-depth interviews of TGNC individuals. Based upon analysis of the data, three larger themes emerged, each with several subthemes. First, the TGNC participants engaged in extra packing or had additional packing considerations. Second, as participants moved through security, they frequently experienced gender confusion from the TSA agents. Lastly, participants actively thought about passing, or tried to dress in a way where they were perceived as passing as a binary gender. TGNC bodies are rendered as potential threats in binary spaces, specifically those spaces with the purpose of surveillance. In the case of TSA, they disrupt hegemonic expectations surrounding gender and require additional emotional, physical and financial labour. Despite proactivity from other parties to gain them equal access to binary spaces, TGNC individuals still experience, in some cases, additional scrutiny, observation and intensified analysis before being granted access through entryways deemed suitable only to the long-standing hierarchy of the gender binary.

ASPECTOS MULTIDISCIPLINARES DA VIOLÊNCIA TRANSFÓBICA NO BRASIL

Resumo: O presente artigo se propõe a discutir como violência e experiência transexual se relacionam na sociedade brasileira, além de analisar as principais agressões sofridas por essa população. Para tanto, recorre aos estudos de Berenice Bento, Judith Butler, entre outros, bem como a material produzido pelos próprios sujeitos transexuais. Inicia com uma breve retrospectiva histórica sobre o termo “transexualidade”. Logo, apresenta os conceitos “heteronormatividade” e “transfobia”, discorrendo sobre o modo em que a sociedade direciona os indivíduos a tipos específicos de performance de gênero e sexualidade. Finalmente, cita dados referentes à violência transfóbica no Brasil e os analisa. Concluí que a população transexual é uma das minorias mais sujeitas a violência, o qual requer que o debate seja ampliado nas mais diversas esferas, a fim de promover um combate efetivo à transfobia.

Uncomfortable in my own skin – emerging, early-stage identity-related information needs of transgender people

PurposeThis study aims to increase the understanding of the early-stage identity-related information needs of transgender people.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on social constructivism, queer theory and information practice research. In accordance with the queer phenomenological approach which emphasises lived experiences, data was collected by interviewing 25 individuals who identified as transgender. The data was analysed with a focus on how early-stage information needs are formed into conscious information needs.FindingsThe formation of early-stage information needs were conceptualised as a chain including a trigger for information seeking, finding the right words and understanding the experience. Especially the bodily changes starting at puberty were strong causes of discomfort causing friction between the subjects' own gendered body and their gender experience, even leading to gender dysphoria. Finding words to describe the experience played an important role in the process of identity formation. In many cases this was difficult because of the lack of accurate and relevant information.Social implicationsProviding information especially of varying transgender experiences is vital for individuals trying to understand and verbalise their gender identity.Originality/valueThis study provides an understanding of the early-stage information needs described by transgender people and the process of building identities through disorientation. This study suggests that early-stage information needs are a valid concept to help understand how embodied experiences and the friction between the lived experience and the social world can lead to information seeking.

Transgender Experience: Place, Ethnicity and Visibility

Review of Transgender Experience: Place, Ethnicity and Visibility 
 Oxford: Routledge, 2014

Questioning a Single Narrative: Multiple Identities Shaping Black Queer and Transgender Student Retention

Researchers explore factors that influence retention and persistence of queer and transgender students and examine retention and persistence among Black students. However, there is a dearth of retention and persistence scholarship centering the nuanced experiences of Black queer and transgender college students at the intersections of their gender, racial, and sexual identities. Using the queer of color critique conceptual framework and an anti-Black racism lens, the authors present a systematic literature review to illuminate opportunities for scholars to (a) disrupt singular narratives that erase queer and transgender experiences from Black student retention discourses and (b) address the ways scholars erase Black racial identity from broader queer and transgender student retention research. Centering the case of Joshua, a Black queer cisgender male-identified college student, the authors highlight research, practice, and policy implications that consider social class, institutional type, multilevel intervention strategies, and intersectionality in Black queer and transgender college student retention discourse.

Xenological Temporalities in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Lovecraft, and Transgender Experiences

Xenological Temporalities in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Lovecraft, and Transgender Experiences

Normative and negative sexual experiences of transgender identifying adolescents in the community.

Background:Sexuality is a major facet of development during adolescence. Apace with normal sexual development, sexual experiences become more common and intimate. Recent research reports mixed results as to whether this is the case among transgender identifying adolescents. Recent research also suggests that trans youth experience negative sexual experiences (such as dating violence and sexual harassment) more often than their cisgender identifying peers. However, most studies have had clinical or selected samples.Objective:The aim of this study is to compare the normative as well as negative sexual experiences of trans youth with their cisgender peers in the general population.Method:Our study included 1386 pupils of the ninth year of comprehensive school in Finland, mean age (SD) 15.59 (0.41) years. We compared sexual experiences, sexual harassment and dating violence among trans youth and their cisgender identifying peers. Distributions of the outcome variables were calculated among the whole sample and by sex. Next, multivariate associations were studied using logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, honesty of responding and depression. Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) are given.Results:After adjusting for age, sex, honesty of responding and ultimately for depression, normative sexual experiences of trans youth did not differ systematically from those of the mainstream, cisgender identifying youth. After adjusting for sex, age and honesty, transgender youth had increased Odds Ratios for experiences of sexual coercion and dating violence perpetration. In the final models however, no statistically significant differences were detected in the negative sexual experiences between transgender and cisgender youth.Conclusions:Transgender identifying adolescents presented neither with delayed nor with excessively advanced sexual experiences. However, transgender youth seem to be more susceptible to subjection to sexual coercion and, unexpectedly, dating violence perpetration than their cisgender peers. However, these associations may in fact relate more closely to depression, a prevalent phenomenon among trans youth, than transgender identity itself.

The manifestation of multilevel stigma in the lived experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming older adults.

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people experience disparities in mental health when compared with non-TGNC sexual minorities and the general population. One line of inquiry with respect to these disparities is the examination of stigma and its connection to emotional and psychological well-being. Recent conceptualizations of stigma draw attention to multiple levels-individual, interpersonal, and structural-that are thought to impact well-being for TGNC people. However, little is known about how multilevel stigma is experienced by TGNC older adults, who navigate stigmatizing environments over a lifetime and who may be especially vulnerable to its cumulative effects. We conducted an interpretive content analysis of biographical interviews with 88 TGNC adults aged 50 and older, from across the United States, obtained from the photography and interview project To Survive on This Shore. Our analyses suggest that TGNC older adults' mental health is indeed impacted by multiple levels of stigma. Individual level stigma is experienced as ongoing vigilance about aspects of oneself that break gender norms, often manifesting in internal conflicts. At the interpersonal level, TGNC older adults navigate unpredictable relationships marked by conflicting expressions of love, acceptance, strain, and exclusion. Structural stigma manifests in constraints brought about by transphobic policies and social norms but also sparks intentional action on the part of TGNC older adults to resist and change these social forces. Clinical interventions to combat stigmatization can use life narratives and a focus on consciousness-raising to promote empowerment and well-being for this group of older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Transgender Experience of Mental Healthcare in Australia

Emerging global research suggests that transgender people experience poorer physical and mental health outcomes, as well as higher rates of discrimination in healthcare settings. To explore this in an Australian context, a qualitative research project was undertaken to explore the helpful and unhelpful therapy experiences of six transgender Australians. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, four master themes emerged from the interview data, two of which are explored in depth. The research brings valuable insight into working towards positive outcomes with transgender clients with suggestions for changes in clinical practice for mental healthcare providers, education, training and future research.

Does Gender Minority Professional Experience Impact Employment Discrimination? Two Résumé Experiments

We sought to examine perceived gender identity, perceived co-worker discomfort, and salary recommendations for youth counselors with transgender-related work experience. In two experiments conducted in 2016 and 2017, we randomized participants to view 1 of 2 résumés with varying work experience at a camp for transgender youth or a generic youth camp. Study 1 participants were 274 adult festivalgoers at a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride festival. Study 2 participants were 296 employed, heterosexual adults aged 35-60 from an online survey panel. In Study 1, viewing the résumé with transgender experience resulted in a statistically significantly higher likelihood of reporting the applicant was gender minority than cisgender (adjusted odds ratio = 3.76, 95% confidence interval [1.32, 10.72], p = .01), higher but not a statistically significant level of co-worker discomfort (aOR = 1.39, 95% CI [0.83, 2.32], p = .22), and, although not statistically significant, a $2,605 higher salary (95% CI [-$604, - $5,814], p = .11). In Study 2, we found a statistically significantly greater likelihood of reporting the applicant was gender minority than cisgender (OR = 2.56, 95% CI [1.36, 4.82], p < .01), statistically significantly higher odds of reported co-worker discomfort (OR = 3.57, 95% CI [2.15, 5.92], p < .01), and, although not statistically significant, a $1,374 higher salary (95% CI [-$1,931, $4,679], p = .41). Our results indicate the potential for stigma by association for professionals working with marginalized groups and suggest potential pathways through which employment discrimination may exacerbate existing inequities for gender minority people.

A “Glorious” Dream of Awkward Romance: Humor and Desire in Wang Yun’s (1749-1819) Fanhua meng

AbstractWang Yun’s (1749-1819) Fanhua meng (A Dream of Glory, 1769) is one of the very few extant chuanqi plays written by women in late imperial China. Its female protagonist, who is frustrated by social restrictions placed on women, transforms into a man in a dream. The dream content revolves around the protagonist’s romantic adventures, which feature many awkward and laughable moments. As a fantasy about transgender experience, Fanhua meng has been the subject of critique for its embrace of patriarchal values as well as praise for its reflection on patriarchal depravity. These conflicting views attest to the complexity of Wang Yun’s use of humor in the play. This article explores how and why Wang Yun depicts her protagonist’s journey of desire in a comic mode, and how Wang’s contemporary male readers responded to Wang’s humor. It argues that Wang’s use of humor provides a palatable coating for a provocative reflection on the male privilege of being a desiring subject. As a whole, Wang’s play challenges the vision of worldly success promoted by the long-established and male-dominated chuanqi drama tradition. As a case study, this article draws attention to humor as a mode of self-writing for women writers in late imperial China.

A Trauma-Informed Exploration of the Mental Health and Community Support Experiences of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Adults

ABSTRACT This study applied a trauma-informed care (TIC) framework to explore transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) adults’ experiences with mental health and community supports. Data were drawn from the qualitative component of a more extensive mixed-methods study that aimed to assess TGE individuals’ support needs. Participants (N = 100) were recruited from online support groups using a combination of convenience and snowball sampling and invited to take an online survey. Open-response questions asked participants to describe their most positive experiences with a mental health provider and provide recommendations for improving the supportiveness of the communities to which they belonged. Participants’ responses were coded and sorted into five overarching themes: (a) trust and emotional safety, (b) environmental and physical safety, (c) choice and collaboration, (d) empowerment, and (e) cultural and gender issues. Finally, we discussed implications for improving practice and further developing a TIC model that meets the needs of this population.