Nonbinary Gender Identities

Author(s):  
Peter Hegarty ◽  
Y. Gavriel Ansara ◽  
Meg-John Barker

This chapter concerns nonbinary genders; identities and roles between or beyond gender categories such as the binary options ‘women and men,’ for example. We review the emerging literature on people who do not identify with such binary gender schemes, unpack the often-implicit logic of thinking about others through the lens of gender binary schemes, and briefly describe some other less-researched, but longstanding cultural gender systems which recognize nonbinary genders. This chapter makes the case that consideration of nonbinary genders is germane to several core topics in psychology including identity, mental health, culture, social norms, language, and cognition.

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbie E. Goldberg ◽  
Katherine A. Kuvalanka ◽  
Stephanie L. Budge ◽  
Madeline B. Benz ◽  
JuliAnna Z. Smith

An increasing number of young adults identify with nonbinary gender identities. Yet health providers and therapists often lack understanding of such identities. In this mixed-methods study of 506 transgender undergraduate and graduate students, most of whom (75%) had nonbinary gender identities, we aimed to understand participants’ mental health and health care experiences, and factors related to misgendering and less affirming treatment by providers. Eighty-five percent of participants reported mental health challenges, and named fear of violence and nonsupport as distal stressors. Experiences with therapists and health providers were mixed. Salient features of negative interactions were invalidation, avoidance, or overemphasis in regard to participants’ nonbinary identities. Participants viewed counseling services as more affirming than health services. Nonbinary students reported more misgendering by therapists and health providers, and less trans-affirming care by health service providers, compared to binary students. Undergraduate students reported more misgendering by therapists and health providers than graduate students.


Author(s):  
Ben Vincent

Chapter one maps out the scholastic terrain relevant to a sociological consideration of non-binary gender identities. This is divided into three main areas. The first of these covers the relationship between gender diversity and medical practice, the second re-examines older sociological research which didn’t have the specific concept of non-binary, but acknowledged and engaged with people and identities (though often only implicitly) that challenged the gender binary. The third section covers interdisciplinary, 21st century recognition of non-binary people.


Author(s):  
Lila Braunschweig

This article argues in favour of the abolition of gender markers on identity documents. Its main goal is to assess the emancipatory dimension of such a proposition not only for gender minorities but also for individuals who recognise themselves within traditional gender identities. I first discuss the discriminations resulting from the practices of binary gender registration for intersex children, trans persons, and non-conforming individuals. Then, I look at the different deadlocks ensuing from the most popular remedy to those discriminations that loosen gender binary by adding one or more registration options. I go on to argue that those should lead us to advocate for the abolition of gender registration as a “transformative remedy” (Fraser, 1995) for the harmful consequences of normative gender regulations and as a way to integrate the queer conception of identity within a debate about institutional change and public policy. Such a proposition however raises question for feminist politics, since identity categories are also tools to achieve rights, equality and reparation on the basis of group oppression and specific shared situations. Yet, degendering civil registration could be part of a broader claim to a renewed conception of neutrality, not the liberal gender blindness, famously criticised by feminists but a neutrality critically reconstructed as non-assignation. This alternative neutrality would ask the collective not to assign its members to predetermined identities, to try and suspend the will to institutionally identify individuals according to collective categories and to construct distinctive groups.


Author(s):  
Lore M. Dickey

In this chapter the author explores the mental health of those with nonbinary gender identities and focuses on the issues they face. The author defines nonbinary identities and discusses how these identities are different than people who have binary identities. There is a summary of the extant psychological literature focusing on people with nonbinary identities. Attention is also brought to how racial and ethnic minority individuals, including Native American people, conceptualize nonbinary identities. The chapter ends with information about the lack of attention to the Global South and the need for additional research and training in the mental health of those with nonbinary identities.


Author(s):  
Jessica Murphy ◽  
Philip Sullivan

Increasing conversation about mental health is one way to decrease stigma and prevent/treat maladaptive processes within the context of sport. Due to their proximity and influence over athletes, coaches can increase conversation and change team culture. The objective of this study was to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explore the factors associated with coach-athlete conversation about mental health. A total of 136 Canadian coaches completed a demographic questionnaire as well as a TPB-based survey measuring Attitudes, Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC), Social Norms and Intention. Intention was measured as Role perception, if a coach believed it was their role to be involved in athlete mental health. Behavior was measured as talking with an athlete(s) about mental health. Approximately 68% of coaches had spoken to athletes about mental health in the last season. The linear regression model predicted a significant amount (42.7%) of the variance in Intention ( p < .05) from the three TPB constructs. Logistic regression found a significant interaction effect of PBC and Intention on Behavior ( p < .01). Measured TPB construct scores were influenced by previous mental health training, personal experience with mental illness, age group and the act of talking ( p < .05). Although a promising amount of coaches spoke to athletes about mental health, improvement is still possible. Mental health training should continue to be promoted to all members of the athletic community. As attitude scores were generally positive, this training should potentially focus more on improving capabilities and social norms.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Léonard KOUSSOUHON ◽  
Fortuné AGBACHI

<p>This paper is an attempt to examine the way male and female participants perform gender in 03 novels, <em>Everything Good Will Come</em> (2006), <em>Swallow</em> (2010) and <em>A Bit of Difference</em> (2013), by a contemporary Nigerian writer called Sefi Atta. The study draws on Gender Performative Theory as developed by the feminist Butler (1990/1999). This theory considers gender identities as being socially constructed. The study highlights the multiple ways in which male and female participants perform gender according to established social norms in the selected novels. Regarding the existing social norms in Nigeria, the findings by scholars like Fakeye, George and Owoyemi (2012), Mejiuni and Awolowo (2006), Bourey et al (2012), Gbadebo, Kehinde and Adedeji (2012), Okunola and Ojo (2012) exude that men are traditionally portrayed as career people, assertive, powerful and active, independent and violent while women are stereotypically depicted as housewives, submissive, powerless and passive, dependent and non-violent (or victims). Based on the above dichotomies between men and women, the study unveils the ideology that underpins gender performances in the novels.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grusha Prasad ◽  
Joanna Morris

There has been increased awareness that individuals need not have a binary gender identity (i.e., male or female), but rather, gender identities exist on a spectrum. With this increased awareness, there has also been an increase in the use of they as a singular pronoun when referring to individuals with a non-binary gender identity. Has the processing of singular they changed along with a change in its usage? Previous studies have demonstrated that sentences in which they is co-indexed with singular antecedents, are judged acceptable and are easy to process, but only if the antecedents are non-referential and/or have ambiguous gender; co-indexing they with referential antecedents with unambiguous gender (e.g., Mary) results in lower acceptability ratings and greater processing effort. We investigated whether participants who frequently interacted with individuals with a non-binary gender identity and/or identified as having a non-binary gender themselves would process sentences in which themselves was co-indexed with singular antecedents similarly. We found a significant P600 effect for sentences in which themselves was co-indexed with singular referential antecedents with unambiguous gender, but failed to find a P600 effect when the antecedents were non-referential and/or had an ambiguous gender. This pattern of results is consistent with behavioural results from previous studies, suggesting that the change in the usage of singular they has not resulted in a corresponding change in the way in which this pronoun is processed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Pier Rivest ◽  
Mélissa Roy ◽  
Nicolas Moreau ◽  
Aude Martel ◽  
Lilian Negura ◽  
...  

Previous research in sociology has shown that what is considered as sanity or mental health is described according to a social ideal. Mental health problems have been theorized as a deviance from such norms. Depression, in particular, has been the object of sociological contemplation due to its divergence from a Western social normativity focused on functionality, adaptation and productivity. This research adds to this body of work on depression as a deviation from social norms. It seeks to address a gap within the literature, by exploring the ways in which the “post-depressive” state may be defined in accordance with social norms. As such, it analyzes the links between “post-depression” and normality, from the perspective of individuals having lived with depression. 46 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Canadians individuals who have experienced depression. Results from our content analysis show that the absence of depression was often synonymous with normality and characterized by the following dimensions: a positive attitude; the potential to take action; functionality and performance; self-management; a positive relationship with others; and the notion of meaningful projects. Our results show that participants do not define the absence of depression following psychiatric or clinical indicators, as recorded in the DSM, and that they do not consider it to be a return to an anterior, pre-depression, state. Rather, post-depression is idealized, perceived as a state of unfailing conformity to social expectations and norms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Larisa Orlov Vilimonović

This paper deals with the ideas of queer experiences in the Early Christian movement, seen through early Christian epistemologies of gender and patristic thought focused on sex differences. The lives and passions of transgender nuns are used in discussing various aspects of gender fluidity in early Christianity. Theoretically, the paper rests on the idea of the performativity of gender, that is, on the ways gender was constructed and how body modifications enabled renegotiation of gender categories. It also focuses on the social context of queer experiences in the late antique period with regard to Roman social norms.


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