Research

Policy/Statistics

United States

• A Gender Not Listed Here: Genderqueers, Gender Rebels, and OtherWise in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey - Harrison, J., Grant, J., & Herman, J.L., 2012.

Summary

An analysis of data from the 2008 National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), by the National LGBTQ Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, which surveyed 6450 trans and gender non-conforming participants over the course of six months. The study included two questions about gender identity, one of which provided an 'A gender not listed here' (GNL) option, with an open text field to specify. This analysis focuses on respondents who described their gender identity as GNL (a total of 860 participants, 13% of the sample), and their experiences of discrimination, harassment and abuse compared to non-GNL respondents and the total sample.

Introductory Note

Since this paper is freely available at the link above, in the interest of brevity I will not be reporting all exact statistics here; please refer to the original paper for specifics.

Key Findings

• A variety of gender identity labels were submitted by GNL respondents, including:

• 'Genderqueer' or 'queer' (42% of GNLs; 6% of the total sample)
• 'Both', 'either', 'neither', 'in-between', or 'non-binary' (9% of GNLs)
• 'Androgynous' or 'blended' (8% of GNLs)
• 'Non-gendered', 'gender is a performance', or 'gender does not exist' (3% of GNLs)
• 'Fluid' (2% of GNLs)
• 'Two-spirit' (2% of GNLs)
• 'Bi-gender', 'Tri-gender', or 'third gender' (2% of GNLs)
• 'Genderfuck', 'rebel', or 'radical' (1% of GNLs)
• A variety of unique responses, including: 'Birl'; 'Jest me';'Skaneelog'; 'Twidget'; 'Neutrois'; 'OtherWise'; 'gendertreyf'; 'trannydyke'; 'genderqueer wombat fantastica'; 'Best of Both'; 'gender blur'; and 'transgenderist'.
• Some responses for which the frequency was not reported, including: 'Pangender'; 'Hybrid'; 'Mahuwahine'; and 'Aggressive'. It is unclear from the report whether these were folded into other categories above for the purpose of producing statistics.

• GNLs were more likely than non-GNLs to be FAAB. They were also more likely, to be under 45, and/or to be multiracial, Black, or Asian. They were less likely than non-GNLs to be White or Latinx. In addition, GNLs were more likely than non-GNLs to live in California, the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the West (including Alaska and Hawaii), and less likely to live in the Midwest and South.
• GNLs had higher educational attainment than non-GNLs, but were more likely to live in extreme poverty - though this may be because they were, on the whole, younger than non-GNLs.
• GNLs were more likely than non-GNLs to have experienced harassment and sexual assault at school; they were also more likely to have experienced physical and/or sexual assault as adults. In addition, GNLs were more likely to have worked in an underground economy, postponed medical treatment for fear of discrimination, and/or attempted suicide, and were more likely to be uncomfortable with going to the police for help. Finally, they were also more likely to be HIV positive or of unknown HIV status, and more likely to be unemployed. To summarise, contrary to common perception, GNLs had experienced abuse, harassment, and discrimination at higher rates than non-GNLs.
• GNLs were less likely than non-GNLs to have lost their job, and/or had medical treatment denied, as a result of transphobia.

Implications for Future Research

• Including non-binary gender options in future surveys may be necessary in order to observe the "unique demographic patterns" and "distinct experiences of discrimination" present in non-binary/GNL people.
• Future researchers should further explore the identities and experiences of genderqueer people, both by examining these data more closely and by designing novel studies.
• In addition to the gender question focused on by this study, the survey included an additional question asking participants to choose as many identity labels as applied to them from a list, including 'Transgender', 'FTM', 'MTF', 'Genderqueer', and many others. Answers to this question have not yet (at time of publication) been investigated in detail, but appear to differ considerably from those given by GNLs; more research is required to explore the answers to this question.
• Further research is needed to make up for the statistical limitations of this study (see below).

Limitations

• In addition to the 'GNL' option and binary male and female answers, the gender question examined here also provided an option for "Part time as one gender, part time as another", which was chosen by 20% of respondents. This wording could conceivably cover genderfluid and bigender identities, meaning that there have been more non-binary respondents to the survey than were examined by this study.
• The statistical test used - Pearson's chi-squared - only produces generalisable results when applied to a random population, which this was not. In addition, the non-random nature of the study may have compromised the test's ability to find statistical significance. The findings of this study should therefore not be taken as read, but instead, be used to provide hypotheses for more in-depth research.

Published in

The LGBTQ Policy Journal at the Harvard Kennedy School

Access

Open Access

Content Note

Contains mention of sexual and physical assault and suicide.