Y. Gavriel Ansara has a PhD in psychology from the University of Surrey. Gávi is a polycultural psychotherapist and relationship and family counsellor at Imanadari Counselling in Australia. He is a past recipient of the American Psychological


The social construction of non-binary gender


identity Catherine Butler


Non-binary gender is an umbrella term


Association’s Transgender Research Award for a signifi cant and original research contribution that initiated the fi eld of cisgenderism studies, the UK Higher Education Academy’s National Psychology Postgraduate Teaching Award for excellence in teaching, and the University of Surrey Vice Chancellor’s Alumni Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to standards and policies in international human rights and social justice. Gávi is a polycultural man of Edot HaMizrach (Asian/Middle Eastern) Orthodox Jewish tradition who was raised in Australia, China, and elsewhere. He speaks and thinks in multiple languages, collaborates with people from multiple faiths and beliefs, and does not view the world in binary terms. His overseas civil marriage to another man is not currently recognised in Australia. Gávi is of Deaf experience: although his hearing returned, Gávi’s childhood experiences with the Deaf community shaped his worldview. He has lived experience of poverty, homelessness, and assault. As a trauma survivor, he values each person’s right to determine whether and when to share details about their gender history and body. Gávi goes by he/ him/his pronouns. He hopes to contribute toward a future in which systemic practice is widely used to help non-binary people and people with an Autistic/Aspy neurostyle discover what makes them fabulous.


covering any gender identity that does not fi t within the gender binary of male-female. There is a huge range of diff erent ways people might identify outside of the gender binary, with Facebook listing 56 categories of gender in 2014. Some examples include androgyne (an androgynous identity that is both masculine and feminine), intergender (somewhere between male and female), agender (a neutral or non-existent gender identity), or genderqueer (neither masculine nor feminine). Non-binary gender is increasingly being


recognised legally, medically and socially. In 2015, the American Dialect Society voted the use of the word ‘they’ as a gender- neutral singular pronoun as their ‘word of the year’. Population studies found that approximately 1.1% - 4.6% of people identify as non-binary (Richards et al., 2016). In trans populations, 5% of British youth and more than a quarter of Scottish trans individuals, identifi ed as non-binary (METRO, 2016; McNeil et al., 2012). A US study also showed 13% of trans individuals identifi ed as ‘a gender not listed here’ (Harrison et al., 2012). These developments represent recent shifts in language and context that have produced non-binary gender as a legitimate identity category. However, non-binary identities have a long history and existed, often in an honoured position, in many indigenous cultures around the world; for example ‘Two-spirit’ First Nation people in the Americas (Feinberg, 1996). Despite the long history in many cultures


and the increasing number of individuals currently identifying as non-binary, they remain marginalised, at risk of victimisation and minority stress due to discrimination and harassment (Richards et al., 2016). Little is known about how, as an identity, it is understood in current contexts. This study,


Context 155, February 2018


therefore, aimed to investigate the social constructions of non-binary individuals, in a hope to unpick why some of the prejudice or discrimination might occur.


Method The study used the innovative qualitative


research method of ‘story completion’, which consists of at least one complete sentence that acts as the beginning of a story plot that is completed by the participant (Clarke et al., 2017). Story completion has proved useful when investigating social norms and ethically and morally complex topics, as there is a diffi culty in relying on participant self-report because of social-desirability eff ects. The resulting stories were analysed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), this being that the stories were read and re-read and themes noted down that arose from the data. These were then discussed with a colleague to see if they made sense or if she had noticed anything else in the stories that might have been missed. Participants were recruited online via an undergraduate psychology research participation scheme and the email list of Gendered Intelligence, a not-for- profi t community-interest company that specialises in supporting trans youth. The undergraduate students gained a ‘research point’ for taking part (they need to gain 10 over the course of their studies). The online survey was completed by 24 people, 87% were between 18-24 (1 was 25-30 and 1 was 31-35), 75% identifi ed as white British (6 were BME) and 87% identifi ed as gender binary, of which 95% identifi ed as women (the non-binary participants described their gender as ‘non-binary’ and ‘agender’). The story stem was: CJ is a 21 year old White British university student. CJ does not feel either male or


27


The social construction of non-binary gender identity


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64