Challenging “Getting Better” Social Media Narratives With Intersectional Transgender Lived Experiences

A dominant media narrative of “getting better” over time is often projected onto LGBTQ people’s personal life experiences. In this research study, I examine this narrative’s role in transgender people’s emotional well-being throughout transition. A “getting better” narrative was pervasive in my qualitative analysis of 240 Tumblr transition blogs and 20 interviews with bloggers, signaling that it impacted people’s self-concept both as presented on social media and when talking about their experiences. This narrative causes undue emotional harm given contrast between one’s post-transition reality, which may involve distress (despite greater congruence between one’s body and identity), and a dominant cultural expectation of happiness. I argue that an intersectional approach to understanding trans people’s emotional well-being—by considering multiple salient identity facets and life transitions—makes trans lives more livable by complicating the cultural imperative to feel better, and to present a unilaterally positive self-image online, post-transition. Even though trans people on average feel better after gender transition, everyday realities are often in contrast to the dominant narrative’s positioning of gender transition as a process with a single, simple goal of feeling better. Challenging the “getting better” narrative gives trans people the freedom to live and exist in their post-transition identities, whether or not they feel “better.”National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships Program Grant No. DGE-1321846University of California, Irvine, James Harvey Scholar AwardPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154683/1/HaimsonChallengingGettingBetter.pdfDescription of HaimsonChallengingGettingBetter.pdf : Main articl

Coming Out to Doctors, Coming Out to ‘‘Everyone’’: Understanding the Average Sequence of Transgender Identity Disclosures Using Social Media Data

Purpose: Gender transition is a complex life change, and transgender identity disclosures are pivotal moments that delineate the gender transition process. The purpose of this study was to quantify the average sequence in which transgender people disclose their transgender identity to different people in their lives, such as medical professionals, family members, and online networks, and to understand the emotional implications of these disclosures. Methods: We used mixed methods to identify 362 transgender identity disclosure social media posts within 41,066 total posts from 240 Tumblr transition blogs (online spaces in which transgender people document gender transitions). We manually assigned each disclosure post an audience category, and then calculated the average sequence in which people in this sample disclosed their transgender identity to different audiences. Results: Health professionals, such as physicians and therapists, were on average some of the very first people to whom transgender Tumblr bloggers disclosed their transgender identity. Such disclosures were often anxiety provoking and emotionally difficult, whether intentional or involuntary. Next, they often disclosed to friends, followed by close family (e.g., parents and siblings) and then extended family (e.g., grandparents). Mass disclosures to large portions of a person's network, such as on one's Facebook profile, usually came late in the disclosure process. Conclusion: Gender transition is a staged process that includes a series of disclosures to different audiences that follows an average sequence. Because health care providers (e.g., physicians and therapists) who work with transgender patients are often some of the very first people to whom transgender people in our sample disclosed, providers must practice extra sensitivity when responding to such disclosures.National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships Program Grant No. DGE-1321846University of California, Irvine, James Harvey Scholar AwardPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155363/1/trgh.2019.0045.pdfDescription of trgh.2019.0045.pdf : Main articl

Online Communities

An online community is a group of people with shared identities or interests who use social technologies to connect and interact with each other. Since the early days of the Internet, online communities have been particularly important means for trans people to connect with similar others, explore identity, share resources, document transition, and work toward activism and advocacy. Some of these communities are for trans people broadly, while others focus on particular trans identities (e.g., trans women, nonbinary people, trans men) or particular identity facets or experiences that intersect with trans identities (e.g., race, disability status, age). Early Internet trans online communities involved high levels of anonymity, which enabled people to safely explore trans identities online. However, when many trans communities moved to social media sites, a new set of challenges emerged related to connections to one’s physical world persona, disclosure difficulties, convergence of multiple audiences, and difficulties of moderation and maintaining community boundaries. Future trans online communities would benefit from design processes that include trans people and communities, as well as technology designs that center trans experiences.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168410/1/HaimsonOnlineCommunities.pdfDescription of HaimsonOnlineCommunities.pdf : Main articleSEL

How to Do Better with Gender on Surveys: A Guide for HCI Researchers

When including gender on surveys, HCI researchers must refrain from using only binary categories, making assumptions about participants' genders, and employing a one-size-fits-all approach for all research projects. HCI researchers have the responsibility to consider the complexity of their research participants’ genders. Inquiring into gender requires humility in attempting to “get it right.”https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154050/1/SpielHowTo.pdfDescription of SpielHowTo.pdf : Main articl

Designing Technology to Support Safety for Transgender Women & Non-Binary People of Color

This work provides a preliminary understanding of how transgender women and non-binary people of color experience violence and manage safety, and what opportunities exist for HCI to support the safety needs of this community. We conducted nine interviews to understand how participants practice safety and what role technology played, if any, in these experiences. Interviewees expressed physical and psychological safety concerns, and managed safety by informing friends of their location using digital technologies, making compromises, and avoiding law enforcement. We designed U-Signal, a wearable technology and accompanying smartphone application prototype to increase physical safety and decrease safety concerns, reduce violence, and help build community.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154051/1/StarksDesigningTechnology.pdfDescription of StarksDesigningTechnology.pdf : Main articl

Reasons for Sharing With Separate Social Media Audiences During Life Transitions

During life transitions, people sometimes turn to social media audiences separate from their typical online networks. By qualitatively analyzing open-ended data from a U.S.-based survey (N = 775), we examined why and how people discuss life transitions with these separate audiences. Survey questions asked about life events experienced, separate networks and the interactions that occurred there, and participants’ reasoning behind these online behaviors. We found that people use separate networks, especially online support groups, to interact with others anonymously, receive informational and emotional support, and have direct and focused discussions with people with similar experiences.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162570/1/LiuReasonsForSharing.pdfSEL

Search engines and the sex education information practices of LGBTQ+ youth

Online resources are vital to the health information practices of LGBTQ+ youth, especially when finding information related to sex education topics. As LGBTQ+ youth use the internet, particularly Google Search, to meet their sex and sexual health information needs, it is important to understand both the information practices related to this unique search experience and how the affordances of this particular search engine impact the information seeking process. The goal of this project is to study the online information practices of LGBTQ+ youth when searching for sex education information, specifically perceptions of and interactions with search engines. Using semi‐structured interviews, we ask LGBTQ+ youth to discuss their information practices related to sex education information and use Google Search to answer sample questions related to sex and sexual health. In this work in progress poster, we discuss our theoretical framing, methods, and preliminary results.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163483/2/pra2364_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163483/1/pra2364.pd

Drawing from justice theories to support targets of online harassment

Most content moderation approaches in the United States rely on criminal justice models that sanction offenders via content removal or user bans. However, these models write the online harassment targets out of the justice-seeking process. Via an online survey with US participants (N = 573), this research draws from justice theories to investigate approaches for supporting targets of online harassment. We uncover preferences for banning offenders, removing content, and apologies, but aversion to mediation and adjusting targets’ audiences. Preferences vary by identities (e.g. transgender participants on average find more exposure to be undesirable; American Indian or Alaska Native participants on average find payment to be unfair) and by social media behaviors (e.g. Instagram users report payment as just and fair). Our results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach will fail some users while privileging others. We propose a broader theoretical and empirical landscape for supporting online harassment targets.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1763297.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154685/1/SchoenebeckDrawingFromJustice.pdfDescription of SchoenebeckDrawingFromJustice.pdf : Main articl

Designing Trans Technology: Defining Challenges and Envisioning Community-Centered Solutions

Transgender and non-binary people face substantial challenges in the world, ranging from social inequities and discrimination to lack of access to resources. Though technology cannot fully solve these problems, technological solutions may help to address some of the challenges trans people and communities face. We conducted a series of participatory design sessions (total N = 21 participants) to understand trans people’s most pressing challenges and to involve this population in the design process. We detail four types of technologies trans people envision: technologies for changing bodies, technologies for changing appearances / gender expressions, technologies for safety, and technologies for finding resources. We found that centering trans people in the design process enabled inclusive technology design that primarily focused on sharing community resources and prioritized connection between community members.Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG)Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153781/1/designing_trans_technologies_paper___camera_ready v2.pdfDescription of designing_trans_technologies_paper___camera_ready v2.pdf : Main articl