Yeadon-Lee, Tracey

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University of Huddersfield RepositoryYeadon-Lee, TraceyNon-Binary Gender Narratives On-lineOriginal CitationYeadon-Lee, Tracey (2016) Non-Binary Gender Narratives On-line. In: sexgen Northern Network: Trans Studies: Reflections and Advances, 23rd March 2016, Leeds, UK. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/28040/The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of theUniversity, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the itemson this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners.Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generallycan be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in anyformat or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profitpurposes without prior permission or charge, provided:• The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy;• A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and• The content is not changed in any way.For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, pleasecontact the Repository Team at: E.mailbox@hud.ac.uk.http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/Non-binary Gender Identity Narratives OnlineDr Tracey Yeadon-LeeUniversity of Huddersfield Today - increasing numbers of people now identifying as NB (Richards et al. 2016)  ‘Third’ and ‘indeterminate’ gender identities now legally recognised in a number of countries: (e.g. Australia, Germany, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, New Zealand and Thailand) Moves towards gaining legal recognition in UK Popular culture and the media: Facebook: range of gender options for user profile pages, including range of NB identifications Increased media coverage of NB More visibility in media - but dominant focus on younger generations • Celebrities (e.g. Jack Monroe, Miley Cyrus, Ruby Rose)• BBC radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’ Marley - 16 year old NB• BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Good Morning Scotland’ (2015) two NB teenagers• The Telegraph, Irish Times and opinion pieces in the Guardian - Articles on NB youth • USA - how schools, colleges and universities are providing gender neutral accommodation and bathroom facilities NB and trans students Changing times…. Beemyn and Rankin (2011) also linked NB identities to ‘younger generations’ in their Transgender survey  ‘While the older respondents felt limited to identifying themselves as cross-dressers or transsexuals … the younger individuals envisioned and created a wide range of gender possibilities’. (Beemyn & Rankin, 2016:3-4) HOWEVER: There are NB people of all ages – many contribute to blogs, forums and online resourcesCollected posts and threads from non-private, publicly accessible blogs and forums (between Dec 2014 and Dec 2015)OVERALL: ten blogs - & five forumsMaterials analysed using NvivoForums, blogs and posters anonymisedResearch questions:1. How are NB identities being experienced, understood, and presented? 2. Does being NB have different meanings, involve different kinds of identity journeys and everyday life experience for younger (teens to 29) and older (e.g. 30 – 70s) generations?3. What stories are being told about how NB identities are being negotiated and managed with others in a range of contexts and relationships – are NB identities being socially established? Research overviewNarrative approach to identity -identities ‘made up through making a story out of a life’ – not fabricated, but rather ‘creatively produced’ in relation to social context, social interaction with others, and through ‘various raw materials available –notably, memories, understandings, experiences and interpretations’ Steph Lawler (2014: 24)• ‘Doing gender’ approach - originally devised by West and Zimmerman (1987) - continuing to be developed (e.g. Hollander, 2012) • Early ethnomethodological approach over emphasised ongoing reproduction of gender conformity in everyday interaction• Recent work has shed light on how gender might be redone or undone through interaction in range of peoples lives (Connell 2010)• Recently discussions highlight need to consider actor understanding and self construction, as well as interaction with others (Hollander, 2012)• Useful approach for understanding NB experience and also for NB people themselves to consider interactive practicesDoing, undoing and redoing genderMicro- level sociological approach- creation of meaning between individuals at level of social interaction One theme:Self recognition, experience and understandingStories self recognition tend to vary according to generation -so younger and older generation stories presented separatelyEarly research highlighting NB experience - narratives of moving away from birth gender  ‘not what you are, but what you’re not’ –transition to ‘different kind of man/woman’Today – online narratives show move towards a desired alternative identity, rather than away from birth genderAchieved through development/use of new terms and labels: Attract bad press – frivolous identity optionsBut valuable as creating new stories/discourse  and making NB experience knowable and understandable.  Positive: Younger Generation posters (teens – 29):Stories of Self Recognition, Experience and understanding:1. Enables exploration of the self and identity: “I sort of started out by thinking gender neutral when I didn’t know much about any of the terms and identities that existed … then a little over half a year ago I came across the term gender fluid … I felt it fit me quite well” (Blog A, Mert)AgenderBigenderDemigenderGenderfluidGender neutralNeutroisGenderqueerAndrogyne Labels used often multiple or shifting. They span across de-gendering, gender pluralism, gender expansion models of understanding:“I use trans, non-binary, queer and tomboy in various contexts to define myself as needed” (Forum B, Brooks)I can describe myself in several ways: I’m a non-girl; an androgyne; a feminine boy; an FtA or even FtM; queer or genderqueer or transmasculine.” (Blog A, Gray)I don’t see myself as a third, non-feminine, non-masculine, neutral gender, to me not feeling feminine or masculine means not having a gender at all, thus, genderless” (Blog B, Kit)2. Facilitates the exercise of agency and self-determination:“I might be genderﬂuid … I’ve been questioning my gender since I was about 12/13, since that’s when I learnt there are more than just two genders” (Blog C, Derah)3. Create a sense of belonging and community: share experience and ideas through forum discussion threads and introductions:“I didn’t run into the word “genderqueer” until I was about 20. Once I did it was like this instantaneous recognition and rightness: there was a reason neither of the standard options ﬁt, I wasn’t alone, there were other people like me, there were words to describe me” (Forum A,  Carlin)Younger generation – ‘weak constructionist’ narratives of NB. E.g.Labels and their meanings resources that help create stories of alternative and shifting identities – undoing and redoing gender, but against an ‘essential’ NB self Different journey toward personal recognition - through reconstruction of past histories, experience of bodily limitations None considered they were limited to self-identify as cross-dressers or transsexuals (as Beemyn and Rankin 2016, 3-4) Two narrative types: Narrative of NB by design -Many initially self-identified/ assumed/suspected they were binary trans but constructed  alternative identity or way of thinking in the process.Older Generation posters (30+): Stories of Self Recognition, Experience and understanding Narrative of NB by ‘default’ – e.g. unable to ‘pass’ or not wanting to deny history Coming to identify as non-binary - a more ‘honest’ and ’authentic life’“Eventually it became very clear to me that to seek an authentic life is to recognize my own humanity -all of it. For decades I denied being a woman, now that I live in the body I so crave, I should discard and deny all I was before? …To live authentically is to accept conditions as they are” (Forum B, Krupe)• Construction of ‘authenticity’ - source of tension between older NB and binary trans people - continuing debates in the 1990s on being ‘out’ and ‘passing’ – but legitimises need for self determination and enables agency• Older generation use various labels for themselves but do not spend time negotiating their ‘fit’. • Range of identity terms seen as confusing, unhelpful in aiding understanding“I find that I want my social contacts to be aware and to acknowledge that I used to live as a man and to understand those experiences. This also contrasts from what I hear from a lot of binary trans women who seem to need to leave the whole male experience behind them” (Forum B, Switch)“the young generation will be open to [our]presentations that are nonconforming, for nonconforming is in sync with their young paradynes. It will be "cool". It will be seen as courageous and daring. Not stupid and weird” (Forum B, Rane)Increasing visibility and activism of younger NB people enables them to understand and present their NB identities in more positive ways -offers the potential of improved futuresMultiple terms might ‘fit’  - but also can assume fixityThe trouble with these terms is that so many of us fit none, some or other terms. I guess that is why I like FTX, MTX or M2ME. (Forum B, Storm)Can create sense of outsiderness• Older generation – ‘strong constructionist’ narratives of NB . E.g.• A rejection of the gender binary as being able to contain/express their ‘truths’ (pre, during or post binary transition), and a conscious ‘re-design’ and ‘reconstruction’ of the self (self determination) – undoing and redoing of gender. But rejection of labels in this process. Blogs and forums provide insight into the concerns and daily experiences of being NB (across all ages). Are both sources of information AND resources for people to use to explore and establish their identities – both online and offline Stories being shared suggest binary understandings of gender are facing change, – development of language and broader NB ‘identity frameworks’ helping NB become a more socially viable identity  Generational differences in NB identity narratives,  but both highlight agency, self determination and an undoing and redoing of gender across de-gendering, gender pluralism, and gender expansion models of understanding Exchange of stories and interaction online - helping people explore and create alternative gender identities, gain confidence and become more assertive Conclusion Beemyn, B. G., & Rankin, S. (2011). The lives of transgender people. Columbia University Press. Beemyn, G., & Rankin, S. R. (2016). 1• CREATING A GENDER-INCLUSIVE CAMPUS. Trans Studies: The Challenge to Hetero/Homo Normativities, 21. Connell, C. (2010). Doing, undoing, or redoing gender? Learning from the workplace experiences of transpeople. Gender & Society, 24(1), 31-55. Hollander, J. A. (2013). “I Demand More of People” Accountability, Interaction, and Gender Change. Gender & Society, 27(1), 5-29. Lawler, S. (2014). Identity: Sociological Perspectives. John Wiley & Sons. Richards, C., Bouman, W. P., Seal, L., Barker, M. J., Nieder, T. O., & T’Sjoen, G. (2016). Non-binary or genderqueer genders. International Review of Psychiatry, 1-8. West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender & society, 1(2), 125-151.References

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