Social stigma against gender diverse people continues to exist (Rieger & Savin-Williams, 2012), and this extends to gender nonconforming youth (D’Augelli, Grossman, & Starks, 2006). Expression and exploration of fluid gender identity and gender roles are part of typical human development (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Childhood gender nonconformity is defined as variation from norms in gender role behavior (Adelson & The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2012). Recommendations for research with gender nonconforming youth include gaining a clearer understanding of safe relationships, which currently lacks in the counseling literature (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Safety occurs when an individual takes psychological and interpersonal risks without fearing negative consequences (Edmondson, 1999). This study explores safety among gender nonconforming youth through the theoretical perspective of constructivism (Lincoln, Lynham, & Guba, 2011) and queer theory (Plummer, 2011) and will utilize the qualitative methods of photo-elicitation (Harper, 2002) and thematic analysis (Boyatiz, 1998). Implications for counseling practitioners, counselor educators, and future research will be discussed.

Over the past 30 years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) groups have called for children’s books to include LGBTQ characters and themes to help children understand our multifaceted social world. Few LGBTQ characters have appeared in children’s literature. This qualitative study analyzes the text and images of 29 children’s books published between 1972 and 2013 that have any LGBTQ characters. Books featuring lesbian and gay characters often presented them as conforming to heteronormative standards to find fulfillment. The majority of books with gender-deviant characters focused on boys harassed by other characters for their conventionally feminine behaviors. Surprisingly few books in this inclusive sample depicted any non-white characters. This study concludes by offering recommendations for how authors of children’s books could approach this genre without reinforcing other long-standing inequalities tied to gender, race, class, and sexuality.

This study examined the reflections of gender nonconforming men on their lived-experiences as boys in the heteronormative environment of high schools. Participants self-selected for the study based on their perceptions of being othered as boys in high school due to their nonconforming expression of gender. The study targeted men who had graduated with a Manitoba High School Diploma within the last 5 years. The methodology of this study was underpinned by an interpretivist theoretical perspective. The purpose of the research and the positioning of the researcher were influenced by the socially critical research paradigm. Narrative methods were utilized for the reporting; the lived experiences of the participants while in high school. The study found that high schools continue to be heteronormative environments that present difficulties for gender nonconforming boys. Although participants felt that the situation in high schools may be improving, all felt that much more can, and should, be done to improve conditions for gender nonconforming youth. Findings suggest that policy and practice at the school, district, and provincial levels need to be examined and, where necessary, changed to address the treatment of gender nonconforming boys in high schools.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study explored the Namibian Inclusive Education policy‟s responses to gender nonconforming learners in Namibian schools. Gender nonconformity within the scope of this study refers to nonconforming to societal gender expectations through behaviour, presentation, sexual identity or any other means construed as normal by societies. Thus the study was guided by the research question: How does the Namibian IE Policy respond to gender nonconforming learners in Namibian schools? Even though there is growing evidence on mistreatment of gender nonconforming learners in schools worldwide, there is minimal evidence on the support for gender nonconforming learners within the Namibian schools. Additionally, there is paucity of literature on gender nonconformity in the Namibian education context.

With federal gender equity mandates in place, some may assume that schools are now havens were children are protected from discrimination based on failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity. Yet, research suggests that the school literacy curriculum serves as a site that privileges gender performances consistent with the binary gender order. This pattern has been observed such that school literacy practices reproduce the binary gender order through text, talk, and disciplining of the body. Informed by post structural feminist perspectives on discourse, power, and performativity, this qualitative case study employed feminist methodology to explore how power flowed through performances of gender within the context of one second grade literacy classroom. Data sources included participant observation field notes, informal student and teacher interviews, video and audio recordings, and the collection of literacy related objects/documents. Results of the analysis suggest that there were two distinct literacy spaces within the classroom: the teacher-controlled official literacy space and the student-governed unofficial literacy space. Within the official literacy space, particular teaching moves made at the intersection of gender and literacy could later be linked to particular students’ gender performances. In the unofficial literacy space of the classroom, some students’ gender performances diverged greatly from those they performed in the official literacy space thus making visible how power operates within embodied acts. Lastly, in looking across the two distinct literacy spaces of the classroom, it was revealed how the flow of power through performances of gender and thus, the discursive practices that hold existing gendered structures in place, were more visible in unofficial literacy spaces than in official literacy spaces. Therefore, results of the analysis suggest that looking to unofficial literacy spaces will provide invaluable guidance when reconceptualizing how official literacy spaces might better support gender equity within the early elementary literacy classroom.

This thesis examines female gender nonconformity as a behaviour in response to Victorian patriarchal oppression in the female protagonist of Charlotte Brönte's bildungsroman Jane Eyre. Gender nonconforming behaviour is depicted as behaviour that does not obey gender roles or expectations, linking the responsive quality of such behaviours to the traits of hegemonic masculinity exerted by the male characters who represent and perpetuate a patriarchal system: St John Rivers and Edward Rochester. The investigation concludes that not only Jane but also Bertha endure and suffer the oppression that triggers their gender nonconforming behaviours. This thesis has not examined Bertha as an antagonistic version of Jane, nor as the monster in the angel and monster dichotomy which Gilbert and Gubar have pointed out, but as a future version of her. It is concluded as well that Jane is spared of Bertha's destiny because of Rochester's degraded physical condition which does not allow him to assert his dominance over Jane as he did over Bertha. Jane perpetuates the dehumanisation of Bertha to an extent given Bertha's creole ethnicity and dark traits, which Jane uses to demonize Bertha by characterizing her as a wild creature.

Children’s literature plays a critical role in shaping how children view themselves and the world around them. This is especially true in regards to outgroups such as the transgender and gender nonconforming communities. Transgender individuals have been gaining increased visibility in the past few years. The misconceptions surrounding these topics are not exclusively found outside the classroom. Title IX was expanded to include gender identity as recently as 2014. Yet, much confusion and apprehension is present when discussing the topic of transgender and gender nonconformity, especially in the elementary school classroom. To address these misconceptions, inclusion of these outgroups into culturally inclusive curriculum is critical. With the power that children’s literature has on empathy, attitudes, and comprehension, classroom libraries should consider including transgender and gender nonconforming titles into teacher resources and classroom libraries. Many positives can come from the power of children’s literature, but there also lies the chance to fall into new and/or unique pitfalls that affect the elementary classroom, such as gender stereotyping. Therefore, this thesis analyzed transgender and gender nonconforming titles for elementary classrooms for trends and themes. 30 titles total were analyzed with 21 being selected to represent the ideals found in transgender and gender nonconforming children’s literature.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology by Coursework and Research Report, Johannesburg, 2017 / Experiences of transgender individuals in South Africa have largely remained marginalised and silenced by a discriminatory, gender binary and prescriptive society, in spite of progressive legislation within the constitution. The literature reviewed substantiated such experiences both within and outside of the South African transgender communities, further illuminating the need to deepen the understanding of transgender and gender identity dynamics. Through in depth face-to-face interviews with five self-identified adult transgender participants, the present study documented experiences identified as they navigated their gender identity and expression from dissonance towards gender congruency. The interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. The results of the qualitative interviews revealed multiple beneficial factors as well as challenges whilst navigating gender congruent identity and expression. As a result, seven overarching themes were identified broadly defined as: (1) gender identity and dissonance; (2) gender expression; (3) challenges to gender congruency; (4) protective factors and coping strategies; (5) ‘coming out’; (6) toward gender congruent expression and (7) activism. / XL2018

This study, a multisite qualitative case study, examines the responses of three institutions of higher education to normative disruption of the gender binary. Normative disruption, or the challenging of the social status quo, occurs when power structures in society are pushed back against. Central to this study is the use of open systems theory, which positions higher education as a subsystem of American society, and therefore responsive to changes in the environment external of the institution. This study investigates how, if at all, these case sites employed Gender Inclusive Housing (GIH) policies as an institutional response to changes in how gender was conceptualized on their campus. Specifically, this study addresses: 1. how changes in societal norms around the gender binary influence colleges and universities, 2. in what ways institutions respond to such changes, 3. what ways institutions reestablish organizational homeostasis around an expanded concept of gender, and 4. how institutional characteristics influence decision-making responses. Out of the findings of this study emerged the Model of Normative Disruption, a mechanism that can be utilized to understand institutional decision-making responses to normative disruption. The findings of this study suggest: 1. various societal and institutional factors influence the ways in which normative disruption manifests at a college or university, 2. institutional characteristics and culture impact all responses to normative disruption, and can either support or hinder change, 3. GIH is one mechanism of responding to normative disruption, but, depending on institutional characteristics, may not be sufficient enough change to reestablish organizational homeostasis, and 4. if the institutional culture is not an amenable environment to such changes, organizational homeostasis is difficult to reestablish. This study concludes with implications for theory, research, and practice. Importantly, I suggest that GIH policies might serve as an opportunity for administrators to begin the necessary conversations of understanding the myriad cisgenderist policies, practices, and culture that exist within systems of higher education.

This research examines the ways in which individuals who identify with nonbinary gender identities 1) understand and perform their gender identities and 2) navigate the workplace, intimate partner relationships, friendships, and the LGBTQ+ community. Prevailing understandings of gender rely on a gender binary; identification with a binary gender is compulsory. Individuals are assigned a gender at birth and are expected to identify fully with that gender for their entire lives. However, despite significant social pressures to identify as man or woman, there exist individuals whose identities bring into question the stability of the gender binary. Non-binary is sometimes used to describe individuals who do not identify solely or fully as man or woman. Fifteen interviews were conducted with individuals living in the Portland Metro Area who included non-binary as part or all of their gender identity. Questions included general descriptive information, questions about participants’ conceptions of masculinity and femininity, and questions regarding their experiences as a non-binary person in the context of the workplace, intimate partner relationships, friendships, and the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, plus) community. It was found that non-binary individuals are largely held accountable to a normative performance of gender by friends, intimate partners, employers, and coworkers. While non-binary individuals are constrained by the gender structure at the individual, interactional, and institutional levels, they also appear to push back against these constraints in small but meaningful ways. Results from this study provide insight into a group of people which has been largely left out of the literature.