The question of gender, specifically gender identity, is prominent in today’s society. It is highly debated and through the development of queer theory it is gaining more academic recognition. However, there is a gap regarding representation of the gender-queer identity of one contemporary poet, Andrea Gibson. Gibson provides a much needed perspective and voice in society and scholarly debates. This is why this essay uses queer theory along with Kate Bornstein and Judith Butler to examine three poems by Gibson, “Swing-Set, “The Jewelry Store” and “A Genderful Pep-Talk for my Younger Self”. The essay analyses the ways Gibson, through poetry, formulates a gender-queer identity and thus questions the generic gender binary system.

Classification schemes are embedded into everyday life and people often expect that each category is fixed and stands alone from one another (Bowker & Star, 2000). In terms of gender, this is evident when people focus on gender as either male or female. With the increasing presence of people who are openly transgendered in the workplace (Taranowski, 2008), people’s expectations about gender as something ‘that just is’ are questioned. There is an emerging research literature focusing on people who transition in their work environments, but comparatively little on their coworkers. This research focuses on the experiences of the coworkers’ to examine how they interpret the meaning of gender after their colleague transitioned from being a “man” to being a “woman”. By analyzing and interpreting people’s behaviours in the context of a workplace where an individual reconstructs what it means to embody a specific gender identity, the feelings and behaviours that arise when expectations about gender are contradicted can be examined.

For decades gender scholars have recognized the importance of gender to subjectivity, lived experiences, and life chances. Nonbinary gender identities are becoming more recognized by social, legal, and government institutions. However, currently there is a lack of research and scholarship that focuses on nonbinary gender identities. I demonstrate that the sociology of gender must move beyond the constraints of the hegemonic gender binary system in order to have a full and holistic conceptualization of gender. This paper reviews and critically analyzes contemporary interdisciplinary scholarship on nonbinary gender identities, then sets out a research agenda for moving forward. Within this scholarship there are gaps, shortcomings and limitations that arise that include upholding the cis/trans binary, misrepresenting contemporary society as having reached an era of understanding gender complexities, problematic framings of cross-cultural and historical examples, and centering discrimination/violence. I propose a research agenda moving forward should center racialization due to (un)marked whiteness in scholarship, legibility/intelligibility, and the possibilities and knowledge that exist due to existing in a space of exclusion.

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This thesis aims to analyze and trace gender normativities and stereotypes in the testimoniesfrom the #metoo call #nödvärn (2017) and #nödvärn 2.0 (n.d) in Sweden within the policedepartment. This thesis includes a qualitative thematic analysis of the material combined witha positioning theory. The analysis is based on testimonies from #nödvärn and #nödvärn 2.0regarding harassments inside the Swedish police force. The theoretical framework in thisthesis are based on queer theory with concepts like gender norm, normativities andstereotyping that are illuminating in the material. The thesis also includes an intersectionalapproach to understand the hierarchical perspective between gender and sexuality that areconsisting through the material. This thesis contributes to research due to the missing LGBTQperspective. The analysis shows clearly stated gender stereotypes in both genders, but alsodifferent stereotypes according to status and sexuality in the testimonies. This with a strongconnection to the macho norm that are consisting throughout the previous research andanalysis, with other normativities illustrated such as gender normative and heteronormativity.Finally, there is a hierarchical level illustrated in the analysis related to inclusion andexclusion by categorization.

The following study examines the experiences of non-binary people living in a society that emphasizes a gender binary, along with how being non-binary affects participants' views of the world and themselves. The study also looked to establish a working definition of "non-binary." I interviewed 17 participants who self-identified as non-binary regarding their lived experiences as non-binary people. Narratives were used to establish codes and themes. Adopting a narrative approach to the data, the study puts forth working definitions of non-binary and related terms, such as gender non-conforming, androgyny, and genderfluid. The study found that most participants saw themselves as breaking the norms by being non-binary and in other ways, including their sexuality and religion. Participants placed an emphasis on visibility, asserting that by being visible as non-binary they help society move away from strict binary constructs. Participants also described many adverse experiences associated with being non-binary, including being misgendered and safety concerns, which can impact non-binary people's mental health. This study forms a basis for further research into non-binary experiences, both in relation to lived day-to-day experiences and in terms of associated mental health outcomes.

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The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge about how people who identify themselves outside the gender binary system look upon treatment from people in different contexts and how the strategies they use in relation to treatment are expressed. As an approach to this study, we chose to do a qualitative internet study, the empirical material included ten various blogs written by people who identify themselves outside the gender binary system. By using a content analysis we were able to distinguish themes concerning good and bad treatment as well as different forms of coping in our empirical material. The analysis was based on two different kinds of perspectives: queer theory and the concept of coping strategies. The result of this study showed that people who identify themselves outside the gender binary system experience poor treatment more often than good treatment from people in different contexts. One important result that this study showed was that most people described that they felt reduced and ridiculed by, for example, government officials and family members because of their gender identity. We also found that the people in this study used different strategies to cope with the poor treatment they received. A strategy that most of the people in the study used to avoid being treated badly were dressing in gender-neutral clothes. The main conclusion of the study is that it is important that we humans do not assume that all persons belong to the gender binary system. More knowledge about the area is needed to enable us to treat people who identify outside the gender binary system adequately.

The advent of social media enabled sexual minorities, as LGBTQ+ people, to find a community online. However, it can be difficult for transgender people to express their gender identity without risking a form of social injustice, as transgender people are not included in the prevailing gender binary. This thesis explores how transgender people present gender on the hashtag #TransIsBeautfiul on Instagram and to what extent to what extent can a form of ‘passing’ be seen in how transgender people adhere to expressing societal gender norms. Goffman’s (1979) theory on gender display is adapted as a main framework to analyse 346 posts with a qualitative content analysis. The theories of gender display (1979) and self-presentation (1956) by Goffman and the concept of passing by Serano (2007) are also employed for a deeper understanding of the social construction of gender. Findings show a great diversity of gender self-presentations. Transgender people tend to express their masculinity and femininity in an exaggerated way, by emphasizing certain masculine and feminine aspects according to societal gender norms and therefore ‘pass’ as a ‘natural’ member of the gender binary. In complete contrast, there are also transgender people who challenge the gender binary by expressing themselves as non-binary. They represent themselves within and outside the gender binary by mixing and minimizing feminine and masculine aspects. These results show that for transgender people there are two ways of coping with societal gender norms and put the gender binary model into question.

This thesis analyses materials – a set of guidelines and a presentation – provided for officials  who assess claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity within the Australian  government’s Department for Immigration and Border Protection. The analysis is conducted  using critical discourse analysis to see if the lexicon shows a white heterosexual bias, and if it  does, how the bias is manifested within the guidelines, especially within the context of the  gender binary. The theoretical framework primarily uses Critical Race theory, but also  combines elements of Said’s Orientalism, and absence and presence theory. The results show  that the guidelines do have a white heterosexual bias, which manifests itself in the form of,  Western superiority, stereotypes about LGBT+ people, as well as an undertheorized portrayal  of the gender binary. The findings contribute to research within the queer asylum field,  especially with regards to research on migration from a non-gender-binary perspective.