The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sexual orientation, self-described gender expression and preferred levels of gender expression in romantic partners with ischemic pain performance in healthy young women. It was hypothesized that lesbian and bisexual women would be less sensitive to pain than heterosexual women. It was also hypothesized that regardless of sexual orientation, women who endorse a preference for more feminine romantic partners and who describe themselves as more masculine would report higher pain thresholds, higher pain tolerance, and lower pain intensity levels than women who report attraction to more masculine romantic partners and rate themselves as possessing more feminine dispositions. A total of 172 women completed multiple assessments of identity and gender expression followed by an ischemic pain task. The study demonstrated that ischemic pain performance is associated with sexual orientation, dispositional gender expression, and preferred gender expression in romantic partners in healthy young women. Compared to heterosexual women, lesbian and bisexual women reported lower pain intensity ratings. Among heterosexual women, attraction to more feminine romantic partners was associated with lower pain intensity ratings early into the ischemic discomfort task, and there was a slight association between self-described masculinity and lower pain intensity ratings for heterosexual women. Similar associations emerged between attraction to more feminine romantic partners and higher pain tolerance in the heterosexual group and for dispositional masculinity and higher pain threshold and tolerance levels in the combined lesbian and bisexual group. These findings provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that, irrespective of biological sex, various other aspects of sexual identity are associated with ischemic pain performance.

Gender is a pervasive and regulating social institution that is operationalized in mainstream Western culture as a natural extension of the ontological difference perceived to exist between the binarily sexed bodies of male and female. Feminist theory has widely established, however, that gender is done - i.e., gender is not a naturally occurring phenomenon, but is an ongoing construction engaged and replicated by individual actors and which, while compulsory, is nevertheless optional. Within this canon is a small number of feminist theorists, notably Judith Lorber, Judith Bulter, and Nancy Tuana, who argue that the constructive manifestations of gender performativity (that is, doing of gender) are not limited to the social sphere. They argue the role of gender in the construction of the material body, asserting that doing gender has a constructive role in physical embodiment: what we do influences, and in fact creates, what our bodies are. This study engages feminist theory on the production of the body through a qualitative exploration of the lived experience of gendered bodily change, as described in the first-hand narratives of trans-identified individuals. I predict that the analysis of the narratives in the sample will show that in comparison to cisgender individuals, trans individuals possess a heightened awareness of the performative nature of gender, and that trans individuals consciously engage performativity in order to conform to the normative expectations associated with the desired gender role. I further predict that trans individuals experience sexually dimorphic bodily change to be a direct result of changes to their gender identity. The interview analysis findings provide mixed support for the first hypothesis, demonstrating that while trans individuals in the sample do demonstrate a heightened awareness of the ways in which gender is performed, the respondents’ insights came largely from their experiences in their compulsorily cisgender, pre-transition lives, rather than their current gender embodiments. The concept of performativity and its perceived implication of artificiality clashed with the respondents’ sense of their gendered actions as an expression of an authentic self, and my analysis thus addresses performativity as a necessarily polemic concept located between the subjectivity of the individual narratives and the theoretical position that gender is done. The findings provide a substantial level of support for the second hypothesis that trans individuals understand experienced bodily change to be a direct result of changes in gender identity. This study’s exploration of trans experiences of lived bodily change contributes a narrative perspective to the ongoing discussion in feminist theory which surrounds the role of gender in the production of the material body.

Children begin to develop their understanding of gender in preschool, yet there is a dearth of research focused on understanding how preschool teachers affect the gender identity development of young children. Guided by Rokeach's belief systems theory, this qualitative case study explored the pedagogical strategies and perceptions of 4 Sacramento County, California preschool educators related to the gender identity development of young children. Interview data were collected and coded to derive 12 participant-specific themes and 3 common intersecting themes, which showed that teachers' perspectives on gender identity development were influenced by social rules, biases, and a lack of pedagogical knowledge related to more expansive definitions of gender. As a result of the lack of pedagogical knowledge, there was only 1 gender-related instructional strategy concerning gender roles, and this strategy was used by only 1 of the 4 respondents. Although they may have shown confusion relating to aspects of gender, these preschool teachers demonstrated a genuine interest in learning how to create safe spaces for gender exploration in the preschool classroom. These findings have led to the creation of a professional development series designed to educate preschool teachers about gender identity development, provide them with opportunities to develop curricula, and allow them to reflect upon their cisgender-related biases. Educators, administrators, and policymakers may find it useful to apply the results of this study and resultant project when creating educational programs and college-level curricula and policies. The results could also help educators create affirmative educational environments for all children, regardless of their biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.

En kvalitativ studie med utgångspunkt i den ohälsa som är dokumenterad bland hbt-ungdomar där skolan pekas ut som en betydande arena. Syftet var att undersöka hur gymnasieskolor i förhållande till för skolan rådande styrdokument valde att konkretisera det förebyggande arbetet med värdegrundsfrågor kopplade till sexualitet och könsidentitet/-uttryck samt undersöka skolkuratorers attityder, normer och upplevelser i förhållande till detta arbete. Empirin bestod av en fokusgruppsintervju med skolkuratorer samt en litteraturstudie med grund i ett urval av likabehandlingsplaner. Slutsatser blev att heteronormativitet präglar skolkuratorers arbete med dessa frågor och att det förebyggande arbetet ej upplevs prioriterat. Avseende transpersoner aktualiseras detta i relation till att diskrimineringsgrunden könsöverskridande identitet och uttryck ej hade ett omfattande skydd av diskrimineringslagen. Vidare framkom det en avsaknad av konkretisering i förhållande till vad som krävdes kompetensmässigt för att en skola skall kunna jobba förebyggande på ett enhetligt och likvärdigt sätt. En avsaknad av ett normkritiskt perspektiv men även behovet av det, vilket gav sken av att satsningar inom detta område ej är tillräckliga blev studiens slutsats i helhet. / A qualitative study based in the documented amongst LGBT-youth in Sweden, where the school has been pointed out as an arena of impact. This study's purpose have been to investigate how comprehensive upper secondary schools choose to concrete the preemptive duties concerning fundamental values, in relation to sexualitet, gender identity and gender expression. Focus has also been on school welfare officers and their attitudes, norms and experiences concerning these duties. The empirism have consisted of one focus group interview with school welfare officers and a study of relevant literature based in a selection of "equal treatment plans".  Conclusions have been that heterosexual normativity characterizes the work of the elfare officers concerning these matters, and that the preemptive duties are not experienced as a priority. In reference to transgender this can distincly be seen in the fact that the ground of discrimination "transgender identity and/or expression" does not have an extensive protection in the law of discrimination. Further on an absence of concretization has been revealed, concerning the competence required for schools to be able to work preemptive in a unitary and equivalent manner. An absence of a norm critical perspective and the need for it, as well as that the current investments in this area in not enough, has been the final conclusions of this study.

Denna studie utgår från transpersoners och icke-binära personers erfarenheter av lajvande i Sverige under 2000-talet. Lajv är en typ av performance, liknande improviserad teater utan publik, där deltagarna gestaltar och förkroppsligar olika karaktärer, en roll eller alternativ identitet. Även om lajvs potential att förändra har tidigare studerats har ingen forskning gjorts om transpersoners erfarenheter av hur lajv och karaktärer har förändrat dem. Denna studie undersöker därför hur lajv och erfarenheter av att förkroppsliga karaktärer har påverkat hur de ser på sin könsidentitet och använder sig av könsuttryck i vardagen. I fokus står deltagarnas aha-upplevelser om sitt kön före, under, kring och efter lajv. Med intervjuer och queer fenomenologi visar studien att lajvande och karaktärer har hjälpt dem att hitta, utforska, testa och orientera sig mot nya könslinjer, könsidentiteter och könsuttryck samt gett dem verktyg att börja följa dessa könslinjer i vardagen. Studien visar även hur de har hindrats och hjälpts av andra lajvare, samt hur gränsen mellan lajv och vardag läcker och transformerar. Studiens resultat bidrar till en ökad kunskap om hur lajvande kan ha en förmåga att förändra och hur svenska lajvkulturen har utvecklats under 2000-talet. / This thesis concerns trans and non-binary persons’ experiences of live action role-playing (larp) in Sweden during the last 20 years. Larp is a form of performance, similar to improvised theater without any external audience, where the participants (larpers) play and embody characters. The characters are similar to theater characters, but are also a form of persona or alternative identity for the larpers. Although earlier research has shown that larp has a potential to transform and change larpers, little research has been done on transpersons’ experiences of how larping and characters have changed them. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how larping and experiences of embodying characters have affected how they understand their own gendersex and use gendered expressions, clothes, and behaviors in everyday life. A central part of the analysis is the participants' feeling of wonder over their gendersex before, during, around, and after larping. By using interviews, queer phenomenology, and the concept of bleed, the study shows how larping and characters have helped them to find, explore, try, and orient themselves toward new gender lines, gendersexes and gendered expressions and also given them tools to help them following these new gender lines and embody their gendersex in everyday life. Furthermore, the study shows how they have been hindered and helped by other larpers, and how the borders between the larp worlds and the world of everyday life are porous and transformative. The findings of the study gives new insights of transpersons’ experiences of larping. Furthermore, the results deepen our knowledge of larping’s transformative potential, how role-playing can be used in identity processes, and how the Swedish larping community has evolved during the 21th century.