Gender nonconformity
Gender nonconformity or gender variance is gender expression by an individual whose behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A person can be gender-nonconforming regardless of their gender identity, for example, transgender, non-binary, or cisgender. Transgender adults who appear gender-nonconforming after transition are more likely to experience discrimination.
Terminology
Gender nonconformity refers to a person's gender expression that differs from socially expected expressions of masculinity and femininity within a gender binary. These expectations vary from culture to culture and from time to time within cultures. Gender expression is different from gender identity, a person's inner sense of oneself as a man, woman, or another gender outside the traditional gender binary such as gender-fluid, agender, or non-binary. According to GLAAD, gender expression is the external manifestation of one's gender identity, usually through masculine, feminine, or gender-variant presentation or behavior.Terms to describe gender variance include gender-variant, gender-nonconforming, gender-diverse, and gender-atypical. The terms gender variance and gender-variant are used by scholars of psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and gender studies, as well as advocacy groups of gender-variant people themselves.
The word transgender usually has a narrower connotation, including an identification that differs from the gender assigned at birth. GLAAD defines transgender as an "umbrella term for people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth." Not all gender-variant people identify as transgender, and not all transgender people identify as gender-variant—many identify simply as men or women.
In Australia
In Australia, the term gender-diverse or, historically, sex and/or gender-diverse, may be used in place of, or as well as, transgender. Culturally-specific gender diverse terms include sistergirls and brotherboys, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Ambiguities about the inclusion or exclusion of intersex people in terminology, such as sex and/or gender-diverse, led to a decline in use of the terms sex and/or gender-diverse and diverse sexes and genders. Current regulations providing for the recognition of trans and other gender identities use terms such as gender diverse and transgender. In July 2013, the Australian National LGBTI Health Alliance produced a guide entitled "Inclusive Language Guide: Respecting people of intersex, trans and gender diverse experience" which clearly distinguishes between different bodily and identity groups.In childhood
Multiple studies have suggested a correlation between children who express gender nonconformity and their eventual coming out as gay, bisexual, or transgender. In multiple studies, a majority of those who identify as gay or lesbian self-report gender nonconformity as children. However, the accuracy of some of these studies have been questioned.One study suggested that childhood gender nonconformity is heritable. Studies have also been conducted about adults' attitudes towards nonconforming children. There are reportedly no significant generalized effects on attitudes towards children who vary in gender traits, interests, and behavior.
Children who are gender-variant may struggle to conform later in life. As children get older and are not treated for the mismatch between their minds and bodily appearance, this leads to discomfort, and negative self-image and eventually may lead to depression, suicide, or self-doubt. If a child is nonconforming at a very young age, it is important to provide family support for positive impact to family and the child. Children who do not conform prior to age 11 tend to have an increased risk for depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation as a young adult. A 2012 study found that both children who will be heterosexual and children who will have a minority sexual orientation who expressed gender nonconformity before the age of 11 were more likely to experience abuse physically, sexually, and psychologically.
Roberts et al. found that of participants in their study aged between 23 and 30, 26% of those who were gender nonconforming experienced some sort of depressive symptoms, versus 18% of those were gender-conforming. Treatment for gender identity disorders such as gender variance have been a topic of controversy for three decades. In the works of Hill, Carfagnini and Willoughby, Bryant, "suggests that treatment protocols for these children and adolescents, especially those based on converting the child back to a stereotypically gendered youth, make matters worse, causing them to internalize their distress." Treatment for GID in children and adolescents may have negative consequences. Studies suggest that treatment should focus more on helping children and adolescents feel comfortable living with GID. There is a feeling of distress that overwhelms a child or adolescent with GID that gets expressed through gender. Hill et al. states, "if these youth are distressed by having a condition deemed by society as unwanted, is this evidence of a disorder?" Bartlett and colleagues note that the problem in determining distress is aggravated in GID cases because usually, it is not clear whether distress in the child is due to gender variance or secondary effects. Hill et al. suggests, "a less controversial approach, respectful of increasing gender freedom in our culture and sympathetic to a child's struggle with gender, would be more humane."
Numerous studies confirm that LGBTQ+ students face increased instances of victimization in schools compared to their heterosexual peers, leading to lower well-being and academic performance. While research on gender variant adolescent school experience is limited, available findings indicate similar trends. Furthermore, understanding gender variance especially in young children, can be complex, making it challenging for social workers to empathize. Moreover, school social workers often work in environments that emphasize heteronormativity where femininity and masculinity are defined based on heterosexual relationships, making it difficult to address the needs of gender variant children.
Social status for men vs. women
Gender nonconformity among people assigned male at birth is usually more strictly, and sometimes violently, policed in the West than is gender nonconformity among people assigned female at birth. However, a spectrum of types of gender nonconformity exists among boys and men. Some types of gender nonconformity, such as being a stay-at-home father, may pass without comment whereas others, such as wearing lipstick and skirts, may attract stares, criticism, or questioning. Some cultures are more tolerant than others of such differences.This is a comparatively recent development in historical terms, because the dress and careers of women used to be more heavily policed, and still are in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia The success of second-wave feminism is the chief reason for the freedom of women in the West to wear traditionally-male clothing such as trousers, or to take up traditionally-male occupations such as being a medical doctor, etc. In the Soviet Union, women were allowed to take up traditionally male occupations such as construction work, but were paid less. Employers sometimes preferred women workers and sometimes male workers. In some former Soviet countries, gender equality went into reverse after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gender nonconforming transgender people in the United States have been demonstrated to have worse overall health outcomes than transgender individuals who identify as men or women.
Association with sexual orientation
Gender norms vary by country and by culture, as well as across historical time periods within cultures. For example, in Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan, adult men frequently hold hands, without being perceived as gay, whereas in the West this behavior would, in most circumstances, be seen as proof of a homosexual relationship. However, in many cultures, behaviors such as crying, an inclination toward caring for and nurturing others in an emotionally open way, an interest in domestic chores other than cooking, and self-grooming can all be seen as aspects of male gender nonconformity. Men who exhibit such tendencies are often stereotyped as gay. Studies found a high incidence of gay males self-reporting gender-atypical behaviors in childhood, such as having little interest in athletics and a preference for playing with dolls. The same study found that mothers of gay males recalled such atypical behavior in their sons with much greater frequency than mothers of heterosexual males.For women, adult gender nonconformity is often associated with lesbianism due to the limited identities women are faced with in adulthood. Lesbian and bisexual women, being less concerned with attracting men, may find it easier to reject traditional ideas of womanhood because social punishment for such transgression is not effective, or at least no more effective than the consequences of being openly gay or bisexual in a heteronormative society. This may help account for high levels of gender nonconformity self-reported by lesbians.
Gender theorist Judith Butler, in their essay Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, states: "Discrete genders are part of what humanizes individuals within contemporary culture; indeed, those who fail to do their gender right are regularly punished. Because there is neither an 'essence' that gender expresses or externalizes nor an objective ideal to which gender aspires." Butler argues that gender is not an inherent aspect of identity, further stating, "...One might try to reconcile the gendered body as the legacy of sedimented acts rather than a predetermined or foreclosed structure, essence or fact, whether natural, cultural, or linguistic".
Research into nonbinary gender identities has found this:
The overwhelming majority of non-binary respondents ... identified as having a sexual minority sexual orientation, which is also consistent with findings from other research. This substantial overlap between non-binary gender and sexual minority status is intriguing and supports the conceptualization that "non-traditional" gender identities and sexual orientation are distinct yet interrelated constructs.Bisexual and gay male individuals who do not conform to traditional gender norms might experience increased discrimination compared to those who do. One study found Latino gay and bisexual men that identify as gender nonconforming faced higher levels of homophobia and psychological distress compared to their gender-conforming counterparts. Furthermore, nonconforming to traditional gender norms may elevate the risk of suicide attempts among gay adolescents, whereas studies on lesbians do not consistently show similar patterns. This may be attributed to heightened mistreatment of boys displaying feminine traits, by parents and peers.