i'm exploring people's thoughts on gender

[genderstudy]

Hello all,

I am a Marital and Family Therapy doctoral candidate at Alliant International University (San Diego, CA), and am currently collecting data for my dissertation.

Please know, I respect and value the privacy of everyone here, and invite them to complete an anonymous survey at

I am looking for participants who are:
            (a) at least 18 years of age,
            (b) a California resident, and
            (c) identify as heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or transgender (or are a parent of someone who identifies as heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or transgender),

I would like to invite anyone who fits the above description to participate in a research study examining gender ideologies.

The purpose of the research is to:
            (1) The study will examine gender ideologies among individuals with various sexual and gender orientations, and parents of those who identify with various sexual and gender orientations. (It is not necessary that individuals have their parents participate, or vice versa.)
            (2) I believe the knowledge gained from this study will help therapists in addressing issues related to sexual and gender orientation. I also hope that this study will contribute to further understanding of the understudied and underserved transgender population.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Jennifer Mato,

[Constance]

For the purposes of this study, would you also include "androgyne" and/or "non-binary gender variant" as being "transgendered?"

[Sarah Louise]

I removed the link to the survey and her email address.  I am going to PM her and ask for more detail.

I went through the first 5 pages (of 14) of the survery and none of them had anything to do with being transgendered, gay or lesbian.

Sarah L.

[genderstudy]

Hi Dave MAC-N-T,

Thanks for the question. There is actually an option for you to select an androgynous gender affiliation once you begin the study (it's towards the end). Unfortunately quantitative studies require trying to fit people neatly into analyzable categories. So, I am simply trying to categorize individuals as they would themselves. In some instances this means that a non-binary gender variant is transgendered, in others it does not. I realize that may not have been the most concrete answer for you, and apologize.

Thanks for expressing an interest,

Jennifer

[Constance]

I revisited the survey site, but decided not to proceed past the first of the 14 pages of the questionaire. Sorry, but I found the 1 through 5 scale to be too limiting in order for me to answer the questions.

[genderstudy]

Sarah L.:

First off, I appreciate the concern to protect the transgendered community from malicious research. It is not my intent to perform any such study. I am studying ideas about gender (among those who have varied gender and sexual orientations). To do so, I am using pre-existing measures about gender. These measures are highly validated and used within the research community. In order to have any weight with my research (and findings), I need to use something familiar within the research community. The first few pages that she completed were from one of these measures. I understand that they have nothing to do with being transgendered, gay, or lesbian.

As for the permission from my professor, if you have additional concerns I am happy to provide you with her contact information so you can ask any further questions directly. Please know that it was created in consultation with members of the LGBT population, reviewed by my entire dissertation committee, and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at my university.

I hope that helps to clarify things. If not please let me know if I can address any further concerns. In the meantime, I have contacted susan@susans.org to repost the original message.

My best,

Jennifer
Post Merge: October 07, 2009, 12:21:10 AM
Dave MAC-N-T:

Regardless, please know I appreciate you taking the time to go to the site and to let me know your concerns with the measure. I agree, it would have been better to have the same degrees for the first two scales, unfortunately, changing it on my own would have altered the validity of the measures (I used pre-existing measures that have been tested and validated in previous research studies), and thus would make the end results difficult to defend.

My best,

Jennifer

[Dianna]

I wish you well with the completion of your PhD.

I completed a "subject" at undergraduate level on gender variant et cetera. It actually did not touch on "transgender" / "transsexual" very much in depth at all.

[genderstudy]

Thank you, Dianna!

[V M]

Hi Jenn, Welcome to Susan's

I am willing to help but not real big on surveys.

If you'd like some real answers based on personal experience let me know.

You will need 15 posts to pm me though