Jack Harrison, Jaime Grant, Ph.D. and Jody L. Herman, Ph.D.

Beyond Male and Female: Creativity, Risks, and Resilience Among Genderqueer People in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey
Posted: 05/14/2012 9:51 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-harrison/national-transgender-discrimination-survey_b_1516566.html

Are you male or female? For many people, answering this question doesn't cause a moment's hesitation. But for genderqueer people, this question isn't so easy to answer, and survey research that offers only two gender options may overlook genderqueer people's experiences altogether.

Genderqueer people are those who identify their gender somewhere between male and female, reject traditional notions of gender, or reject the concept of gender altogether. The latest issue of the Harvard Kennedy School's LGBTQ Policy Journal presents new research focused specifically on genderqueer people and describes the risks and resiliencies of those who identify outside the male/female gender binary. This new article shows that genderqueer people have unique demographic characteristics and experiences of discrimination and violence when compared to transgender people who identify as "male" or "female."

Thanks for posting this Zythyra. I appreciate your daily postings.

I have mixed feelings about this article.

On the one hand it headlines genderqueer people, who, despite the 24/7 news cycle and the media's almost desperation for fresh topics, are completely off the nation's radar.

On the other hand, it makes genderqueer seem more like a social statement or protest rather than the thicket of physical, emotional, social, and identity issues experienced by those of us that live it.