Final Summary/Reaction

The first part of my research was quite successful, with a total of 144 responses over the span of two days (although this is still to small a pool, most likely). Of course, the people sampled did not represent the average composition of the United States. My survey was 68% female, only 24% male, and had an incredible 17% of people indicate the "other" option! This reflects some sort of self-selecting bias, as does the fact that almost 20% of the survey respondents were LGBTQIA. What I expected to find was a very black-and-white correlation between being or knowing someone who were part of the acronym and having accurate knowledge of the issues, and those who did not and had biased and ignorant opinions. Instead, I found social networks mean that almost everyone polled in the survey knew someone who was queer--only 2% of respondents did not know someone queer. However, some correlation was present. Those who belong to one of the groups, or had close friends who belonged to said groups, or knew many such people, where more likely to not only answer correctly but also have more liberal-minded opinions. (This warrants a digression on the nature of the questions I asked. During the course of writing the survey I decided last second to make the questions seem more opinion based. In a constantly evolving and highly debated like Gender Studies, many of the facts associated with the topic aren't as readily verifiable as those found in hard science, meaning that opinions affect one's knowledge and visa versa. That said, this also help to shed light on implicit opinions and bias people wouldn't normally want to share).  However, as the amount of and closeness to queer people decreased, the amount of knowledge also tended to decrease quite dramatically (I have yet to plot it out in detail but I am thinking along the lines of a depreciation curve (e^-x) type shape).

I also learned that people did not always have knowledge in all areas equally; those picking the correct answers in one area (bisexuality)  could put some really incorrect and offensive answers about trans* people!

My other study was a lot less successful, as I only got six people to participate in it. I found that overall people had trouble switching pronouns, especially when using the neologism "ze". When using they they tended to make 0-2 mistakes when reading the paragraph. When using ze however, they made many errors and one person basically just gave up before finishing the assignment (they did not know why they were doing it, however). The time that it took different people to do each part of the task varied widely, especially between native speakers two non-native speakers.  The three respondents who did know they were doing it were only slightly slower. This, in a much larger study could indicate that new pronouns are difficult mostly because they are hard to integrate into language and not because of bias; however, the people I was able to wrangle into doing the test where self-selecting and therefore probably wanted to succeed at the "Pronoun Game" regardless of whether or not they completed the open-ended survey/information page. I have a feeling that in real life, especially in the busy world, people would be less amenable to learning something new, especially if they felt the pronouns weren't legitimate.

This research was the culmination of an interesting semester in which I got a new perspective on issues which I already had found interesting. While Gender/Sexuality studies are something I've exposed myself to for almost two years, learning sociological concepts showed me the inner structure and rules from where emerged many of the things I learned. It has allowed me to argue and discuss in a more informed manner, and I honestly wish I to pursue my interesting in sociology in a major way in college if it is possible. To remember that humans are social animals governed, in many ways, but a nebulous set of behavioral patterns set forth by a society, has given me new perspectives on the people around me. Honestly, considering things like group-think, I am surprised we have not messed up more! (I suppose that isn't the normal observation one would pull from a sociology class.) I am extremely glad to have done my own research and I was honestly amazed by all the details and connections that emerged from the data pool as it grew larger. I was very exciting to watch the numbers grow and to see how percentages changed as the survey reached different groups of people. I am sad to leave this blog behind, but rest assured that I will not forget to keep learning about the FORGOTTEN LETTERS.

Research Part 3

I have revised my plane to include 2  or 3 myth based questions about each group, then I will allow users to select from a list of way they learned the information. They will be allowed to select more than one answer. I will limit the survey to under twenty questions, or around 15 questions. I will be focusing on the myths like I said because I feel that unlearning misinformation is a strong sign of knowledge in a topic area. 

For the experimental part of the exercise, I will split my people into two groups. One group will do the assignment without being told why they are doing it. The other group will have the idea of epicene pronouns explained to them. Of those in the second group, I will ask them to fill out a brief about their opinions on non-male or female pronouns. I will then see if feelings of bias against non-binary people will affect the time. My revised hypothesis is that those who feel favorably will do a bit better than the control group, and those who do not feel favorably or doubt the legitimacy of the group will actually do a lot worse. I will be using a text from Alice in Wonderland.

Research Part Two

For the general knowledge survey of my research, I will be collecting data using Google Forms. This will allow people more access to it, will allow me to export my information as an Excel Document, and will allow for greater anonymity. I  plan to start by asking for age, gender (with male, female and other (fill-in) options). Then I will ask around ten questions about bisexuals, trans* people, asexuals, and intersex people. I will mainly be focusing on general and accurate knowledge and the perception of certain myths as wrong. Then I will ask one or two questions about how the people learned this information, with an emphasis on thier knowing or being a queer person.

For my experiment, I will sit down with people in a busy cafeteria setting and ask them to read one text with first female pronouns, then "they pronouns" and then "ey" pronouns. The purpose of the busy setting is seeing if people can still learn quickly in a distracting environment. Because they are reading the text three times, this gives them a bit of an advantage on later tries, which will somewhat compensate for the difficult pronouns. I will have both the text to be read with blanks and the pronouns displayed easily where the person can refer to them. I will time them with a stopwatch and I will also count the nature and amount of errors they make (using the wrong tense, using the wrong set of pronouns).

Research Part One

I will be doing a survey testing people's knowledge of queer minorities. I will be putting particular focus On differentiating between popular myths from actual truth. I will also be asking them if they know someone who is queer or if they are queer themselves. the purpose of this study will be to elucidate the relationship between knowing about The Forgotten letters and where  this information is coming from.

I will also be doing a short experiment where I will ask people to read a short paragraph while substituting in gender neutral pronouns for the traditional male or female pronouns. The purpose of this experiment will be to find out which epicene pronouns are easier to use and how difficult it is for the average person to integrate a new pronoun into their vocabulary.

My hope with both of these research methods will be to not only find out information but to sensitize my subjects to information that they are not aware of.

#8: Final Post

I have really enjoyed writing this blog. I love learning about issues surrounding gender and seuxality, not only because there is yet injustice to be addressed and people to help, but because I think all the identities people are capable of having are beautiful. The complex, incomprehensible nature of human beings is something that can't be understood in one class, or in many. It is not something that can be quantified, and if I have spoken to a small part of that understanding with this blog I will be more than satisified.

I have learned more about an issue which I find interesting. I was especially interested to find out that the intersex community does not wish to abolish gender. Of course, I then felt guilty for assuming that just because someon'e body was in between ideas of male and female, that they would also prefer some third gender. Because, after all, gender and sex do not always have to "match up" in a specific way. I would this interesting because it showed me that I still have biases and internal ideas about what people should be. I was also interested and saddened by learning about the effects that ostracism can have on people. We often forget that hurt does not only include physical violence, but also words and social actions. We are social human beings and to deny someone the company of another person is just astoundingly cruel. I was also astounded when I delved deeper into issues I already knew about. For example, I was surprised by the breadth of hardships which face bisexuals, and by the silence and lack of awareness which surrounds this issue. Overall, I am surprised by the amount of knowledge which is easily available. Despite this, people tend to know little facts surrounding these issues, and much misinformation and myths.

I hope that I have educated someone, if just a little bit. This sort of sentimentalism may be out of place in a social science, but I firmly believe that education allows us to become more compassionate, understanding, and tolerant people. I hope that all those who have read felt a bit more enlightened, and that they perhaps will be able to teach someone else as well.

#7.5:Asexual Discrimination

(I am making this extra post because I did not want to end my blog without having spoken at least something about all the identities I mentioned in my first post.)

Asexuals are often accused of "having it easy" compared to other non-heterosexual identities. However, they too can face problems because of their orientation. One example of this is corrective rape, where people will feel that they can "fix" someone asexual by sexually assaulting them.They also are more likely to be discriminated against by any sexual person (be they gay, straight or bi), than any other group. LGBT groups may accuse asexuals of trying to "coopt the movement", and they may receive less support and help from organizations which are supposed to help all gender and sexual minorities.   People also tend to believe that asexuals are thought of as less human for not having a sexual nature. The stereotype of asexuals that people have is that they cold, awkward, unfriendly, and even robotic.

Why is it that people cannot understand or respect asexuality? Is it that human beings fundamentally lack empathetic imagination? Is it that for most people, a sexual nature is so ingrained that to think otherwise becomes impossible? Is it society that teaches us that sex is fundamental to our lives? Whatever the reason, we should still strive to treat everyone with respect.

[x]

#7: Intersex People, Gender, and "Normalizing" Surgery

The Intersex Society of North America explains that the "corrective" surgeries often performed on young children born with ambiguous genitalia can be much more traumatizing than they are helpful. In, studies done on intersex people who were allowed to keep their bodies as they were at birth were well-adjusted and had "lower rates of psychopathology than the general population". On the other hand, forcing infants to physically conform to societal ideas of what constitutes a male or female body can be damaging in the long run, especially as the surgeries involved often are irreversible. This means if the child does not identify as the gender which their body was modified to reflect, they have more difficulty transitioning. (It is also known that intersex people have higher rates of gender transition than the average population.)

However, the ISNA does not advocate raising an intersex child as a third gender. Instead, they advocate assigning a male or female gender to an intersex child at birth (without doing surgeries). Why? Because gender does not have to equal a specific kind of body and genitals. Many intersex advocates are comfortable with binary gender, and say that the discomfort they faced was more due to the shame surrounding surgeries and less with their assigned or chosen (binary) gender. Of course, some intersex people also have a non-binary gender. Like the general population, most intersex people will fall easily into male/female categorization. It comes down to the parents and doctors to take an educated guess so as to the child's future gender (for example, children with complete androgen (male hormone) insensitivity will grow up to identify as female) and socialize the child into that gender. If needed, that child can later transition to another gender, without the added trouble of having undergone irreversible surgeries early in life. Additionally, raising a child as a third gender from birth could be traumatizing, as our society has yet little concept of what this would entail.

  While many people would expect ISNA to want to eradicate gender, things are not that simple. What is important for intersex people, like all people, is to have their points of view heard and respected:

"We hope that scholars, particularly those invested in helping members of marginalized groups gain a voice in conversations about themselves, will take seriously the concerns about surgery, secrecy and shame raised by intersex people and understand that ISNA and the majority of its constituency don't necessarily share the goal of eradicating the very concept of gender".
[x]

#6: Bisexual Invisibility: Impacts and Recommendations

          Bisexuals are sometimes thought by gay monosexuals to "have it easier". In fact, research shows that statistically, bisexual face higher rates of problems such as poverty and suicide.What bisexuals face especially is an invisibility in the community, as they are often bunched in with gays and lesbians, despite actually being the majority. While many people think it is "just a phase" a study has shown that over the span of ten years 92% of the bisexual women kept the identity. In the queer community, bisexuals activities are forgotten; historical bisexuals such as Freddie Mercury are repainted as simply gay. Institutions which help gays and lesbians often do not have special attention to bisexuals, and monosexual men and women tend to disparage and questions their bisexual partners' orientation. The study from which this information comes details a multitude of biphobic actions and attitudes. Suffice to say that "a study published in the Journal of Sex Research reported that heterosexuals rate bisexuals as a group less favorably than any of a number of groups (including Catholics, lesbians, people with AIDS, and people who are pro-life), except for the category of people who inject illegal drugs".

The problems bisexuals face, especially those that stem from invisibility and biphobia, are many:

"-Bisexual people experience greater health disparities than the broader population, including a
greater likelihood of suffering from depression and other mood or anxiety disorders.
- Bisexuals report higher rates of hypertension, poor or fair physical health, smoking, and
risky drinking than heterosexuals or lesbians/gays.
- Many, if not most, bisexual people don’t come out to their healthcare providers. This means
they are getting incomplete information (for example, about safer sex practices).
- Most HIV and STI prevention programs don’t adequately address the health needs of
bisexuals, much less those who have sex with both men and women but do not identify as
bisexual.
- Bisexual women in relationships with monosexual partners have an increased rate of
domestic violence compared to women in other demographic categories. "

Read the study here.

#5: The Quest for a Gender-Neutral Pronoun

For individuals who do not exist within the gender binary, finding a pronoun to use in everyday life is an important step. Many epicene (neither male nor female) pronouns exist, and many have gathered up through time. More popular examples include:

•  Ne/nem/nir/nirs/nemself
• ey/em/eir/eirs/eirself
• ze/hir/hir/hirs/hirself;zie/hir/hir/hirs/hirself;ze/zir/zir/zirs/zirself;zie/zir/zir/zirs/zirself

These can get complicated for various reasons. How does pronounce a neologism? How does on differentiate between various strains of the "ze" pronouns, if no one declension is accepted? What about "bleeding" between words that can make the gender neutral pronouns sound gendered in fast, colloquial speech? What if the pronunciation or spelling makes the words seem too gendered?  One reason that so many of these have been proposed is because each presents  unique quirks.

 Barring individual peculiarites, epicene pronouns in general can be difficult to integrate effectively into new language, as pronouns are used often and adding in a completely pronoun to our language can be harder than say, a verb or a noun . They, because it is already an established part of language, can serve as a good gender neutral pronoun, but with sentences like " Sam thought they were going to be late to the party", it can become confusing. Is they referring to only Sam, the hypothetical non-binary person, or is it referring to Sam and their friends? Despite the difficulty, finding correct pronouns for oneself is an important part of establishing one's identity and feeling comfortable in it. No matter who you are, language shapes reality and allows people to define themselves. If you have a friend who is choosing pronouns, bear with them even if the pronouns chosen may seem difficult or confusing. Taking a bit of time to learn someone's pronouns isn't too difficult, but it is extremely important in and treating that person with the dignity, respect and recognition they, or ne, or ey, or ze deserves.

Check out this list of various epicene pronouns and their various pros/cons: [x]

#4: Violence--more than just physical

Orange is the New Black actress  Laverne Cox recently said, "When a trans woman is called a man, that is an act of violence".  But how so? The World Health Organization  recently launched a report on what violence consists of. Violence  is defined as not only physical, but also emotional, not only from family but also from strangers. It has been found that ostracism can cause a similar physical effect than a blow.   Ostracism can come in many different forms, and even a brief moment of ostracism can hurt someone deeply for a long time . To tell someone that they are not the gender they identify as isn't just rude, but is a act of exclusion (you are not part of this gender) and dehumanization (you aren't a girl, you're an "it").  Because small acts of ostracism pile up as many people are wont to have the same reaction, and because ostracism threatens fundamental psychological needs such as belong and self-esteem, emotional violence ends up having the same effect as physical violence.

High rates of physical violence against trans* people exist, especially against trans women such as Laverne Cox. (And especially for trans women of color, who also must face the detrimental societal effects of racism.) The most murders against any group of queer people are against trans women. As the world is still so physically dangerous, small but additive acts of social violence only add to the difficulty of living within a society where cisgender people have all the power. 

Resources: WHO report, Ostracism: Consequences and Coping

#3:A Vlogbrothers video about Sexuality and Gender

Here is pretty and understandable exploration of the aspects of sexuality and gender which apply to each person, narrated by the lovely Hank Green from the famous "vlogbrothers".  "Common Sense" would dictate that gender identity, sex, orientation and gender roles would all align; the truth is a lot more fascinating. (One aspect Hank perhaps forgot to mention is gender expression. A trans-boy could still decide to dress up in girl's clothes for musical or for Halloween for example. A cis-male could be a drag queen and wear stage makeup and poofy dresses but still identify as male.)

Bonus Video:  Hank Green again , but in a previous post talking about his own sexuality. It's nice to see a public figure approach the topic casually and describe his experience honestly.  His electron analogy is wonderfully geeky! [x]

#2: What do the Letters mean?

Before jumping into the topic, it's good to start out with some definitions. So, what do these terms mean?

What is Trans*?

The term Trans* applies to people who where assigned a gender at birth (born male and raised male, for example) but feel that this is not their true gender.* Some trans* people will identity as the opposite gender, whereas others may feel that neither of the more commonly accepted genders (boy and girl) applies to them. Many transgender people will transition physically with the help of clothing choices, hormones and surgery. However, others will 'grow into' the gender they feel inside with only some of these measures, or even with little physical changes.

Why the asterisk? The experience of trans* people is really varied, and the * indicates that there is a lot of diversity within the group. It functions as an umbrella term.


What are Bisexuality and Pansexuality?

Bisexuality is an attraction to both men and women (or same and different genders) , though not necessarily to the same degree or in the same way. Many people "do not believe in bisexuality"; however, it has been proven to be a stable and legitimate orientation. The Kinsey Scale, which measures sexual attraction from completely heterosexual to completely homosexual, is an easy way to understand how some people can fall on the spectrum of attraction.

Similar to Bisexuality is Pansexuality, which is an attraction to all genders, or attraction regardless of gender. Some people prefer this term because they feel it more clearly includes non-binary genders (that is, people are not the commonly accepted boy and girl identities), however bisexuality is now more commonly understood as attraction to similar and dissimilar genders.


What does queer mean?

Queer is an umbrella term for people who are unwilling to define their sexual or gender identity by a more specific term, or prefer the more general name. Many younger people use this term as the older generation experienced it more as a slur. An example: 

" Danielle Flink says, “When I first came out, I identified as bisexual. Over time, I realized that I really was way more attracted to women so I identified as a lesbian. Then the person I fell in love with came out to me as transgender.  I wasn't sure where I fit anymore.  I was confused. I asked myself a million questions before I came to a self understanding that my sexual orientation wasn't fixed.  It never had been.  Even before I placed a label on myself upon coming out, I didn't feel like I belonged in any "group" or "box" or "label" that society currently had to offer me. So then I came across queer. At the time, I was pretty gender nonconforming as well so it really seemed to fit everything I wanted into a word that I could tell people when they asked.” 

What is Asexuality?

Asexuality is a lack of sexual attraction** (NOT celibacy, which is a choice to abstain from sex). However, asexuality can also be considered an umbrella term for others identities, including grey-asexual and demisexuals. 

Grey-Asexuals feel sexual desire very occasionally, or have a low sex drive, or only enjoy sex under very limited circumstances. They are the "grey area" between sexual people and fully asexual people.

Demisexuals only feel sexual desire in the context of a strong emotional connection.

Asexuals also have romantic orientations, for example, someone could be asexual homoromantic or asexual aromantic. Asexuals who also fall under specific romantic identities will often identify with the umbrella term of that identity. For example, a homoromantic asexual may consider himself part of the gay umbrella. Often associated with asexuals are  aromantics; however, this is a distinct and separate identity. 

Aromantics do not feel romantic attraction. This does not mean that they are emotionless robots that cannot love, it simply means that they primarily feel familial and platonic types of love. Note that being aromantic is independent from being asexual, some asexuals feel romantic love and some aromantics feel sexual attraction.

What does intersex mean? 

Intersex people are born with bodies that are physically between the usual definitions of male and female. Intersex people also exist on a spectrum, much like the ones for asexuality and bisexuality***. Some may never know that they deviated from the classical male and female bodies. Others are more clearly in the middle.  For example:
 "a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY."

What is or isn't defined as intersex usually ends up depending on doctors and other people who decide to make a judgment. There are many ways that people could be outside the traditional male and female body definitions. The intersex community focuses on making sure that people do not receive unwanted "corrective"surgeries but instead have free will over their own bodies.

Do these terms ever overlap?

Of course! It's important to understand that human diversity doesn't just apply to one area. Someone can belong to several of these identities at once. There is a lot more to this topic than just gay and straight, and the problems and issues associated with each of these identities are different. 

Works Cited: [x] [x] [x]

*The opposite of trans* is cisgender. Someone who is cisgender is someone born as the gender they identify as. 

**Even if asexuals do not feel sexual attraction to another, they can become aroused. 


***As an aside, its important to note that the human experience is more often in shades of grey than binaries. Many things simply cannot be shoved into neat little categories. This can be hard for neophytes to understand, but it is not only important to the study of gender and sexuality, but really to understand a lot of the natural world and the world of sociology!

#1:Why this Topic?

What are the forgotten letters? They are the identities under the LGBTQ+ that people do not know much about. 

The public may understand the first two letters somewhat clearly, but when it comes to trans*, queer, bisexual, asexual, intersex, and other identities under the rainbow flag, per say, people tend to be confused and even outright misinformed. I chose this topic because it is important for people to understand each other before they can truly act with compassion in each other's best interests. The problems faced by the these groups are unique and often times quite distinct from those faced by homosexuals that do not fall into any other of the LGBTQ+ identities.