Intersecting the Academic Gender Gap: The Education of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual America

Abstract

Although gender is central to contemporary accounts of educational stratification, sexuality has been largely invisible as a population-level axis of academic inequality. Taking advantage of major recent data expansions, the current study establishes sexuality as a core dimension of educational stratification in the United States. First, I analyze lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults’ college completion rates: overall, by race/ethnicity, and by birth cohort. Then, using new data from the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009, I analyze LGB students’ performance on a full range of achievement and attainment measures. Across analyses, I reveal two demographic facts. First, women’s rising academic advantages are largely confined to straight women: although lesbian women historically outpaced straight women, in contemporary cohorts, lesbian and bisexual women face significant academic disadvantages. Second, boys’ well-documented underperformance obscures one group with remarkably high levels of school success: gay boys. Given these facts, I propose that marginalization from hegemonic gender norms has important—but asymmetric—impacts on men’s and women’s academic success. To illustrate this point, I apply what I call a “gender predictive” approach, using supervised machine learning methods to uncover patterns of inequality otherwise obscured by the binary sex/gender measures typically available in population research.

Divergent patterns of cognitive deficits and structural brain alterations between older adults in mixed-sex and same-sex relationships

“…The SSR group had a median education of 18 years, which is equivalent to a master's degree. Therefore, this group may represent a highly educated sample of older adults, considering that among sexual minority adults across the whole age spectrum (i.e., ≥25 years old), 35-52% report a level of educational attainment at least equal to an undergraduate degree or greater (Mittleman, 2022). Education is considered to be a proxy measure of cognitive reserve (Stern et al, 2020) and is a protective factor against cognitive decline.…”

Increasing inclusion & competency in STEM: Understanding LGBTQ+ history, barriers, and heteronormativity

“…In addition to structural and systemic barriers in place for LGBTQ+ individuals, there are further socio-cultural considerations. Just as we persist in a cis-hetero-patriarchy [81], our social constructs are often based on heteronormativity [15], cisnormativity [16], and heterosexism [14], to the detriment of LGBTQ+ individuals. Heteronormativity confers societal power and privilege to the exclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals [15].…”

“…However, even once within educational institutions, struggles due to LGBTQ+ identities still persist. First, academia does not just persist within a patriarchy, but within a cis-hetero-patriarchy which interacts with different LGBTQ+ identities in different manners [81,86]. Gay men, regardless of race, tend to receive more bachelors degrees, with this attributed to compensating from increased ostracization and victimization, forming the "Best Little Boy in the World" hypothesis, a form of resilience [81].…”

“…First, academia does not just persist within a patriarchy, but within a cis-hetero-patriarchy which interacts with different LGBTQ+ identities in different manners [81,86]. Gay men, regardless of race, tend to receive more bachelors degrees, with this attributed to compensating from increased ostracization and victimization, forming the "Best Little Boy in the World" hypothesis, a form of resilience [81]. However, women that behave more masculine tend to receive "bad girl penalties" form school authorities, with Black lesbians particularly excluded from bachelor degrees [81].…”

“…Gay men, regardless of race, tend to receive more bachelors degrees, with this attributed to compensating from increased ostracization and victimization, forming the "Best Little Boy in the World" hypothesis, a form of resilience [81]. However, women that behave more masculine tend to receive "bad girl penalties" form school authorities, with Black lesbians particularly excluded from bachelor degrees [81]. Trans individuals also face barriers, with around half not being out, and 17% withdrawing from schools due to negative treatment [58].…”