Visualizing gender/sex diversity via sexual configurations theory.

Abstract

Gender and sex diversity exist in humans, but are often seen as too complex for scientists to incorporate beyond a female/male binary or placement on single dimensions. Here, we demonstrate a novel method for assessing and visualizing diverse gender/sexes using diagrams adapted from sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015). We asked participants (N ϭ 242) with diverse gender/sex identities to locate their genders, sexes, and gender/sexes (i.e., "gender/sex configurations") by marking and writing on SCT's diagrams via an online platform. Results showed that visualizing gender/sex (a) demonstrated the complexity underlying seemingly simple gender/sexes such as "woman" and "man," and (b) provided a way to systematically describe seemingly complex gender/sexes. These findings suggest that SCT visualizations provide a way for people of diverse gender/sex identities and experiences to represent the fullness and complexity of their gender/sexes in ways that can help create a more inclusive psychological science. This article is Part 1 of a 2-part report, and Part 2 explores the ways participants reacted to and perceived SCT and this novel survey (Beischel, Schudson, & van Anders, 2021). Public Significance StatementWe demonstrate a new way of visualizing gender, sex, and gender/sex via sexual configurations theory (SCT) that reveals insights into the complex nature of gender/sex categories. Our findings indicate that SCT may be a useful tool for researchers, educators, and clinicians who study and work with gender/sex diversity.

Overempowered? Diversity-Focused Research with Gender/Sex and Sexual Majorities

“…They are an important way for minoritized participants to be welcomed, validated, and see that research takes their realities into account, so that participating becomes and feels worthwhile. In our studies, minoritized participants reported feeling excited about our models and seeing themselves in them (Beischel et al, 2021c(Beischel et al, , 2021a(Beischel et al, , 2021bSchudson et al, 2017). They also have appreciated the ability to articulate their own views of gender/sex rather than to work within majority-centered frameworks set forth by researchers (e.g., a participant who liked being able to indicate her gender/sex was trans woman and her sex was female; Schudson et al, 2017).…”

“…The SCT Online Study (Beischel et al, 2021a) In the SCT Online study, we developed an online survey utilizing diagrams from SCT to better understand and measure diverse gender/sexes (van Anders, 2015). SCT adopts a sexual diversity lens in its representation of gender/sex (see Figure 1) and the SCT Online study did as well.…”

“…The methods in this study centered gender/sex diversity, and we worked for them to be comprehensible to majorities, which resulted in various reactions to the survey. To explain the diagrams, we had created a 12-minutes instructional cartoon video using fictional characters to illustrate how one might use these diagrams (Beischel et al, 2021c(Beischel et al, , 2021a(Beischel et al, , 2021b. These described terms and concepts like gender, sex, and gender/sex, and also the structure of the diagrams.…”

“…We have experienced some of the challenges of working with gender/sex/ual majority participants in our research on gender/sex/ual diversity (Abed et al, 2019;Beischel et al, 2021a;Schudson et al, 2019). In this article, we describe this, focusing on three separate projects, and the ways this nexus of minority-inclusive research practices meets gender/sex/ual majority participants led to overempowerment.…”

“…They did not challenge the research itself, but participated in what we term an "avalanche" approach to dominate the data we collected. The second project we discuss (Beischel et al, 2021a), also recruited broadly by gender/sex/uality for an online survey, this time about people's experiences of locating their own gender/sex/ual diversity in a model from SCT (van Anders, 2015). Gender/sex/ual majorities' comments and feedback sometimes showed their resistance to a framework that centered diversity, but also sometimes showed their learning and growth, including about minorities.…”