(GAS3) Empirical Insights in Queer and Trans Studies

This session presents empirical research involving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and third gender people and empirical studies of the social relations that regulate sexuality and gender. These papers employ a wide range of methodological approaches and draw from perspectives in queer and transgender studies to pose novel questions about the social and historical contexts in which queer and trans lives are lived. The papers also take inspiration from public sociology and scholarship informed by LGBTQ2S+ social movements to consider how sociological research can contribute to the projects of sexual and gendered liberation. The session offers critically engaged and empirically grounded insights from the expansive fields of queer and trans studies. Tags: Gender

Organizers: Toby Anne Finlay, York University, Chris Tatham, University of Guelph; Chairs: Chris Tatham, University of Guelph, Toby Anne Finlay, York University

Presentations

Anthony Lenarduzzi, University of Guelph

Is There Really Pride?: A statistical analysis of internalised homophobia among three age cohorts of Men-who-have-Sex-with-Men in America

Confidence or pride in one’s identity is a complex feeling among many sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) minority groups. For many, pride is a rejection of the static belief systems that they were raised with; for some, their identity may still be tied to feelings of shame, guilt, and discomfort. These feelings are more succinctly described by the term internalised homophobia. This study uses data from "Generations: A Study of the Life and Health of LGB People in a Changing Society, United States, 2016-2019" to investigate the links between feelings of internalised homophobia, age cohort, and perceived social support. A practical application of the minority stress model, this study emphasises the risks associated with internalised homophobia and compulsive sexual behaviours. In recognizing the lack of literature giving depth to how internalised homophobia or homonegativity is sustained among MSM, this study contributes to the need for further intersectional research on internalised homophobia. This study highlights the significant impact that perceived social support from family, friends, and (a) significant other(s) have on the likelihood of an MSM individual reporting feelings of internalised homophobia. Utilising logistic regression models and estimation, each interaction between age cohort and the social support sub scales reported statistical significance (p<.05; p<.01; & p<0.05 respectively) in the model when controlling for demographic and theoretically associated variables. Interestingly, while some age cohorts were correlated positively to higher levels of social support with less likelihood of reporting feelings of internalised homophobia, others experienced higher likelihoods of reporting feelings of internalised homophobia at higher levels of social support.

Yerong Zhao, Tohoku University

The relationship between discrimination toward LGB in Japanese corporation and their willingness to continue working

According to dentsu survey, the proportion of LGBT in Japan is 8.9% in 2021. Although since 2015, the same-sex partner registration has begun in Shibuya ward in Tokyo, the same-sex marriage has not been accepted by Japanese law((Tang, Khor, Chen 2020). In the workplace, whether LGB face discrimination, if they do face discrimination, which specific type of discrimination has a negative effect on their willingness to work, which specific LGBT-friendly policy could elevate the willingness to work under discrimination, also whether coming out in the workplace has a positive effect on their willingness to work has not been examined. Therefore, this paper conducted a study on the impact of discrimination on the work culture of Japanese companies towards LGB individuals and analyzed whether LGBT-friendly policies can reduce discrimination. This paper analyzed data from the 2018 Niji VOICE survey to identify specific types of discrimination that affect the work willingness of LGB individuals in Japanese companies by the method of generalized ordinal logistic regression, which is less restrictive than ordinal logistic regression model but more interpretable than multiple logistic regression model (Williams 2006). The results identified that LGB in who work in Japanese corporations do face discrimination, and this discrimination negatively affects their willingness to continue working, the results also identified that discrimination related to gender stereotypes (saying something like acting more like a woman/man), speculations about sexual orientation, and spreading rumors about sexual orientation negatively impact LGB individuals' willingness to work in the company. This study investigated the effectiveness of LGBT-friendly policies in mitigating discrimination and found that policies related to LGBT knowledge and training and treating same-sex partners as spouses have a positive impact on work willingness. The results found positive impacts of the "coming out" action to colleagues and supervisors on work willingness due to a more supportive work environment. In conclusion, this study contributes to the discrimination against LGB in Japanese corporations that the previous studies did not explore, which sheds light on that discrimination does exist in Japanese corporations, and explores the specific discrimination that negatively affects LGB's willingness to continue working. Therefore, the companies should consider banning discrimination. Although previous studies examined that LGBT-supportive (in general) policies have a positive impact on job outcomes, and mental health, the previous studies did not explore the relationship between specific supportive policies and LGB's willingness to continue working. This study examined that LGBT-supportive policies like treating same-sex partners as spouses and training and learning LGBT knowledge have a positive impact on LGB's willingness to continue working. Companies should consider reinforcing these LGBT-supportive policies. Although some studies focus on LGBT "coming out" to their families, few studies focus on "coming out" in the workplace. This study explored that "coming out" to colleagues and supervisors would increase LGB's willingness to continue working. This may be due to after "coming out" to supervisors and colleagues, LGB get their understanding, which could relieve their work life. This result is inconsistent with the studies in the US and Europe, which if LGBT discloses their sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace, they will face discrimination or harassment. This paper has a significant effect on policy-makers, and with the analysis result, hope that this paper could improve the work environment toward LGB in Japan.

Toby Anne Finlay, York University

The Birth of the "Sex-Change" Clinic in the Canadian Press

This paper explores the emergence of cultural understandings of trans phenomena in Canada through an analysis of early newspaper reporting about the development of trans medicine and what were then referred to as “sex-change” surgeries. Trans medicine was first formalized and made publicly available in North America through the Gender Identity Clinics (GICs) founded in the late-1960s, including at the Clarke Institute in Toronto. The treatment programs of these GICs helped to codify the definitions of “gender” and “transsexuality” in medicine and regulated access to medical gender transition for trans people (Meyerowitz 2002; Namaste 2000). This period of knowledge production was an object of immense fascination for news media beginning in the 1970s when medical understandings of transness were first being articulated in the press. Canadian newspapers were flooded with stories about the medical procedures that were becoming available, the protracted treatment program of the Clarke Institute GIC, and trans people’s unique pathways to healthcare access. This paper is drawn from a genealogical study of the development of trans medicine from the late-1960s to the present at the Clarke Institute, which would become the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). In accordance with Foucauldian approaches to genealogical inquiry (Foucault 2003), this research understands medical conceptions of gender as a contingent product of the relationships between medical practitioners, trans patients and activists, and the broader social conditions in which trans people lived. Drawing from this multi-method study which spans multiple archival sites and interview populations, this paper focuses on the archives of prominent Canadian newspapers which are often used to study cultural conceptions of gender in trans studies (Skidmore 2011). The present sample was limited to articles addressing trans healthcare that were published in the 1970s to best capture the initial reception of medical knowledges about transness following the establishment of the Clarke Institute GIC. In so doing, this paper asks how gender was constituted as a medical concept in this historical period and how this conception of gender was shaped by the interactions of medical practitioners, trans people, and news media? Analysis reveals that medical understandings of gender and related normative expectations for trans people were not simply confirmed by the press but rather were contested by the network of relationships organized around trans phenomena. Gender did not exist as a discrete category prior to the development of trans medicine in the mid-20th century. Previous research has illuminated the complicated negotiations that were undertaken by medical practitioners and trans people to differentiate transness from other categories of personhood, namely homosexuality and intersex conditions (Gill-Peterson 2018). These processes of categorical differentiation were far from settled in the archives of news media, as gender-nonconforming people continued to grapple with the terms with which they were hailed by medicine. These negotiations often resulted in the production of the “good transsexual” as a discursive ideal which ensured the conceptual separation of sex, gender, and sexuality and pathologized alternative expressions of transness (Aizura 2018; Velocci 2021). Analysis of the various “good” and “bad” transsexuals that appear in the archival record illustrates how the ideal subject of trans medicine taking shape in the Clarke Institute GIC was already being contested by trans people who could not or would not conform to these normative expectations.

Sol Underwood, University of Toronto

Family the Kids Choose? Negotiating Gratitude for LGBTQI+ Ancestors and the Struggle to Sustain a Gay Community

Gay fathers comprise a new family unit in history. This research explores how belonging to a larger LGBTQI+ community matters to queer co-fathers. Based on analysis of 18 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with queer co-fathers, I show that these new family units express an ambivalence towards a ‘gay community’. On the one hand, they understand they are a ‘new social unit’ and pioneers in a gay community that owes great debts to their ‘gay ancestors’, while on the other, they are largely disconnected from and alienated from the contemporary gay community. Fatherhood transforms these men’s lives: their childfree LGBTQI+ friends no longer visit them, and they experience disconnects between gay culture, domestic, and family life: much of their social time is now spent with straight and cisgender parents, especially the parents of their children’s friends. Similarly, I explore fathers’ reflections on feeling abandoned by their gay community and how they do not necessarily need one. Finally, I explore the socioeconomic explanations for this disconnect. Fathers with greater economic resources can ‘opt out’ of community and compensate for necessary domestic labours by hiring domestic caregivers.