Browsing by Subject "Transgender"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14

Advancing LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in the Twin Cities Theater Arts Nonprofit Sector
(2024-05) McLaughlin, Meghan “Mac”
This research explores LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the Twin Cities theater arts nonprofit sector. It delves into how HR policies impact LGBTQIA+ workers and suggests recommendations for improvement. Through personal narratives and organizational insights, it highlights the challenges and commitments to inclusivity. Ultimately, the study, through phenomenological research, includes interviews with LGBTQIA+ people in theater organizations and surveys of theater organizations regarding their HR policies and practices; aims to foster diversity and equity, building upon the historical legacy of social progress within the arts community.
Big 10 Transgender Inclusive Policies and Practices
(2020-12-22) Transgender Advisory Action Team; Maldonado, Briza
Transgender students across spaces of higher education face particular adversities both inside and outside of the classroom which translates into lower levels of graduation and higher levels of mental distress. Transgender faculty and staff face social stigma, wage disparities, and challenges in updating legal documents resulting in their misrepresentation in the workplace. Additionally, transgender university members across the country have reported higher rates of harassment and fear of their physical safety on their campuses. Given that transgender university members across the country face varying levels of stigma and adversity, this report aims to discuss the current policies and practices in place that enhance campus climate for transgender university members across institutions in the Big 10 collegiate conference.
Conceptualizing the Needs of Gender Variant Consumers
(2018-08) Pettys-Baker, Robert
Gender variant people are a segment of consumers that are underrecognized in both the academic literature and the retail environment. As people who defy the gender norms held by western society, they have unique attributes that set themselves apart from their cisgender consumers. Therefore, the interest of this research was to start examining these consumers, and make suggestions for where to go from here for both academics and retailers alike. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, a survey was distributed to non-cis individuals asking them about their shopping experiences and various aspects related to same. From this population, five interviews were conducted to better illuminate the findings of the survey. In the end, a diverse sample of non-cis identities were represented, and demonstrated clear needs that aren’t being addressed, including unique problems and those shared by their cisgender peers. In looking through the data, five key themes came to the forefront: A Sense of Belonging, Something for Every Body, Rethinking In-Store Design, Welcome and Affirm Don’t Pander, and Interaction Anxiety. From these themes it became evident that gender variant consumers are disconnected from the current retail landscape for many reasons. They do not find products suited to their needs or body shape, and must compromise on fit in order to buy the clothing that expresses their individuality. Interactions with others while shopping comes with a sense of danger because of the worry of confrontation by transphobic appeal. This leads consumers to occasionally shop at odd hours and avoid others in store. Overall, the findings point to a need for the participants to feel like they belong in retail spaces, with clear signs that a store has their interests in mind. Being able to see themselves in a product, whether through representation in advertisements or non-cis mannequins, was important to some because of this. However, the concern over true support vs. cash-grab pandering was an issue mentioned by some. So, those looking to appeal to this market should keep that in mind. However, given the lack of research on this population, the reason as to why these themes came to the forefront could only be hypothesized. Acknowledging this, future work is discussed at length to give others a sense of how they might contribute to addressing the lack of non-cis inclusion in both academic and retail spaces.
Experiences Of Transgender People Filling Prescriptions In Community Pharmacies
(2020-02) Bortz, Ryan
Literature and research surrounding transgender people and healthcare is scant. In particular, there is very little information regarding the intersection of transgender people, pharmacy services, pharmacies, and pharmacists. The objective of this study was to describe the experiences of transgender people filling prescriptions in community pharmacies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven self-identifying transgender people. Participants were asked to describe their experiences filling prescriptions at their pharmacies. One theme identified was a struggle with obtaining the correct needles and/or syringes for participants using injectable hormones. Moreover, based on the professional experience of the author, systemic issues related to pharmacy software introduce difficulty and multiple opportunities for error when processing prescriptions for needles and syringes. A multi-pronged approach of addressing educational needs as well as streamlining the prescription fulfillment process within pharmacy software systems should be used in order to more fully prevent these errors in the future.
Globalizing through the vernacular: gender/sexual transnationalism and the making of sexual minorities in Eastern India
(2013-05) Dutta, Aniruddha
The dissertation explores how the globalizing expansion of LGBT and HIV-AIDS activism into global south locations such as India relies on transregional and translocal communities of gender/sexually variant persons, and yet subordinates them and associated discourses of gender/sexual difference within the tiered hierarchies of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender; particularly GTB) organizations and transnationally-funded HIV-AIDS intervention projects. Engaging with conversations and debates across transnational sexuality studies, transnational feminism, Marxist theories of capital, and literary approaches to cross-cultural translation, I argue that the globalizing expansion of gender/sexual identity and rights based politics in India takes place through mutually transformative, yet structurally constrained, intersections and translations between institutions such as funders, non-governmental organizations and the state on one hand, and networks, communities and subcultures of socio-economically marginalized gender/sexually variant persons (such as kothis, dhuranis and hijras) on the other. Such transformative interactions both create new political possibilities, and reproduce hierarchies related to location, class, caste, gender/sexual marginality and social respectability. Even as translations with subcultural languages of gender/sexual variance enable the transnational expansion and hegemony of institutional categories of identity and representation, lower class/caste communities and discourses become positioned as `local' or `vernacular' relative to national and transnational formations of activism and discourse. On one hand, the reification of communities as `sexual minorities' and as local variants of transnational categories like transgender or `men who have sex with men' results in identitarian distinctions such as the homosexual/transgender divide that selectively enable certain political possibilities, but constrain many contextually flexible lived practices and fluid subject positions that become unintelligible in terms of emerging cartographies of identity. On the other hand, liberal discourses that valorize individual choice and gender/sexual fluidity may also elide mobile negotiations with privilege and power (such as locally variable distinctions between feminine insiders and masculine outsiders) in kothi, dhurani and hijra communities. Further, dominant forms of activism based on discourses of equal rights and the private/public divide often cast lower class/caste persons and related practices as uncivil and/or criminal. Drawing upon five years of ethnographic research in eastern India, the dissertation critiques how hegemonic forms of identity and rights based politics produces lower class/caste groups as a victimized minorities and exploitable labor pools, rather than as active and full participants in the transnational movement for LGBT rights.
Legal Injuries: Deportability and U.S. Immigration Policy in the Lives of TransLatina Immigrants
(2015-07) Padron, Karla
Legal Injuries: Deportability and U.S. Immigration Policy in the Lives of Transgender Latina Immigrants examines the impact of immigration legislation and structural inequality in the lives of Transgender Latina Immigrants in the U.S. TransLatinas are male-assigned-at-birth immigrants from Latin America who identify as women. Many TransLatinas report having experienced numerous forms of violence in their natal country because of their gender identity. Thus, the majority of TransLatinas in this study came to the U.S. in search of a safe place to enact their gender autonomy and to thrive in other aspects of their lives. However, in the U.S., most TransLatinas face social, economic, and legal barriers that restrict their mobility and sense of self. Through engaged ethnography and legal analysis, this project unpacks and makes visible the ways in which TransLatinas embody, internalize, contest, and mitigate the administrative power that U.S. immigration policy, social alienation, and the constant threat of deportability have on their daily existence.
Let's (fire)Work Together!": Exploring the Potential for Intergroup Contact between Nonbinary and Cisgender Individuals through a Cooperative Commercial Board Game"
(2021-10) Yu-Chi Wang, Yu-Chi
Nonbinary, transgender, and gender nonconforming students face disproportionately high rates of mistreatment related to their gender identity, including but not limited to invalidation, harassment, and violence from peers, teachers, and even school policies (James et al., 2016; Johns et al., 2019) These issues pose significant barriers to their educational success and are related to less favorable career and life outcomes. Given the success of intergroup contact for decreasing prejudice towards marginalized groups, cooperative interactions between nonbinary and cisgender individuals may reduce cisgender individuals’ anxieties about interacting with nonbinary people and reduce negative attitudes that likely lead to mistreatment of nonbinary and transgender people. Therefore, I conducted a study that focused on A) naïve cisgender participants’ attitudes towards nonbinary and trans people; and B) the nonbinary research confederates lived experiences and interpretations of these interactions. To facilitate positive contact context and prioritize nonbinary confederates’ comfort and safety during these interactions, participants played a cooperative board game together. Focus A was a quantitative randomized control trial, in which cisgender participants were randomly assigned to play a cooperative board game online with cis or nonbinary confederates. There were no significant differences in explicit attitudes reported by experimental versus control participants, and we discuss potential explanations for these results. Focus B was an interpretative phenomenological analysis of nonbinary confederates’ experiences and reflections on these interactions. Major themes that the nonbinary RAs reported were a focus on self-protection through expectation management, vigilance, and emotion management, misgendering as invalidation, representation and advocacy as empowering yet exhausting, importance of affirmation. These themes suggest helpful alterations to the interaction context and support further investigation not only into contexts that reduce distress but that also affirm and empower nonbinary individuals. The results of this study emphasize the importance of considering nonbinary individuals’ experiences—and marginalized voices and experiences at large—within intergroup contact. While this study was an initial exploration into this type of context, it will hopefully stimulate further investigation into effective yet empowering intergroup contact between nonbinary and cisgender individuals.
LGBT students and allies participating in a school-based support program: School performance, connectedness, and perceptions of school climate.
(2008-07) Hansen, Anastasia
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth are frequently thought to be at-risk in terms of school achievement and socio-emotional variables such as connection to school. Recent research has demonstrated potential of school-based interventions to improve outcomes for LGBT youth. This study compared achievement and school connectedness for a group of high school students participating in a school-based support program for LGBT youth and allies with a group of their peers. Results indicated that no significant differences between groups were found in terms of GPA, attendance rate, or school connectedness. Furthermore, significant differences based upon frequency of participation in program activities were not observed. These results stand in contrast to the majority of previous research. Focus group data indicated that students continue to experience verbal harassment at school, but that they value the support they receive from Gay-Straight Alliance meetings and participants.
Mapping Transgender History
(2017-05-09) Matthews, Lacie
History of transgender, transexual, MTF, FTM, and queer peoples is exceedingly significant towards understanding transgender rights, advocacy, and pro-trans policy. The history of transsexuality and transgender has been significantly impacted by incorrect assumptions and perceptions of normal sex and gender behaviors. The Transgender Oral History Project (TOHP) as part of the The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies within University of Minnesota Libraries works to give voice back to transgender people, who have repeatedly had their voices ignored, through the medium of oral history. This research has focused on the task of creating a comprehensive timeline for transgender history in the United States. For any movement it is essential to know where you are from, to know where you are going. Outlined in this document are the major transgender history events, along with influential people, and historical changes to the language of transgenderism.
Parent-youth relationships and communication among transgender and gender diverse youth: The impact on sexual health
(2020-08) Brown, Camille
Adolescence marks a period of rapid development in the domain of sexual health. In general, adolescents bear a disproportionate share of the sexual health burden compared to adult age groups. Among adolescents, transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth are particularly at risk for negative sexual health outcomes. Such health disparity is theorized to be related to chronic stress related to stigmatized minority identity and may be mitigated by factors bolstering resilience like strong parent-youth relationships. Some parent-youth relationship factors such as communication about sexuality, may be especially complex among TGD youth and their parents, which may further influence health outcomes. This multi-methods dissertation study explores these phenomena by first testing associations between parent connectedness and sexual health variables and second by investigating TGD youth perceptions of parental messages about sex and relationships. This study utilized the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey, which provided a population level sample of 2,168 9th and 11th grade students who identified as TGD. In eight of sixteen final analytic models, reports of greater parent connectedness were associated with the less risky sexual health outcome. In the qualitative portion, eight TGD youth between the ages of 16-23 were recruited from the Twin Cities Metro to participate in one-to-one semi-structured interviews about family communication about sexuality. Content analysis led to four overarching themes representing what the youth shared; the first three describing the types of messages youth received about sex and relationships from parents and the final theme relating those messages to youth personal feelings and decision-making. Survey findings suggest parent connectedness likely promotes healthy sexual behavior among TGD youth. Participants in the interviews acknowledged the influence of messages they received from their parents on feelings about sex and relationships while carefully asserting autonomous decision-making and ability to change one’s own feelings over time. Together, these analyses indicate nurses might best choose to acknowledge and promote parental guidance but emphasize youth independent choice while providing care to ensure trusting relationships.
Project POV: A Palette of Voices for Transmasculine Individuals
(2023-06) Dolquist, Devin
The growing practice of gender-affirming voice in Speech-Language Pathology often overlooks the voices of transmasculine people. Previous research in this topic focuses primarily on obtaining acoustic information that will help trans folks assimilate to cis-sounding voices. We developed a corpus of voices from masculine-identifying people and designed an experiment to gather perceptual data on the voices, followed by a qualitative interview process with a group of transmasculine people local to the Twin Cities. Our findings indicate greater acceptance of voice types from gender expansive participants compared to cisgender, heterosexual participants. Transmasculine participants also indicated vastly varied desirable acoustic qualities in voices. The interview process showed that there is a significant need for qualitative data when conducting research on trans voices – as the vocal needs of the community are diverse – and there is a lack of information regarding voice changes on Hormone Replacement Therapy felt by the community.
Proved upon Our Pulses: Romanticism and the Life of Things Today
(2017-03) Cannavino, Thomas
This dissertation is a work of literary and cultural history focusing on late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century poetics, life sciences, and surgical practices in Britain as a strategy to better understand two major phenomena of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in the United States: an intensified appetite for depersonalized neo-vitalism in the theoretical humanities and a normative bioethics that tends occasionally toward the sacralization of body parts. It argues that to revisit Romantic concepts of the body and “life itself” exposes some of the neo-Romantic features of American biomedical discourse. The dissertation develops a typology to understand contemporary crises of the body (e.g., genetic engineering, brain death, cadaveric organ donation, etc.) in terms comparable to the various Romantic ideologies and understandings of life, concluding that the British Romantic period gave crucial shape to a rhetoric of biotechnological anxiety that came to a head in the American postwar period. The first chapter, “Stirrings of Life: Romanticism, Agrarianism, and the New Criticism,” constructs a matrix of discourses, including Romantic writing on life, early twentieth-century vitalism, reactionary agrarianism in the American South, and organicist literary theory, to trace the emergence of American neo-vitalism from the first decade of the twentieth century through the beginning of the Cold War. The second chapter, “Cold War Romanticism and the American ‘Culture of Life,’” accounts for the co-development of “the Romantic ideology” and twentieth-century neo-vitalism in the United States by focusing on dominant paradigms of literary criticism and history during the Cold War era. The third chapter, “Sweet Bodies Fit for Life: A Brief Romantic Prehistory of Transsexuality and Trans* Discourse,” develops a close reading of John Keats’s Lamia, using it to bring Romantic vitality to bear on gender, sexuality, and trans* life. The fourth and final chapter, “Romantic Life-Gifts and the Meaning of Blood,” is an investigation of Romantic-era medical research into the function of blood as a seat of life. By examining research in medical anthropology and several case histories, this chapter compares the Romantic imperative to locate life in bodily matter with its rhetorical residue in twentieth and twenty-first-century transplant discourse.
Spectacles in transit: reading cinematic productions of biopower and transgender embodiment.
(2011-01) Franklin, Michael David
Spectacles in Transit: Reading Cinematic Productions of Biopower and Transgender Embodiment looks at transgender cultural production on film and video in order to theorize biopower at the intersection of medicine and mass visual culture. In the decades following World War II, the development of medical technologies like reconstructive surgery increasingly allowed for the human body’s modification and enhancement, while the commercialization of communication technologies like film cameras gave middle-class consumers greater expressive autonomy. Medicine and mass visual culture have notably influenced the U.S. popular imagination about the body, social difference, aesthetics, and identity. And the role of biopower—the power to induce or administrate all aspects of human life by state and corporate entities—has intensified in everyday life in part due to these developments. This dissertation analyzes four cases from the past sixty years in which transgender individuals articulated their social, political, and economic self-determination through their self-representation onscreen. These cases are selected from four different cinematic genres: the transatlantic travel films of Christine Jorgensen from 1953; mondo films from the 1970s that graphically document genital reconstruction surgery; transsexual pornography from the early 1980s that probes the politics of heteronormative fantasy; and experimental video art from a post-9/11 feminist DIY media conference. This dissertation illuminates how biopower shapes and inflects self-representation of transgender embodiment in each instance and argues that every cultural producer responds with a cinematic assertion of social belonging. Thus, it explains how each cinematic production engages affect, values, aesthetics, and fantasy in relation to embodied intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and nationality. Spectacles in Transit shifts conversations about biopower away from the biopolitics of medical research, warfare, and population management and toward the cultural work of a social group defined by a medicalized mode of difference, a group that historically has signaled the sensational and the spectacular in the U.S. popular imagination.
State healthcare policy environment and the well-being of transgender and gender diverse youth
(2023-05) Houghtaling, Laura
Significant disparities exist in mental health outcomes between LGBTQ+ adolescents and their heterosexual and cisgender peers, especially for transgender and gender diverse youth. One important but understudied predictor of adolescent mental health is policy that supports access to gender-affirming healthcare. Evidence is needed on the association between gender-affirming healthcare policy and health to inform research and policy. In the first manuscript, we created and validated two novel index measures across 50 states and Washington, D.C that quantify the supportiveness or restrictiveness of the state level policy environment regarding access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender and gender diverse youth. In lieu of biologic data, in the following two manuscripts, we measured the impact of each policy index on health with three self-reported outcomes that may be sensitive to acute and chronic stressors: depressive symptoms, stress management and health status, in a large convenience sample of LGBTQ+ youth in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. We found a modest inverse association between a more supportive state policy environment for gender-affirming healthcare and health insurance access and depressive symptoms among gender diverse youth in a cross-sectional analysis. Using repeated cross-sectional samples, our findings were mixed regarding the effect of greater progression of bills banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors during 2020 and 2021 state legislative sessions, on differences in depressive symptoms between 2017 and 2022 in LGBTQ+ youth. Overall, our research contributes to the evidence base on the public health importance of state level policy affecting access to gender-affirming healthcare, and to the literature on health differences between transgender and gender diverse identities. Additional quasi-experimental approaches in other samples of LGBTQ+ youth with a longer time horizon are needed to build the evidence base for a causal effect of gender-affirming healthcare policies on mental health outcomes for transgender and gender diverse youth.

University Digital Conservancy

Browse by Subject

Browsing by Subject "Transgender"