Parenting Beyond the Binary? An Empirical Test of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory and the Stigmatization of Nonbinary Parents

Abstract

Currently, there are more than 150,000 nonbinary parents in the US yet the rigidity of the gender dichotomy when it comes to parenting remains a dominant trope. Nonbinary parenting experiences are especially important to address because nonbinary parents face unique strains due to their violations of hetero-cis-normativity and culturally reinforced binary scripts about “moms” and “dads.” To investigate stigma toward nonbinary parents, an intersectional investigation of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) and a sample of U.S. adults aged 18–64 stratified by U.S. census categories of age, gender, race/ethnicity and census region collected from online panelists (N = 2,912) are utilized. Specifically, social power axes including gender identity (cisgender woman, cisgender man, trans woman, trans man; nonbinary people were excluded from the current study), sexual identity (heterosexual, gay/lesbian, bisexual), and interactions among these axes of social power are investigated as they moderate the relationships between hetero-cis-normativity and stigmatizing perspectives toward nonbinary parents in efforts to more deeply understand negativities directed toward nonbinary people and their families.

Findings indicate that hetero-cis-normativity is strongly related to negativity toward parenting beyond the binary and that heterosexual respondents, and particularly hetero cis men, exhibit greater negativity toward nonbinary parents than others. Implications for these findings are also provided.

Keywords:

• Stigma
• nonbinary
• parenthood
• motherhood
• fatherhood
• family
• LGBTQ
• hetero-cis-normativity
• Norm-Centered Stigma Theory

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the University of Oklahoma Office of the Vice President for Research who provided financial support for the data collection utilized in this project via the Faculty Investment Program.

Notes

1 The current study considers those who identify as nonbinary as separate from those who identify as trans women and trans men because these were separate response options in the survey instrument/data utilized in this project. The authors recognize that there are limitations to this approach, especially because some identify as both trans and nonbinary. Even so, data from The Williams Institute indicate that a majority of nonbinary LGBTQ adults are not transgender (Wilson & Meyer, 2021).

2 The stigmatized lens examines how the target of stigma’s (i.e., the stigmatized) own axes of social power impact their own experiences with negativity, prejudice, and stigma.

3 It is unknown how many of these emails were actually received and read by the potential respondents so an exact response rate is also unknown. For example, junk mail filters could have prevented potential respondents from seeing the email invitation, some may have opened the email but decided not to click the link to access the survey, and some may have been deemed ineligible due to identity quotas being met as requested by the author set by SSI (5 of the 8 identity quotas were met).

4 The survey was held open for 19 days in efforts to meet the quotas set for the LGBT groups. Five quotas were met as follows: gay men (5 days in), bisexual women (7 days in), lesbian women (8 days in), cis men and cis women (16 days in). The quotas for the remaining three groups (bisexual men, trans men, and trans women) were not met. The survey was closed because SSI believed it was not realistic to expect these quotas to fill in a reasonable amount of time.

5 Throughout the survey, the following informational definitions were provided: (a) gay men (men who have romantic and sexual attractions to men), (b) lesbian women (women who have romantic and sexual attractions to women), (c) bisexual men (men who have romantic and sexual attractions to both men and women), (d) bisexual women (women who have romantic and sexual attractions to both men and women), (e) transgender men (those who currently identify as men who were assigned "female" at birth), (f) transgender women (those who currently identify as women who were assigned "male" at birth), (g) "queer" is often used as an umbrella identity term that encompasses individuals who do not feel they fit within the categories of heterosexual, lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and/or those who are attracted to people of many genders, and/or those who feel their sexual identity is fluid, and (h) "genderqueer" is often used as an umbrella identity term that encompasses individuals who are gender-nonbinary or gender fluid and/or those who do not feel they fit within the categories of man or woman.