Working With Parents of Gender-Variant Children: Using Social Action as an Emancipatory Research Framework

Abstract

This article examines and reflects on the methodology used in a research project that involved group work activities with parents of gender-variant children. Gender variance in children remains a topic people talk little about. Discussions about people who express themselves differently from the social norms attached to their birth sex, to a large extent, remain rarely discussed. They challenge a society organized largely on the basis of a binary understanding of identity, one that belongs to either male or female. This article discusses the concept of oppression as being central to the experiences of gender-variant children and young people and their parents, and it proposes social action research as a compatible and appropriate research framework for exploring their experiences. We describe the research process, identify its achievements, and explore issues that had to be confronted. We suggest that traditional research structures may benefit from being revisited in order to allow emancipatory research to more fully achieve its potential for both research and social action.

KEYWORDS:

• social action research
• self-directed groupwork
• gender variance
• gender dysphoria
• parenting
• oppression

Notes

¹ The term gender variant remains one of the most commonly used term in the literature to discuss individuals who present themselves as or feel different from what is socially expected for their anatomical sex. While we acknowledge the limitations of using such term, we do not have the space to provide a full discussion of the various terms available (gender nonconforming, gender creative, gender queer, for example) or their strengths and limitations.