Experiences with Misgendering: Identity Misclassification of Transgender Spectrum Individuals

Abstract

Relatively little is known about identity misclassification from the perspective of low-status, stigmatized groups. However, there are compelling reasons to examine misclassification from this perspective. This article reports data from two online studies that explore the affective and psychological correlates associated with gender misclassification of transgender spectrum individuals, referred to as misgendering. Study 1 (N = 115) demonstrates that misgendering is associated with more negative affect, less authenticity, lower appearance, but higher social self-esteem, less identity strength and coherence, but more identity importance and more transgender felt stigma. Study 2 (N = 134) largely replicated these results, while also demonstrating that misgendering is associated with verification and enhancement striving, and self- and other evaluations.

Keywords::

• Identity misclassification
• Verification
• Stigma
• Discrimination
• Transgender

I thank Jodie Lisenbee and Erin Freeborn for their assistance with data collection and the LGBT organizations that advertised this research. I also thank the Attitudes and Group Influence (AGI) Laboratory at University of California, Davis, for their helpful feedback on this research, and Gregory Herek, Rick Hoyle, Charlotte “Chuck” Tate, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on this article.

Notes

This research was presented at the 15th annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Austin, TX).

^1. Past research and theory (e.g., Factor & Rothblum, 2008; Kuper et al., 2012; Worthen, 2013) have found notable differences between transgender men, transgender women, and genderqueer individuals in their hormone use, pronoun use, comfort with gendered bathroom use, and visual presentation. These differences have implications for misgendering. Before conducting the primary analyses, exploratory analyses were conducted by examining differences between transgender men, transgender women, and genderqueer individuals. The group transgender men was created by collapsing across participants who used transgender men, FtM, and male as the identity label they use most often to describe their gender. The group transgender women was created by collapsing across participants who used transgender women, MtF, and female as the identity label they use most often to describe their gender. The genderqueer group was created by selecting individuals who used this identity label. One-way ANOVAs were then conducted to compare for differences between these three gender groups in the outcome variables. The only reliable effect to emerge between transgender men, transgender women, and genderqueer individuals is the frequency in which these three groups experience misgendering (all other ps>.10). These analyses were followed up by conducting regressions with genderqueer individuals as the reference group to compare transgender women and transgender men. Misgendering frequency, feeling stigmatized when misgendered, and gender were entered in Step 1, misgendering frequency ×  gender and feeling stigmatized when misgendered × gender interaction terms were entered in Step 2, and a misgendering frequency × feeling stigmatized when misgendered × gender interaction term was entered in Step 3. There were no significant misgendering frequency × gender interaction (ps>.08), feeling stigmatized when misgendered × gender interaction (ps>.16), or misgendering frequency × felt stigma × gender interaction (ps>.35). Because no reliable differences were found between these gender groups on any of the outcome variables, the results reported here are aggregated across the three gender groups.

^2. As in Study 1, exploratory analyses were again conducted by examining differences between transgender men, transgender women, and genderqueer individuals. Three gender groups were created using the same procedures described in note 1. One-way ANOVAs were conducted to compare for differences between these three gender groups. As in Study 1, the only reliable effect to emerge between transgender men, transgender women, and genderqueer individuals was misgendering frequency (all other ps>.13). These analyses were again followed up by conducting regressions with genderqueer individuals as the reference group to compare transgender women and transgender men. Misgendering frequency, feeling stigmatized when misgendered, and gender were entered in Step 1, misgendering frequency ×  gender and feeling stigmatized when misgendered × gender interaction terms were entered in Step 2, and a misgendering frequency × feeling stigmatized when misgendered × gender interaction term was entered in Step 3. There were no significant misgendering frequency × gender interaction (ps>.08), feeling stigmatized when misgendered × gender interaction (ps>.12), or misgendering frequency × felt stigma × gender interaction (ps>.10) on any of the outcome variables. The primary analyses were again conducted using data aggregated across all participants.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research and/or the authorship of this article and declares no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or the publication of this article.