Cisgenderism in psychology: pathologising and misgendering children from 1999 to 2008

Abstract

We assessed whether recent psychological literature on children reflects or contrasts with the zeitgeist of American Psychological Association's recent non-discrimination statement on ‘transgender’ and ‘gender variant’ individuals. Article records (N = 94) on childhood ‘gender identity’ and ‘expression’ published between 1999 and 2008 inclusive were evaluated for two kinds of cisgenderism, the ideology that invalidates or pathologises self-designated genders that contrast with external designations. Misgendering language contradicts children's own gender assignations and was less frequent than pathologising language which constructs children's own gender assignations and expression as disordered. Articles on children's gender identity/expression are increasingly impactful within psychology. Cisgenderism is neither increasing nor decreasing overall. Mental health professionals are more cisgenderist than other authors. Articles by members of an ‘invisible college’ structured around the most prolific author in this area are more cisgenderist and impactful than other articles. We suggest how authors and editors can implement American Psychological Association policy and change scientific discourse about children's genders.

Keywords:

• cisgenderism
• content analysis
• ‘gender identity disorder’
• misgendering
• pathologising
• transgender
• transsexual

Acknowledgements

This article is based on an M.Sc. dissertation by the first author under the supervision of the second. We thank Israel Berger for research assistance. We thank Martyn Barrett, Israel Berger, Gay Bradshaw, Chris Fife-Schaw, Brian Kovacs, Zoe Walton and Dan Shepperd for their feedback on previous drafts.

Notes

1.Note that ‘scientific objectivity’ has been used to obscure prejudicial ideologies focused on marginalised populations and that many scientists have critiqued ‘objectivity’ as a social construct that is fashioned from the subjective experiences of the researchers. See Crasnow (2008); Danziger (1990); Fairchild (1991); Fernando (1988), (2009); Jiménez-Domínguez (2009); Spanier (1995); and Stanley and Wise (1983) (esp. p. 174).

2.This term is derived from the Latin-derived prefix cis, meaning ‘on the same side’ in contrast to the prefix trans-, meaning ‘across from’. The term cisgenderism (Ansara, 2010; Serano, 2007) is derived from cisgender (Buijs, 1996; Defosse, 1994).

3.Adapted from Serano's (2007) usage of the verb ‘ungendering’ to define ‘an attempt to undo a trans person's gender by privileging incongruities and discrepancies in their gendered appearance that would normally be overlooked or dismissed if they were presumed to be cissexual’. Note that the current analysis defines a categorical distinction between ‘cissexual’ and ‘transsexual’ classes of people as problematic.

4.This classification reflects social work's emphases on the impact of public policy and social environments that affect individuals and on challenging societal inequities (NYU Silver School of Social Work, n.d.).

5.See Laqueur (1990) and Parlee (1996) for critiques of psychologists’ treatment of ‘sex’ as an ahistorical, ‘scientific’ construct and the social construction of a sex/gender binary as ‘official knowledge’. See Spanier (1995) on how gender ideology influences molecular biology.

6.In Thai society, these self-designated genders include kathoey, girls, and phuying praphet song (a second kind of woman) (Winter, 2006). The term kathoey is a self-designated gender associated with the gender of man or boy who identify as ‘gender nonconforming’ in some way (Winter, 2006), though some kathoey identify as women (Matzner, 2001). While some Thai people self-identify as kathoey, this term is considered pejorative and inaccurate when used to refer to people who have self-designated genders of phuying (women) or phuying praphet song [‘a second kind of woman’ (Winter, 2006)]. Each of these terms has divergent meanings and implications that vary by context. See Matzner (2001) and Winter (2006) for discussion of the distinctions between these three Thai genders.

7.For example, Parlee describes Brandon Teena as ‘a woman living as a man’ (p. 631) and refers to him using female pronouns (e.g., ‘her’); describes the first ‘FTM Conference of the Americas’ as an event ‘for women living, dressing, or having surgery to become, men’ (p. 631); and refers to Tyra Hunter, a woman with a self-designated gender, as a ‘crossdresser’ and ‘man’ (p. 632).