Systems of cissexism and the daily production of stress for transgender and gender diverse people

Abstract

Background

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people encounter a range of minority stressors (e.g., harassment, victimization, misgendering) that impact many areas of life. Much of the empirical literature on gender minority stress has utilized frameworks that were developed with a focus on sexual orientation and were often limited to cisgender sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other non-heterosexual individuals), leaving questions about how well existing models fit the experiences of TGD people.

Aims

To expand understandings of gender minority stress, we conducted a daily diary study where participants detailed the types of stressors they encountered on a daily basis for 56 days.

Methods

There were 181 TGD participants recruited into the study (M age = 25.6 years; SD = 5.6), with 167 retained in the daily surveys from which these analyses were conducted.

Results

The written responses revealed a variety of stressors, some of which are novel to the literature. Many participants reported instances of non-affirmation, such as misgendering, as well as vicarious stress when learning of oppressive experiences impacting other TGD people and seeing negative media portrayals of the lives of TGD individuals. Participants also reported bodily vigilance when being on alert for how others were perceiving their gender. Other stressors included rejection, political oppression, physical violence, uneasiness from others, and the enforcement of gender binarism.

Discussion

These findings highlight gaps in the existing understandings of marginalization for TGD people that must be addressed to ensure that frameworks include and center the experiences of gender minorities.

Keywords:

• Gender diverse
• gender minority
• marginalization stress
• transgender stress

Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the Trans Health Community Advisory Board who assisted with this project for their time, feedback, and dedicated involvement. We also would like to thank the participants who took part in this research for their time and effort. Jae Puckett would like to dedicate this work to Terri Bruce. Terri fought tirelessly for the rights of trans people in South Dakota and spent his life trying to ensure that the hardships and oppression of trans individuals was seen and acknowledged. Jae hopes that this work can follow his legacy.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The project described herein was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1F32DA038557; PI: J. Puckett).