“My Existence is Queer”: Understanding Trans and Nonbinary College Students’ Sexual Identities
Abstract
Scientific practices surrounding sexual identity are largely based upon cisheteronormative assumptions, using terms that may not resonate with − or may exclude − trans and nonbinary (TNB) individuals and their experiences. This exploratory study examined how TNB college students labeled and described their sexual identities. 212 TNB students (mean age = 20.1 ± 2.4, 68.4% White, 66.5% nonbinary) responded to an open-ended question asking them to list their sexual identities and describe what each identifier meant to them. Reflexive thematic analysis identified six themes: sexual identities were context-dependent, ambiguous or fluid, connected to communities, approached cisheteronormative assumptions in different ways, intertwined with gender identity, and prioritized alternative forms of attraction and connection. Findings extend bisexuality scholarship by showing how TNB young adults navigate cisheteronormative and binary assumptions underlying sexual identity labels through inclusive interpretations, using multiple and/or highly descriptive labels to describe different dimensions of sexuality, or using ambiguous, flexible, or all-encompassing labels.
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Authors: Lauren Adele Fowler, Melissa M. Vázquez, Catherine S. J. Wall, Aliza Kleinberg, Lawrence T. Monocello, H. Walker Ferry, Hannah Selene Szlyk, Ellen E. Fitzsimmons‐Craft, Michelle Gayle Newman, Daniel Eisenberg, C. Barr Taylor, Denise E. Wilfley
Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Los Angeles, University of South Carolina, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Virginia Commonwealth University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Illinois Chicago, Stanford University, Stanford Medicine, Palo Alto University, Texas A&M University