Genderqueer

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This study was performed on “genderqueer” individuals who don’t identify themselves as neither female nor male. Applicants consisted of members of a set of connections of gender variant and genderqueer friends. The participants’ involvement was completely voluntary. There were two techniques used to enlist participants; word of mouth and passing on the word. Volunteers’ criteria included selecting people over the age of 18 and who identified themselves as genderqueer. The study consisted of 15 applicants between the ages of 20-65. Ethnic groups of the participants involved thirteen Anglo-American and two Mexican-American individuals. The study was conducted in 2006 in Northern California. Some genderqueer individuals define themselves somewhere between femininity and masculinity, while others define themselves absolutely outside the male/female dichotomy. Given that these individuals don’t classify themselves as either male or female, but instead claim a distinctive and non-normative gender, this article studies how this distinct gender is performed and uttered in the course of speech, fashion, and narrative. This study was made to show that the term “genderqueer” doesn’t refer to sexuality but rather gender. Although gender, sex, and sexuality are often confused the distinction among these terms must be clear. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet state that gender is a life-long process that people learn to become gendered. Sex on the other hand is generally termed by psychological and biological categorization. Despite the fact that sex is defined by biology, this doesn’t suggest that it is constrained to male or female groups. The study was broken down into three parts. The first part focuses on linguistic features. One of the areas that...

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...h genderqueer individuals took something old and turned it into something new. These individuals can’t identify themselves with female or male because they feel more in between or outside of female and male dichotomy. The study showed that these individuals took linguistic features from their original place and transformed it into something new. The impact that this study leaves on sexology is that genderqueer individuals don’t see themselves as being neither masculine nor feminine. They don’t feel like people understand them and their gender role. Genderqueer individuals take their linguistic features and change themselves into new individuals. They don’t want to be categorized as in between. They want to show their own personalities with a new name “genderqueer” by which people will understand me.

Works Cited

http://www.ejhs.org/Volume12/Gender.htm

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