Marilyn Roxie

gqid:

An overview of the survey has been posted and will continue to be expanded here: http://genderqueerid.com/gqhealth

Again, I would like to thank everyone for participating! Feedback also made it possible for me to improve the survey in a variety of ways, notably adding romantic orientations and allowing for multiple pronoun preferences to be checked. So far, I’ve gathered charts and statistics from the respondents’s data on the above page, excerpts from text box entries are to come, which will yield some of the best information for helping to determine what is available for genderqueer-related health care and positives and negatives about the experience, as well as gaining unique, personal insights. Excerpts from survey (only culled from those responses marked granting permission, 180 out of the 196 filled-out surveys) will likely be available in early November, along with my related paper for a college class about this topic.

Some interesting aspects of the statistical portion (covers the basic identity portions rather than the health aspect that will be covered in-depth next month!):

• The average age of respondents, compared with the more general Genderqueer Identity and Sexuality Information Survey I conducted last year, was still 23, although a wide range of ages appeared, the youngest at 14 and the oldest at 64.

• All 196 respondents listed a country. Residency statistics: USA (152), Canada (18), UK (10), Australia (4), Ireland (2), South Africa (2), Turkey (1), Netherlands (1), Norway (1), Israel (1), Japan (1). (1) respondent listed a continent (North America), and (1) respondent listed two countries (USA / Mexico).

• While most respondents listed sex assigned at birth (31 male, 159 female, 0 intersex, and 6 preferred not to state), a wide variety of identities appeared under the write-in sex identity field, not all of which ‘corresponded’ to the gender identity the respondents listed, from responses like “unknown”, “both”, “human”, “neither”, to “sexqueer female”, “neutrois” and clarification in reference to the body such as “Male: meaning I call my vagina and associated organs “male.” This corresponds closely with what I expected to find, because I’ve found that, in my personal life and in my research (especially confirmed by surveys such as these!) gender, sex, and orientation identities don’t always, nor do they have to, ’match’ according to general expectations.

• A wide variety of gender identities, both associated with genderqueer and non-binary as well as man and woman, were covered. Many respondents selected multiple gender options. Genderqueer (128), non-binary (89), and gender fluid (83) were selected most often. There were also a few write-ins in the gender field, including femme demiguy, chapstick femmequeer, and diva-boi.

• The most common sexual or romantic orientations listed were queer (90), pansexual (65), asexual (53), BDSM / Leather / Kink (45), and panromantic (42). Transromantic, sapio-romantic, and homoflexible were some of the write-ins I encountered here.

• The preferred pronouns section really interested me. Unexpectedly, They/Them/Theirs was the most often preferred option (80), over Zi/hir (31) and Ey/Em/Eirs (6), with He/Him/His pronouns at 65 and She/Her/Hers pronouns at 64. Many respondents selected multiple options and some remarked that they had no particular preference.

• Most respondents had not sought genderqueer or non-binary-related care in the psychological / counseling field (the reasons will be explored in the next survey update), at 115 of the respondents. 53 had sought support from a professional and 22 from a support group.

• Even more of the respondents had not sought genderqueer or non-binary-related care in the medical field (again, the reasons will be detailed in a future summary), at 149 of the respondents. 14 had sought hormones (but not surgery), 4 had sought surgery (but not hormones), and 9 had sought both hormones and surgery.

• I would like to clarify, for the purpose of this survey I intended genderqueer to be used in its broadest, widest-reaching umbrella sense; not all respondents checked off the ‘genderqueer’ box; many opted for ‘non-binary’ alongside or instead of ‘genderqueer’ or selected specific identities related to queer gender or non-binary gender instead. Some people may identify as genderqueer for reasons of expression / performance rather than identity, others as identity as well as or rather than presentation. I recently wrote an article about the differentiation and relationship between the terms genderqueer and non-binary, for further clarification.