Gender Identity and Sexuality
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GENDER IDENTITY AND IN/FERTILITY by Michelle Walks Bachelor of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2003 Master of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) April 2013 © Michelle Walks, 2013 Abstract Pregnancy is considered a feminine experience in mainstream Canadian culture. Babies identified as female at birth are expected to grow up to become feminine heterosexual mothers. This research considers the desires, choices, and experiences of individuals who were identified as female at birth, but who do not identify as feminine heterosexual women; this dissertation focuses on the reproductive desires, choices, and experiences of butch lesbians, transmen, and genderqueer individuals in British Columbia. Three methods and two distinct populations formed this research. Participant observation was conducted in 21 cities across southern BC. Questionnaires were completed by 28 health care professionals (HCPs), and by 46 butch lesbian, transmen, and genderqueer (BTQ) individuals. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 HCPs, 8 BTQ individuals who had experienced at least one successful pregnancy, and 4 BTQ individuals who had either experienced or been diagnosed with a condition linked to infertility. What I found, is that for many BTQ individuals, reproduction associated with the female body (ie: pregnancy and breastfeeding) is not exclusively considered a feminine desire or experience. In fact, what I discovered is that BTQ individuals who experience pregnancy and breastfeeding explicitly challenge the cultural fetish associating femininity with reproduction (including pregnancy, breastfeeding, mothering, and fertility). Thus, I highlight not only the typically ignored desire and achievement of pregnancy of BTQ individuals, but also how BTQ individuals have experienced breastfeeding, how some BTQ parents raise queerlings, and how some BTQ individuals have negotiated diagnoses and experiences of infertility. Overall, I highlight the unique and various expectations and experiences that butch lesbians, transmen, and genderqueer individuals have regarding their ‘female’ (and potential) biological reproduction. In the end, I hope that by presenting the diverse reproductive ii experiences, desires, and choices of BTQ individuals, that I can foster more of an understanding of these experiences, desires, choices, and individuals, and thus challenge the cultural fetish that links femininity with ‘female’-associated reproduction. Moreover, I offer recommendations for health care professionals in an effort to foster more understanding in BTQ health care, as well as help to facilitate more queer competent health care professionals. iii Preface As per UBC College of Graduate Studies’ policy, this preface lists previously published and presented work that also appears in this dissertation. Following this, it also presents the necessary research ethics approval information. As the research was a solo project, with of course advisory assistance from my supervisor and committee, I (Michelle Walks) am the person responsible for the study’s design, conduct, and analysis. Likewise, I solely authored all presentations and publications noted below. Chapter 1: Introduction The section on legal rights and stratified reproduction are similar to sections in “Stratified Reproduction: Making the Case for Butch Lesbians’, Transmen’s, and Genderqueer Individuals’ Experiences in BC” in Fertile Ground: Reproduction in Canada (edited by: Stephanie Paterson, Francesca Scala, and Marlene Sokolon; Montréal: McGill-Queen’s Press, Pp.98-121, in press), and also presented as “Stratified Reproduction: the case of butch lesbians and transmen” at the conference Fertile Ground: The Politics of Reproduction and Motherhood in Canada, at Concordia University (Montréal, Québec. September 24, 2010). Altered sections related to mothering and stratified reproduction appear in “Introduction: Identifying an Anthropology of Mothering,” in An Anthropology of Mothering (edited by: Michelle Walks and Naomi McPherson, Bradford, ON: Demeter Press, 2011, Pp.1-48). iv The section on “Neoliberalism, homonormativity, and the ‘queer’” and “queer failure” appear in a slightly different form in “Raising Queerlings: parenting with a queer art of failure” in The Gay Agenda: Claiming Space, Identity, and Justice (edited by: Gerald Walton, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 14 pages, in press). Chapter 2 An altered version of the section “Queer Anthropology” was part of the presentation, “Female Masculinities in Cross-Cultural Context” at the Borders & Border Crossings: Double Encounters, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies conference, at UBC (Okanagan campus), April 30-May1, 2010. Chapter 3 The discussion of “Feminine Pregnancy as Cultural Fetish” as well as other sections of this chapter appear as “Feminine Pregnancy as Cultural Fetish” in Anthropology News (January 2013, Special Issue on “Breaking Boundaries.”) (Available online for a limited time: http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/01/07/feminine-pregnancy-as-cultural- fetish/ ) Sections of this chapter were presented as “Mothering & Anthropology: lessons from butch lesbians, transmen, and genderqueer individuals,” in the panel titled, “Tidemarking the Anthropology of Mothering,” at the American Anthropology Association’s annual meeting (Montréal, Québec, November 18, 2011). v Chapter 4 Sections of this chapter were presented as, “Erasing Uncertain Genders: the queer/masculine experience of pregnancy & breastfeeding,” in the panel, “Transgender experience: how societies manage the uncertainty of gender,” at the European Association of Social Anthropologists conference, “Uncertainty and disquiet.” (Nanterre University, Paris, France. July 12, 2012). Chapter 5 Altered versions of this chapter are being published as, “Raising Queerlings: parenting with a queer art of failure” in The Gay Agenda: Claiming Space, Identity, and Justice (edited by: Gerald Walton, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 14 pages, in press), and also, “Parent- Initiated Gender Creativity,” in Supporting Transgender and Gender Creative Youth: Schools, Families, and Communities in Action (edited by: Elizabeth Meyer and Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 15 pages, in press). Sections of this chapter were also presented as two different conference papers. These were: 1) “Raising Queerlings: experiences of transmasculine parenting ‘failing’ social gender norms,” at the conference Borders and Border Crossings, at UBC (Okanagan campus), May 1, 2012; and 2) “Gender Creativity via Parent Initiative,” at the National Workshop on Gender Creative Kids, at Concordia University (Montréal, PQ. October 25, 2012). Chapter 6 Sections of and sections similar to those presented in this chapter were presented and published before the start of my doctoral research. First, sections were presented as “Breaking the Silence: Infertility, Motherhood, and Queer Culture,” at the Mothering, Race, Ethnicity, Culture, and Class themed conference of The Association for Research on Mothering (ARM) (York vi University, Toronto, ON. October 20-23, 2005). Later that paper was expanded and published as “Breaking the Silence: Infertility, Motherhood, and Queer Culture” in the Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering (Special Issue: Mothering, Race, Ethnicity, Culture, and Class 9(2):130-143 [2007]). Chapter 7: Conclusion No sections of the Conclusion have previously been presented or published. Research Ethics Approval This research was approved by the Behavioural Research Ethics Board at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus). The UBC BREB number assigned to this approval is: H10-03453. vii Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………… ii Preface ………………………………………………………………… iv Table of Contents ………………………………………………………… viii List of Tables ………………………………………………………… xi List of Figures ………………………………………………………… xii List of Illustrations ………………………………………………………… xiii List of Abbreviations ……………………………………………………….. xiv Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………… xv Chapter 1: Introduction …………………………………………………… 1 Cultural and Social Context …………………………………………… 4 British Columbia as a Research Site …………………………… 6 Neoliberal. Homonormativity, and the “Queer” …………… 15 Queer Failure …………………………………………… 21 Thomas Beatie …………………………………………… 22 Anthropology of Reproduction …………………………………… 26 Stratified Reproduction …………………………………… 26 Cultural Notions of “Good Mothers” …………………………... 30 The Research …………………………………………………………… 33 Interviews …………………………………………………… 34 Questionnaires ………………………………………………….. 36 Participant Observation …………………………………… 38 Limitations …………………………………………………………… 41 Aim and Outline of Dissertation …………………………………… 43 Endnotes …………………………………………………………… 45 Chapter 2: Gender Identity and Sexuality: Personal Practices, Politics, and Culture …………………………………………………………… 56 Queer Theory …………………………………………………………… 57 Gender and Sexuality: Identities and Labels …………………………… 60 Butch Lesbians …………………………………………… 66 Transmen …………………………………………………… 74 Transmen and the FTM-Butch Border Wars …………………… 75 Genderqueer …………………………………………………… 78 Queer Anthropology …………………………………………………… 80 Toms and Dees in Thailand …………………………………… 83 viii Tommy Boys in Uganda …………………………………… 84 Sworn Virgins in Albania …………………………………… 87 Western Studies of Lesbians and Transmen …………………… 89 Summary ...………………………………………………………… 94 Endnotes