Abstract
Gender identity (GI, knowledge of membership in a gender category, such as "man" or "woman;" "male" or "female;" "masculine" or 'feminine") is a complicated concept. In order to best understand GI as a social construction, it is key to incorporate the most important social aspect of how an individual's gender identity is influenced, specifically messages from family members. This study seeks to understand the types of communication related to gender identity that occur within families. It also seeks to explore how Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB)-identifying participants conceptualize their gender identities in the wake of these messages. Finally, the study seeks to explore family communication patterns (FCPs) related to these messages and to GI development of LGB adults. Results of interviews showed participants describing permissive, restrictive, and resistance messages from family regarding GI, with most messages being indirect prescriptions of sex-typed behavior. GI was described as fluid but fixed by the traditional male/female, masculine/feminine binary and was described as purely fluid or purely fixed. The performance of GI was described as a similarly nuanced concept. Finally, while there was no clear pattern when it came to conceptualizations of gender and FCP, the study's results work to establish avenues for research to further explore this connection.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
47
Issue
1
First Page
50
Last Page
72
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Sellnow-Richmond, Scott; Bolen, Derek; Maguire, Katheryn C.; Hartshorn, Lynn; and Millard, MIchelle
(2015)
"A Qualitative Examination of Family Communication Patterns and Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Gender Identity Development,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 47:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol47/iss1/6
Copyright
©2015 Iowa Communication Association
