Everyday Genderqueerness, Negotiating Dominant Notions of Dutch Citizenship through Everyday Practices in a Binary Gendered Society
Keywords
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Issue Date
2018-07-04
Language
en
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Societies that are structured in a binary gendered way are difficult to comfortably navigate through for genderqueer and non-binary people in their everyday lives. In the past few years, adjustments have been made to policies and physical spaces in the Netherlands, that remove or change binary gendered structures in society (e.g. implementation of gender neutral bathrooms). While these adjustments that move towards inclusivity of all genders are often applauded, negative reactions are definitely not uncommon. In this context, the aim of this research is to contribute to an understanding of the way that genderqueer people navigate through urban space, and how they are able to expand dominant notions of Dutch citizenship to such an extent that they can create a greater sense of inclusivity. With regard to citizenship, genderqueer and non-binary people often experience that their genders are perceived as ‘difficult’ to incorporate in physical spaces and policy structures. This sheds light on agency, as some situations provided people with more freedom to express different genders than others. An ontological position of situated capacity is, thus, best to understand the way that genderqueer and non-binary people navigate through their everyday lives (Nicholas 2014). The situated self has agency, but this is still delimited by pre-existing, dominant discourses, and thus often also by pre-established structures in society. Important in thinking of agency and the situated self is the way that (the absence of) recognition shapes an individual’s identity and the way that misrecognition can be seen as a form of oppression (Taylor 1994). For genderqueer and non-binary people, getting recognition from others is often experienced as hard work, as attempts to realise alternative ways of getting recognition are always constituted within a dominant binary gendered framework.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen