The “Double Burden” Facing Nonbinary Faculty and Graduate Students
by Jan Estrellado, Amanda Breen, and G. Nic Rider
As of April 2019, ten states offer a third gender option for legal documentation. As legal recognition of nonbinary gender options increase, more complex and nuanced representations of gender nonbinary people are gradually beginning to emerge. While some institutions of higher education have begun to systemically acknowledge nonbinary students, nonbinary staff and faculty still face many challenges in higher education settings. For example, while university student applications increasingly include multiple gender options, institutional data for staff and faculty are less likely to offer these options. This invisibility, coupled with the hypervisibility of “gender panic,” creates a double burden for nonbinary people in the academy, especially in the areas of systemic barriers, interpersonal discrimination and hypervisibility, and microaggressions. In this article, we will discuss our experiences as genderqueer, trans masculine, nonbinary faculty in the academy, especially as they intersect with our other identities (Jan identifies as a Pilipinx American, Amanda identifies as a Korean American adoptee, and Nic identifies as a biracial Korean American).
Systemic Barriers
From the moment a nonbinary person steps foot on a university campus, they will likely encounter a binary gender structure. Restrooms, on-campus housing, and locker rooms are usually separated by a gendered binary. Searching for “safe” bathrooms may be one of the first things a nonbinary person does when entering a university campus. When only gender-binary restrooms are available, nonbinary individuals mentally calculate times when they are less likely to utilize the restroom, to minimize their own discomfort, but also the potential discomfort of others. Feeling “on edge” while trying to meet basic human needs such as using the restroom takes mental and emotional energy away from the traditional tasks related to a faculty position.
In addition to being a faculty person of color, often one of a few, there is pressure, internally and perhaps systemically, to appear unphased by this toll often unseen by others. “Basic needs” conversations are not often on agendas for departmental business, and it is difficult to feel entitled to such conversations, particularly for early career faculty members. It is difficult to imagine more powerful ways to exclude nonbinary people than by maintaining barriers to fundamental needs like using the restroom, locker room, or living in a residence hall that was not made for them.
One crucial step towards eliminating systemic barriers for nonbinary people in higher education settings is to capture demographic information and qualitative feedback. Collecting accurate gender identity data is necessary in order to develop infrastructures that will adequately meet the basic needs of nonbinary people. Actively centering nonbinary voices and experiences will further allow universities to understand complexities related to gender identity.
“Feeling ‘on edge’ while trying to meet basic human needs such as using the restroom takes mental and emotional energy away from the traditional tasks related to a faculty position.”
Interpersonal discrimination and hypervisibility
Interpersonal discrimination are individual-level social interactions that result in a person or group being treated differently because of their stigmatized identities and/or expression. Experiencing discrimination, bullying, harassment, intimidation, or any other variation of aggression based on gender identity, gender expression, sex, race, or any other perceived group membership is often subtle and ambiguous of intent, and prevention can be difficult. For example, one of us attended a required training for their workplace. When they entered the room for the training, they were initially greeted with small talk. Attendees were then divided into small groups, and group members introduced themselves to each other. When it came to this writer, they said their name and pronouns, and the three other people in the group moved their seats back a little.
The unfortunate reality is that this is a somewhat common experience for many nonbinary people. In academia, nonbinary faculty, particularly nonbinary faculty of color, are not seen as legitimate scholars. They are seen as a threat to the perceived legitimacy (but really, historical white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy) of the institution. In our experience, our presence as Asian American nonbinary individuals in the academy not only sparks concern of “gender panic” but also is reminiscent of the Yellow Peril. Academia was not and is not a system created for people who do not fall neatly into privileged metaphorical boxes, and in some ways, the structures within academia actively work against efforts to change this system. Our gender identities and expressions threaten the status quo of a binary gender system where cisgender white men have dominated. Subtle cues of these threats to the colonized, gender-binary status quos are represented via interpersonal interactions that are rooted in discrimination and create problematic hypervisibility. For instance, one of us was told by another faculty member that they are only seen as a submissive Asian woman, so the nonbinary faculty member needed to “know your place, just like the other subordinates” (e.g., postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, people with marginalized identities). The faculty member (who is a white, heterosexual cismale) went on to say that the only reason the Asian American nonbinary faculty member has a “seat at the table” is because they fill checkboxes needed and their gender is “trendy,” not because they are an academic.
“Academia was not and is not a system created for people who do not fall neatly into privileged metaphorical boxes, and in some ways, the structures within academia actively work against efforts to change this system”
Nonbinary people of color in the academy bring valuable personal and professional understandings of how privilege and oppression based on social identities/locations affect the students with whom they work. The complexities and nuances of how daily interactions may impact energy levels, emotional and cognitive capacity, and productivity is sorely under-appreciated. Further, our presence and visibility can be incredibly affirming for nonbinary students, and those with intersecting identities, who may not usually see themselves reflected in the faculty. Faculty then play an important role in supporting each other and their students with normalizing, validating, and discussing how to navigate oppressive environments in order to not only meet professional goals, but also to survive a system that often pushes us out.
Microaggressions
“Wow — we’re wearing the same outfit today!” — cismale to a nonbinary, trans masculine colleague as he walks away down the hall.
“Excuse me. This is the women’s room.” — cisfemale to a nonbinary colleague in the women’s restroom.
“Hey ladies!” — cismale to a group of cisfemale colleagues and a nonbinary, trans masculine colleague.
Being targeted by microaggressions such as these by colleagues and students poses a unique burden for nonbinary individuals in the academy. Derald Wing Sue defined microaggressions as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults”. Because of the small and subtle nature of microaggressions, they are often not taken seriously by others or viewed as something that the target should be able to “get over”. However, the accumulation of microaggressions over time often creates experiences for nonbinary faculty and graduate students that are painful, stress-inducing, and psychologically unsafe.
Because we live in a world where the gender binary is so deeply ingrained and institutionalized, nonbinary faculty may remain closeted for fear of stigmatization and discrimination. For instance, nonbinary faculty, particularly if they are faculty of color, may worry about whether they will be passed over for professional development opportunities, receive lower teaching evaluations relative to their cisgender colleagues, or be denied tenure due to their gender identity, gender expression, and/or race. Feelings of isolation and invisibility at the institutional and interpersonal level are taxing on marginalized faculty members who are already overburdened with teaching loads, scholarship, university service, and mentorship.
Likewise, nonbinary graduate students often carry a unique burden. Graduate students whose scholarship focuses on nonbinary identities and experiences may have their research viewed as less rigorous or invalid by their fellow students or faculty. Acknowledging one’s gender identity and pronouns can be stressful, especially for graduate students whose futures in the academy are often largely dependent on their faculty advisors. Graduate students’ names may be different than their legal names available to faculty on class rosters, emails, and other institutional documents. Graduate students may not feel comfortable communicating their gender identity or pronouns to faculty or other students, which can lead to disengagement, lowered productivity, and feelings of invisibility.
One of the consequences of microaggressions toward nonbinary faculty and graduate students is an environment that is hostile towards people living their authentic lives. These environments do not engender a sense of community and trust. These environments deny the psychological and physical safety of a small but significant population of people on college campuses across the country.
Fortunately, there are spaces in which nonbinary educators are being acknowledged and accepted. LGBTQ+ resource centers, LGBTQ+ staff and faculty associations, and LGBTQ+ student organizations may be more likely to honor and acknowledge nonbinary people. Gender-inclusive restrooms, locker rooms, and residential facilities; mandatory diversity training workshops and orientations for students, staff, and faculty; and the collection of accurate gender identity data can improve the campus climate for nonbinary people. Systemic changes like these affirm nonbinary faculty and graduate students’ experiences on our college campuses.
The existence of nonbinary graduate students and faculty on university campuses highlights the need for structural, organizational, and interpersonal changes. Nonbinary educators, with access to systemic and interpersonal support, have the potential to help university campuses create more visibility and acceptance for individuals living beyond the gender binary.
Jan Estrellado is an assistant professor at Alliant International University, San Diego and a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity. Dr. Estrellado is a licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses on the intersections of race, ethnicity, and trauma in therapy settings. She is specifically interested in examining clinicians’ competencies treating people of color who are also trauma survivors.
Amanda Breen is an assistant professor in psychology at the Neumann University and a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity. Her research focuses on stereotyping and discrimination and person perception using an intersectional approach. She teaches social psychology, psychology of gender and scientific reading and writing in psychology.
G. Nic Rider is an assistant professor at the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity. Dr. Rider has professional interests in the areas of gender and sexual identity development, intersections of identities, discrimination and microaggressions, sexual trauma/abuse recovery, and social justice advocacy.
