Young Questioning/Fluxion’s Fluid Gender and Sexual Identities

• Main Authors: Chen-wei Wang, 王振圍
• Other Authors: Li-ling Tsai
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/89471759551629118718

碩士 === 高雄師範大學 === 性別教育研究所 === 98 === The research studies unrecognizable gender and sexual identifications following the postmodern and feminist paradigm to challenge conventional education and guidance theory of questioning adolescents prevailing in Taiwan. Based on the findings of DeAngelis (2002), the researcher agrees that there are more and more young people pausing in - “questioning”- the lingering category. Related studies, however, are rare which instead deserve more expansive and in-depth inquiry. The researcher interviewed five adolescents born in 1980s on their sexual identities and sexualities of “questioning.” Specifically, the researcher strived to figure out how questioning adolescents construct their uncertain, fluid, flexible, yet unrecognizable gender and sexual identifications. The results showed that most participants lack a sense of belonging to stable gender/sexual category. As a result, these adolescents are likely to keep searching gender/sexual identities. They just selective used established category. The result reveals that scholars and practitioners should apply the notion of “fluxion” and “variation” to reframe the way we study gender/sexual identities. Under the current binary structure of sex/gender category, interviewees expressed that they experienced uncertainty, confusion, ambiguousness, and even questions about mainstream gender/sexual identity discourse. Thus, if they are apt to apply a rather fluid frame of gender/sexualities or transgender identities, adolescents may feel more comfortable and clear about their gender identity. Using the fluid and variable gender/sexual theory to interpret participants’indentifications may be a more appropriate approach. Accordingly, the researcher suggests that to pay respect to personal fluid gender/sexual experience, researcher advises that “fluxion,” which stands for the fluid gender, sexualities and identity, is a better term to describe adolescents’ status of gender identifications than is “questioning.”Moreover, scholars and practitioners should be advised that identifying gender/sexual identity is an attitude rather than a stage of life. We need to support adolescents to search for their identities. Practitioners should treat the gender/sexual identifications itself as a kind of exploration.