Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Experience of Parents of Gender-Nonconforming Boys

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Experience of Parents of Gender-Nonconforming Boys

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Experience of Parents of Gender-Nonconforming Boys

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Experience of Parents of Gender-Nonconforming Boyss

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Référence bibliographique [20117]

Susset, Françoise. 2015. «Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Experience of Parents of Gender-Nonconforming Boys». Dans Supporting Transgender Gender Creative Youth: Schools, Families, and Communities in Action , sous la dir. de Elizabeth Meyer J. et Pullen Sansfaçon, Annie, p. 111-127. Coll. «Gender and Sexualities in Education». New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Fiche synthèse

1. Objectifs


Intentions :
Dans ce chapitre, l’auteure s’intéresse aux expériences de parents dont les garçons s’identifient à un genre atypique.

Questions/Hypothèses :
«The author’s objective was to explore how three dimensions of the parental experience are related to one another: (1) how they explain their child’s gender expression, in other words they answer the question, ''Why is my child like this?''; (2) what feelings their child’s gender expression evokes in them; and (3) what behaviors they adopt to limit or support the child’s gender expression.» (p. 111)

2. Méthode


Échantillon/Matériau :
In this study, «[f]ive parents were interviewed […]. Two couples and a single mother were interviewed.» (p. 115)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé


«Each of the parents had expressed varying degrees of struggle in regards to accepting and supporting their child’s nonconforming behaviors. For some, acceptance had been immediate; others were engage in a process […]. Regardless of their starting point, the common denominator for these parents is an overwhelming preoccupation with their child’s well-being. The portrait emerging from earlier research literature parents of gender-nonconforming sons as reacting negatively to their child’s atypical gender expression and attempting to discourage a possible emerging homosexuality or transsexuality (Meyer-Bahlburg, 2002; Zucker & Bradley, 1995). In this study we begin to observe that parents’ attitudes, feelings and behaviors follow a more complex and nuanced pathway. » (p. 115) «Two main area of concern emerged from parent interviews: The first, their fear for their son at present and in the near future […]. Parents anticipate that their child will experience rejection and be the target of teasing and bullying […]. The second major concerned expressed relates to the complex, moment-by-moment decision-making process in wich parents are engaged as they monitor the child’s expression outside the home.» (p. 124)