Is "non-binary" the correct term to report non-binary gender?
January 18, 2018 3:12 PM Subscribe
I have to report on a survey. For our gender question, it was open-ended, so we had a variety of answers. For reporting, we need to combine these. The majority responded as some variation of "male" or "female"; some people identified as a non-binary option (e.g. only as "trans" without any other gender indicator). For the sake of privacy (and practicality), I need to combine these into one category. "Non-binary" is the first category name that strikes me (identifying as neither male nor female), but I wanted to check whether this is appropriate.
(Note: for this survey, we are not interested in whether respondents are cis or trans, and we did not ask whether they were - we just asked for self-identified gender.)
The descriptive statistics would list "Male", "Female", "Non-binary" as the gender of our respondents.
(Note: for this survey, we are not interested in whether respondents are cis or trans, and we did not ask whether they were - we just asked for self-identified gender.)
The descriptive statistics would list "Male", "Female", "Non-binary" as the gender of our respondents.
It's tricky, because here, trans* doesn't necessarily mean non-binary, even with no other gender indicator in conjunction (and I'm also going to guess that some folks who didn't pick male or female put genderqueer or gender fluid or what have you. I identify as genderqueer and don't identify as NB. Gender is messy. :) )
Since you're combining categories for reporting and to try to maintain privacy, I would just go with "male, female, other or not reported".
(And THANK YOU for leaving space for us in your survey and for wanting to get this right. Thank you thank you so much.)
posted by joycehealy at 3:26 PM on January 18, 2018 [29 favorites]
Since you're combining categories for reporting and to try to maintain privacy, I would just go with "male, female, other or not reported".
(And THANK YOU for leaving space for us in your survey and for wanting to get this right. Thank you thank you so much.)
posted by joycehealy at 3:26 PM on January 18, 2018 [29 favorites]
"Gender Neutral" would be my suggestion.
For work I had to research the importance of gender neutral sanitary facilities.
Following is an extract:
-
Gender neutral sanitary facilities is defined as a public toilet that people of any gender or gender identity are permitted to use. These facilities benefit:
• transgender populations and people who exist outside of the gender binary
• people with disabilities
• elderly people and anyone who may require assistance from someone of another gender
• and parents who wish to accompany their children.
We are working towards a policy which prioritizes gender inclusive sanitary facilities.
We draw pride and strength from our diversity and actively works to foster a community that values and celebrates everyone.
-
Some info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisex_public_toilet
Hope this helps
posted by oink at 3:27 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
For work I had to research the importance of gender neutral sanitary facilities.
Following is an extract:
-
Gender neutral sanitary facilities is defined as a public toilet that people of any gender or gender identity are permitted to use. These facilities benefit:
• transgender populations and people who exist outside of the gender binary
• people with disabilities
• elderly people and anyone who may require assistance from someone of another gender
• and parents who wish to accompany their children.
We are working towards a policy which prioritizes gender inclusive sanitary facilities.
We draw pride and strength from our diversity and actively works to foster a community that values and celebrates everyone.
-
Some info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisex_public_toilet
Hope this helps
posted by oink at 3:27 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
(I would respectfully suggest that gender nuetral is appropriate for facilities, but not people - even most of the androgynous or non-binary people I know wouldn't define themselves as gender neutral)
(Okay, I'll stop thread sitting now. And thank you to oink for supporting gender neutral facilities, it is a literal blessing when I run into those in public places.)
posted by joycehealy at 3:31 PM on January 18, 2018 [44 favorites]
(Okay, I'll stop thread sitting now. And thank you to oink for supporting gender neutral facilities, it is a literal blessing when I run into those in public places.)
posted by joycehealy at 3:31 PM on January 18, 2018 [44 favorites]
Correct and appropriate are in principle different things. You title asks about one and the final part asks about the other.
I think ‘non-binary’ is both correct and appropriate.
It literally means ‘not one of the two binary genders*’, and it clearly conveys that in a neutral tone.
*yes of course some groups at some times have used more than two, but only male and female are ever used as the binary pair when only two are widely acknowledged.**
**and if anyone has good evidence otherwise I would love to hear about it!
Other terms risk unnecessary confusion imo for a general audience, but the appropriate term does depend on the audience, and you haven’t told us anything about them.
On preview:joycehealy makes a great point, manybe trans and non-binary should be two additional fields, though I would not want to assume or imply that no trans folk also would also identify as non binary.
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:32 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think ‘non-binary’ is both correct and appropriate.
It literally means ‘not one of the two binary genders*’, and it clearly conveys that in a neutral tone.
*yes of course some groups at some times have used more than two, but only male and female are ever used as the binary pair when only two are widely acknowledged.**
**and if anyone has good evidence otherwise I would love to hear about it!
Other terms risk unnecessary confusion imo for a general audience, but the appropriate term does depend on the audience, and you haven’t told us anything about them.
On preview:joycehealy makes a great point, manybe trans and non-binary should be two additional fields, though I would not want to assume or imply that no trans folk also would also identify as non binary.
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:32 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
Speaking as a nonbinary person, I agree with joycehealy that about the only reasonable way to report that data is as "other/not reported". Otherwise you'll almost certainly be inappropriately assigning some binary trans folks to the nonbinary category.
posted by Lexica at 3:32 PM on January 18, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Lexica at 3:32 PM on January 18, 2018 [19 favorites]
As a non-binary person, I’m seconding all of joycehealy’s posts here. Gender neutral is for bathrooms not people. Your data supports male, female, other, and no response
posted by advicepig at 3:36 PM on January 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by advicepig at 3:36 PM on January 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Use "other." Non-binary and gender neutral are not necessarily correct. If you don't have too many options in that category you could list what they all are: "trans, genderqueer, prefer not to say" for example.
My research group often allows people to self-select as "man," "woman," or "something else," and we report on those categories.
posted by metasarah at 3:39 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
My research group often allows people to self-select as "man," "woman," or "something else," and we report on those categories.
posted by metasarah at 3:39 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
(Shoot I was wrong but missed the edit window— advicepig and metasatah have it, sorry for the unconsidered response :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:42 PM on January 18, 2018
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:42 PM on January 18, 2018
Another non-binary person (I ID as genderqueer or demiguy, lately). I would prefer "other" to "non-binary."
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 3:43 PM on January 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 3:43 PM on January 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nthing "other / not reported" as better options than the other suggestions.
posted by Edna Million at 3:51 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Edna Million at 3:51 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nthing "other." "Trans" is not the same as "non-binary." That would be the wrong word in this case.
posted by lazuli at 3:52 PM on January 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by lazuli at 3:52 PM on January 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is both a personal and professional issue for me, as I identify as non-binary and often assist in designing surveys at my workplace.
To me, non-binary refers to a specific identity. So lumping multiple expressions into "non-binary" as a single reporting category would not be accurate. If you were asking about providing options for people who are taking the survey, I'd say to let them self-identify, which you did—awesome. I would also say to avoid the word "other" because, well, it's othering. However, as you are reporting results, I would say it's OK to use something like "other gender identities and expressions" as a category name.
posted by lieber hair at 3:53 PM on January 18, 2018 [14 favorites]
To me, non-binary refers to a specific identity. So lumping multiple expressions into "non-binary" as a single reporting category would not be accurate. If you were asking about providing options for people who are taking the survey, I'd say to let them self-identify, which you did—awesome. I would also say to avoid the word "other" because, well, it's othering. However, as you are reporting results, I would say it's OK to use something like "other gender identities and expressions" as a category name.
posted by lieber hair at 3:53 PM on January 18, 2018 [14 favorites]
Could you use "other/no report" with a star to a table that lists the different responses ppl gave in that category and a count? Like, "Non-binary 15, trans or transgender not otherwise specified 12, no answer 3."
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:57 PM on January 18, 2018
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:57 PM on January 18, 2018
I would go with "other gender identity" or "alternative gender identity". You could leave off the "identity" part for conciseness. I don't think either of those is ideal, mind you, but is probably the best you can do.
I just want to underscore that trans is not a third gender. If you left an open-ended write-in space and people chose to write "trans" that's obviously fine (and good on you for letting people write in what they want rather than choosing radio buttons) but people who are trans might also identify as female, or male, or non-binary, or genderqueer, or any of a number of other gender descriptors. It's hard to know what question they thought they were answering, but the wording of your question itself might also help in terms of advising you how to proceed. For example, if your question was just "gender" with a text entry box, it's different to asking "What is your preferred gender identity?" or "How do you describe your gender?".
posted by Athanassiel at 5:07 PM on January 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
I just want to underscore that trans is not a third gender. If you left an open-ended write-in space and people chose to write "trans" that's obviously fine (and good on you for letting people write in what they want rather than choosing radio buttons) but people who are trans might also identify as female, or male, or non-binary, or genderqueer, or any of a number of other gender descriptors. It's hard to know what question they thought they were answering, but the wording of your question itself might also help in terms of advising you how to proceed. For example, if your question was just "gender" with a text entry box, it's different to asking "What is your preferred gender identity?" or "How do you describe your gender?".
posted by Athanassiel at 5:07 PM on January 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
So the issue with "other" is that it's, surprise, othering.
You can let people enter in anything they want in a free text field and then simply report it as "other". But no one I've ever met has their gender identity as "other".
posted by GuyZero at 5:24 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can let people enter in anything they want in a free text field and then simply report it as "other". But no one I've ever met has their gender identity as "other".
posted by GuyZero at 5:24 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
You provided a free response box as one of three choices, so you could list as "Male, Female, Free response given (or "self described" maybe?), No response" and then elaborate as Snarl F. suggested. I also wanted to echo those pointing out that the context and audience of your survey matter, so pick the language that is appropriate for your context!
I'm a cishet woman so I'll outsource one more possibility: does "another response" still carry the sting of "other" language, or would that be a better option?
posted by heyforfour at 7:29 AM on January 19, 2018
I'm a cishet woman so I'll outsource one more possibility: does "another response" still carry the sting of "other" language, or would that be a better option?
posted by heyforfour at 7:29 AM on January 19, 2018
I am just joining the chorus at this point as another nonbinary-ish person, but yes, if someone did not specifically write "nonbinary" you should not group them into a nonbinary category. Joycehealy's suggestion of "male, female, other or not reported" is the correct one. (And please do not use "alternative gender identity".) Thanks for being thoughtful about this!
posted by capricorn at 7:43 AM on January 19, 2018
posted by capricorn at 7:43 AM on January 19, 2018
I'm nonbinary and I agree that "Other" is the most appropriate option. Thanks for asking!
posted by ITheCosmos at 8:02 AM on January 19, 2018
posted by ITheCosmos at 8:02 AM on January 19, 2018
> (I would respectfully suggest that gender nuetral is appropriate for facilities, but not people - even most of the androgynous or non-binary people I know wouldn't define themselves as gender neutral)
Nthing that. I'm also in favor of "male, female, other, not reported." "Other" is imperfect, obviously, but it's probably the best compromise at this point. It would be the best practice to supplement the quantitative reporting with a word cloud/list of the responses that were provided in the open text line, so that "other" does not JUST mean...other.
Disclosure: I'm a cis woman, but I'm queer and I have been involved in work with demographic surveying for my job.
posted by desuetude at 8:24 AM on January 19, 2018
Nthing that. I'm also in favor of "male, female, other, not reported." "Other" is imperfect, obviously, but it's probably the best compromise at this point. It would be the best practice to supplement the quantitative reporting with a word cloud/list of the responses that were provided in the open text line, so that "other" does not JUST mean...other.
Disclosure: I'm a cis woman, but I'm queer and I have been involved in work with demographic surveying for my job.
posted by desuetude at 8:24 AM on January 19, 2018
With the caveat that this isn't my community at all, so I don't know how much members of the trans* community stand by its findings, something that helped me a whole lot as an outsider was this report stemming from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey: A gender not listed here: Genderqueers, gender rebels, and otherwise in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey
posted by supercres at 8:33 AM on January 19, 2018
posted by supercres at 8:33 AM on January 19, 2018
I am just joining the chorus at this point as another nonbinary-ish person, but yes, if someone did not specifically write "nonbinary" you should not group them into a nonbinary category.
Yeah, for me it's the wide range and granularities of identities. Misgendering is so common and no one likes to be called a gender they are not. "Other" is imperfect but at least you're not misgendering.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:35 AM on January 19, 2018
Yeah, for me it's the wide range and granularities of identities. Misgendering is so common and no one likes to be called a gender they are not. "Other" is imperfect but at least you're not misgendering.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:35 AM on January 19, 2018
* Sorry, 2008 survey. It was given again, with updated questions, in 2015.
posted by supercres at 8:36 AM on January 19, 2018
posted by supercres at 8:36 AM on January 19, 2018
If there was more than one of the self-reports of any particular gender identify, I would include that as a separate category, and then gather all of the unique identities as other. So something like, 15 female, 12 male, 3 non-binary, 2 genderqueer, and 4 others.
posted by hworth at 1:32 AM on January 23, 2018
posted by hworth at 1:32 AM on January 23, 2018
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posted by Cogito at 3:21 PM on January 18, 2018 [13 favorites]