Queering Constructs: Proposing a Fluid and Multiplistic Gender and Sexuality Model

• In Event: 70.065 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 70.065-15 - Queer Intersections

Abstract

Higher education educators commonly understand social identities, including gender, to be fluid, dynamic, and socially constructed (e.g. Bilodeau, 2005; Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2009). Torres, Jones, and Renn (2009) identified the role of postmodern and poststructural theories in furthering this notion and called for expanding the use of postmodern, queer, and critical theories in practice and research. This paper argues that while Lev (2004) allowed for individual fluidity of gender and sexual identities, her model did not address the fixedness of those constructs and thus did not fully utilize a postmodern frame’s capacity. Through a multi-pronged framework, and by centering trans* students, this paper proposes a new more fluid and multiplistic model for gender and sexuality.

Author

• T.J. Jourian, Loyola University Chicago