Beyond "Both": The Interplay of Gender and Race in Nonbinary, Multiracial Experiences

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  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 6: Sexuality, Desire, and Queer Identity

Abstract

Historically, studies of the multiple experiences of both gender and race can tend toward the reductive or the comparative. Based on extended interviews with 56 individuals who identify as both nonbinary and multiracial, I aim to elucidate the dynamic workings of race and gender from their unique perspectives. This paper centers on the relationships participants observe between race and gender in their own lives, with a primary focus on difference and interplay. First, I explore the insights gained from the moments that participants hesitated or struggled in holding race and gender together. I turn to the simplest observation of interplay between race and gender, the well-documented compounded oppression that accompanies multiple marginalization. Shifting to relationships of imbalance, I discuss those who expressed that either gender or race was more salient to them. A section on how race and gender inform each other sets the stage for an analysis of the racialized gender expectations produced by these relationships. I conclude with a note on race’s perceived immutability and a brief section on the joy, freedom, and wisdom gained by attending to these multiplicities of identity.

Author

• Taylor Field Quiroga, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor