Gender Trouble: Threat and Challenge Reactions Towards Gender-Inclusive Initiatives

Abstract

As the binary categorization of gender/sex is facing growing social and scientific resistance, gender-inclusive initiatives such as all-gender toilets are one way to work towards a more gender-inclusive future. However, as they question the gender/sex binary, gender-inclusive initiatives might pose threats for the social identity of individuals. They might also challenge them to look beyond the gender/sex binary and work towards more gender inclusivity. Threat and challenge reactions might therefore be key factors in predicting the approach attitudes people hold towards gender inclusivity. With this study, we aimed to provide insights about threat and challenge reactions towards two different gender-inclusive initiatives, namely multi-gendering and de-gendering initiatives. In an online survey with a predominant number of cisgender respondents, articles about a clothing store introducing a non-binary gender/sex label (multi-gendering) or abolishing all gender/sex labels (de-gendering) were shown. Threat and challenge reactions were assessed to measure how the respondents’ social identity was affected when confronted with one of the two initiatives. Furthermore, we investigated how threat and challenge reactions related to approach attitudes towards achieving gender inclusivity. In line with our hypothesis, the results showed a significantly higher level of threat in the de-gendering condition than in the multi-gendering condition. This difference was absent for the challenge reactions. Furthermore, as hypothesized, threat and challenge were shown as significant predictors for approach attitudes. These results suggest that multi-gendering initiatives are less threatening than de-gendering initiatives. These are important insights because threatened people are less likely to approach gender inclusivity. On this basis, the concepts of threat and challenge reactions should be considered when designing gender-inclusive initiatives.