- Of 35 respondents, 13 were assinged male at birth and 22 were assinged female
- Of all 35 respondents, only 2 had a different gender identity than the gender assigned at birth; one person assinged female identified as agender(no gender), and one person assigned female identified as both male and female.
Some people misinterpreted the questions and felt intruded. For example, one respondent replied to the question "What is your sexuality?" by stating that they were single and therefore aromantic. Several other similar incidents occurred, like people claiming that they identified as "monkey" or "kati roll" in the place of their gender. It is possible that this was caused by lack of understanding on the subject or was caused by people not taking it seriously, but it is also possible that people did not know or care and were not willing to explore the subject further. We also noted that one respondent believed that there were only two genders(male/female) and questioned our sanity in their response. (By the way, Liz and I are both totally fine.) This response may have been a lack of understanding, or just blatant disrespect for the intentions of the survey, which were to determine people's level of acceptance and support based on different variables, like their gender, race, family situation, and religion.
Additionally, this whole group similar responses for may questions. For example, almost every answer to "Are you parents accepting of you?" was affirmative, and answers to "Have you ever been teased on the basis of sex, gender, sexuality, romantic orientation, or race?" were often variations on no. Most people thought that they were accepting and accepted by their community, and yet there were still a good chunk of respondents who did not feel 100% comfortable in their own skin. This may have something to do with the fact that people often give "the right answers" instead of the true ones.
As an answer to the question "what is your romantic orientation?" 55% of respondents replied that they were heteromantic. A good many more identified their romantic orientation by the gender that they are attracted to. However, two young respondents made an excellent point: they were both 12 at the time of the survey and unsure of their romantic orientation. I found this interesting because instead of conforming to the heterosexist ideal by making the assumption that they were heteromantic, they did not select any of the options.
Interestingly, we received one reply to the question "What is your sexuality?" that got me. Someone had claimed that their sexuality was "normal." What is normal? Is it our heterosexist ideal that assumes all are heterosexual unless otherwise specified? Is it the norm in our families and cultures? And what is that for a given person? Is it what the media and society represent, that "normal" is heterosexual heteromantic cisgender and binary? Think about your pen pal from a few posts ago. Is that your "normal?"
A few questions later, when being asked about any teasing, one respondent mentioned that "sometimes my friends talk about how I'm gay when I am not." This is also very interesting because "gay" in many circumstances is used to refer to something below par, due to the negative connotation that has been associated with LGBTQ+ people. So did this person's friends mean that they were dumb, or homosexual?
I'd love to share more with you all about the fascinating results of our survey, but I have to go.
Ciao, and see you soon!
Love,
Heather <3
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