A new study released at UCLA finds 27 percent of California’s young people between the ages of 12 and 17 self-report that others view them as gender ‘nonconforming” at school.
The study – which has a margin of error of about six percent – was based on the inclusion of two questions in the California Health Interview Survey that were asked of 1,594 California young people between the ages of 12 and 17.
First, the young people were asked, “Are you male or female?” and, subsequent to that question, they were asked:
A person’s appearance, style, dress, or the way they walk or talk may affect how people describe them. How do you think other people at school would describe you?
- Very feminine
- Mostly feminine
- Equally feminine & masculine
- Mostly masculine
- Very masculine
The authors categorized male participants who said others describe them as “very feminine” or “mostly feminine,” and female respondents who said others describe them as “very masculine” or “mostly masculine” as “highly gender nonconforming,” while those youth who responded “equally feminine and masculine” were categorized as “androgynous.”
Those young people categorized as “highly gender nonconforming” numbered 59, while 331 were placed in the “androgynous” category. Of the youth participants in the study, 1,204 were in the “gender conforming” category, i.e., those who are comfortable with their biological sex. READ MORE
