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This study aims to increase the understanding of the early-stage identity-related information needs of transgender people.

This study draws on social constructivism, queer theory and information practice research. In accordance with the queer phenomenological approach which emphasises lived experiences, data was collected by interviewing 25 individuals who identified as transgender. The data was analysed with a focus on how early-stage information needs are formed into conscious information needs.

The formation of early-stage information needs were conceptualised as a chain including a trigger for information seeking, finding the right words and understanding the experience. Especially the bodily changes starting at puberty were strong causes of discomfort causing friction between the subjects' own gendered body and their gender experience, even leading to gender dysphoria. Finding words to describe the experience played an important role in the process of identity formation. In many cases this was difficult because of the lack of accurate and relevant information.

Providing information especially of varying transgender experiences is vital for individuals trying to understand and verbalise their gender identity.

This study provides an understanding of the early-stage information needs described by transgender people and the process of building identities through disorientation. This study suggests that early-stage information needs are a valid concept to help understand how embodied experiences and the friction between the lived experience and the social world can lead to information seeking.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a perspective to further the understanding of gender entrepreneurship. This paper considers the situatedness of the gendered entrepreneur within diverse international contexts marked by different constitutions of gender identities and networks of power, both within the context of contributions within this special issue but also more broadly within the field of gender and entrepreneurship research.

The authors adopt a feminist perspective and analyse the different framings of identity within gender and entrepreneurship literature and their contributions to our understandings of the concepts of both power and gendered identities.

The paper finds that power and identity are configured in different contexts in ways that open arenas for future analysis.

The paper highlights the importance of considering masculinities within gender and entrepreneurship research offering support for further analyses of entrepreneurial masculinities by examining two studies that expose entrepreneurial masculinities as shifting subjectivities influenced by men's social power, but also by interactions between men and women and broader cultural contexts and transitions. In so doing, it contributes to the research agenda in relation to gender and entrepreneurship in different contexts.

Perspectives on gender, gender expression, sexuality identity, and sexual orientation differ within and between generations given the great extent to which these concepts are embedded within social, cultural, and historical context. Across contexts, questions of authenticity are critical. This research compares generational perspectives about authenticity, gender and gender-related constructs, and sexuality. Through semi-structured interviews with a nonprobability, purposive sample of heterosexual and LGBTQ younger (aged 18–22) and older (aged 65+) adults, how a sense of authenticity is experienced and the degree to which individuals experience authenticity around sexual and gender identities are compared. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method of analysis, and results indicate that while younger adult respondents held expansive terminology and knowledge related to sexual and gender identities, older adult participants lacked such fluidity, and that lack was an inhibiting factor in older adults being able to name and embody their authentic sexual selves. In conclusion, both position in one’s life course (age) and one’s generational cohort (historical, cultural, and social context) influence how individuals experience authenticity around gender and sexual identities.

Trans students at New College of Florida provide overwhelmingly positive assessments of their campus culture as related to issues of gender identity, a stark contrast to existing literature on gender-nonconforming collegians. This chapter examines the interactional processes that create a context supportive of all genders – the ways students are expected to act toward one another and how they hold each other accountable to these norms. I draw on interviews with 24 students with diverse identities to argue: (1) there is a trans-inclusive understanding of gender that is dominant on campus, (2) the students have norms that reflect the inclusive understanding and provide direction for when and how gender should enter interactions, and (3) swift responses to breaches of interactional norms serve to support gender-nonconforming students and affirm the identity of the community as unwilling to tolerate transphobia. This analysis demonstrates an alternative cultural context, one in which community members are held not to conventional expectations associated with assumed sex category, but to an understanding of gender that does not take identity for granted. In so doing, it highlights how shifts in shared understanding can create more inclusive interactional practices. Additionally, the focus on the meaning underlying social processes suggests that shifts in how people think about gender could similarly lead to alteration of organizational structures that would help trans students thrive.

The article aims to present a new aspect of “the emergent identities” in Thailand with a correlation between morality and religiosity. The research deals with the perception of 65 Thai male-to-female transgender sex workers who are currently working in sex tourism in Pattaya and Bangkok. This article explores the role religion plays, the linkages between sexualities, and the potential for Thai Theravada Buddhist individuals to understand the way that they cope with life and interpret its meaning among these sexual minorities. Finally, the article shows how Thai marginalized Theravada Buddhists are negotiating their gendered religious spaces in Thailand.

The study investigates perceptions of religion and its role in the lives of Thai Buddhist male-to-female transgender sex workers. Almost all the qualitative data was collected sequentially through (1) focus group discussions, (2) small group discussions, and (3) in-depth interviews. All interview sessions took place over six months in 2019. The researcher is a native Thai speaker and conducted the interviews in Thai with selected sex workers over 20 years old who have at least one year of experience engaging in sex work.

The research found three principal characteristics of “lived religion” in which emergent identities negotiate sexuality and morality: (1) Buddhist dequeering (the way Buddhism operates conservatively to reinforce heteronormativity), (2) queering Buddhism amidst multiple oppressions (how Buddhism operates to complement queer identity and empowerment), and (3) queering Buddhism as enlightenment (Buddhism with an emphasis on “practice” and “spiritual development”). The paper discusses how institutional Buddhism creates and recreates gendered identities in complex ways.

The article shows how Thai marginalized Theravada-Buddhism are negotiating their gendered religious spaces and “buy” the right to sexual and anatomy within their families and society by providing financial support, engaging in religion practices, donating in social charity projects base on their faith and capacity.

The paper is supporting human right movements and dignity for sexual minorities gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender questioning, intersex (LGBTQI+) in Thailand. The paper also promotes equality to all human beings and shows a struggle for the basic human rights of sexual minorities in religion. The paper is raising awareness to religion's rights for all to look beyond distinctions of gender and class which may help to shape future history.

This article examines how Thai transgender sex workers utilize the non-essentialist philosophy of Theravada Buddhism. The paper finds that respondents are negotiating their religious spaces through the linkages among their gender, body, embodiment, identities, and sexualities. Despite most respondents believe that being born “a kathoey” as a result of bad karma, they use the Buddhist teachings of karma to explain their identities and even to lead a meaningful life to gain more merits for a better rebirth.

Thailand still lacks research on queer spiritualities and Buddhism. The article has seen challenges to the human rights of sexual minorities in religion. The solution is to increase awareness of the concepts of sex, gender, and sexualities and broaden the understanding of “endless performativity” and “gender diversification” (Butler, 1990) for gender sensitivity and gender responsiveness in creating “social equality” for all member societies in public campaigns, and media launched by the state and NGOs.

The current study examines the strategies that nonbinary people use to communicate their gender identities across contexts, including an exploration of how they modify their gender presentations in response to situations perceived as risky or unsafe. Data were drawn from interviews with 19 nonbinary people, and a modified grounded theory approach was used to identify prevalent or recurring elements in the data. Nonbinary people struggled to communicate their genders to others and felt constrained by the knowledge that others would inevitably interpret their gender presentations within the context of a strict binary. Moreover, they often felt pressure to enact normative, binary presentations in order to feel safer or less visibly gender-nonconforming, particularly in contexts in which social norms were experienced as heightened, such as when engaging with institutions or navigating public spaces such as restrooms or transit systems. This study contributes to the limited literature on nonbinary identities and highlights how dominant transnormative narratives constrain presentation and communication.

Purpose: This study seeks to determine the marketplace practices in which consumers engage with regard to masculine and feminine codes employed in product design. Since extant consumer research argues that consumers prefer marketing stimuli that match their sex or gender identity, this study also asks how consumers’ practices inform this understanding of the possession-self link.

Design/methodology/approach: This study used semi-structured interviews with an auto-driving component to answer the research questions. Data from 20 interviews were analyzed using feminist critical discourse analysis and a poststructuralist feminist-informed theoretical framework.

Findings: Four consumer practices identified in the data show that interpretations and evaluations of product gender are sometimes, but not always, a reflection of the gendered self.

Research limitations/implications: This research shares a snapshot of a cohort of individuals that interact with the marketplace, but there are some perspectives missing. Future research must engage with individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as non-binary or gender nonconforming individuals, in order to enhance or even challenge these findings.

Practical implications (if applicable): Evidence from the marketplace demonstrates intense criticism of products that have been coded as masculine or feminine based on gender stereotypes or men and women’s perceived aesthetic tastes. Marketers are encouraged to use gender codes to differentiate products catered to men and women based on their ergonomic or biological needs.

Originality/value: This study complicates theory on the possession-self link to show cases in which that link is broken. Engaging critically with the topic of product gender from a poststructuralist feminist perspective also illustrates how marketing practices may help or harm consumers.

Identity construction is a dynamic process that encompasses a variety of factors such as commonalities, loyalties, power struggles, and survival instincts (Lei, 2003). The complex dimensions of Black identity are influenced, in part, by community, comfort, and acceptance which at times imposes fixed categorizations, characteristics, and singular depictions. Recent research suggests that more attention be paid to the needs of Black adolescent girls and how their race and gender impact what happens in schools (Koonce, 2012). Moreover, it challenges and influences academic success, as it is challenging and difficult to excel in environments that fail to value every aspect of one's identity or identities (Rollock, 2007).

Black girls' interaction with each other, especially in urban schools, can also be problematic and resemble “relational aggression,” when in fact it is a form of posturing to increase their social status. Contextual factors (e.g., culture, school climate) can serve as risk or protective factors for involvement in posturing, relationship aggression, or increasing one's social status. Research focused on peer relationships has found differences in friendship patterns among ethnically and socioeconomically diverse youth, suggesting the importance of examining friendships within the context of ethnic and socioeconomic diversity (see Brown, Way, & Duff, 1999; Crothers, Field, & Kolbert, 2005). Sisterhood among Black girls can serve as a supportive network that enhances the “Black girl experience” as well as promote wellness and healthy identity.

The aim of this paper is to critically evaluate sexuality and sexual symbolism within the organisational culture of an accounting firm to explore how it is implicated in processes of gendering identities of employees within the firm.

The paper uses a reflexive autoethnographical approach, including short vignettes, to analyse the inter‐relationships between gender, sexuality and power.

By exploring the symbolic role of artefacts, images, language, behaviours and buildings in creating and maintaining gendered relations, male sexual cultures and female sexual countercultures, the paper finds that sexual symbolism in this accounting firm entwines gendered power and domination, practice and resistance, in complex cultural codes and behaviours. It draws out implications for organisations and accounting research.

The paper extends current conceptualisation of gendered constructs in accounting to include sexuality; applies organisational and feminist theory to autoethnographical experience in accounting; and contributes a seldom‐seen insight into the organisational symbolism and culture of a small accounting firm, rather than the oft‐seen focus on large firms.

This paper aims to examine the contribution of occupational identity and gender in explaining psychological distress among managers. It proposes and tests empirically a theoretical model that integrates identity theory into occupational stress and gender research. It analyses the proposition that a low level of verification of role identity is associated with a high level of psychological distress and that gender plays a moderating role in the relationship between role identity verification and psychological distress.

Multilevel regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 314 managers employed in 56 Canadian firms.

Low level of verification of one standard of managers’ role identity, namely, recognition, is significantly associated with managers’ psychological distress. It encloses monetary and non-monetary recognition, career prospects and job security. Notwithstanding, gender does not moderate the relationship between identity verification and psychological distress.

Studies addressing the contributions of identity and gender in the explanation of managers’ psychological distress are sparse. This paper helps to expand the scope of management and workplace mental health research as well as gender-related research, by proposing a new approach for the study of managers’ psychological distress, by the integration of identity theory and the analysis of the moderating role of gender.