Living Gender in Diverse Times

从《时代周刊》对麦莉·赛勒斯宣称你可以成为任何你想成为的人的报道，到视频游戏《模拟人生4》中引入了一个性别不稳定的角色，以及Facebook推出了多个性别选项，最后一年半的媒体报道支持了《金融时报》(2015)年底的声明：一句话：跨性别者：性别讨论变得细致入微，流动性强，‘非二进制’事件。尽管年轻人正在摆脱传统的男性和女性的二元身份，采用破坏传统性别规范的性别表达方式，但人们对这种方式产生了浓厚的文化兴趣。学术研究尚未探索对年轻人来说性别含义发生变化的方式，也尚未探讨性别作为一个更广泛的社会类别所产生的影响。该项目的总体目标是在15-24岁的年轻人中深入了解21世纪英国对性别的理解和做法。该项目力求超越对个人理解的探索，探讨性别、阶级、种族、年龄、性取向和地理位置的社会结构对获取和体验非传统性别特性和做法的影响。该项目还将探讨青年如何与家庭、伙伴、同龄人团体和友谊网络、休闲和社交媒体空间以及在正规的教育和工作空间谈判他们的性别认同和做法。最后，该项目将考虑媒体在消费和生产层面对年轻人性别认同和表达的影响。该项目将围绕6个主题组织，这些主题共同致力于在个人、集体、社会和话语层面上解决年轻人生活的关键领域。主题1：了解性别将探索在当代社会中性别多样性是如何被不同程度地理解的。主题2：实践性别将探索转变的理解如何融入日常的性别实践和表达。主题3：在亲密和个人生活中生活性别将探索当代性别表达是如何通过家庭和亲情、亲密关系、同龄人团体和友谊网络、休闲和社交媒体空间等更广泛的背景进行谈判的。主题4：社会性别组织将探讨当代性别表达是如何在正规的教育和就业领域谈判的。主题5：构建性别结构将探讨性别、阶级、种族、年龄、性取向和地理位置对性别理解和做法的影响。主题6：性别的文化调解将探讨流行文化在社会不同阶层生产和消费时围绕性别多样性的进程和影响。将在6个主题中采用一系列定性方法，以使该项目能够获得关于含义、态度和决策过程以及更广泛的结构和论述影响的丰富数据。其中包括：20个焦点小组、60个一对一访谈、一个互动网站和博客、多媒体日记和视觉方法以及戏剧制作，通过这些活动，该项目将考虑年轻人对性别问题的当代理解和做法。该项目的关键主题-身体、性别认同、性别认同、做法和表达，以及男性和女性观念的转变，是社会科学和人文科学中一系列学科的关键。将向跨学科的学术受众传播研究成果；为性别研究、社会学、文化研究、教育、媒体研究和青年研究等领域带来关于这一高度热门主题的新知识。该项目将具有广泛的非学术影响，详见PTI。

From coverage of Miley Cyrus' declaration that 'You Can Just Be Whatever You Want to Be' in 'Time Magazine', the introduction of a gender fluid character into the video game 'Sims 4' and Facebook's launch of multiple gender 'options', the last year and half of media coverage lends support to the 'Financial Times' End of Year (2015) pronouncement 'Year in a word: Trans: Gender discussion becomes a nuanced, fluid , 'non-binary' affair'.While there has been significant cultural interest in the ways in which young people are moving away from the traditional binary identities of male and female and adopting gendered expressions that destabilise conventional gendered norms. Academic research has yet to explore the ways in which the meanings of gender have changed for young people or to address the implications of this on gender as a social category more broadly. The overall aim of this project is to gain in-depth evidence driven knowledge of the understandings and practices of gender in the 21st C. UK amongst young people between the ages of 15-24. The project seeks to go beyond an exploration of individual understandings by addressing the ways in which the social structures of gender, class, race, age, sexuality and geographical location impact on the access to, and the experiences of, non-traditional gender identities and practices. The project will also explore the ways in which young people negotiate their gender identities and practices with families, partners, peer groups and friendship networks, leisure and social media spaces and within the formal spaces of education and work. Finally the project will consider the impact of the media, at the levels of consumption and production, on young people's gendered identities and expressions. The project will be organised around 6 themes, which work together to address the key spheres of young people's lives at individual, collective, social and discursive levels. Theme 1: Understanding Gender will explore how gender diversity is variously understood in contemporary society. Theme 2: Practicing Gender will explore the ways in which shifting understandings feed into everyday gendered practices and expressions.Theme 3: Living Gender in Intimate and Personal Lives will explore how contemporary gendered expressions are negotiated through the wider contexts of families and kinship, intimate relationships, peer groups and friendship networks, leisure and social media spaces. Theme 4: The Social Organisation of Gender will explore how contemporary gendered expressions are negotiated in the formal spaces of education and employment. Theme 5: Structuring Gender will explore the impact of gender, class, race, age, sexuality and geographical location on gendered understandings and practices.Theme 6: Cultural Mediations of Gender will explore the processes and effects of popular culture around gender diversity as they are produced and consumed across different sections of society. A range of qualitative methods will be employed across the 6 themes to enable the project to access rich data on meanings, attitudes and decision making processes, and broader structural and discursive influences. These include: 20 focus groups, 60 one-to-one interviews, an interactive website and blog, multi-media diary and visual methods, and theatre production through which the project will consider young people's contemporary understandings and practices of gender. The project's key themes - the body, gender identity, gendered identities, practices and expressions, and shifting notions of masculinity and femininity are key to a range of disciplines across the social sciences and humanities. Findings will be disseminated to interdisciplinary academic audiences; bringing new knowledge on a highly topical subject to the fields of gender studies, sociology, cultural studies, education, media studies, and youth studies. The project will have wide non-academic reach as detailed in PtI.