Measuring Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation (2022) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction and Background
1 Introduction and Background
Pages 17-34
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From page 17... ...
. The growing visibility of transgender and intersex populations, as well as efforts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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The report detailed the remarkable progress that has been made in research about these populations, but it also highlighted glaring knowledge gaps caused by a lack of reliable data. Most national surveys and other important sources of data in the United States do not yet collect demographic data on sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status: although measures of sexual orientation are increasingly included on population surveys, measures that allow researchers to identify transgender populations remain less common, while measures that identify populations with differences in sex development (DSD)
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From page 19... ...
recommended measures for these constructs in different settings, such as surveys, clinical settings, and administrative forms. In response to this request, the National Academies appointed the Committee on Measuring Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation, under the standing committee of the Committee on National Statistics, to carry out this task.
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From page 20... ...
As noted above, gender and sex are conceptually distinct, but they are often used interchangeably due to normative assumptions that sex is binary and immutable and that sex assigned at birth defines gender. Neither gender identity nor gender expression is defined by sex traits, however, and both can be temporally and contextually fluid.
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It is important to note, however, that not all individuals who are classified as transgender under this definition identify themselves as transgender.4 For this reason, within this report we make a distinction between transgender experience5 -- when someone currently identifies with a gender identity that is different from their sex assigned at birth -- and transgender identity -- when someone currently identifies oneself as transgender. • Sexual orientation is a multidimensional construct encompassing emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction, identity, and behavior.
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From page 22... ...
However, there are other less prevalent terms that may eschew the gender binary, such as queer (an umbrella term for belonging to the LGBTQI+ community that can also refer to a nonbinary gender identity, which is also referred to as genderqueer) or pansexual (oriented toward partners of any gender)
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. Under this holistic view of personhood, Two-Spirit is a placeholder term that captures not only gender identity or sexual orientation identity, but also a social and cultural position that shapes and defines all aspects of one's life.
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Recognizing that a parallel problem of invisibility often arises in LGBTQI+ data collection methods and research, the panel is highlighting the specific cultural needs of Indigenous populations as part of our evaluation of measures of sex, gender, and sexual orientation. CONNECTING CONCEPTS TO THE MEASUREMENT OF LGBTQI+ POPULATIONS The growing visibility of transgender, intersex, and emerging sexual minority populations is an important factor contributing to the increasing recognition that sex, gender, and sexual orientation are more complex than current measures of these concepts may suggest.
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From page 25... ...
This "twostep" method of collecting sex and gender identity information has become an increasingly common and validated method of identifying people with transgender experience because it identifies a wider range of transgender people than "single-step" methods that ask whether respondents identify as transgender (Saperstein and Westbrook, 2021)
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From page 26... ...
. These differences within the transgender population further underscore that the need for measures of gender identity extends beyond their utility in identifying those with transgender experience.
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Everyone has a sexual orientation, a gender identity, and sex traits, and reliable and valid measurement of these constructs are core to understanding population characteristics and outcomes: like race and ethnicity and other demographic characteristics, they are central components of individual identity and experience that shape social relationships and structural opportunities throughout one's life. Conceptually, sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation are multidimensional, incorporating both social and individual identity components.
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From page 28... ...
are dynamic and extremely diverse, and the recognition and study of them is relatively new. Developing Consistent Data Collection Practices The 2020 National Academies report recommended that measures of sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status be routinely collected within at least three types of data collection activities: 1.
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From page 29... ...
. The NIH Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office maintains a comprehensive website9 devoted to methods and measurement in sexual and gender minority health research and has helped ensure that the NIH PhenX Toolkit10 for biomedical research includes standardized measures of sexual orientation and gender identity.
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There are concerns that collection of sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status data will expose LGBTQI+ people to harm, given a long history that includes interpersonal and structural violence targeting of LGBTQI+ people (NASEM, 2020; National Public Radio, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2017)
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From page 31... ...
Although the panel believes that understanding the process and experience of sexual and gender identity formation and development in childhood is crucial for understanding how the unequal treatment of sexual and gender minorities cumulates throughout the life course, identifying age-appropriate terminology and concepts for each stage of the developmental process was not possible in the time available to the panel. When possible, we indicate the age ranges in which the recommended measures have been tested and when these measures can be used with young populations.
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From page 32... ...
As noted above, the concepts of sex, gender, and sexual orientation are multidimensional, with dimensions that separately capture their social, behavioral, and identity aspects. With respect to gender, the study title, statement of task, and project description for this study specifically focused on measures of gender identity rather than other dimensions of gender; however, this is not the case for sexual orientation.
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From page 33... ...
The first session convened a panel of federal employees who had used sexual orientation and gender identity data or had implemented such data collection efforts in different data collection contexts, including survey research, electronic health records, human resources management and measurement of discrimination, and assessing workplace effects. The second session was a 1-day workshop that included panels of experts who discussed the measurement of sex and gender for intersex/DSD populations; legal and administrative issues surrounding the collection of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation; and the measurement of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation with clinical and medical contexts.
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From page 34... ...
Chapter 5 focuses on the panel's measure and research recommendations for sexual orientation identity. Chapter 6 focuses on the measurement of sex, gender identity, and transgender experience.
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