Name: Duong T.

Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

Proposal: Alternative Genders in Australia

In recent years there has been a surge in the number of self-reported same-sex couples in

Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012). The statistics reflect both a growth in size of

the homosexual community, and the need of this group to be recognized by Australian legal

system and society. Despite this reality, attacks toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transsexual (LGBT) community still take place, the majority of which aims to describe

homosexuality as deviant, and not fit with traditional gender values (e.g. Kevin Andrews, on

Grattan 2012; Peter Jensen, on Harrison 2012). Moreover, as of 2012, under Australian law,

same-sex couples cannot be considered as legally married (Australian Bureau of Statistics

2012). One reason often cited is that marriage is defined under the Commonwealth Marriage

Act (1961) as a union between a man and a woman. This strongly implies an imposition of

heterosexual norms on homosexuals. However, various theories and empirical researches

suggest a transgression of homosexuals as regard their gender identity, who not only dis-

identify themselves from the heterosexuals, but also resist the assimilation into dominant

homosexual identity categories. The present project therefore asks: do homosexuals see

themselves as fitting into any dominant gender categories, and if not, how do they manage

their gender identity in relation to those dominant classifications? The methods employed

will combine interviews, which allow participants to freely narrate their identity formation

process, and ethnography, which seeks to understand how homosexuals express their gender

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

identity in their natural habitats. Discourse analysis will also be employed to explore the

gender identity ideals that homosexuals try to describe and fight for, as well as the dominant

discourses surrounding this phenomenon. New insights from this research may contribute to

our understanding of alternative genders, leading to the re-conceptualizations of many

notions pertinent to gender studies, and other related issues in areas such as law, LGBT's

mental health and education.

Literature Review

Most models of gay's and lesbian's identity development have traditionally described it as a

linear and unitary process. In such models, homosexual identity putatively goes through

stages of development involving both self-awareness and socialization into groups with the

same identity (Cass 1979, Trioden 1979). The most commons of those models often consist

of the same sequence, which goes from a vague awareness and confusion about one's identity

to a full identification with the gay and lesbian communities, and a feeling that one has

"settled in" to their identity.

Methodologically, these models have often been criticized for some common limitations.

First, in many studies, the samples were homogeneous, consisted mainly of white, middle-

class, post-adolescent male in Western societies (e.g. Girshick 2008, Minton & McDonald

1984). The lack of racial, sexual and age-group diversity implies that the full effects of

socialization, social norms and child rearing would not be fully captured. Second, traditional

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

models often recruited participants who self-identified as gay or lesbian, thus leaving out

homosexual individuals who choose not to develop their identify with the greater LGBT

communities, and also potentially creating a dichotomy between groups of "normal" and

"abnormal" homosexuals within gender studies scholarship (e.g. Hooker 1963, in Warner

2008). Third, most studies on homosexual identity relied on the participants' narrative to

build up their data, which might suffer from distortions in memories of childhood or sexual

experience. These limitations point to the need to revise research methods and to take into

account the possibility of alternatives gender identities.

Results from various studies have shown that the dominant models are not sufficiently

comprehensive to capture the realities of homosexuals, and that other factors might also be

active in the process. Although some participants in empirical studies reported a congruence

between their experience and the stages, others did not follow the predicted progression, or

even not follow the model at all (Bohan & Russell 1999, Sophie 1985/1986). The results

rather pointed to a fluidity and flexibility in homosexuals' identity development, which had to

do with factors other than just self-understanding and socialization. Recent works by Judith

Butler offered a possible alternative, which emphasized bodily acts and homosexuals'

perception of their bodies' autonomy as sources of sexual identities (Butler 1990, 1993).

Several empirical studies confirmed this theory, with participants reported a sense of

authenticity being cultivated and fostered through their homosexual and transgressive bodily

acts (Pitts 2000; Schrock, Lori and Boyd 2005). If Butler's theory is confirmed, there are

reasons to believe that homosexuals' identity formation process is not an unitary experience,

but rather differs greatly from one individual to the other.

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

Methodology

This section will discuss the methods utilized in this project, including interview,

ethnography and discourse analysis. The strength and the procedure of each method will be

detailed, following by potential issues and solutions for them.

1. Interview

An in-depth, semi-structured interview format will be employed, as it will allow for an

understanding of the "life history" of the participants, with an emphasis on their point of view

(Bryman 2004: 319, 321, Hermanowicz 2002: 481). In other words, interviewees will be

encouraged to tell their perception of their identity and the relationship between them and the

others in their own terms. This is of utmost importance to this project, as it seeks to eliminate

any distortions in the way society usually frames homosexual experiences and filters them

through the prism of heterosexuality, and instead lets participants tell their stories as they see

fit.

As such, a hybrid between non-directive interview and semi-structured interview is the most

appropriate tool for this project, as it will allow the respondents to talk freely around the topic

of their sexual identity formation, while some questions from the interviewers might serve to

uncover the meanings that respondents ascribe to events in their lives (Gray 2009: 373). For

example, different areas of life might have different impact on each interviewee, so a flexible

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

interview format will allow interviewees to freely attach appropriate weights to areas that will

have affected them the most. As for sampling, this project will employ a theoretical sampling

approach, which will involve conducting interviews until the study reaches theoretical

saturation (Bryman 2004: 334). In practice, this means that interviews will kept being

conducted until common traits appear, or until there is sufficient data to theorize on the topic.

The sample will be selected from both the population whose members self-identify as gay or

lesbian and those who have a questioning status as regard their identity. This approach aims

to eliminate the problem of creating a category of "normal" homosexuals as mentioned earlier

in the proposal.

There have been several concerns in regard to the attempted method. For example, Tim May

has criticized the flexibility of non-directive/semi-structure interview for not allowing much

room for comparison between interviews (May 1993: 92-93). However, generalization is not

the priority of this project, since it aims primarily to emphasizes the historicity of each

interviewee. Rather than grouping (and potentially directing) participants' answers into

different categories, an approach that allows them to focus on the topics of their choice might

give rise to new possibilities of identity.

On the other hand, a somewhat opposite issue is often addressed, concerning the risk of

researchers accidentally impose on interviewees too much assumptions, as well as the topics

or theories that the researchers deem important (Devault 1990: 101; Madriz 2000: 836). For

this project, a potential manifestation of this issue might be the definition of terms such as

"homosexuality", "homosexual experience", "gay", "lesbian" that the researchers hold. While

the terms will surely come up during various stages of the interviews, I propose an approach

5
Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

that lets the interviewees define those terms for themselves, and to continually testify their

experience against existing models and theories of sexuality.

2. Ethnography

As mentioned earlier, alongside self-understanding, a critical component of homosexuals'

identity formation process is their socialization into both homosexual and heterosexual

communities. This project will thus utilize ethnography to explore the issue, as it allows

researchers to understand the relevant social environments and the impacts they have on the

participants (Fetterman 2009: 546-547).

As for specificities, locations will be chosen from a variety of settings, including those where

homosexuals interact with other homosexuals, with heterosexuals, or with both groups. This

comprehensiveness makes sure that as many important aspects of homosexuals' surrounding

reality as possible will be captured by the researchers. Since this project aims at testing

theories and developing adjustments to them if needed, the method used will largely be

inductive, with an attempt to let social realities unveiled as the researchers proceed (Flick

2009: 236, LaCompte and Schensul 1999: 8). This will be done through a synthesis of data

from various sites of observation, an attention to salient patents of participants' behaviors,

their similarities and differences in comparison with existing models of homosexuals' identity

development.

Several issues might arise while using this method. As Uwe Flicks remarks, not all

phenomena could be observed by the researchers, which could result in bias where too much

6
Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

weight are attached to certain areas in the life of participants (Flick 2009: 232). This could

potentially be an issue for research on homosexuality, as one's upbringing and other hard-to-

observe processes might play a significant part in one's coming to understand their sexual

identity (Erikson, 1968; Freud, 1958). As a way to solving this problem, ethnography will be

backed-up by interviews, where questions into areas not yet explored during observation will

be addressed. The preservation of participants' perspectives and meanings will also be paid

close attention, as bias might arise from the researchers' interpretation of data (LaCompte and

Schensul 1999: 12-13). I suggest using an interactive and recursive process in building

theory, in which remarks on homosexuals' identity formation process will be continually

attested against their opinions and against observation of their behaviors.

3. Discourse Analysis

As text and language are the media through which individuals "represent their ways of acting

and organizing, and produce imaginary projections of new or alternative ways" (Fairclough

2003: 4), the analysis of relevant media is of extreme importance in understanding how gays

and lesbians see themselves and want themselves to be seen. Given that the organization of

gays and lesbians into groups and movements is a relatively new phenomenon, and thus a

dominant historicity might not yet emerged, a Foucauldian-style analysis might of little help.

Instead, this project will make use of Critical Analysis Discourse (CDA), which focuses on

the word choices and social context of texts (Jacobs 2010: 357). Several theorists remark that

a sense of mismatch between language and reality often arise when gays and lesbians try to

7
Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

describe their experiences through the language of heterosexuality, suggesting that the latter's

vocabulary is not sufficiently comprehensive to capture the realities of the former (Grosz

1994a: 146; Frye, in Allen 1990: 311). As such, CDA in this project will focus on instances

that try to describe the realities and identities of gays and lesbians, with special attention paid

to their attempt to craft out an identity ideal. Gays and lesbians' attitude toward normative

gender categories will be thus be explored.

This analysis will rely on three sources of data: heterosexual-overtone media, texts and

speeches from gays and lesbians right movements, and other less formal, less political

homosexual publications, such as queer magazines, or documentaries on homosexuality. The

first of these reflects the way the majority views homosexuals, and the second of these often

describes the ideals toward which gays and lesbians movements strive for. Both are

politically ambitious, using rhetoric devices to shape the experience and reality of the

audience (Bryman & Bell 2003: 539). Homosexuals' identity is thus inevitably influenced by

the social context that those discourses set out. What this project is interested in, however, is

the personal views that express themselves most fully in apolitical publications of

homosexuals, and their attitude towards dominant discourses that surround them. As

mentioned above, since the relevant dominant discourses have just emerged recently, the

timeframe for all three sources will be limited for the past twenty years, starting from the

point where post-structuralist discourses made its way into the domain of gender studies.

8
Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

Significance of Research

This study seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the notion of "genders" among

homosexuals. Various theories and models of homosexuals' identity formation process have

been proposed, yet there have been few empirical studies that could attest their validity. The

few existing empirical researches unfortunately have had some limitations in their

methodology. Building on those scholarships, and adopting a more open, non-assuming

attitude, this study will allow homosexuals to build their own theories on the issue.

Outside the academia, the growing of the homosexual community necessarily calls for a

better understanding of their members. Although same-sex couples currently account for only

a small proportion of all couple families, between 2006 and 2011 their number grew at the

rate of 32%, foreshadowing a greater popularity of this community in future public policy

discourses (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012). Understanding the way homosexuals see

themselves in relation to others will inform our view toward them, and help correcting

notions in laws, psychiatry and education that are currently imbued with heteronormative

norms and vocabulary. The finding of this study will open new possibilities, new approaches

for gay and lesbian movements.

9
Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

Conclusion

This study aims to make explicit the process that homosexuals come to understand their own

identity formation process, as understood and told by homosexuals. All too frequently studies

of this kind have neglected homosexuals' interpretations of their life world, while

presupposing typical notions of heterosexuality and thus filter researches' results through

dominant prisms. To overcome this limitation, the present study will employ flexible formats

of interview and ethnography that put homosexuals in the centre of the theorizing process.

Discourse analysis will complement the finding, by providing a holistic view on the dominant

discourses surrounding homosexuals, and on other apolitical, more transgressive voices

within the community. Given the growing of the homosexual community and the lack of

studies customized for Australia on this topic, it is necessary for this project to be funded and

carried out. The finding from this project will not only provide a more empathetic view

towards homosexuals, but also will pose new questions for further researches.

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
Assignment 3: Research Proposal

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Name: Duong T. Ha-Duyen
Student ID: 550704
Subject code: MULT20003
Tutorial Time: 2.15pm Wednesday
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Madriz, E. 2000. Focus Groups in Feminist Research: The Discipline and Practice of
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Word Count: 2226

(excluding reference and bibliography)

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