Unionized Against Cisnormativity: How Siblings of Transgender Youth Divest from Family Gender Norms

Abstract

Families are a key institution that reproduce and resist gender inequalities. For instance, families can maintain or challenge cisnormativity—a gender structure that erases, marginalizes, and harms trans people. However, beyond studying highly supportive parents of trans children, scholars lack a full understanding of how family members divest from cisnormativity. Furthermore, overfocusing on parents ignores how children and youth, including siblings, also challenge gender norms within families. Using interviews with 52 trans youth, who are mainly trans youth of color, this article examines how siblings of trans youth divest from cisnormativity and help trans youth achieve gender recognition when parents are unsupportive or ambivalent. We find that siblings recognize and support trans youth’s gender through both passive (such as nonchalantly accepting their trans sibling) and active (such as using correct names and pronouns) gender-supportive practices. We also introduce the concept of counterhegemonic accountability to describe how siblings hold accountable family members who misrecognize trans youth’s gender. Together, siblings and trans youth challenge cisnormativity at home and within the broader society. To understand the complex ways gender norms change in and through families and within society, gender scholars need to study sibling relationships.