“I Gender Normed as Much as I Could”: Exploring Nonbinary People’s Identity Disclosure and Concealment Strategies in Reproductive Health Care Spaces

Abstract

Reproductive health care is characterized by pervasive cisnormativity and trans erasure. Trans people therefore must employ improvisational tactics to access and navigate these spaces, including deciding whether, when, and how to disclose their gender identities. Drawing on the experiences of four nonbinary people from British Columbia, Canada, this qualitative discourse analysis explores how identity disclosures created opportunities for ad hoc education of ill-prepared providers and how identity concealment may be used to mitigate the risks of being identifiable/identified as trans. This analysis demonstrates how identity disclosures alone are insufficient for ensuring that nonbinary people have affirming reproductive health care experiences.