Morgan

Please provide the tile and a brief summary of your research/conference presentation.
Title: How Do Transgender and Non-Binary College Students Define ‘Having Sex’? My research investigated how transgender and non-binary college students define the phrase ‘having sex’ and the factors that influence those definitions. I interviewed 8 self-identified non-cisgender college students and used a phenomenology framework of analysis to code for significant themes. The findings of my research reveal how participants’ gender identities impact their sexual experiences and highlights their need to redefine and construct their own definitions of ‘having sex,’ outside of the cis-heteronormative definitions that they learned from Sex Education classes, popular media, or their peers.

What made you initially interested in researching your project in particular?
In my first sexuality studies class at Northwestern (shout out Introduction to Sexuality Studies with Professor Fenrich), we had a guest lecture by Linguistics Professor Gregory Ward on how several populations define ‘having sex.’ Looking at the existing scholarship, I realized how each study, even the queer-friendly ones, relied on a strict gender binary and the conformity of its participants’ bodies to cisgender norms. I was interested in adding transgender and non-binary voices to this incredibly important conversation that affects sex education curriculum, medical inquiry into sexual behavior, and support for sexual well-being.

What conference(s) did you present at and how did you find out about them?
Moving Transgender History Forward 2023 at the University of Victoria; I was looking for places to submit my work as I had just begun writing up the final article and got really lucky to stumble upon their information!

What was it like presenting at a conference? Anything that you didn’t expect?
I presented a virtual poster so I actually got to record a video presentation to submit before the conference began. I really appreciated that as it eased some of the nerves of presenting my research for the first time. As the conference wasn’t only for undergraduates, I went in expecting no one to be interested in my work, as they were mostly graduate students and professors but everyone was really kind! Throughout the conference, so many people asked about my work and future interests and even offered to put me in contact with others working on similar projects!

Any tips or advice you have for students similar to you that are interested in presenting at a conference one day?
I would absolutely recommend it. If you’re anxious about presenting in front of a crowd, look for virtual options so you know your presentation is already complete and you can focus on learning from and talking with others! Also, it can be intimidating to ask questions of presenters but I haven’t had a bad experience yet, and usually they’re just thrilled someone is interested in learning more. A great question to ask if you’re not sure what to say but want to start a conversation with them is “was there anything really interesting about your research that you didn’t get to share in the presentation?”

What is your most useless talent?
I can make my tongue roll into a clover shape!