“Being treated as an equal is how I feel supported”: Expanding conceptualisations of “normal” to include gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diversity on the university campus
type: CreativeWork
description: International research has a plethora of findings which show that gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diverse (GSSD) staff and students are discriminated against and treated as ‘unwelcome’ on tertiary campuses at higher rates than their cisgender, endosex, and heterosexual (cis-endo-hetero) counterparts. Further research has demonstrated that GSSD people have greater potential to thrive academically (specific to students) and personally when universities foster campus climates that are inclusive of their identities. In Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a dearth of literature about the experiences of GSSD people on university campuses. This thesis research was conducted to help address the knowledge gap. A community psychology and mixed methods approach was used in this study to understand GSSD staff and student perceptions of the campus climate at the University of Waikato, as well as to determine how to best achieve improvement, if needed. The first research stage included seven focus groups with GSSD staff and students, with initial analysis of the qualitative data collected from these focus groups being used to inform Stage Two: a campus climate survey. The survey was conducted with the intention to gain a broad range of views from university staff and students who identified as GSSD and as cis-endo-hetero (N = 343). GSSD participants largely described The University of Waikato as a heteronormative, endonormative, and cisnormative environment. Further analysis also brought to light the mononormativity experienced by GSSD people who are non-monogamous. Full analysis of Stage One data resulted in the finding of ‘the (in)visible self’, which refers to the ways in which participants made their GSSD identities visible or invisible in the campus space at different times for varying reasons, including for the sake of their wellbeing. Participants in the focus groups also expressed the need for the university to actively include and educate about GSSD identities on ca…
abstract: International research has a plethora of findings which show that gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diverse (GSSD) staff and students are discriminated against and treated as ‘unwelcome’ on tertiary campuses at higher rates than their cisgender, endosex, and heterosexual (cis-endo-hetero) counterparts. Further research has demonstrated that GSSD people have greater potential to thrive academically (specific to students) and personally when universities foster campus climates that are inclusive of their identities. In Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a dearth of literature about the experiences of GSSD people on university campuses. This thesis research was conducted to help address the knowledge gap. A community psychology and mixed methods approach was used in this study to understand GSSD staff and student perceptions of the campus climate at the University of Waikato, as well as to determine how to best achieve improvement, if needed. The first research stage included seven focus groups with GSSD staff and students, with initial analysis of the qualitative data collected from these focus groups being used to inform Stage Two: a campus climate survey. The survey was conducted with the intention to gain a broad range of views from university staff and students who identified as GSSD and as cis-endo-hetero (N = 343). GSSD participants largely described The University of Waikato as a heteronormative, endonormative, and cisnormative environment. Further analysis also brought to light the mononormativity experienced by GSSD people who are non-monogamous. Full analysis of Stage One data resulted in the finding of ‘the (in)visible self’, which refers to the ways in which participants made their GSSD identities visible or invisible in the campus space at different times for varying reasons, including for the sake of their wellbeing. Participants in the focus groups also expressed the need for the university to actively include and educate about GSSD identities on ca…
author: Brown, Juliana
keywords: gender, sexuality, sex characteristics, diversity, university, higher education, campus climate, lgbt
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/db152521-65d1-462f-a815-4ff3c163cea3/download
date published: 2024-05-19
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:21Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato