“Bigender is just a Tumblr thing”: microaggressions in the romantic relationships of gender non-conforming and agender transgender individuals

This study focuses on the microaggressions that gender non-conforming and agender identified transgender individuals receive from their romantic partners. While microaggressions have been studied in the romantic relationships of transgender individuals, gender non-conforming and agender individuals' experiences of microaggressions have not been the focus. Participants included 390 adults who identified as gender non-conforming (n = 200) and agender (n = 190) and who were either currently or formerly (within the past five years) in a romantic relationship. Results were analyzed via thematic analysis and resulted in three relationship salient themes: 1) identity parsing; 2) binary assumptions; and 3) transition-dependent. Discussion of the results focuses on the way microaggressions are shaped by normative assumptions of gender/sex and sexuality. Clinical implications for sexual and relationship therapy are discussed.