2024/10/01 by Erik van Berlekom, Sabine Sczesny, Marie Gustafsson Sendén · 1 voice · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Social Sciences · #Gender Studies in Language #Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities #Media, Gender, and Advertising
paper · doi:10.1177/0261927x241289914
openalex publication_date 2024/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Nonbinary people face invisibility and misrecognition. This research investigated how the use of the Swedish gender-inclusive neopronoun hen influenced the gender categorization of faces beyond the binary. In a between-subjects design, participants ( N = 368) were instructed to use the gender-inclusive neopronoun hen, the binary masculine pronoun han (he), or no pronoun in a writing task. Then, they categorized androgynous morphed faces by selecting one of four response options (“woman,” “man,” “nonbinary,” or “I don't know”). Altogether, the results indicated that few participants responded “I don't know,” indicating that categorizing gender by appearance is common. As expected, the use of the gender-inclusive pronoun increased nonbinary categorizations, whereas the use of the masculine pronoun did not increase man categorizations, documenting that gender-inclusive pronouns increase the visibility of nonbinary people. Gender binary beliefs were associated with less nonbinary categorization. The discussion outlines how these findings can inform social policymaking.