Rethinking gender diversity: Transgender and gender nonconforming people and gender as constellation

Abstract

In this article, we challenge the mainstream view of gender rooted in binary cisnormativity and suggest that the gender frameworks used to inform organizational research and practice are inadequate with respect to the range of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) identities. We employ Hacking's “dynamic nominalism” to illustrate how evolving classifications of TGNC people operate as a discriminating factor that threatens their lived experiences. As an alternative to the binary cisnormative metaphor of gender as a spectrum, we adopt a more inclusive metaphor of a gender constellation and sketch out its potential conceptualization that promotes multidimensional, non-hierarchical, and dynamic approaches to gender diversity.