Negotiating gender beyond the binary: Intersectional perspectives on queer individuals with migration backgrounds

Abstract

This article examines the possibilities and limitations of moving beyond the gender binary by analyzing the experiences of individuals situated at the intersection of multiple systems of domination, including gender, sexuality, race, and migration background. It draws on ongoing qualitative sociological research conducted in Switzerland using repeated in-depth interviews involving queer individuals with migration backgrounds. The article analyzes three modalities through which gender is produced and negotiated: embodiment, state gender categorization, and language. Building on Risman’s (2018) multi-level gender framework and Yuval-Davis’s (2015) concept of situated intersectionality, it introduces the concept of an injunction to coherence as a counterpart to the injunction to binarity. The injunction to coherence refers to the expectation that gender inner experience, embodiment, state-defined gender category, and linguistic self-description should align. Together, these injunctions shape who is recognized as intelligible and legitimate in their gender. The findings show that these injunctions shape participants’ gender navigation in uneven ways, depending on their social position. The article offers original insights into three main issues that restrict the conditions under which individuals can express and be recognized in their gender. First, intersecting forms of discrimination shape gender navigation through safety concerns, leading participants to adopt strategic (non-)binary embodiments or delay updating their gender markers on identity documents. Second, the ability to navigate pressures toward binarity and coherence depends on access to financial and material resources. Third, cultural representations of bodies and gender influence decisions about adopting – or not – (non-) binary embodiments, sometimes as acts of resistance to normative or racialized expectations. Overall, the article demonstrates that moving beyond the binary is not simply a matter of personal preference but is deeply constrained by interlocking systems of domination. Analyzing gender production and negotiation through the injunction to coherence makes it possible to capture this constellation of gender norms and expectations.

Keywords: Gender binary, intersectionality, queer, race, migration background.