Project results from LGBTIQ-Living Conditions 2020

Interview study on queer life courses

Publication

• Elisabeth Stubberud, Helga Eggebø and Norman Anderssen, 2022, Skeive liv: Felles fortellinger på tvers av forskjeller. Lambda Nordica 4/2021 – 1/2022 DOI: 10.34041/ln.v26.763

Abstract from the article:
What is being highlighted when queer people in Norway talk about their lives in the 2010s? In this article we analyse common denominators across qualitative interviews with 99 queer people with different backgrounds and in different life situations. Despite the many differences between the participants, there were some overarching themes that recurred and appeared significant across other differences: 1) Experiences of feeling different, 2) negative encounters, 3) exploration of identity related to sexuality and gender, 4) coming out as queer, 5) coming into queer communities and 6) reflections on kinship and family. These important themes can be single events in time, at the same time as experiences are repeated throughout life both as events and by being recited as part of a queer life story. The events become significant beyond the time and place in which they happened and become part of a situated queer life story. We understand the six themes as queer metanarratives that participants draw on when they are talking about themselves as queer. In this article we explore these metanarratives and some of the significant variation in concrete experiences between participants. We argue that these important events tell us something about how we make ourselves recognisable as queer in the 2010s.

Report

• Helga Eggebø, Elisabeth Stubberud and Norman Anderssen, 2019, Skeive livsløp. En kvalitativ studie av levekår og sammensatte identiteter blant lhbtispersoner i Norge

Qualitiative report on identity politics and discourses on intersex

Report

• Fredrik Langeland, Helga Eggebø, Norman Anderssen and Elisabeth Stubberud, 2021, Interkjønn og variasjon i kroppslig kjønnsutvikling. Refleksjoner om identitet, politikk og helsetilbud 

Abstract:
This report is about intersex/variations of sex development in a Norwegian context, and contributes with reflections on identity, politics, and health services. The purpose of the report is twofold: First, we have examined different identities and positions regarding intersex/variations of sex development. Second, we thematize living condition challenges that appear to be central from an identity politics perspective. In this context, identity politics refers to political mobilization based on a group identity. The report is based on qualitative interviews with intersex people/people with variations of sex development, recruited via Norwegian patient organizations and queer organizations. We find that the informants emphasize good information, supportive networks, and good health services as important for good living conditions. In the report, we analyze the informants' perceptions of «intersex» as a concept, as a starting point for a closer look at identities and positions when it comes to intersex/variations of sex development. Some informants associate «intersex» with being different in a negative sense. Others see it as a queer identity that is part of a norm-breaking political project. At the same time, there seems to be agreement that the term «intersex» has the potential to embrace broadly across existing identities, organizations, and positions. The informants describe a divided field with groups that have so far not had contact with each other, but also a wish for dialogue. The informants describe a gap between a medically-based discourse on the one hand, and a rights-based discourse, on the other. We see this gap especially in issues related to health care and surgery. Across the various positions outlined in this report, there are some common experiences with negative encounters with the health care system, that makes it clear that there is a need for the health services to meet this group in a better way. These experiences can form a basis for collaboration across organizations and positions.

National survey

Report

• Norman Anderssen, Helga Eggebø, Elisabeth Stubberud and Øystein Holmelid, 2021, Seksuell orientering, kjønnsmangfold og levekår. Resultater fra spørreundersøkelsen 2020

Abstract: 
In this report we present findings form a national survey about livings conditions among lesbian women, gay men, bisexual men and women, and transgender people (N=2059, including 1045 LGB and 232 transgender people). This is the first time transgender people are included in a national survey on living conditions in Norway. Heterosexual and cisgender people are also included, and responses from the lgbt-participants were systematically compared to responses from heterosexual and cis-participants. Main findings can be summarised as such: 1) Transgender people reported important challenges in their everyday life. At the same time, they also reported pride, receiving support, and participation in organisations and networks. 2) Lesbian women and gay men reported mostly living conditions similar to heterosexual women and men, but were more vulnerable regarding mental health. The analysis indicated few differences between lesbian and heterosexual women. Differences between gay and heterosexual men were also relatively small, but on some parameters gay men reported significantly more challenges in their everyday life. 3) Significantly more bisexual women and men indicated challenges in their everyday life, compared to lesbian women and gay men, and compared to heterosexual women and men. In an equivalent survey from 2013 bisexual women stood out as more vulnerable than the other groups. In the present survey, this was the case also for bisexual men.