Designedly intentional misgendering in social interaction: A conversation analytic account

Abstract

Misgendering – moments where someone refers to, describes, or addresses a person as a gender different to the one they identify with – is a challenge that trans people can face in social interaction. Misgendering is an interactional phenomenon but has yet to be examined for how it unfolds in conversation. Utilizing conversation analysis, we focus on what we term designedly intentional misgendering. We show how speakers utilize turn-design features and sequential placement to mark a misgendering as intentional. We also document how such misgendering is mobilized for different actions in social interaction. Speakers can utilize designedly intentional misgendering to display negative interactional positions towards trans people and related matters. Trans people can respond to such misgendering by negatively characterizing another speaker and their conduct. Our work advances existing discussions around the intentionality of misgendering and trans people's interactional agency.