FLAG Attitudes to Gender Survey: Loughborough Uni

[TuttoNero]

Apologies if this has already been discussed. I did quick search but couldn't find anything.

Is anybody else completing this survey?

lboro.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/attitudes2gender

In the guidance it says it will take about 20 minutes to complete but it is taking me a damn sight longer than that as I wrestle with the terms sex and gender and how I perceive they are being applied. I think they are conflating the two terms but I am no expert which is why I am putting it out here to see if anybody else has any thoughts on it.

I'm doing it. It's badly confused nonsense. Taking ages.

What a mess. Very confused language, I spent most of the time pointing out I had no idea what they meant, so if it was a) then that answer, and if they meant b) it was that answer.

Glad I'm not alone in finding this problematic. They keep talking about a "legal gender status" ie. Should a parent be able to choose the legal gender status of their child?

Surely it should be legal sex status or legal gender reassignment status. I am actually quite confused by the whole thing.

Very confusing.

Oh I am enjoying myself.

Answer to box one:

A woman is an adult human female, a mammal defined by science - having two XX chromosones, ovaries and a vagina. Identity is a sociological construct - a belief, a worldview. By this definition I cannot 'believe' myself into having different biology (no matter how hard I think about it, I cannot believe myself into being a man). Neither can any other human being. To suggest that anyone can goes against scientific fact.

Where you have all the fun yet to come.... I think my favourite bit was, to paraphrase, would getting rid of gender make the world more boring?

WTAF.

To me sex means...

Defined by science/biology, belonging to one of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their chromosomes, organs and reproductive functions

I will look out for that Knicknack

To me gender means...

Defined by sociology and culture, used more broadly to denote beliefs, a worldview, identities. To which those of either sex may or may not align themselves, through socialisation or by choice (a man may wear a skirt and demonstrate entirely 'feminine' behaviours and may even believe himself to be a woman, but this does not mean he is of the female sex)

The questions on table 24 and 25 are dreadful. I am commenting on just about each of them to let them know I disagree with the phrasing of the statements.

I have had a jolly old hour correcting the ambiguity in their questions, critiquing the survey design, and asking about how they plan to engage a representative cross section of the population.
Marks 2/5

I kept telling them the questions were very badly written and I pointed out repeatedly that they meant sex not gender.

Bloody hell this survey...

Conflates sex and gender at every turn!

I am well into it and the questions about law / government lead me to wonder whether they are feeding into the GRA consultation. In which case we should all be answering it.

I rather enjoyed that one, even though it took 45 minutes (what with all the writing). I could have made it shorter by just ticking boxes and writing comments in a few places. But you know how it is

It was very badly written and gave me the impression that the researcher was clueless. I don't suppose they'll relish my responses.

For a questionnaire that specifically asks what people understand of sex vs gender (ie clearly assumes a differences) they then totally conflate the two. Weird. But quite fun to bash about;-)

My final paragraph...

This survey is extremely confusing and difficult to answer throughout, as it continually conflates 'sex' and 'gender'. The way it reads, the survey writer does not have an understanding of the difference between these (as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, among other places). Addressing the issues the survey is hinting at can only be achieved by starting with a basic understanding of these terms and their definitions. The terms cannot be given 'alternative' definitions to suit the writer.

Oh and in the final comments box I also listed the 5 campaign demands and provided a helpful link to the Woman's Place website

Ooh this came up at the end - is anyone interested? - perhaps worth a new feed to make sure everyone sees it:

Would you like to participate further in this research?
We are looking for a cross-section of people who have filled in this survey to participate in further stages of this research project (recording aspects of your life when gender is relevant, and being interviewed).
If you live in England or Wales and would be willing to consider participating further in the Future of Legal Gender project please contact the research team on [email protected] with 'Participate' in the subject line.

They persistently conflate sex & gender and talk about 'legal gender'. What? They also asked about non-binaries and intersex in the same question, as though they are the same thing. Who on earth complied it? Surely the professors whose names are on it would have read it before it went out? And the usual 'assigned at birth' crap. Oh well, I filled it in in as bolshy a manner as I could.

It took me an hour to complete it. I was getting quite irate during the process.

Has anybody checked the link to

the organisations associated with the FlaG project which you get on the completion page?

Not surprisingly, the usual suspects appear in the list.

I actually (think I) filled it in in a very patient, re-stating of facts way..

Though am clearly incensed having done it hence the multiple posts...

I'm in the middle of it, I am writing lots of comments questioning it too, as it's impossible to work out what they mean. I had a crisis of confidence though - legal gender really isn't a thing is it?

Do you know, there were actually a few bits of that where I wondered if there was a bit of GC creeping in: the list of things that a person could self define including age/disability/gender/ethnicity was an interesting one I though. Definitely felt worth completing.

Yep, I've completed in, in a similar way to PPs.

Well I've got an hour to kill tomorrow. I'll have a go at it

Well that was a slog. Do we think they conflated sex and gender so often to intentionally bias the findings?

Jeez ... that was painful. Though it's helping to pass a sleepless night. Such incredibly shoddy work from the academics involved.