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Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
Data has never mattered more. Our lives are increasingly shaped by it and how it is defined, collected and used. But who counts in the collection, analysis and application of data?
This important book is the first to look at queer data – defined as data relating to gender, sex, sexual orientation and trans identity/history. The author shows us how current data practices reflect an incomplete account of LGBTQ lives and helps us understand how data biases are used to delegitimise the everyday experiences of queer people.
Guyan demonstrates why it is important to understand, collect and analyse queer data, the benefits and challenges involved in doing so, and how we might better use queer data in our work. Arming us with the tools for action, this book shows how greater knowledge about queer identities is instrumental in informing decisions about resource allocation, changes to legislation, access to services, representation and visibility.
This important book is the first to look at queer data – defined as data relating to gender, sex, sexual orientation and trans identity/history. The author shows us how current data practices reflect an incomplete account of LGBTQ lives and helps us understand how data biases are used to delegitimise the everyday experiences of queer people.
Guyan demonstrates why it is important to understand, collect and analyse queer data, the benefits and challenges involved in doing so, and how we might better use queer data in our work. Arming us with the tools for action, this book shows how greater knowledge about queer identities is instrumental in informing decisions about resource allocation, changes to legislation, access to services, representation and visibility.
240 pages, Paperback
Published February 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
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May 19, 2022I bought this book a while ago and never got around to reading it. Then I started working on my dissertation, and attended a talk (online) with the author at UCL. Couldn't sleep at all last night so decided it was as good a time as any to read it.
Lots of valuable insights, took lots of notes for my diss and think it was very informative/accessible. Would recommend to anyone conducting research for uni.
Lots of valuable insights, took lots of notes for my diss and think it was very informative/accessible. Would recommend to anyone conducting research for uni.
Read
February 22, 2022This is a very important book for the advancement of the LGBTQ* community, and for people working with data about people in general. It describes how activists, civil society groups and individuals can harness data on gender, sex and sexuality to advance their causes. It also addresses the important, and often neglected, question on if and when some types of data are necessary, and in what ways they can be collected to give meaningful answers while respecting the people they are asked of.
This book is a treasure trove for everyone involved in this kind of community work and/or the social sciences dealing with matters related to sex, gender and sexuality. Five stars for its content, and its relevance!
Regarding sheer reading pleasure the book was different than what I had expected. Its language reminded me of papers from the social sciences with their particular jargon and, above all, sentences and paragraphs that were just a bit too long for me to grasp with my limited background in the social sciences. I am unfamiliar with many concepts that are brought up in the book, and frankly I'm not very interested in "[someone]'s theory of [something]" that may or may not have anything to do with what's being discussed in the book. I also did not want to read the names of all the researchers who first described a certain phenomenon, regardless of their undoubted merit, despite the author naming these people at every opportunity. For me to benefit more from "Queer Data", it would have had to be more simplified and closer to other works in popular science.
I was especially unhappy with the excruciatingly long paragraphs in some of the chapters, which sometimes went on for several pages although they addressed several different arguments. Kevin Guyan, hit that 'Enter' bar!!
Fortunately, every chapter starts with a personal anecdote from the author, which helped me get into the respective topic, and ended with a very helpful summary of what was covered in that chapter. Everyone who is interested in the background and sources of "Queer Data" will be delighted to find the comprehensive bibliography at the end of each chapter (easy to find and use!) as well as at the end of the book.
I strongly recommend this book to everyone who plans to collect or analyze data about LGBTQ* people anywhere, especially to readers with a bit of a background in the social sciences.
I am looking forward to a sequel that will show the importance of "queer data literacy" to a broader audience. The more people know about the implications of queer data and its history, the better these communities can be heard, represented, and ultimately served by those in power.
This book is a treasure trove for everyone involved in this kind of community work and/or the social sciences dealing with matters related to sex, gender and sexuality. Five stars for its content, and its relevance!
Regarding sheer reading pleasure the book was different than what I had expected. Its language reminded me of papers from the social sciences with their particular jargon and, above all, sentences and paragraphs that were just a bit too long for me to grasp with my limited background in the social sciences. I am unfamiliar with many concepts that are brought up in the book, and frankly I'm not very interested in "[someone]'s theory of [something]" that may or may not have anything to do with what's being discussed in the book. I also did not want to read the names of all the researchers who first described a certain phenomenon, regardless of their undoubted merit, despite the author naming these people at every opportunity. For me to benefit more from "Queer Data", it would have had to be more simplified and closer to other works in popular science.
I was especially unhappy with the excruciatingly long paragraphs in some of the chapters, which sometimes went on for several pages although they addressed several different arguments. Kevin Guyan, hit that 'Enter' bar!!
Fortunately, every chapter starts with a personal anecdote from the author, which helped me get into the respective topic, and ended with a very helpful summary of what was covered in that chapter. Everyone who is interested in the background and sources of "Queer Data" will be delighted to find the comprehensive bibliography at the end of each chapter (easy to find and use!) as well as at the end of the book.
I strongly recommend this book to everyone who plans to collect or analyze data about LGBTQ* people anywhere, especially to readers with a bit of a background in the social sciences.
I am looking forward to a sequel that will show the importance of "queer data literacy" to a broader audience. The more people know about the implications of queer data and its history, the better these communities can be heard, represented, and ultimately served by those in power.
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July 28, 2022An important and useful study but despite the jaunty cover, this is far more academic writing than popular science.
May 12, 2023
Very thought provoking, now to consider what actions to take!
June 27, 2022
A good read and a much needed addition to any researcher's library. I do wish there were more directive suggestions for queering data analysis directly, but that is probably beyond their scope. It made me think hard about why it is that we collect SOGI data, and what exactly do we plan to do with it once we have it? And that collecting data isn't an end goal.
February 10, 2022
Such a joy seeing this book in all my favourite bookshops, an engaging and educational read that I will happily put in the hands of customers!
January 29, 2023
Data that is digitised is inherently binary, it’s stored literally as 1 or 0. What better type of theory to challenge such a seemingly fixed dualism than Queer Theory? Kevin Guyan is Research Fellow at Glasgow University’s School of Culture and Creative Arts, has a seat on the Young Scot’s Data Advisory Group and his work ‘explores the intersection of data and identity'. Similar to the investigations of Criado-Perez in Invisible Women, Guyan argues that it is often the omission or absence of data that drives inequality. An example Gyuan provides is from South America where trans victims of hate crimes and murder ‘are registered according to their sex assigned at birth, their gender identity is not reflected in the records’ leading to an absence of data on trans homicides. Guyan articulates a distinction between queer data and queering the data where queer data relates to the ‘collection, analysis and use of data about LGBTQ people’ which is used to categorise and make a decision about them versus queering the data which ‘critically questions the foundations upon which these categories stand’. I had to speed read this for a university module but plan to come back to it for a slower read.
July 17, 2024
If you want to expend your understanding about the relationship between data and the ‘reality’ it claims to represent… this book is for you!
I like Kavin’s exploration of how can we better collect, analyze data in order to improve the lives of the people about whom it relates. He also raises the importance od language in data collection and how what is collected does depend a lot on language used. As well as new practical ways to use queer data to improve the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people by challenging traditional approach.
The book poses many valid questions, one of them being: Why gender markers are required in a passport?” … is this info really helping with passenger’s identification? At the same time, Dutch government has ‘committed to limiting the registration of legal genders wherever possible’!
I like Kavin’s exploration of how can we better collect, analyze data in order to improve the lives of the people about whom it relates. He also raises the importance od language in data collection and how what is collected does depend a lot on language used. As well as new practical ways to use queer data to improve the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people by challenging traditional approach.
The book poses many valid questions, one of them being: Why gender markers are required in a passport?” … is this info really helping with passenger’s identification? At the same time, Dutch government has ‘committed to limiting the registration of legal genders wherever possible’!
January 23, 2023
Really nice little niche book. Does a good job of going over all the specifics of doing research and using data about/for lgbtq issues. A bit repetitive sometimes, and it has a relatively short bit on using the data for action, but otherwise a good recommendation if this is your jam.
March 12, 2022
standard and intuitive concepts and findings ... but nonetheless important !!
June 25, 2022
Important work - well worth a read!
May 10, 2023
3.75, rounding up to 4.
June 23, 2023
This book provides an accessible overview to issues surrounding data collection of queer populations, and argues for data collectors who support LGBTQ+ populations to regard the data collection itself as a political endeavor.
The book has some notable strengths: the observation of how govts + orgs frequently and recurrently demand "evidence," even when recent data has already been collected that illustrate disparities or discrimination, feeds well into Sara Ahmed's observations about "doing the document" (which I believe Guyan even references); the observation of how data cleaning tends to erase non-conforming identities, either dropping observations or merging them into an "Other" or "Prefer Not to Say" category; how censuses historically struggle to capture queer relationships, noting that the 1990 US census would code one of the members of a same-sex couple living in a household as a couple in a relationship (preserving that data point) but change the sex of one of the respondents to a woman; "splitting" tends to remove bisexual people from censuses.
Most interesting perhaps is the detailed dive into the politics of writing census questions, and the deep dive into the Scottish 2022 census. Writing questions in certain ways might confuse respondents (e.g., may not understand term "cisgender"), alienate respondents who then refuse to participate or intentionally corrupt the census (e.g., "this woke census!"); considerations of choosing gender by default in studies, only selecting sex in cases of need; 3rd gender categories in S Asia.
All capped in difference between these three questions:
"Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation?" (Scotland)
"Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history?" (Scotland)
"Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?" (England, Wales)
Very different in creating yes/no question vs. one with no obvious default; different in explicitly linking to gender identity vs. focusing on term trans as different; different in focus on present identification vs. historical identification...but for the two questions on gender identity, both avoided "cis". This didn't stop TERFs from trolling it, though
The book has some notable strengths: the observation of how govts + orgs frequently and recurrently demand "evidence," even when recent data has already been collected that illustrate disparities or discrimination, feeds well into Sara Ahmed's observations about "doing the document" (which I believe Guyan even references); the observation of how data cleaning tends to erase non-conforming identities, either dropping observations or merging them into an "Other" or "Prefer Not to Say" category; how censuses historically struggle to capture queer relationships, noting that the 1990 US census would code one of the members of a same-sex couple living in a household as a couple in a relationship (preserving that data point) but change the sex of one of the respondents to a woman; "splitting" tends to remove bisexual people from censuses.
Most interesting perhaps is the detailed dive into the politics of writing census questions, and the deep dive into the Scottish 2022 census. Writing questions in certain ways might confuse respondents (e.g., may not understand term "cisgender"), alienate respondents who then refuse to participate or intentionally corrupt the census (e.g., "this woke census!"); considerations of choosing gender by default in studies, only selecting sex in cases of need; 3rd gender categories in S Asia.
All capped in difference between these three questions:
"Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation?" (Scotland)
"Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history?" (Scotland)
"Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?" (England, Wales)
Very different in creating yes/no question vs. one with no obvious default; different in explicitly linking to gender identity vs. focusing on term trans as different; different in focus on present identification vs. historical identification...but for the two questions on gender identity, both avoided "cis". This didn't stop TERFs from trolling it, though
September 11, 2024
A book that has transformed my personal and professional life.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews