Introduction
On this page you can learn about the research, including information About the Research Project, the Ethos of the Project and About the Researchers.
You can also find out more on our Frequently Asked Questions page.
About the Research Project
The project was based at University College Dublin. The principal investigator was Professor Kath Browne (University College Dublin). The project was funded by the European Research Council, and it did not have any affiliation with any organisations.
This research project looked at the experiences of people who were concerned about or opposed to legislative, political or social changes in relation to sexualities and sex/gender in the 21st century in Ireland, Canada, and the UK. This included, for example, people who believed that marriage should only occur between men and women and/or that families should be based on a heterosexual union. It also included those who were concerned about the legalisation of abortion and/or people who disagreed with, or questioned, transgender inclusion policies.
Through the online questionnaire and interviews, a key project aim was to examine what everyday life was like for those who, for example, had concerns about, or who objected to, issues like same-sex marriage, transgender people’s access to specific spaces, gay couples having children, abortion and other recent changes to the law in Ireland, Great Britain and Canada.
Interviews and questionnaires explored what impact, if any, participants’ views had on their experiences of home, work and public spaces.
The data gathered in the first phase of the project provided insights into legislative, political or social changes in relation to sexualities, sex/gender and/ or abortion. We analysed this data to understand how society had transformed and how those who were concerned about or opposed to certain legislative, political or social changes in relation to gender, sexualities and/ or abortion experienced this.
In the second phase of the project, researchers organised discussion groups and workshops to bring together people with multiple different perspectives on socio-political changes in relation to sexualities, sex/ gender, and/ or abortion. These workshops considered how we might address social polarisation, without seeking to change one another’s minds.
Ethos of the Project
Overall this project was about addressing social polarisation by looking at how we might move beyond opposition. The project aimed to explore new ways of understanding differences and develop our knowledge about the effects of sexual and gender changes in the 21st century, and further, to explore how we might work across difference and interact with each other differently.
At the time of this project, there was little research about the experiences of people who are concerned about or opposed to legislative, political or social changes in relation to sexualities, sex/ gender, and/ or abortion (such as same sex marriage, transgender people’s inclusion policies, and sex education at school that includes things like gender identities). In Phase One of the research, researchers interviewed people who held concerns or opposed these political or social changes (phase one: interviews and questionnaires). Phase Two (discussion groups/workshops) brought together people with different positions on these issues to investigate how to live together across difference. We focused on Canada, Great Britain and Ireland as places experiencing extensive legislative changes in these areas in the previous two decades.
We are academics who believe in respecting people’s lives and experiences and reporting them as they tell us. We did not seek to change the opinions of those who were involved in the research, indeed these views, values or beliefs were not the focus of the study. Instead we were interested in everyday experiences; in other words, what happens when people are going about their lives and find that they are confronted with people or situations that challenge their values.
A key goal was to understand how societal changes were experienced from as diverse a set of perspectives as possible. We worked to ensure that we collect people’s experiences in as professional an environment as possible. We sought to cultivate respectful engagement across diverse opinions so we could gain a greater understanding of how sexual and gender issues play out in everyday life.
We looked across a range of people and took considerable time to analyse the data, to gain an understanding of these experiences, and the similarities and differences between them. At times, we used participant’s own words to explain our findings and to show how people spoke about their experiences. We also showed how people understand or do things differently. We did not stereotype or demean.
The research sought to respectfully investigate difference and we reported the findings carefully. However, we recognise that we cannot control how other people take up our findings and use them. We will work to correct any inaccuracies and present the ethos of respectful engagement with difference.
We used our best efforts, through our privacy and ethics policies, to create a space that allowed participants to discuss their experiences without being named (unless they wanted to be), and we did not share any of their personal details outside of the project. We did not deposit our data in academic archives outside the project without expressly consulting with people who consented to us keeping their personal data. This means that other academics will not have access to the raw data, rather they can only access our reports, academic publications, blogs and other publications from the research. Please read our FAQs, our Privacy Policy, our Participant Information Sheet.
About the Researchers
Prof. Kath Browne
Professor Browne was the PI on this research; professor in Geography at the University College Dublin. Her work investigates sexual and gender equalities, most recently through exploring how these are resisted by what she and Professor Nash have described as ‘heteroactivism’.
Prof. Catherine Nash
Dr. Catherine Jean Nash, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Brock University. Her research interests include geographies of sexuality/queer/ feminist and trans geographies, mobilities and digital technologies.
Dr. Katie Young
Katie Young, Assistant Professor of Cultural Geography at Concordia University, Canada. Her research explores experiences of everyday life in Ireland, Ghana, and Canada. Her work has focussed on the intersections of everyday space and media, everyday experiences of music, and how people navigate everyday spaces through sound, including listening practices.
Dr. Carol Ballantine
Dr. Carol Ballantine, a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at University College Dublin. Her research to date has focused on gender, violence and migration, using feminist, narrative and creative approaches.
Dr. Andrew McCartan
Dr. Andrew McCartan, a postdoctoral researcher at University College Dublin. He is interested in queer geographies, theories, and methodologies, and his research to date has focused on examining the mutually constitutive relationship between space, place, sexualities, and genders through activisms and social movements.