In early 2022 the Beyond Opposition team sent out the following newsletter updating our subscribers on progress during 2021. If you would like to sign up for a newsletter, you can do so here.
Thursday Jan 27th, 2020
Reflecting on 2021 and Next Steps for the Beyond Opposition Project
Dear Friends,
We are excited to share an update with you on our progress.
In 2021 our focus has been on Data Collection. Our Postdoctoral researchers have undertaken 102 interviews with people who are concerned about and/or opposed to changes in sexual and gender legislations and cultures. To date, 3612 people have started our questionnaire (or just taken a look!) and 791 have completed it.
In this issue
We would like to share our updates and exciting next steps with you. The Beyond Opposition team has continued to make links with various communities and concerned individuals in Canada, the UK, and Ireland. In this month’s newsletter find out about:
Reflections and a New Questionnaire
Exciting Next Steps
Get Involved and Help Spread the Word
Catch Up on Past Events
Reflections and a New Questionnaire
In 2021 we changed our questionnaire to reflect what people told us in 2020. We changed not only how we asked the questions but also what we asked in order to focus more on everyday lives and to allow more space for people to tell their stories.
We also changed how we describe those we want to speak to. It was clear to us from questionnaires and interviews that what people were concerned about was not the same. It was really important for people to tell us that they were different to others who were concerned about or opposed to other legislation and cultural changes. People in our research hold very different views on same sex marriage, abortion, trans/sex-based rights. Some said that they don’t want to be associated with others who hold different views to them on these areas. This is likely to be something we discuss in the findings of the project. We are interested in hearing from people who are concerned about any area covered in the research.
Whilst some in our study see themselves as activists working in public ways to challenge changes that they disagree with, others spoke to us about private fears that they couldn’t talk about with others. We are interested in hearing from people who hold these views regardless of what they do with or about them.
Exciting Next Steps
This year we will complete the data collection and start planning workshops that seek to address social polarisation around sex/gender, sexualities and abortion. We will design these workshops in early 2022, and apply for ethical approval. After this we will be looking to recruit a range of people to get involved, including those who are supportive of the changes. We will keep you up to date on when this happens. We will also let you know when findings are published.
Best wishes for 2022,
Kath
Want to know more? You can read a summary about our initial findings from interviews and questionnaire responses here. If you haven’t yet signed up for an interview or completed the questionnaire then check out the links below to participate!
Get Involved
Beyond Opposition continues to engage with participants through our online questionnaire and online interviews. These are confidential opportunities to talk about your everyday experiences. Each interview has taught us so much about unique individual experiences. We would love to hear from you!
Miss something?
Catch up on past events and what you may have missed on our website.
Read our lead researcher, Kath Browne’s opening remarks from our project launch here!
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