Paper Prepint Disponible | Cecilia Calero, Darío Judzik y Veronica Stewart

Gender Essentialism Among Adolescents

Se encuentra disponible el preprint del artículo "Gender Essentialism Among Adolescents: Comparative Analysis of Essentialist Beliefs About Sex and Gender Norms in LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ Secondary Students", elaborado por Cecilia Calero, profesora full-time de la Escuela de Gobierno (UTDT); Darío Judzik, decano ejecutivo de la Escuela de Gobierno (UTDT); y Verónica Stewart, graduada en la Maestría en Políticas Educativas del Área de Educación de la Escuela de Gobierno (UTDT). Este trabajo busca relevar población LGBTQ+ en escuelas secundarias de CABA y evaluar el grado de esencialismo que presentan estudiantes LGBTQ+ y no LGBTQ+. Accedé al preprint aquí.

Abstract: Gender essentialism, the belief that gender traits are innate and immutable, plays a critical role in shaping societal norms. Although research has focused on how essentialist beliefs develop, little is known about modulation across diverse gender expressions and partner preferences, particularly during adolescence. This study aimed to explore essentialist beliefs, using a novel self-reported questionary, in LGBTQ+ adolescents compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers, (n=1037; ages 16–18). Results showed that LGBTQ+ represent 25% of students and this group showed significantly lower gender essentialism than their peers. However, all adolescents were influenced by prevailing societal expectations. These findings highlight the importance of understanding how gender essentialism operates within vulnerable populations and suggest potential implications for promoting gender equality in educational settings.