Youth Perspectives on Genderplay Recreation Programming: Insights and Critiques on Identity Development Theories

There is little research that details the key contributions of recreation programs that intentionally explore creativity and pleasure in the lives of queer youth. Eighteen 2SLGBTQ youth were interviewed after they participated in a genderplay workshop. Asked about their experiences, youth articulated that they garnered social assets such as access to queer community for the first time. Personal impacts included being able to use drag as a smokescreen to safely express versions of self, experiencing new parts of their personality because they were able to be vulnerable, and figuring out who they were and experiencing the resulting affirmations. Many youths in this study intentionally provoked their boundaries of comfort in an intentional effort of self-exploration. For example, cisgender-identified youth viscerally undertook a personal examination and then confirmed a cisgender identity after having considered other options; a more mature process to come to a gender or sexual identity.