M or F? Gender, Identity, and the Transformative Research Paradigm

Analyzing museum research data on the basis of a male or female distinction has the potential to create misleading findings about the subject being researched, can perpetuate bias against individuals who do not conform to heterosexual orthodoxy and, most importantly, reveals an institutional homophobia that discriminates against LGBTQ participants in the research. This paper considers the power and privilege of the researcher and choices of specific paradigms that can be engaged when creating museum audience research to limit the ongoing marginalization of the LGBTQ community. It does so through the application of the philosophical assumptions associated with a transformative paradigm that recognizes that realities are socially constructed through the experience of political, cultural, economic, and identity values. The transformative paradigm provides a mechanism for addressing the complexities of LGBTQ identity in cultural institutions.