Exploring Mary Robertson's groundbreaking research on how contemporary queer youth are reshaping identity through fluidity, media, and community
In the early 21st century, we are witnessing a remarkable transformation in how young people understand and express their sexual and gender identities. Today's LGBTQ youth are among the first generation to embrace queer identities as children and adolescents, navigating a world where concepts of sexuality and gender are becoming increasingly fluid and complex. Mary Robertson's groundbreaking work, Growing Up Queer: Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity, offers a fascinating window into this evolving landscape through the authentic voices and experiences of queer youth themselves 1 3 .
"This research comes at a pivotal historical moment—after the repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, when same-sex marriage was gaining legal recognition, and as LGBTQ rights were increasingly entering public consciousness."
Yet despite these advances, Robertson discovered that queer adolescence remains a complex terrain of self-discovery, negotiation, and resilience 5 . Her work challenges us to look beyond simplified narratives of progress to understand the nuanced reality of what it means to grow up queer today.
Robertson employs feminist scholar Sara Ahmed's concept of queer orientation as a foundational framework for understanding contemporary LGBTQ identity formation. This perspective suggests that queerness is not merely about sexual orientation or gender identity alone but encompasses how individuals navigate social spaces and structures that often privilege heteronormativity 1 2 .
This theoretical approach helps explain why some youth who identify as LGBTQ are more readily accepted while others face continued marginalization. Robertson argues that intersecting identities—including race, class, ability, and nationality—profoundly shape how queerness is experienced and perceived 2 .
A central theoretical contribution of Robertson's work is its challenge to biological essentialism—the notion that sexual orientation is an innate, predetermined characteristic. While many youth she interviewed described their sexual desires as something that "had always been there," Robertson emphasizes the profound role of social context in shaping how these desires are understood, labeled, and expressed 2 .
This perspective does not deny the physiological dimensions of attraction but rather highlights how identity formation is a complex, ambivalent process rather than the simple unfolding of natural characteristics 3 . The young people in Robertson's study often resisted binary categories in exchange for more fluid understandings of identity that better captured their experiences 2 .
Robertson's research centered around three years of ethnographic fieldwork at Spectrum, an LGBTQ youth drop-in center located in the basement of a community resource building 1 5 .
Conducting research with vulnerable populations presents significant ethical challenges, which Robertson navigated with deliberate care.
She reflects on the difficulty of balancing "the value of sociological research, the social justice mission of the center, and the very real, lived experiences of the youth who participated in the study" 2 .
An important limitation noted in the research was the underrepresentation of cisgender women and girls at Spectrum. Robertson suggests this may be because sexual minority ciswomen don't face the same social sanctions for norm transgression as cismen, transwomen, and femme non-binary people, and thus may have less need for support services.
Additionally, she notes that "women's sexuality in general is excluded from the public and kept private in a way that men's sexuality is not," suggesting that sexism may also play a role in this pattern of participation 2 .
One of the most striking findings was the preference among many youth for the term "queer" over more traditional labels like gay or lesbian, reflecting a desire for flexibility and fluidity 5 .
Robertson discovered that youth often turned to online resources when questioning their identity, with one participant noting that "Google knows everything" about queer topics 4 .
Contrary to narratives of universal family rejection, Robertson found that family acceptance appears to be increasing, with many youth reporting supportive family responses 5 .
| Characteristic | Percentage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Youth of Color | Significant portion | Emphasis on intersectionality |
| Transgender & Non-binary | Large minority | Including genderfluid, genderqueer identities |
| Lower socioeconomic background | Variety | Center attracted diverse economic backgrounds |
| Varied religious backgrounds | Diversity | Including conservative religious upbringing |
| Range of ages (13-19) | 100% | Focus on adolescent identity formation |
| Research Tool | Function | Considerations |
|---|---|---|
| Ethnographic fieldwork | Contextual understanding of youth experiences | Power dynamics between researcher and participants |
| Life history interviews | In-depth personal narratives | Creating safe space for vulnerable disclosure |
| Participant observation | Naturalistic behavior documentation | Ethical boundaries in dual researcher/volunteer role |
| Intersectional analysis | Examining multiple identity factors | Avoiding oversimplification of complex identities |
| Feminist methodology | Attention to power structures | Researcher positionality and reflexivity |
Robertson's work has significant implications for educational practices and policies, suggesting schools should implement comprehensive sex education that includes diverse sexual orientations and gender identities 5 .
Mary Robertson's Growing Up Queer offers a powerful testament to the resilience and creativity of today's LGBTQ youth. Through their own words and experiences, we see how young people are actively reshaping queer identity in the twenty-first century—embracing fluidity, challenging binaries, and building communities that acknowledge the complex reality of their lives.
"While celebrating the progress that has been made, Robertson reminds us that social acceptance remains unevenly distributed. The growing visibility of queer identities has not eliminated the challenges faced by LGBTQ youth, particularly those who are marginalized by racism, classism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination 1 3 ."
Perhaps most importantly, this research demonstrates that identity formation is never a simple process of self-discovery but rather a complex negotiation between internal experiences and social contexts. Today's queer youth are not simply born that way—they are actively making themselves through a continuous process of exploration, reflection, and community building that challenges us all to rethink what we know about sexuality, gender, and identity itself 2 3 .
As Robertson notes, "This is what gives it so much promise" 5 . The voices of these young people offer hope for a more inclusive future while reminding us of the work that remains to be done to ensure that all youth can grow up queer in a world that celebrates rather than tolerates their identities.