Revising the Canon: The Need for Expansive Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality in Speech Science Research and Pedagogy

Purpose: Recent scholarship suggests that acoustic-phonetic variation and its perceptual representation cannot be understood through a traditional gender binary or assumption of straight sexual orientation. However, there is still limited representation of gender and sexually diverse (GSD) perspectives in speech science research and educational resources. This review article argues for the incorporation of a more expansive view of gender and sexuality into research paradigms and classroom teaching, which is essential for capturing rich sociophonetic variation and promoting justice for these underrepresented and often marginalized communities. Method: The first section of this review article provides an overview of GSD perspectives and their implications for acoustic-phonetic variation. The second section examines the representation of GSD in speech science textbooks. An informal survey was conducted to identify three commonly used textbooks in communication sciences and disorders speech science courses. For each text, references pertaining to so-called “normative” acoustic-phonetic data were reviewed for participant demographics, including sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Participant demographic characteristics are summarized. The third section of this review article provides resources and strategies for increasing representation of GSD persons in research and pedagogy. Conclusions: A pervasive disregard of GSD persons was found in the acoustic-phonetic literature on which much of our existing knowledge and practice in communication sciences and disorders is based. Results emphasize the need for greater GSD representation in acoustic-phonetic research and pedagogy. Gender and sexually affirming pedagogical tools and practices are presented that can promote equitable representation of these diverse communities in communication sciences and disorders.