Thomas J Billard
Biographic Data
| ID | 4394067 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas J Billard |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas J |
| FAMILY NAME | Billard |
| SIGNATURE | BILLARD T J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northwestern University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0641-9278 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 79 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Pervasive Ambiguity About Gender: Quantifying the Cognitive and Affect Experience of Disorientation Related to Changing Understandings of Gender in Society
This article introduces the concept of pervasive ambiguity about gender to illuminate how individuals experience the destabilization of gender norms in contemporary society. Specifically, it considers how the increasing visibility of transgender and nonbinary identities, alongside broader transformations in the social organization of gender, have unsettled once-stable gender schemas. For many people, this change has produced a sense of pervasive …
The parent trap: The roles of parent status and pervasive ambiguity about gender in public opinion on transgender rights in the United States
The rights of transgender youth have become a defining site of cultural and political conflict in the United States, with parents increasingly positioned as moral and political arbiters. Using nationally representative data from Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, this study examines how parent status and alternative media use shape attitudes toward transgender rights. Parents – especially those with pubescent or adolescent children – ex…
Combating anti-transgender misinformation: A sociological approach
The Politics of Transgender Health Misinformation
Designing Trust: Design Style, Political Ideology, and Trust in “Fake” News Websites
Assessments of the trustworthiness of news outlets necessarily implicate visual design. The design of the newspaper has been a hallmark of its credibility; a newspaper looks trustworthy. But the relationship between design and trust is more complicated in a digital era. Agents of mis- and dis-information produce “fake” news outlets that look trustworthy, appropriating the design qualities of credible news outlets. This article brings together lit…
Gender-Critical” Discourse as Disinformation: Unpacking Terf Strategies of Political Communication
1). In contrast, misinformation refers to generally incorrect information that is spread without malicious intent.3 In this article, I maintain a focus on debates over trans girls and women, who are the central objects of TERF political attacks. Such a focus also allows a degree of analytic clarity in such a short piece, in which I cannot disentangle the web of complex social relations implicated in TERF politics. However, it is important to note…
The Origins and Development of the National Transgender Rights Movement in the United States of America
This article examines the emergence of a national transgender rights movement in the United States in the latter half of the twentieth and first decade of the twenty-first century. Drawing on newly available materials from the Trans Equality Archive at the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, DC, this study shows that the transgender movement has been neither wholly independent of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LG…
Together We Rise: The Role of Communication and Community Connectedness in Transgender Citizens’ Civic Engagement in the United States
This study examines the influences of online communication, in-person socialization, and degree of community connectedness on transgender citizens’ political participation in the United States. Drawing on the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, we find that while demographics, socioeconomic status, and political self-efficacy contributed to individuals’ civic engagement and political campaign contribution, community connectedness was the single largest…
Deciding what’s (sharable) news: Social movement organizations as curating actors in the political information system
News is often sourced not directly from journalistic outlets, but from various actors that “curate” content into individuals' information networks. Although these curating actors impact the news individuals receive, little is known about their behind-the-scenes curatorial decision-making. Addressing this gap, I isolated one kind of curating actor in the flow of political information: social movement organizations. Drawing on an ethnographic case …
(Re)making “Transgender” Identities in Global Media and Popular Culture
This chapter explores representations of gender-variant identities in global media, analyzing the ambivalent tension between the “Westernization” of endogenous identity categories and the development of cross-national/-cultural modes of identification. While the remaking of endogenous gender identities in a Euroamerican model involves familiar dynamics of cultural imperialism, it simultaneously makes nonnormative gender identities legible in a gl…
Movement–Media Relations in the Hybrid Media System: A Case Study from the U.S. Transgender Rights Movement
Whereas social movement–media relations were, in the era of mass media, a dialogic relationship of mutual, albeit asymmetric, dependency between news makers and social movement organizations, the hybridization of the media system has complicated matters considerably. The dialogic tensions that drove organizations’ access to the political information environment have been supplanted by new tensions—tensions that have transformed organizations’ med…
Networked political brands: Consumption, community and political expression in contemporary brand culture
This article synthesises theory from the fields of marketing and communication to understand how the practices and outcomes of branding have evolved into systems of symbolic expression and community building. Through an exploration of parallel theoretical models of branding and mass communication, we posit a new theory of ‘networked branding’ that better takes into account how communicative power is distributed within a brand culture that is heav…
Attitudes Toward Transgender Men and Women: Development and Validation of a New Measure
A series of three studies were conducted to generate, develop, and validate the Attitudes toward Transgender Men and Women (ATTMW) scale. In Study 1, 120 American adults responded to an open-ended questionnaire probing various dimensions of their perceptions of transgender individuals and identity. Qualitative thematic analysis generated 200 items based on their responses. In Study 2, 238 American adults completed a questionnaire consisting of th…
The Crisis in Content Validity Among Existing Measures of Transphobia
Writing in the Margins: Mainstream News Media Representations of Transgenderism
This study examines representations of transgender individuals and identity in mainstream American newspapers in an effort to understand the extent to which the transgender community is legitimized or delegitimized by news media. To do so, 200 articles from 13 of the 25 most circulated daily newspapers in the United States were coded for the presence or absence of Legitimacy Indicators. The study finds that mainstream newspaper coverage of the tr…
Setting the transgender agenda: Intermedia Agenda-Setting in the Digital News Environment
Transgender issues have recently emerged as highly salient topics of political contestation in the United States. This paper investigates one relevant factor in that ascent: intermedia agenda-setting between digital-native and legacy press news. Through a content analysis of the top-five digital-native and top-five legacy press online news entities from 2014 to 2015, we investigate the dynamics of intermedia agenda-setting in the context of trans…
On the Boundaries of Framing Terrorism: Guilt, Victimization, and the 2016 Orlando Shooting
The 2016 Orlando shooting offers an intriguing lens through which to evaluate the boundaries of media frames in the interpretation of terrorism. Using an experimental design (N = 243), the current study investigated the effects of two dominant frames—the homophobic hate crime and the Islamic terrorist frame—on collective guilt, collective victimization, and pro–lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) political action. In addition, …
Transgender communication studies: Histories, trends, and trajectories
Leland G. Spencer and Jamie C. Capuzza faced a mammoth task in assembling Transgender Communication Studies: to synthesize and contribute to an area of inquiry only just beginning to define itself as separate from gay and lesbian studies. The volume, which sits at the intersection of two broad and diverse fields of study—communication and transgender studies—confronts this challenge by casting a wide net across the field of communication and enga…
Writing in the Margins: Mainstream News Media Representations of Transgenderism
This study examines representations of transgender individuals and identity in mainstream American newspapers in an effort to understand the extent to which the transgender community is legitimized or delegitimized by news media. To do so, 200 articles from 13 of the 25 most circulated daily newspapers in the United States were coded for the presence or absence of Legitimacy Indicators. The study finds that mainstream newspaper coverage of the tr…
Gender-Critical” Discourse as Disinformation: Unpacking Terf Strategies of Political Communication
1). In contrast, misinformation refers to generally incorrect information that is spread without malicious intent.3 In this article, I maintain a focus on debates over trans girls and women, who are the central objects of TERF political attacks. Such a focus also allows a degree of analytic clarity in such a short piece, in which I cannot disentangle the web of complex social relations implicated in TERF politics. However, it is important to note…
Transgender communication studies: Histories, trends, and trajectories
Leland G. Spencer and Jamie C. Capuzza faced a mammoth task in assembling Transgender Communication Studies: to synthesize and contribute to an area of inquiry only just beginning to define itself as separate from gay and lesbian studies. The volume, which sits at the intersection of two broad and diverse fields of study—communication and transgender studies—confronts this challenge by casting a wide net across the field of communication and enga…
Setting the transgender agenda: Intermedia Agenda-Setting in the Digital News Environment
Transgender issues have recently emerged as highly salient topics of political contestation in the United States. This paper investigates one relevant factor in that ascent: intermedia agenda-setting between digital-native and legacy press news. Through a content analysis of the top-five digital-native and top-five legacy press online news entities from 2014 to 2015, we investigate the dynamics of intermedia agenda-setting in the context of trans…
The Politics of Transgender Health Misinformation
Deciding what’s (sharable) news: Social movement organizations as curating actors in the political information system
News is often sourced not directly from journalistic outlets, but from various actors that “curate” content into individuals' information networks. Although these curating actors impact the news individuals receive, little is known about their behind-the-scenes curatorial decision-making. Addressing this gap, I isolated one kind of curating actor in the flow of political information: social movement organizations. Drawing on an ethnographic case …
Movement–Media Relations in the Hybrid Media System: A Case Study from the U.S. Transgender Rights Movement
Whereas social movement–media relations were, in the era of mass media, a dialogic relationship of mutual, albeit asymmetric, dependency between news makers and social movement organizations, the hybridization of the media system has complicated matters considerably. The dialogic tensions that drove organizations’ access to the political information environment have been supplanted by new tensions—tensions that have transformed organizations’ med…
On the Boundaries of Framing Terrorism: Guilt, Victimization, and the 2016 Orlando Shooting
The 2016 Orlando shooting offers an intriguing lens through which to evaluate the boundaries of media frames in the interpretation of terrorism. Using an experimental design (N = 243), the current study investigated the effects of two dominant frames—the homophobic hate crime and the Islamic terrorist frame—on collective guilt, collective victimization, and pro–lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) political action. In addition, …
The Crisis in Content Validity Among Existing Measures of Transphobia
Together We Rise: The Role of Communication and Community Connectedness in Transgender Citizens’ Civic Engagement in the United States
This study examines the influences of online communication, in-person socialization, and degree of community connectedness on transgender citizens’ political participation in the United States. Drawing on the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, we find that while demographics, socioeconomic status, and political self-efficacy contributed to individuals’ civic engagement and political campaign contribution, community connectedness was the single largest…
Transgender communication studies: Histories, trends, and trajectories
Leland G. Spencer and Jamie C. Capuzza faced a mammoth task in assembling Transgender Communication Studies: to synthesize and contribute to an area of inquiry only just beginning to define itself as separate from gay and lesbian studies. The volume, which sits at the intersection of two broad and diverse fields of study—communication and transgender studies—confronts this challenge by casting a wide net across the field of communication and enga…
On the Boundaries of Framing Terrorism: Guilt, Victimization, and the 2016 Orlando Shooting
The 2016 Orlando shooting offers an intriguing lens through which to evaluate the boundaries of media frames in the interpretation of terrorism. Using an experimental design (N = 243), the current study investigated the effects of two dominant frames—the homophobic hate crime and the Islamic terrorist frame—on collective guilt, collective victimization, and pro–lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) political action. In addition, …
Attitudes Toward Transgender Men and Women: Development and Validation of a New Measure
A series of three studies were conducted to generate, develop, and validate the Attitudes toward Transgender Men and Women (ATTMW) scale. In Study 1, 120 American adults responded to an open-ended questionnaire probing various dimensions of their perceptions of transgender individuals and identity. Qualitative thematic analysis generated 200 items based on their responses. In Study 2, 238 American adults completed a questionnaire consisting of th…
The Crisis in Content Validity Among Existing Measures of Transphobia
Writing in the Margins: Mainstream News Media Representations of Transgenderism
This study examines representations of transgender individuals and identity in mainstream American newspapers in an effort to understand the extent to which the transgender community is legitimized or delegitimized by news media. To do so, 200 articles from 13 of the 25 most circulated daily newspapers in the United States were coded for the presence or absence of Legitimacy Indicators. The study finds that mainstream newspaper coverage of the tr…
Setting the transgender agenda: Intermedia Agenda-Setting in the Digital News Environment
Transgender issues have recently emerged as highly salient topics of political contestation in the United States. This paper investigates one relevant factor in that ascent: intermedia agenda-setting between digital-native and legacy press news. Through a content analysis of the top-five digital-native and top-five legacy press online news entities from 2014 to 2015, we investigate the dynamics of intermedia agenda-setting in the context of trans…
(Re)making “Transgender” Identities in Global Media and Popular Culture
This chapter explores representations of gender-variant identities in global media, analyzing the ambivalent tension between the “Westernization” of endogenous identity categories and the development of cross-national/-cultural modes of identification. While the remaking of endogenous gender identities in a Euroamerican model involves familiar dynamics of cultural imperialism, it simultaneously makes nonnormative gender identities legible in a gl…
Movement–Media Relations in the Hybrid Media System: A Case Study from the U.S. Transgender Rights Movement
Whereas social movement–media relations were, in the era of mass media, a dialogic relationship of mutual, albeit asymmetric, dependency between news makers and social movement organizations, the hybridization of the media system has complicated matters considerably. The dialogic tensions that drove organizations’ access to the political information environment have been supplanted by new tensions—tensions that have transformed organizations’ med…
Networked political brands: Consumption, community and political expression in contemporary brand culture
This article synthesises theory from the fields of marketing and communication to understand how the practices and outcomes of branding have evolved into systems of symbolic expression and community building. Through an exploration of parallel theoretical models of branding and mass communication, we posit a new theory of ‘networked branding’ that better takes into account how communicative power is distributed within a brand culture that is heav…
Together We Rise: The Role of Communication and Community Connectedness in Transgender Citizens’ Civic Engagement in the United States
This study examines the influences of online communication, in-person socialization, and degree of community connectedness on transgender citizens’ political participation in the United States. Drawing on the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, we find that while demographics, socioeconomic status, and political self-efficacy contributed to individuals’ civic engagement and political campaign contribution, community connectedness was the single largest…
Deciding what’s (sharable) news: Social movement organizations as curating actors in the political information system
News is often sourced not directly from journalistic outlets, but from various actors that “curate” content into individuals' information networks. Although these curating actors impact the news individuals receive, little is known about their behind-the-scenes curatorial decision-making. Addressing this gap, I isolated one kind of curating actor in the flow of political information: social movement organizations. Drawing on an ethnographic case …
Designing Trust: Design Style, Political Ideology, and Trust in “Fake” News Websites
Assessments of the trustworthiness of news outlets necessarily implicate visual design. The design of the newspaper has been a hallmark of its credibility; a newspaper looks trustworthy. But the relationship between design and trust is more complicated in a digital era. Agents of mis- and dis-information produce “fake” news outlets that look trustworthy, appropriating the design qualities of credible news outlets. This article brings together lit…
Gender-Critical” Discourse as Disinformation: Unpacking Terf Strategies of Political Communication
1). In contrast, misinformation refers to generally incorrect information that is spread without malicious intent.3 In this article, I maintain a focus on debates over trans girls and women, who are the central objects of TERF political attacks. Such a focus also allows a degree of analytic clarity in such a short piece, in which I cannot disentangle the web of complex social relations implicated in TERF politics. However, it is important to note…
The Origins and Development of the National Transgender Rights Movement in the United States of America
This article examines the emergence of a national transgender rights movement in the United States in the latter half of the twentieth and first decade of the twenty-first century. Drawing on newly available materials from the Trans Equality Archive at the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, DC, this study shows that the transgender movement has been neither wholly independent of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LG…
The Politics of Transgender Health Misinformation
Pervasive Ambiguity About Gender: Quantifying the Cognitive and Affect Experience of Disorientation Related to Changing Understandings of Gender in Society
This article introduces the concept of pervasive ambiguity about gender to illuminate how individuals experience the destabilization of gender norms in contemporary society. Specifically, it considers how the increasing visibility of transgender and nonbinary identities, alongside broader transformations in the social organization of gender, have unsettled once-stable gender schemas. For many people, this change has produced a sense of pervasive …
The parent trap: The roles of parent status and pervasive ambiguity about gender in public opinion on transgender rights in the United States
The rights of transgender youth have become a defining site of cultural and political conflict in the United States, with parents increasingly positioned as moral and political arbiters. Using nationally representative data from Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, this study examines how parent status and alternative media use shape attitudes toward transgender rights. Parents – especially those with pubescent or adolescent children – ex…
Combating anti-transgender misinformation: A sociological approach
Sociology (13 works) · Transgender (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Politics (11 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Public relations (7 works) · Law (6 works)