Rethinking Sex and Gender

 Rethinking Sex and Gender

“Foster an educational environment that is safe and free from discrimination for all students, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

I’m glad these are explicitly named because in the federal civil rights act, these identities are not named. Protections for these individuals are not codified into law, but rather only extended by supreme court decisions, which at any point could be taken away and sent back to individual states to decide the rights of these individuals. 

“On May 13, 2016 the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education released joint guidance to help provide educators the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.”

I thought it was interesting that the Justice Department and the Education Department released joint guidance, so I went to click the link and….. 

Surprise, Surprise, it's not posted on the Department of Education’s website anymore.

“If school staff believes that a gender identity or gender expression issue is presenting itself and creating difficulty for the child in school, approaching the parent(s)/guardian(s) about the issue is appropriate at the elementary level. Together, the family and school can identify appropriate steps to support the student.”

This is really tricky because I know students can be put in danger depending on the home they are living in, if teachers disclose to parents. However, using the statistics stated earlier, we know that students who are experiencing gender dysphoria or trans youth are 3-4 times more likely to self-harm, meaning they are statistically already in more danger.  Every situation is unique, and overall, I know I want students to feel safe in school to express themselves how they want with their friends without the fear of every little thing being reported home. I can see it from the parents' perspective as well, and how they might want to know what is happening to their child while they are in our care as teachers. I was reminded of Shallaby and the freedom of students while reading through this Guidance. Ultimately, we want to keep students safe… does this mean violating the right of privacy to keep students safe? How far do we go with this? I do like that the guidance includes the clause of “creating difficulty” so that staff can contact home, but I’m conflicted, it's tricky. 

Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe variations in physical sex traits or reproductive anatomy that are present at birth or emerge spontaneously later in life, and differ from normative expectations of “male” and “female.”

I enjoyed reading through the trevor project website and really liked how they included intersex when discussing sex. So often, people only think of people in binary terms as either male or female XX or XY. The reality is that intersex individuals exist; it's just a biological fact. It reminded me of this video of a Texas senator https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0FGr0nAxd6Q