This week is national transgender awareness week. Throughout the week BISW will be raising awareness to issues faced by the transgender community and highlighting ways we, as a community, can help.
What does it mean to be Transgender?
Being transgender is a form of gender identity that describes people who don't identify or associate themselves with their sex assigned at birth. Those who identify with their sex assigned at birth are otherwise known as “cis” gendered people. The concept of not identifying with one's assigned gender can be difficult to grasp by cis people as they don’t deal with the feeling of being uncomfortable with the identity that was handed to them. However, the aim of Transgender Awareness Week is to listen to members of the transgender community and find out how we can assist them.
The two most spoken about example of being transgender is male to female and female to male. If we take the example of male to female this describes a person who’s assigned sex at birth was male however they are, and identify as, female. It is important to note that gender is a spectrum with those falling on either end of the gender binary male and female. A subset of being transgender are those who are non-binary. Non binary refers to a spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine identities that are outside the gender binary.
BISW’s transgender awareness week
In order to celebrate Transgender Awareness Week Britt Oranje, Student Body President and leader of awareness campaigns worked in collaboration with the school counselor, Devon DeCataldo, to bring this week to fruition.
I sat with Britt and asked her a bit more about Transgender Awareness Week at BISW
When asked why this was one of the initiatives, she worked on Britt said, “raising awareness of more topics like such helps to make the school even more open minded and accepting than it already is.” While the school is incredibly open-minded and accepting both Britt and Miss DeCataldo believe it is vital for the school community to be aware of issues facing a range of communities and intend to spend this year amplifying diverse voices.
One of the events Britt says she is excited about is a presentation in collaboration with Charly De Wit and Leo Karlson-Westin addressing gender identity, the adversities faced by the transgender community and what we can do to help. She said “I have been working with Miss DeCataldo to make this presentation as informative as possible to help raise awareness. We believe that it is very important”
Another initiative I worked in tandem with Britt on was raising awareness surrounding pronouns and putting them in emails and bio’s on social media. This initiative is important in promoting the normalization of asking for pronouns as pronouns are a crucial part of gender identitfy and self-expression. Providing pronouns in emails, bios of social medias and when introducing yourself normalizes the use of a range of pronouns and no longer assuming somebody’s gender identity based on how they present themselves.
Both Miss DeCataldo and Britt are excited for this upcoming week to educate and support the BISW community.
Gender in the English Language
While we, at BISW, can do as much as possible to make the school a safe environment for the transgender and gender fluid community we have to address the inherent and societal gender bias in the English language.
I sat and talked to the Head of the English Department Catherine Yates. She said the concept of having societally gendered terms is a phenomenon called the “marked term”.
Unlike French or Spanish that have actual feminine and masculine conjugations the issue that is faced in English is the societal interpretation of words. In French we see words have feminine or masculine versions e.g. the word “charming” when referring to a man you say “charmant” and when referring to a woman you say “charmante”. By adding the ‘e’ you are making it feminine.
However, in English we do not have that equivalent. Instead we live in a predominantly cis gendered society that has made words gendered. for example: actor and actress, nurse and male nurse. Miss yates discussed with me that there is nothing inherently gendered about the term “nurse” but through society’s perception of the word “nurse” has become viewed as a feminine job. This causing us to have to make the distinction between nurse and male nurse.
This very gendered outlook and use of the English language makes it a hard space for gender fluid people to feel comfortable as there are no gender-neutral equivalents to these words.
While there is no immediate solution to this engrained gendered language events such as transgender awareness week aid in the normalization of the situation
Charly De Wit Interview
I spoke to year 13 student, Charly De Wit, who is female to male transgender man who shared his views on the importance of this week.
He said “I think talking about the gender norms that we've created within society and how we push gender stereotypes onto the different genders is an important conversation to be had. Also, society should accept transgender people, as coming out, self-acceptance and dealing with dysphoria can be quite hard already.”
While these conversations are important to push forward, I asked Charly what we in the BISW community can do to promote transgender visibility all year. “stopping the normalization of gender stereotypes would be a good start! Gender stereotypes can cause a lot of anxiety for transgender people just coming out and getting rid of these stereotypes can really help lessen the anxiety. If you're unsure of a person's gender, ask them politely instead of assuming and accidentally misgendering them.”
Charly highlights again the importance of pronouns and how providing your pronouns in emails and bios as well as respectfully asking for them will help make this a safer space for transgender and gender fluid folks and ensure no one’s gender identity is assumed. These not only save you from awkward encounters with new people but also allow you to be more respectful.
- Minna Abdel-Gawad
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