Academic

What?s the World Coming To, Part II

By Kathy Stanchi

In addition to gay marriage, gay soldiers and unisex bathrooms comes the fourth horseman: transgendered elementary school students. A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer told of a school district in the suburbs that had called a school assembly to help third grade students understand and accept that one of their classmates would be wearing girls? clothes and answering to a girl?s name. It was certainly heartening to hear that most of the children who knew the child in question received the information with a somewhat blasé shrug of the shoulders, but, not surprisingly, some of their parents were less accepting. I suppose that this means that many of the children will soon absorb their parents? prejudices, which is a shame. Some parents posted outraged comments on the local blog and there was an editorial in the Inquirer in which the author said she would ?pray? for the transgendered child, but also suggested that the transgendered child be home-schooled (yes, that?s right, alienate her and isolate her, that?s what Jesus would do).

I was pleasantly shocked that a suburban school district in Pennsylvania would take such a healthy, tolerant and informed approach, even happier that the child has parents who seem to care so deeply for her and are willing to accept her for who she is. I don?t think this would have happened 20 years ago, much to the detriment of the child in question. Apparently, the school district officials consulted psychologists and a transgender organization, TransYouth Family Allies, to help them devise the assembly. 

On the local blog, one parent astutely pointed out that most people have no problem with girls wearing pants, which used to be considered ?boys clothes.? Indeed, the word ?tomboy? is becoming an arcane term as the accepted behavior for girls widens. But the same expansion of acceptable behavior hasn?t happened for boys ? for some reason (hmmm, what could it be?) it doesn?t sit right with some parents to have a biological boy come to school in a dress.  Most parents who opposed the assembly seemed concerned that their children could not understand gender issues at such a tender age ? an argument that seems to me to support the idea of an educational assembly, as opposed to looking the other way and hoping no one notices.

Overall, I believe that the tolerant and educational approach of the school district signals an evolution in our thinking about gender, a broadening of acceptable dress, behavior and naming for people of all genders, and a rejection of a rigid binary approach to gender. But it is pretty clear that some people will refuse to evolve.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 22, 2008 (boomark / email).