GENDER IDENTITY
onfusion
teachers in the UK will be faced by the problems posed by cross-gender adolescents in the classroom. And problems there are. Part and parcel of both
respecting and testing a young person’s commitment to a cross-gender identity is to allow – ideally to support – the child’s exploration of the realities of living in the opposite gender: moving towards cross-dressing, for example, or participating in cross- gender activities, being treated as a member of the opposite sex. Often, professionals prefer such explorations to
begin before giving hormonal treatment, let alone surgery, to be sure that this is what the individual wants. It would be hard to exaggerate the challenges faced by – or the sheer courage – of an individual who has lived as a boy turning up to school now dressed and demanding to be treated as a girl, or vice-versa.
What can schools do?
How should schools respond to gender reassignment in adolescence? All the evidence from science and medicine shows
that GID is a real, serious, even (through its strong association with suicide) life-threatening situation. There is no doubt that individuals in this situation
deserve and need compassion and support from schools; but how to go about it? This is not an area to be tackled by a family or a
school alone. All sorts of complex issues arise. For example: • How best to prepare school mates of a cross-gender change – what do others need to know, and what should be private?
• How best to manage the risks of bullying and social rejection, stigma and scorn from the community?
• How should the change be presented to the world?
The Tavistock Centre recommends that all such
issues should be addressed in a liaison between the cross-gender individual, the family, the school, the local services and the medical and psychological team working with the adolescent. A team approach to a cross-gender transition is
obviously wise. But there is something that schools could surely do, in advance of actually experiencing
SecEd • March 25 2010
such a transition in their own community – and that is to lay the groundwork for tolerance. Anything out of the ordinary runs the risk of
provoking bullying and social rejection, but what excites such reactions most is the unfamiliar event which we do not understand. Just as attitudes to homosexuality have been
radically changed by demystification and familiarity, so open discussion of GID and the life experiences of trans-sexuals could surely open minds to a greater tolerance of gender transitions. And in fact, there is a natural context for such
discussions in our society today. It is not just those with GID who are confused about what it means to be a man or a woman in our post-feminist modern society: surely there are anxieties in this area for a great many of the young – anxieties which are as risky to expose as a cross-gender identity. Bringing issues about the nature of gender identity
into the open may benefit all, rather than just the few with GID.
SecEd
• Dr Stephanie Thornton, a chartered psychologist, is a former a lecturer in psychology and child development.
Key points:
• Science and medicine combine to emphasise that feeling that one has been born into the wrong gender is a real and wretched problem.
• Such feelings typically begin in early childhood. Professional opinion progressively favours early intervention, supporting cross-gender transitions in adolescence.
• For the school, a team approach is mandatory for such a delicate situation, involving the adolescent, family, school, local services, doctors and psychologists.
• But schools offer a further possibility. Gender identity is not just a problem for cross-gender individuals: as male and female roles change in our society, it raises puzzles and anxieties for all children, and indeed all of society. Bringing all these confusions into open discussion may serve the many, as well as reducing the difficulties for the cross-gender few.
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