+ I


t’s been a long time since we sepa- rated boys from girls in the school yard, but my mother can remember the two distinct sides of the play- ground at her childhood school: one for boys, one for girls. You can still read the labels carved into


the masonry above the doors of the sepa- rate boys’ and girls’ entrances of many old schools. Any educator today would likely agree that that division was misguided and harmful. Yet, these divisions linger. Tey per- meate our culture and our classrooms. Tese divisions are absolutely detrimental to the well-being of transgender and gender expan- sive students; however, gender divisions are damaging to everyone. I hated elementary school. I was a trans,


non-binary kid, although I didn’t know that at the time. I fit in nowhere and suffered bul- lying and ostracization. I was assigned fe- male at birth and didn’t have any major body dysmorphia, but I definitely knew that girl was not my gender. Although I felt mostly like a boy, I had no desire to be limited to the male gender norms either. I was constantly misgendered, which, even before I knew why, always hurt. Being seen and treated as a girl felt as if I was constantly being ridiculed, like being forced to wear a costume that was uncomfortable and humiliating, but I didn’t have the language to explain my gender. While I certainly had other privileges, the


repetitive trauma of living as a non-binary person in a cis-heteronormative world had long-term effects, such as anxiety and low self-esteem, and denial of my true self until adulthood. Tese symptoms are not uncom- mon for queer folks. What’s worse is that we are made to feel as if we are the ones with the


ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 31


PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE COUSINS


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