https://padlet.com/jamieacutter/awqyrss3mow23s89 Have a question but you don't feel comfortable asking it in front of others? This is your space to anonymously ask questions you have. Feel free to ask a question even if we haven't gotten to that content yet. Choose the topic and then write your question in the "Title" part of the box and I will write the answer down in the content section. en-us 2020-10-06 00:13:59 UTC 2022-06-20 00:28:15 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f308.png nancywillard https://padlet.com/jamieacutter/awqyrss3mow23s89/wish/1443933252 Excellent question! This is also something we will talk more about during our Teaching Inclusive Sex Education training.

Short answer: 
Do not separate students by sex or gender during instruction. Do offer separate opportunities for students to meet with others of the same gender identity to ask questions or get more information (such as in a breakout room or after school setting). 

Long answer: 
Separating students by gender (or the gender you think they are) only reinforces the harmful effects of the gender binary and the idea that there are a) only two genders and b) that men and women are so different that they need different instruction, space, etc. 

Separating students by gender also forces students to choose a gender and/or be placed with the gender the instructor believes them to be. The School Success and Opportunity Act (AB 1266) requires that schools allow students to participate in any and all sex-segregated activities according to their gender identity, regardless of their assigned gender. This would allow students to join the group that best aligns with their gender identity. However, not all students are going to feel safe and comfortable bringing this to the instructor's attention, and there is court precedent that a student's constitutional right to privacy includes the privacy to not be outed as transgender (or any LGBTQIA+ identity). There are a lot of reasons to not separate folks by gender. 

I am asked this question a lot by teachers and school administrators, and it is  often the question that causes the most anxiety for educators. Most schools have historically (and continue to) separated students by gender for puberty instruction in elementary school, and still often separate them for sex education at higher grade levels. What I tell folks is to ask themselves what the goal of separating groups by gender is. Do you (or does the curriculum) believe that there are certain topics that are best for or only appropriate for boys or girls? Why is that? Could all students benefit from hearing all information ? Are you trying to create a more comfortable environment for learning? Good classroom management and a skillful teacher should be able to create a classroom that feels comfortable and safe for everyone to learn (consider we don't separate students by race, class, religion, etc for other topics that are sensitive, nor do we separate students by gender for any other school topics, or adults by gender in most any scenario). Are you trying to create affinity groups to foster camaraderie or shared experience? Is a sex education class the best place to achieve this, and is gender the best affinity to separate by? 

If the goal is to allow students a comfortable and safe place to talk about their own bodies and experiences, consider teaching all students all content inclusively and then provide
 opportunities to meet with students in groups by gender (offer a male/masc, female/femme, and nonbinary groups) to ask more intimate follow-up questions. Be sure to allow students to choose whatever group they feel aligned to, and make this optional so no one is required to choose a group. 

Because our society so strictly adheres to the gender binary, our young people have often been socialized to think of boys and girls as different and separate, even needing separate education. It's important to start undoing this work and creating spaces where all students feel comfortable. I hear over and over from students, both cisgender and transgender, how uncomfortable sex and gender segregated learning experiences can be. This can be quite traumatic for trans students in particular. 

]]> 2021-04-21 18:10:09 UTC https://padlet.com/jamieacutter/awqyrss3mow23s89/wish/1443933252 jamieacutter https://padlet.com/jamieacutter/awqyrss3mow23s89/wish/1448989167
Thank you for asking this! Folks may choose to use different pronouns for different situations, or they may feel like more than one pronouns fits them better. They may also change the pronouns they use over time as they gain a deeper understanding of their gender identity and/or gain comfort in truly expressing this identity. 

For example, someone may use one pronoun, like he/him/his, while at work, but use a different pronoun, like they/them/theirs, while with family or friends because they don't feel safe or comfortable explaining their pronouns and/or gender identity to their coworkers. 

Some folks who are gender fluid, or folks who perform in drag, may choose to use one pronoun to express their masculine side and another to express their feminine side, or nonbinary side, and may switch among pronouns depending on how they feel or what they're doing.

Other folks feel like their gender doesn't fit neatly into any one gender pronoun. Folks choosing to use combinations like he/they or she/they is becoming more common as people gain the vocabulary and the safety and opportunity to explore and understand their gender identity. 

Sometimes folks may choose to start using a new pronoun and realize it doesn't feel right, so they may change to use another one. This doesn't necessarily mean their gender identity is changing,  (remember, most folks have a sense of their gender identity by age three or four), just how they are choosing to express it. ]]> 2021-04-22 19:05:18 UTC https://padlet.com/jamieacutter/awqyrss3mow23s89/wish/1448989167