tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/transgender-children-30302/articlesTransgender children – The Conversation2021-09-14T02:59:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1675392021-09-14T02:59:37Z2021-09-14T02:59:37ZNSW inquiry rejects expert advice on Parental Rights Bill, and it will cause students to suffer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420702/original/file-20210913-15-qocqi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=359%2C17%2C5200%2C3431&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A newly released <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2610/Report%20No%2044%20-%20PC%203%20-%20Education%20Legislation%20Amendment%20(Parental%20Rights)%20Bill%202020.pdf">report</a> by a NSW parliamentary inquiry ignores scientific research in supporting changes to the Education Act. These changes are likely to add to the risks of harm that transgender and gender-diverse young people face. </p>
<p>Schools need to provide appropriate care to all students. The <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=3776">proposed changes</a> to the law will prevent staff from doing that for transgender and gender-diverse young people. By further marginalising them, the changes could increase their already high rates of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31280740">bullying, mental illness and suicide</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supporting-trans-people-3-simple-things-teachers-and-researchers-can-do-149832">Supporting trans people: 3 simple things teachers and researchers can do</a>
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<p>The Education Committee’s report ignored scientific research findings and recommendations presented in submissions to its inquiry into the <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=3776">Parental Rights Bill</a>. One Nation MP Mark Latham, who <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/latham-s-education-bill-stirs-debate-about-transgender-issues-in-schools-20201022-p567oi.html">introduced</a> the bill to parliament last year, chaired the committee. Its report endorsed proposed amendments to the <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-1990-008">Education Act 1990</a> and <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/rights-and-accountability/legal-issues-bulletins/transgender-students-in-schools">Bulletin 55: Transgender Students in Schools</a> that will prevent schools from teaching that gender and sex are distinct concepts. </p>
<p>The amendments may also prevent school staff from affirming and supporting their transgender students until consent has been gained from potentially unsupportive parents, and lengthy, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5088">expensive</a> medical procedures have been completed. By preventing appropriate care for all students, such changes will further alienate and marginalise transgender and gender-diverse young people. </p>
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<h2>What does the science say about sex and gender?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.36.020185.000405">Scientific research</a> has for many decades regarded sex and gender as distinct, but related. <strong>Sex</strong> refers to the biological and anatomical characteristics attributed to males and females. <strong>Gender</strong> encompasses the social and cultural characteristics of men and women – for example, personality, stereotypical interests, and behaviour. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25772652/">Researchers recognise</a> that sex and gender can be more related for some individuals and less related for others.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30024214">Scientific research</a> also acknowledges that neither gender nor sex is binary. The physiological characteristics used to define sex, such as chromosomes and external genitalia, can display <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.23623">variation</a> outside a clear division of male and female. </p>
<p>Moreover, both cisgender (sex and gender are in alignment) and transgender (sex and gender do not align) people may engage in <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-25426-001">gender nonconformity</a> through their styles of dress, interests and behaviours. <a href="https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdep.12366">Nonbinary individuals</a> can also have characteristics of both men and women, change between the categories, and/or see themselves as being outside the binary of male and female. </p>
<h2>What are the risks of harm?</h2>
<p>Rates of mental health problems are much higher in gender-nonconforming youths. In Australia, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31280740">up to three in every four</a> of these youths have been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety. Much of this is due to school experiences such as peer rejection and bullying. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bullying-linked-to-gender-and-sexuality-often-goes-unchecked-in-schools-55639">Bullying linked to gender and sexuality often goes unchecked in schools</a>
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<p>Alarmingly, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31280740">one in two</a> transgender and gender-nonconforming youths have attempted suicide. And <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31280740">about four in five</a> report self-harm or suicidal thoughts. Those who experience victimisation in school are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-27680-006">four times more likely</a> to attempt suicide than those who are not victimised.</p>
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<p>Schools have a vital role to play. Support and acceptance from teachers and peers are important protective factors in reducing rates of mental health concerns and suicidality. Support for gender-nonconforming young people significantly <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30344037">reduces their risks</a> of depression and suicidality. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229720300186?casa_token=0yQeeHmBRFsAAAAA:dWB89JWyQJZFuG07RxZknb3eHLKEhzzDb0lqSka9HExw2aQnyWvr425VIcDPuWWYK8EC8dm1">positive classroom climate</a> increases the academic success as well as the safety of these students. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-education-about-gender-and-sexuality-does-belong-in-the-classroom-102902">Why education about gender and sexuality does belong in the classroom</a>
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<h2>Report ignores science</h2>
<p>According to the committee <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2610/Report%20No%2044%20-%20PC%203%20-%20Education%20Legislation%20Amendment%20(Parental%20Rights)%20Bill%202020.pdf">report</a>, teaching about gender diversity should be avoided due to concerns of a “social contagion” effect. In 2018, a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202330">research paper</a> examining gender dysphoria (the experience of distress due to incongruence of gender and sex) suggested social contagion might explain why some parents surveyed reported that more than one young person within their child’s friendship group began identifying as transgender at a similar time, despite the overall low prevalence of transgender children in the population. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31011991">Criticism</a> of this paper and its methodology led to it being <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214157">corrected</a>. The paper was republished alongside additional text that noted the significant weaknesses of the study design and the limitations of the findings. </p>
<p>An earlier <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28913950">study</a> showed siblings of transgender children displayed flexibility in their gender stereotype knowledge while retaining their sense of gender as cisgender. Thus, we currently have no strong scientific reason to believe that learning about gender diversity leads to people misattributing their gender. </p>
<p>Some parents may be concerned their children may incorrectly claim a transgender identity. However, comprehensive education about gender will ensure students are well equipped to understand and determine their gender. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/crossroads-program-should-we-teach-children-that-gender-identity-is-fluid-heres-what-the-research-says-65223">Crossroads program: should we teach children that gender identity is fluid? Here's what the research says</a>
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<p>This education also will provide a supportive environment for all students to explore their interests without fear of judgement by peers or punishment by schools. Students will be inspired to take part in activities that were once stereotypically gendered. For example, more girls may pursue science and technology while more boys may consider teaching. </p>
<h2>What should schools be able to do?</h2>
<p>Rather than prohibit the accurate teaching of gender and sex and restrict the support available to transgender students, the law should empower schools to employ strategies that support the safety and well-being of all students. Such strategies should include:</p>
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<li><p>teaching about gender in a <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/sh/pdf/SH17001">scientifically informed, inclusive manner</a></p></li>
<li><p>using <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14681811.2015.1080678">correct pronouns</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14681366.2021.1912158">training</a> teachers in how to support gender-nonconforming students. </p></li>
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<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14681811.2015.1080678">School staff</a> require training in how to:</p>
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<li><p>combat transphobic language and behaviour</p></li>
<li><p>provide inclusive and accurate sex education</p></li>
<li><p>advocate for inclusive and protective policies for gender-nonconforming students. </p></li>
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<p>Every child deserves a supportive, quality education based on science. Equality Australia has made it easy for you to <a href="https://equalityaustralia.org.au/ignoranceineducationbill/?link_id=0&can_id=7507e5d31c36e50c06325c5db01e8af4&source=email-theres-no-room-for-ignorance-in-our-education-system-5&email_referrer=email_1282924___subject_1695868&email_subject=nsw-leaders-need-to-hear-from-you">convey this sentiment</a> to your political leaders.</p>
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<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 22 46 36</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma F. Jackson is affiliated with the Academic Senate of Macquarie University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan David is an employee of Twenty10 inc GLCS NSW and President of Dayenu - Sydney's Jewish LGBTQ+ Community.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Norberg is the Deputy Director for the Centre for Emotional Health (CEH) and the National President for the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy (AACBT).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veronica Sheanoda is a Consumer Advisory Committee member for her local Primary Health Network.</span></em></p>Proposed changes to the law will prevent schools from providing appropriate support for transgender and gender-diverse young people. These changes could increase their already high risks of harm.Emma F. Jackson, PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, Macquarie UniversityJonathan David, PhD Candidate, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie UniversityMelissa Norberg, Associate Professor in Psychology, Macquarie UniversityVeronica Sheanoda, PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/892722017-12-27T16:55:11Z2017-12-27T16:55:11ZA trans review of 2017: the year of transgender moral panic<p>Three years ago, 2014 was hailed as “<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/society/2014/06/laurie-penny-what-transgender-tipping-point-really-means">the transgender tipping point</a>” – a year when trans people became more visible and better understood. Sadly, looking back on 2017, it seems it was the year of a transgender moral panic.</p>
<p>In the first half of the year, every few weeks seemed to bring another news story invoking public concern about trans issues. A documentary about the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/11/bbc-film-on-child-transgender-issues-worries-activists">treatment of trans and gender questioning kids</a> in Canada kicked off public debates which continued all year. Legal tussles over transgender <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-transgender-students-need-safe-bathrooms-50831">bathroom rights in the US</a> prompted anxiety and a return to <a href="https://www.the-pool.com/news-views/opinion/2017/30/paris-lees-on-talking-about-trans-suicide-not-toilets">stereotypes of trans</a> people as perpetrators of violence, rather than more commonly victims of it. </p>
<p>In August,the US president, Donald Trump, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-secretary-defense-secretary-homeland-security/">attempted to ban trans people</a> from serving in the US military – though the move was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41808561">blocked</a> by a federal judge in October. In the UK, there was furore over <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/our-work/blog/trans-women-are-women">trans women’s</a> identities, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/john-lewis-gender-neutral-clothing-labels-response-sex-boys-girls-men-women-a7928006.html">gender-neutral children’s clothing</a>, the existence of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/piers-morgan-non-binary-debate-gender-good-morning-britain-fox-owl_uk_591c12c3e4b041db89657b6a">non-binary people,</a> and more. Campaign groups such as <a href="http://www.transmediawatch.org/">Trans Media Watch</a> and <a href="http://www.allabouttrans.org.uk/">All About Trans</a> were constantly fire-fighting the latest wave of media myths and misinformation.</p>
<p>It became an even tougher time to be trans in the final few months of 2017. Since October, an anti-trans article has appeared in the <a href="https://medium.com/@juliaserano/transgender-agendas-social-contagion-peer-pressure-and-prevalence-c3694d11ed24">UK press virtually every day</a> – two or three on some days. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/transphobic-people-try-defend-lesbians-tactic-transgender-transsexual-gay-bisexual-uk-equality-ruth-a8058256.html">Several</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/21/trans-women-rape-domestic-violence-dangers">commentators</a> have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2017/nov/17/trans-people-children-suicide-bullying-rightwing-media">documented</a> <a href="http://novaramedia.com/2017/11/23/myths-and-lies-a-reflection-on-the-latest-trans-debates/">this</a> <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/lucy-meadows-transgender-teacher-ruth-smith-media-press-daily-mail-lgbt-rights-a8063946.html">media</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/20/celebrate-life-transgender-day-of-remembrance">onslaught</a>. </p>
<p>In a recent gender training session for an LGBT charity, I asked attendees to come up with all the news stories about trans they could remember from the past month or so. They filled an entire sheet of flipchart paper in minutes, and still came up with more, virtually all of them negative.</p>
<h2>Moral panic</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/11/20/ed-miliband-transgender-moral-panic-in-newspapers-is-like-1980s-homophobia/?utm_source=MOBT&utm_medium=Twittermob&Twittermob&utm_campaign=PNMOBT">moral panic</a> is the process of arousing social concern over an issue. Moral panics often involve <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dirty-politics-of-scapegoating-and-why-victims-are-always-the-harmless-easy-targets-66963">scapegoating</a> a particular group as the “evil” responsible for a range of societal ills.</p>
<p>The current storm around trans people bears all the hallmarks of a moral panic. Trans people are blamed for a number of – often contradictory – harms. In 2017, these included <a href="https://medium.com/@juliaserano/transgender-agendas-social-contagion-peer-pressure-and-prevalence-c3694d11ed24">corrupting children</a>, changing the English language and <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/gender-pronoun-war-free-speech/">threatening free speech</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/21/trans-women-rape-domestic-violence-dangers">violence against women</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@juliaserano/debunking-trans-women-are-not-women-arguments-85fd5ab0e19c">seeking to both</a> dismantle and reinforce problematic gender norms. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199729/original/file-20171218-27595-1c5j79w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Myths about trans people have persisted in debates on transgender bathrooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>The “news” often turns out to be several years old, or based on <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/i-received-rape-and-death-threats-after-i-suggested-schools-use">serious misinterpretation</a> of what somebody said. Stories frequently include <a href="http://novaramedia.com/2017/11/23/myths-and-lies-a-reflection-on-the-latest-trans-debates/">factual inaccuracies</a>. For example, a story about the proportion of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/41-per-cent-trans-transgender-trans-women-prisoners-sex-offenders-false-study-statistic-this-is-why-a8072431.html">trans sex offenders</a> was found to be based on false statistics, as were frequent reports about the number of people who “<a href="https://growinguptransgender.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/the-end-of-the-desistance-myth/">detransition</a>”, or return to identifying with the gender they were assigned at birth.</p>
<p>This current media onslaught bears a striking resemblance to <a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/11/20/ed-miliband-transgender-moral-panic-in-newspapers-is-like-1980s-homophobia/?utm_source=MOBT&utm_medium=Twittermob&Twittermob&utm_campaign=PNMOBT">previous moral panics,</a> notably the one against <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/15/trans-backlash-anti-gay-zealotry-section-28-homophobia">gay men in the 1980s</a>. Like <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/04/28/transgender-bathroom-bills-discrimination/32594395/">trans people now</a>, gay men then were branded as paedophiles. Any mention of homosexuality was deemed to risk “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/nov/17/uk.gayrights">turning children gay</a>” in the same way that there’s now concern that young people will be “<a href="https://medium.com/@juliaserano/transgender-agendas-social-contagion-peer-pressure-and-prevalence-c3694d11ed24">turned trans</a>” if they <a href="https://twitter.com/theFoxFisher/status/937276982592724992">learn about gender diversity</a>.</p>
<h2>Norms changing</h2>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/transphobia-is-the-latest-weapon-in-the-culture-war/">many complex reasons</a> behind this moral panic. In the UK, much of it followed the announcement of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-action-to-promote-lgbt-equality">proposed revisions to the Gender Recognition Act</a>. This will hopefully bring UK legislation in line with other countries and states which allow trans people to <a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/09/08/from-today-changing-your-gender-in-ireland-is-as-simple-as-renewing-your-passport/">self-define their gender</a>, potentially opening this up to include non-binary people. If the revisions go through, people will no longer need to go through a lengthy, bureaucratic, medicalised process. However, it is not clear how long the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-action-to-promote-lgbt-equality">consultation period</a> on the Gender Recognition Act will take – or what impact the ongoing moral panic will have on the process.</p>
<p>A more insidious reason for moral panics and scapegoating is that they enable us to attack a specific group for problems we’re all implicated in – in this case blaming trans people for the rigid system of gender norms which hurts us all.</p>
<p>This would explain why there’s so little protest about the non-consensual, often medically <a href="http://www.ukia.co.uk/about.html">unnecessary and damaging surgeries</a> routinely carried out <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19419899.2013.831210?mobileUi=0&journalCode=rpse20">on intersex babies</a>, but loud outcry against the consensual, often life-enhancing, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15532739.2015.1081086">surgeries</a> undertaken by some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/19/nhs-clinic-trans-rights-storm-gender-identity-specialist-centre-transgender">trans adults</a>. The former bring people’s bodies in line with <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/this-is-what-its-like-growing-up-intersex?utm_term=.feKXgenpN#.jwXp8j2PG">current gender norms</a>, while the latter challenge the cultural assumption that people always remain in the gender they were assigned at birth.</p>
<h2>Hopes for 2018</h2>
<p>I’d love to see the gender conversation change in 2018 to one acknowledging the negative impact of rigid binary gender norms on everybody.</p>
<p>There was much evidence in 2017 that the current gender system is bad for us all. We only need to reflect, for example, on continued <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/gender-pay-gap-uk-women-work-free-rest-year-2017-income-men-sexism-a8003306.html">gender pay inequalities</a> or the link between how <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/20/robert-webb-autobiography-how-not-to-be-a-boy-peep-show">boys are raised</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/world-suicide-prevention-day-men-emotions-childhood-biggest-killer-in-uk-under-45-a7235766.html">high suicide rates</a> among men. Toxic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/16/masculinity-crisis-men">gender roles</a> are also involved in the <a href="https://longreads.com/2017/10/23/weinstein-women-and-the-language-of-lunacy/">normalising of sexual harassment and violence</a> that the <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/10/metoo-and-why-even-if-we-think-it-hasn-t-happened-us-it-probably-has">#MeToo campaign</a> highlighted in 2017. </p>
<p>The BBC documentary <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/33/no-more-boys-and-girls">No More Boys and Girls</a> demonstrated how far these gender norms permeate society. The main life goal of the seven-year-old girls on the show remained to “be pretty”. Boys struggled to express – or even find words for – emotions other than anger. All the kids agreed that boys were simply “better” than girls.</p>
<p>Along with legal changes in the UK that will enable people to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/23/gender-reassignment-could-be-streamlined-under-proposal">self-define their gender</a>, I hope to see an end to the trans moral panic which targets a group of people who already suffer frighteningly high levels of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/27/half-of-trans-pupils-in-the-uk-tried-to-take-their-own-lives-survey-finds">bullying, discrimination,</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/20/celebrate-life-transgender-day-of-remembrance">violence</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/almost-half-of-trans-pupils-have-attempted-suicide-schools-must-do-more-to-challenge-gender-stereotypes-87411">suicide</a>. In its place I’d love to see a return to the kind of celebration of the <a href="https://twitter.com/christineburns/status/932275256567443456">strength, courage, and talent</a> of trans people that we had back in 2014.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/almost-half-of-trans-pupils-have-attempted-suicide-schools-must-do-more-to-challenge-gender-stereotypes-87411">Almost half of trans pupils have attempted suicide — schools must do more to challenge gender stereotypes</a>
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<p>I’d also love to see the media focusing on the ways cultural norms of gender affect all of us, whether we’re trans or cisgender; women, men, or non-binary. Instead of the current sensationalist focus on trans bodies, the media could document the changes – social, physical and otherwise – that we all <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/How_to_Understand_Your_Gender.html?id=EdspDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y%22%22">make</a> to experience, identify and express our gender in ways which are a more comfortable fit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89272/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meg-John Barker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s been a tough year to be trans in Britain.Meg-John Barker, Senior lecturer in psychology, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748052017-03-28T02:39:35Z2017-03-28T02:39:35ZWhat history tells us about Boy Scouts and inclusion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162810/original/image-20170328-21264-bmxv0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From the Honolulu Advertiser (May 26, 1922), a photo of a multiethnic Boy Scout troop called the 'Queen's own.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/258862072/?terms=%22queen's%2Bown%22%2BAND%2B%22BOY%2BSCOUTS%22%2BAND%2Braces">Honolulu Advertiser</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the last two decades, a tense debate has risen over membership policies of the <a href="http://www.scouting.org/">Boy Scouts of America</a>. The organization moved to allow openly gay <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22650143">Scouts</a> in 2013 and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/us/boy-scouts-gay-leaders-feat/">troop leaders</a> in 2015. And just this year, a new <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/us/boy-scouts-transgender-membership/">transgender membership policy</a> drew supporters and critics alike, while also <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/31ba0df11fd046edb53cde18f0f626d0/boy-scouts-face-renewed-push-let-girls-join-ranks">renewing discussion</a> over girls joining the ranks.</p>
<p>At the core of this membership debate lies the heritage and values of an organization whose roots stretch back to 1910. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was founded to train young men and boys in <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469627656/modern-manhood-and-the-boy-scouts-of-america">modern character, work, and citizenship</a>. New child labor laws and compulsory schooling were removing adolescents from the paid work force and public community spaces. As a result, early Scouting became a sort of apprenticeship, giving boys the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing world.</p>
<p>Thus, the debate over membership inclusion highlights a fundamental problem of both identity and history: Which side can claim the mantle of Scout heritage and values?</p>
<p>As a historian of 20th-century Scouting, my research on the BSA’s early years demonstrates that the answer is not simple. However, some of the organization’s early methods for reaching out to marginalized groups provide potential solutions for better incorporating gay and transgender boys and inclusive troop sponsors.</p>
<h2>Current state of membership</h2>
<p>Before we turn to the history of the BSA’s early efforts at inclusion, let’s take a look at the most recent controversies surrounding BSA membership.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1665&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1665&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=2092&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=2092&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162089/original/image-20170322-31187-8coaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=2092&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girl posing as a Boy Scout, April 23, 1911.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/28848034/?terms=GIRL%2BBOY%2BSCOUT">The Washington Post</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In February of this year, nine-year-old Joe Maldonado of New Jersey <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2017/02/07/secaucus-transgender-boy-returns-scouting/97608482/">rejoined the BSA</a> following the national office’s <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/30/boy-scouts-america-welcome-transgender-youngsters/97268506/">decision</a> to formally admit transgender applicants. He had been a member of a Cub Scout pack before <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5323662d1a7f4bfe8f09387c74b44d76/8-year-old-transgender-boy-asked-leave-cub-scout-pack">being removed two months earlier</a>, reportedly after some parents <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/education/2016/12/27/8-year-old-transgender-boy-barred-cub-scouts/95518824/">complained</a> about him being transgender.</p>
<p>The shift in policy – and Joe’s welcome back into Scouting – has brought renewed attention to the issue of girls joining its ranks. For over a year, <a href="https://www.change.org/p/the-boy-scouts-of-america-end-discrimination-against-young-women">Sydney Ireland</a>, a 15-year-old New York girl, has been <a href="http://nownyc.org/actions/scouting-let-me-in/">petitioning the Boy Scouts</a> to accept female members into its all-male adolescent division.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://now.org/">National Organization for Women</a> has been supporting Sydney’s efforts, stating that the BSA’s leadership opportunities and coveted Eagle Scout rank represent a final frontier of women’s long efforts to break the <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/31ba0df11fd046edb53cde18f0f626d0/boy-scouts-face-renewed-push-let-girls-join-ranks">gendered glass ceiling.</a> The Girl Scouts of the United States of America and some of their feminist supporters, on the other hand, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/24/girls-you-don-t-need-to-join-the-boy-scouts.html">maintain that Girl Scouting offers equal opportunities and status</a> and is therefore the best place for all girls. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/us/boy-scouts-transgender-policy.html?_r=1">Conservative groups argue</a> that the recent gay/trans-inclusive policies – and the proposal to open the BSA to girls – <a href="http://www.crisismagazine.com/2017/girl-boy-scouts-71-gender-options">betray the organization’s values</a> and <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/12978/lgbt-scouts-boy-scouts-allow-girls-who-identify-ben-shapiro">founding principles</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hrc.org/blog/boy-scouts-finally-opens-its-doors-to-transgender-boys">Supporters</a> of these new membership policies insist that the decision fits well with the organization’s tradition and purpose of <a href="http://www.scoutsforequality.org/trans/">universal character building</a> and civic training.</p>
<p>While Joe’s experience centers on the controversy over whether birth biology or gender identity constitutes boyhood, Sydney’s story challenges what it means to be a Boy Scout – regardless of gender.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZewuskObJc8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney Ireland has been campaigning the BSA to allow girls as full-fledged Scouts.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A history of diverse boys</h2>
<p>It may surprise debaters on both sides to learn that public conflicts over membership policies – and contradictory claims over the nature of Boy Scout heritage – are as old as the organization itself. </p>
<p>Before the emergence of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America in 1913, some girls <a href="http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A2255C">clamored unsuccessfully</a> to join Boy Scouting or formed their own troops. BSA national leaders held firm and, in fact, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3346224">initially rejected</a> the emergence of the separate Girl Scouts organization. Some BSA officials encouraged the feminist Girl Scouts to merge into the domestically oriented Camp Fire Girls. By the late 1920s, the BSA gradually came to accept the presence of the Girl Scouts organization, but held fast in its policy to exclude girls. </p>
<p>During these same formative years, BSA national leaders were working to <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469627656/modern-manhood-and-the-boy-scouts-of-america">encourage participation</a> from marginalized groups of boys. Boy Scout administrators defied conservative critics by permitting willing local councils to admit African-American and other nonwhite boys in the 1910s.</p>
<p>In the mid-1920s, the BSA created a new Inter-Racial Service to actively encourage the creation of more African-American troops in the Southeast and Native American troops at reservation boarding schools. The number of Scouts of color rose quickly, although some BSA troops and camps remained segregated into the 1960s.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162091/original/image-20170322-31203-1kklp4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jewish Boy Scout troop, Sept. 24, 1916.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/118678592/?terms=jewish%2Bboy%2Bscout%2Btroop">Detroit Free Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early 1910s, a range of competing Scout associations emerged in the United States, including organizations for <a href="http://www.ldsbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/History-Scout-Timeline-LDS-1875-1919-Oct-2014.pdf">religious</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2086827">immigrant</a> minorities. </p>
<p>Fear of these competing groups taking away potential members – and a desire to further spread the message of BSA’s universal appeal – led to the implementation of successful outreach programs to boost membership. These programs targeted other groups that <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781566631655/Not-Like-Us-Immigrants-and-Minorities-in-America-1890%E2%80%931924#">faced discrimination in American society</a>, including new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, <a href="http://www.nccs-bsa.org/">Catholics</a>, <a href="http://www.jewishscouting.org/">Jews</a> and <a href="http://www.ldsbsa.org/">Mormons</a>.</p>
<p>To assuage parents’ concerns that participation in Scouting might result in their sons’ religious conversion or undercut cultural traditions of their country of origin, BSA national leaders agreed that each institutional sponsor could <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/1462.htm">limit its BSA troop’s membership and leadership</a> as it saw fit.</p>
<p>As a result, thousands of <a href="http://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/about-the-bsa/fact-sheets/chartered-organizations-and-the-boy-scouts-of-america/">troops have formed</a> around shared religious views or cultural backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162244/original/image-20170323-4938-14ff09x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘Cosmopolitan Patrol’ of Oakland, California, 1916.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282832/m1/5/">Scouting Magazine</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Belonging and outreach</h2>
<p>It turns out, both critics and supporters of the new membership policies can claim ownership of Boy Scout heritage.</p>
<p>For more than a century, the BSA has allowed each individual troop to limit its membership according to the sponsoring institution or church. And so, the Boy Scouts have traditionally permitted exclusion at the troop level.</p>
<p>Yet, nationally, the BSA has repeatedly defied critics by encouraging local councils to welcome a <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469627656/modern-manhood-and-the-boy-scouts-of-america/?title_id=3759">growing range of culturally marginalized</a> troops and boys – from non-Protestant, immigrant and <a href="https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2015/08/13/stanley-harris-booster-of-diverse-scouting-initiatives">African-American boys</a> in the 1910s to transgender and gay boys 100 years later.</p>
<p>A week after the new membership policy was announced, Joe Maldonado <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2017/02/07/secaucus-transgender-boy-returns-scouting/97608482/">put on a Cub Scout uniform again</a>, proudly declaring that “I am accepted, and I’m actually in Boy Scouts.” His pack leader reassured Joe that “This means you’re the same as Scouts all over the world.” </p>
<p>Both statements, I would argue, demonstrate that Scouting continues to guide boys into full citizenship and the cultural mainstream. </p>
<p>When the BSA announced its new trans-inclusive membership policy, Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh <a href="http://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/bsa-addresses-gender-identity/">stated</a> that the organization’s efforts to serve a broader constituency through its new policies are consistent with its core values, as expressed in <a href="http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Venturing/About/welcome.aspx">the Scout Oath and Law</a>. </p>
<p>The statement <a href="http://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/bsa-addresses-gender-identity/">also indicated</a> that the organization’s local councils would “help find units that can provide for the best interest of the child.”</p>
<p>While this help may include placing children in troops that make their parents more comfortable, it also can include a systematic outreach, modeled on BSA methods from the 1910s and 1920s.</p>
<p>What might that outreach look like? The BSA could draw on its own traditions to create new <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bo0bAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR7&dq=scouting+churches&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTqKqUrvfSAhUGOiYKHZQVBA4Q6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=scouting%20churches&f=false">recruitment committees</a> for transgender and gay youth, publish <a href="http://www.jewishscouting.org/historical-documents/">educational media</a> on how Scout training can help meet their needs and interests, and ensure their <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ps4mw1tTuLMC&pg=PA31">representation on local councils</a>.</p>
<p>While these efforts would still not address the issue of female Scouts, they would meet <a href="http://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/bsa-addresses-gender-identity/">the organization’s goal</a> to “bring the benefits of Scouting to the greatest number of youth possible” – efforts that BSA national leaders made for religious and ethnic minority groups a century ago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Rene Jordan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tense debates surround who exactly should be allowed to be a Boy Scout. As it turns out, the organization’s 100-year history may offer some promising solutions.Benjamin Rene Jordan, Associate Professor of American History, Christian Brothers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740232017-03-27T02:39:47Z2017-03-27T02:39:47ZBetter locker rooms: It’s not just a transgender thing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161828/original/image-20170321-5395-l8qkdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C210%2C4260%2C2155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mack Beggs, a 17-year-old transgender boy, made national headlines when he won the Texas state wrestling title in the girls' division.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several cases working their way through the legal system have placed a national spotlight on the issue of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-transgender-students-need-safe-bathrooms-50831">transgender access to bathrooms</a>. While some states have taken steps to allow access based on gender identity, many are <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/-bathroom-bill-legislative-tracking635951130.aspx">considering legislation</a> that restricts bathroom use by the sex assigned at birth.</p>
<p>Most of these court cases also apply to student athlete access to locker rooms and question schools’ obligations to provide appropriate facilities as well as the rights transgender athletes have to access these facilities.</p>
<p>The result has been considerable debate over how to accommodate the needs of transgender athletes. As researchers who focus on diversity and inclusion in sport, we see significant changes in the ways trans athletes are treated and believe there are pragmatic solutions available that will serve all athletes.</p>
<h2>The changing landscape of sport for trans athletes</h2>
<p>While legislative battles over transgender rights have been focused on school bathrooms, the issue of <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-17/five-trans-athletes-who-made-their-mark-caitlyn-jenner">transgender rights in the entire sporting world</a> is not a new one. Changes at higher levels indicate a shifting, more trans-inclusive sport landscape.</p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee (<a href="https://www.olympic.org/the-ioc">IOC</a>), which for a long time was recognized as having one of the <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2149799">most exclusionary policies</a> in sport, recently made some influential and groundbreaking changes. The old policy allowed transgender Olympians to participate only if they had transitioned via sex reassignment surgery, had completed at least two years of hormone therapy and could provide legal documentation of their transition.</p>
<p>In November 2015 (just two months before the Rio Olympics) the IOC changed course. Finding the previous trans policy to be unsupported by scientific evidence and recognized as excluding – rather than including – trans athletes, the committee <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/Documents/Commissions_PDFfiles/Medical_commission/2015-11_ioc_consensus_meeting_on_sex_reassignment_and_hyperandrogenism-en.pdf">revised it</a>: Trans men (athletes assigned female sex at birth and who identify as a man) can compete without restriction. Trans women (athletes assigned male sex at birth and who identify as a woman) can compete as long as they have testosterone levels below a certain threshold.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162405/original/image-20170324-12129-4krepz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Organizations like the You Can Play Project help strive for LGBTQ-inclusive athletic programs across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.youcanplayproject.org/">You Can Play Project</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The IOC is not alone in shifting to a more trans-inclusive approach. The <a href="http://www.ncaa.org/">NCAA</a> – the governing body of college athletics in the U.S. – implemented a <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Transgender_Handbook_2011_Final.pdf">new policy</a> in 2011. At colleges and universities across the United States, trans women can now compete against other women as long as they have had at least one year of hormone treatment.</p>
<p>Interestingly, it’s in the context of high school athletics where trans athlete policies <a href="https://www.transathlete.com/k-12">vary the most</a>. The <a href="https://www.transathlete.com/k-12">majority</a> of state high school athletic associations permit athletes to compete according to their gender identities.</p>
<p>A handful, however, have more restrictive policies than the IOC or NCAA. In these cases, transgender students are often prevented from competing in the category that matches their gender identity. One such state is Texas, where a transgender boy recently <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/07371f06bd084b1c90ef9a75dc45fec1/transgender-boy-moves-within-1-win-girls-texas-title">won the high school state championship</a> in girls’ wrestling, as he was required to compete based on the sex listed on his birth certificate.</p>
<h2>Locker rooms and facilities</h2>
<p>As with policies governing their participation in high school sports, policies influencing trans athletes’ use of locker rooms vary considerably by state – and even by school. In some cases, trans athletes may be restricted to use facilities congruent with their sex assigned at birth. In other cases, they’re restricted to separate facilities specifically for them.</p>
<p>To illustrate, consider the case of a high school in <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/settlement-reached-palatine-ill-township-high-school-district-211-remedy-transgender-discrimination">Palatine, Illinois</a>. There, a transgender female athlete was permitted to play on girls’ teams, but she was excluded from the girls’ locker room. The locker room contained private changing areas that the student intended to use. Nevertheless, she was forced to use a private changing area located in another part of the building. The Department of Education found this exclusion to violate the student’s civil rights and eventually reached <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/township-high-211-agreement.pdf">an agreement</a> with the school district that now permits the student to access the girls’ locker room.</p>
<h2>Why does it matter?</h2>
<p>Specialized, private facilities can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2016.0008">magnify the potential for isolation</a>. In the now-infamous case of Gavin Grimm, he was asked to use a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/opinion/gavin-grimm-the-fight-for-transgender-rights-is-bigger-than-me.html">retrofitted broom closet and nurse’s restroom</a> because he was a transgender student. </p>
<p>In such cases, the transgender students may internalize the message of their <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2016.1157998">unequal worth</a>. Such isolation also physically separates trans athletes from much of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/opinion/sunday/is-it-time-to-desegregate-the-sexes.html">bonding</a> and planning that goes on among teammates in a locker room. </p>
<p>It is not just transgender students who are affected. All others are privy to these cues. When this happens, observers are likely to adopt views that transgender persons are <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/02/130-examples-cis-privilege/">lesser than</a> their peers. </p>
<h2>Inclusive locker rooms: The best option for all athletes</h2>
<p>A more inclusive option is to allow all athletes to access facilities – including locker rooms – that are consistent with their gender identities.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/public-bathroom-regulations-could-create-a-title-ix-crisis">Two objections</a>, however, are sometimes raised to gender-inclusive locker rooms: safety and privacy.</p>
<p>Arguments around safety are sometimes expressed as a concern that transgender individuals themselves are a threat to <a href="http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/07/31/true-meaning-word-cisgender">cisgender</a> female users of the locker room. Other times, it’s fear of the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-assault-domestic-violence-organizations-debunk-bathroom-predator/story?id=38604019">alleged risk</a> posed by non-transgender men – the belief that men may take advantage of the inclusive policy to enter the girls’ locker room without restriction.</p>
<p>Neither of these concerns, however, has any <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-assault-domestic-violence-organizations-debunk-bathroom-predator/story?id=38604019">empirical basis</a>. The latter, in fact, reflects an illogical presumption that a sign on the door keeps criminals out of locker rooms. </p>
<p>Privacy, on the other hand, is a relevant consideration, but not a reason to exclude transgender athletes from gender-appropriate locker rooms. Rather, privacy is a concern for <a href="http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/07/shower_together_at_school_no_w.html">many students</a> faced with the prospect of communal showers and large undifferentiated changing areas. It would seem that <a href="http://clubindustry.com/forprofits/health-club-members-want-more-privacy-locker-rooms">most individuals</a> – irrespective of their gender identity and expression – <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/22/us/students-still-sweat-they-just-don-t-shower.html">don’t want to</a> change in the open or bathe in gang showers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162393/original/image-20170324-12152-2ce80j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Open, communal showers like these are still present in schools across the country. They are generally disliked by most students, transgender or not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGyrec009.JPG">I.Sáček / Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To alleviate the discomfort that all students – transgender and cisgender alike – might experience in such settings, as new schools are built, <a href="http://www.athleticbusiness.com/locker-room/key-drivers-of-campus-locker-room-renovations.html">new locker rooms</a> across the country are being designed <a href="http://www.omaha.com/news/education/as-schools-install-more-private-stalls-popularity-of-open-showers/article_fccc3dc7-cd93-5b79-98d7-4e64b5f2cc0c.html">with privacy in mind</a>, with individual showers and changing areas available for any student. Meanwhile, existing locker rooms can be effectively and inexpensively retrofitted with privacy screens, as was done at <a href="https://altamontenterprise.com/06012016/ny-and-local-districts-want-accommodate-transgender-students">several schools in New York</a>.</p>
<p>Many institutions and sport governing bodies recognize this as <a href="http://www.athleticbusiness.com/locker-room/designing-public-locker-rooms-with-an-eye-on-privacy.html">best practice</a> that promotes not only the inclusion of transgender athletes, but any athlete with a preference for modesty. </p>
<p>The national governing body for collegiate intramural and recreation offers <a href="http://nirsa.net/nirsa/wp-content/uploads/here.pdf">guidance</a> that addresses both transgender athlete needs and the needs of all students: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Transgender student-athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower, and toilet facilities in accordance with the student’s gender identity. Every locker room should have some private, enclosed changing areas, showers, and toilets for use by any athlete who desires them.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given the problems associated with open locker room concepts, the answer for better services, privacy, and trans inclusion all revolve around better locker room spaces. </p>
<h2>The answer: Inclusive principles for all athletes</h2>
<p>It’s possible that the courts will soon clarify the obligation of education institutions to accommodate transgender students’ use of segregated facilities. Regardless of the outcome, sport associations in the educational context and beyond can, and in our view should, continue to lead the way toward more inclusive practices and spaces for all athletes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While various legal battles continue over the rights of transgender athletes, one thing is clear: Inclusive, privacy-centric locker rooms are a solution that benefits everyone.George B. Cunningham, Professor of Sport Management and Director, Laboratory for Diversity in Sport, Texas A&M UniversityErin E. Buzuvis, Director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Studies, Professor of Law, Western New England UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718092017-01-26T19:12:47Z2017-01-26T19:12:47ZFriday essay: transgenderism in film and literature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154155/original/image-20170125-16094-1umwaq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Felicity Huffman in Transamerica, which signified a shift in depictions of transgender people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Belladonna Productions</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Laurie Frankel’s new novel <a href="http://www.lauriefrankel.net/this-is-how-it-always-is.html">This is How it Always Is</a>, an American family grapples with prejudice about transgender children. Youngest child of five boys, Claude, in addition to wanting to be “ a chef, a cat, a vet, a dinosaur, a train, a farmer” when he is older, tells his parents that he wants to “be a girl”.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154010/original/image-20170124-8082-1byct5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel (2017).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flatiron Books</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Walsh-Adams family readily embrace his difference, but the world beyond is less capable of processing the gender non-conformity of a five-year-old child. At kindergarten, Claude is permitted to wear dresses, but is castigated for using the boys’ bathroom. After his decision to become Poppy, a school friend’s parent threatens violence in the face of Poppy’s imagined queer contaminating effect upon his son.</p>
<p>Coupled with a transgender woman being shot on a local college campus after a sexual encounter, the family decides that Madison, Wisconsin is an inhospitable environment for Poppy and moves to more progressive Seattle. Nevertheless, they still find it easier to start again without explaining that Poppy is transgender.</p>
<p>Frankel’s novel was inspired by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/modern-love-transgender-child-identity-parenting.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1">her own experience</a> raising a transgender child. Western culture is currently facing the challenge of understanding transgenderism and the first generation of openly transgender children.</p>
<p>John Phillips, author of <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Transgender_On_Screen.html?id=uhZiQgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Transgender on Screen</a>, suggests that “the crossing of genders will prove to be the most significant single cultural challenge” of our era “because of the redefinition of sexes and sexualities that necessarily accompanies it”. Practical issues such as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/05/17/you-can-be-fined-for-not-calling-people-ze-or-hir-if-thats-the-pronoun-they-demand-that-you-use/?utm_term=.ee9c1dee31d1">preferred pronouns</a>, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/03/chicago-schools-say-transgender-kids-should-use-bathrooms-matching-identity/83880078/">bathroom usage</a>, eligibility to <a href="http://time.com/3961696/transgender-athletes-school-sports/">participate in sports</a>, and <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/largest-ever-study-of-transgender-teenagers-set-to-kick-off-1.19637">hormone treatment for young people</a> remain contentious.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154138/original/image-20170125-16070-4m3055.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A gender neutral bathroom sign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Arehart/shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In attempting to reshape our understanding of sex and gender, it is helpful to look back at how we have represented – or, most commonly, omitted – transgender people in popular culture. The historical lack of understanding of transgender people is evident in a cultural tendency to depict them as objects of comedy, or, most often, as freakish or monstrous.</p>
<h2>Sensational freaks and psycho killers</h2>
<p>Ed Wood’s cult film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOPG_lCEvUM">Glen or Glenda</a> (1953) was designed to shock and is primarily about a man who cross dresses. The film’s final section “Alan or Ann”, comprised largely of stock footage, is more specifically about a transgender (and potentially <a href="http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex">intersex</a>) character. </p>
<p>Alan was born a boy, but raised as a girl and then served as a man during World War II. While recovering from combat in hospital, Alan learns about gender reassignment surgery and becomes a “lovely young woman”. The “Alan or Ann” section of the film was reportedly added to meet distributor calls for a sensational “sex change” film, implicitly suggesting that transgender people were a freakish spectacle who would increase ticket sales.</p>
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<p>While Wood was sympathetic to the practice of cross-dressing, categorising himself as a <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=XrjzCGsiyWEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ed+wood+cross+dress&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=transvestite&f=false">transvestite</a>, most horror films and thrillers that followed situated transgender characters as villains. The list of transgender murderers is extensive and persistent from the 1960s to the 1990s.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxbDcKNzbX0">Homicidal</a> (1961) features a murderous woman, Emily, who wears a wig and prosthetic teeth to conceal that she is, in fact, Warren. Nevertheless, Warren was actually born a girl, but raised as a boy by her mother because his father desired a male child and would have harmed a girl. In keeping with the sensational representation of transgender killers, the film was screened with a “fright break” at its climax, in which audience members could leave the theatre and seek a refund if they were too scared.</p>
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<p>Hammer Horror’s 1971 film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6D7bzltR2U">Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde</a> makes the famous splintered personality tale more disturbing by motivating Jekyll to concoct an elixir of life serum with female hormones from murdered corpses. The serum transforms Jekyll into an evil woman, who eventually kills girls in order to obtain more hormones to maintain the transformation.</p>
<p>The 1983 slasher film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaAcitYY4OU">Sleepaway Camp</a> has an infamous final scene in which the serial killer is revealed. The character of “Angela” stands naked, smeared with blood, with her penis clearly visible to onlookers who scream, “Oh my God! She’s a boy!” Angela was originally a boy named Peter, but was forced by his mother to assume the role of his twin sister after her death.</p>
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<p>Being forced into a particular gender role is clearly traumatic, as in the well publicised case of David Reimer who was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dr_money_prog_summary.shtml">raised as a girl</a> after a failed circumcision. However, the implication of Sleepaway Camp and other films with serial killers who are arguably presented as transgender, such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/">Silence of the Lambs</a> (1991) (and even <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/">Psycho</a> [1960]), is that gender non-conformity is frightening and unnatural. As Phillips suggests, revelations of transgender murderers not only make the killings bizarre and monstrous but also “trade on the otherness of transgender to engender fear and loathing”.</p>
<h2>Life in pink: transgender children</h2>
<p>It is only recently that transgender children have begun to be overtly represented in literature and film. This is indicative of shift from demonising transgender people to greater attempts to understand them and represent them positively, as in mainstream films such as the award-winning <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F4Dckw274Q">Transamerica</a> (2005).</p>
<p>One of the first representations of a transgender child was the Belgian film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119590/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Ma Vie En Rose</a> in 1997. It playfully blurs the line between fantasy and reality in order to show the thoughts of a seven-year-old boy, Ludovic, who wants to be a girl.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154149/original/image-20170125-16062-cooc2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Georges Du Fresne as Ludovic in Ma Vie En Rose.</span>
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<p>Despite its arthouse aesthetic and the fact that Ludovic, as reviewer <a href="http://www.thirdtablet.com/WhyIsMaVieEnRoseRatedR/reviews/RogerEbert.html">Roger Ebert suggests</a>, exhibited “no sexual awareness in his dressing up”, the film was given an “R” rating in the United States. The rating suggests that two decades ago there was still significant discomfort with the idea of a boy who might not “grow out of” his femininity. It also signals that young people should not be exposed to the reality of transgender children.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154148/original/image-20170125-16062-1llp8o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">L. Frank Baum’s Ozma of Oz (1907)</span>
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<p>This sensitivity explains why there were only a handful of stories intended for children — usually fantasies — that included characters who might be understood as transgender until very recently.</p>
<p>The most notable of these is Princess Ozma, who appears in every book in L. Frank Baum’s Oz book series (1900-1920) apart from the first. Princess Ozma is born a girl, but transformed into a boy named Tip by the witch Mombi, in order to prevent her becoming the ruler of Oz. Tip has no recollection of being a girl when Mombi is compelled to revert him to his original form as the girl Ozma.</p>
<p>Children’s books have historically been willing to show boys and girls who “play” as the other gender (often categorised as “sissies” and “tomboys”), but the expectation is that these characters will mature into cisgender, heterosexual men and women.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154136/original/image-20170125-16089-16zbs4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>It was not until the new millennium that a young adult novel featured a transgender protagonist. Julie Anne Peter’s <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Luna.html?id=0bteSJY-MZwC&redir_esc=y">Luna</a> (2004) depicts a teenage boy, Liam, who progresses from only assuming his true self, “Luna”, at night to eventually making the decision to publicly transition.</p>
<p>Victoria Flanagan, in her <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Into_the_Closet.html?id=gT6FAAAAIAAJ">study of cross-dressing in children’s literature</a> , explains that contemporary Young Adult fiction has begun to recognise that “cross-dressing has implications that relate to sexuality and sexual/gender identity”. These ideas were previously cordoned off into the realm of adults only, as culture was largely uncomfortable with children reading and viewing stories about queer or gender non-conforming characters.</p>
<h2>The next wave of representation</h2>
<p>This is How it Always Is is symbolic of the next wave of representations of transgender people. In novels and films for adults, psycho killers who were forced into the “wrong” gender by a parent, or tragic figures such as trans man Brandon Teena, whose real-life rape and murder is dramatised in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171804/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Boys Don’t Cry</a> (1999), are being replaced by more positive depictions of transgender people.</p>
<p>We are beginning to see stories of young people who are being supported by friends or parents to live as the gender with which they identify – such as transgender boy Cole in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2262532/">The Fosters</a> – and of teens learning to accept a parent’s transition, as in Australian film <a href="http://my52tuesdays.com/about-the-film/">52 Tuesdays</a>.</p>
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<p>The newfound ability for transgender children to begin their transition or at least delay puberty means there could be a transgender boy or girl in almost any school classroom. Rightfully, novels for young people are also beginning to represent transgender children.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, as with the continued challenges to depictions of gay and lesbian characters in fiction for young people, transgender characters are still rare and sometimes considered inappropriate. </p>
<p>Now it is not the threat of the freakish transgender monster, but the threat of disrupting long-held ideas about gender binaries that has the most potential to send transphobic people to the fright room</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Smith has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Historically, pop culture has tended to depict transgender people as objects of comedy or monstrous freaks. But attitudes are changing, as a new novel featuring a transgender child shows.Michelle Smith, Research fellow in English Literature, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/647592016-09-02T01:51:32Z2016-09-02T01:51:32ZExplainer: what treatment do young children receive for gender dysphoria and is it irreversible?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136367/original/image-20160902-1048-jqd93r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No four-year-olds in Australia are undergoing any irreversible treatment, as was implied in media reports yesterday. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Preschooler’s sex swap at age four”, read the Daily Telegraph’s <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/preschooler-begins-transition-aged-four-children-as-young-as-three-claiming-gender-dysphoria/news-story/74eb9a25d9dcd1e349a2e9f65a7c8c40&memtype=anonymous">headline</a> on Thursday, sparking intense <a href="http://www.9news.com.au/health/2016/09/01/02/52/four-year-old-child-youngest-nsw-transitioning-gender-preschool-safe-schools">debate</a> in the <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/karl-stefanovic-makes-public-appeal-on-today-for-gender-transition-to-be-kept-private/news-story/8064aa42e6c4e880e6f8d92df9ac2836">media</a> over how to handle cases of young children experiencing gender dysphoria. </p>
<p>The story detailed the <a href="http://www.9news.com.au/health/2016/09/01/02/52/four-year-old-child-youngest-nsw-transitioning-gender-preschool-safe-schools">case</a> of a pre-schooler who is transitioning to another gender.</p>
<p>But the fact is that no four-year-olds in Australia are undergoing any irreversible treatment. At that age, treatment for gender dysphoria consists mainly of counselling. No other medical treatment will occur until the child nears puberty. </p>
<h2>What is gender dysphoria?</h2>
<p>Diagnosis of gender dysphoria is governed by the <a href="http://www.dsm5.org/documents/gender%20dysphoria%20fact%20sheet.pdf">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</a> (DSM-5). </p>
<p>To receive a diagnosis, a person must express a strong and persistent cross-gender identification for more than six months, a persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex, and the experience must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.</p>
<p>Medical treatment for gender dysphoria is regulated by international consensus guidelines published by the <a href="http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2009-0345">Endocrine Society of the United States</a> and endorsed in Australia by the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group.</p>
<p>Treatment is also informed by the clinical guidelines contained within the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People, produced by the <a href="http://www.wpath.org/site_page.cfm?pk_association_webpage_menu=1351&pk_association_webpage=3926">World Professional Association for Transgender Health</a> and drawing on the best available science and expert professional consensus.</p>
<p>The WPATH Standards were adopted by the <a href="http://www.anzpath.org/">Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health</a> and guide clinical practice in Australia. </p>
<h2>What do the clinical guidelines say about treating a four-year-old?</h2>
<p>Clinical practice for the treatment of a four year old whose parents suspect may be experiencing gender dysphoria does not involve any treatment that is irreversible.</p>
<p>Parents can seek help from a range of health professionals, who may then refer the child to mental health clinicians. A full psychiatric assessment follows, with the aim of engaging the child in ongoing psychotherapy to monitor both their emotional well-being and whether their dysphoria remains persistent. No other medical treatment will occur until the child nears puberty.</p>
<h2>When does treatment create irreversible effects?</h2>
<p>For young adolescents entering puberty with profound and persisting gender dysphoria, the possibility of delaying progression of puberty may be discussed. This treatment is often referred to as Stage 1 treatment and is fully reversible.</p>
<p>Stage 1 treatment involves the administration of puberty “blockers” which supress the hormones responsible for puberty and can commence from Tanner pubertal stage 2–3 (the Tanner scale is a scale of physical measurements of pubertal development based on external sex characteristics). </p>
<p>For most children this will occur between the ages of 10 and 13. The current procedure in Australia for authorising Stage 1 treatment, which is consistent with <a href="http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2009-0345">international protocol</a>, involves two independent child and adolescent psychiatrists undertaking a standardised assessment of psychological development, and a formal assessment of the child’s gender identification and capacity to understand the proposed treatment. </p>
<p>A paediatric endocrinologist establishes the child’s pubertal stage, excludes disorders of sex development, and discusses with the child and parents the effects and risks of puberty suppression. If a child does not wish to continue with Stage 1 treatment, he or she can cease taking the blockers and puberty will commence. </p>
<p>Stage 2 treatment for gender dysphoria occurs at approximately 16 years of age. That involves the administration of cross-sex hormones, which cause the child to develop the pubertal characteristics of the sex with which they identify. Some of these characteristics, such as voice deepening, are irreversible, while others, such as breast development, require surgery to reverse. A list of the side effects of cross-sex hormone treatment can be found <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/196_09_210512/hew10222_fm.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<p>Approval for stage 2 treatment requires a multidisciplinary team consisting of a paediatrician, two mental health professionals (one must be a psychiatrist), and a fertility expert, to agree treatment is in the child’s best interests. It is then necessary to make an application to the Family Court for <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FamCAFC/2013/110.html">authorisation of treatment</a>.</p>
<p>Surgery is not considered in patients aged less than 18 years and is only offered after transition to adult medical services.</p>
<p>A four year old, such as the one identified in the Daily Telegraph article, is not the subject of any irreversible decision-making or medical treatment.</p>
<p>Pre-pubescent children experiencing gender dysphoria are provided with counselling support, which may include supporting the child in some form of social transition. This might involve the child adopting clothing or an appearance that reflects their chosen sex. </p>
<p>However, no child experiencing gender dysphoria can access medical treatment that has irreversible consequences until they are at least 15 years of age, and only then after a multi-disciplinary team of experts has recommended treatment and Family Court approval has been obtained.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Kelly received funding from the Victorian Law Foundation to produce an information guide for families making a Stage 2 application to the Family Court of Australia.</span></em></p>At age four treatment for gender dysphoria consists of counselling, and nothing irreversible.Fiona Kelly, Associate Professor, Law School, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/637222016-08-16T03:12:58Z2016-08-16T03:12:58ZRethinking how we represent transgender children in the media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134203/original/image-20160816-13037-xpyalj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How the media represent transgender people can greatly affect how young transgender people see themselves.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-15/transgender-teens-buying-black-market-hormones/7722084">Screen Shot, Australian Story, ABC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Transgender children have been the focus of considerable media attention in Australia over the past two years. Two examples this week are episodes of <a href="http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/australian-story/NC1601Q029S00">Australian Story</a> and <a href="https://www.9now.com.au/60-minutes/2016/episode-28">60 Minutes</a>, where viewers shared in the journeys of Georgie, Emma and Izzie, three transgender teenagers. </p>
<p>The episodes highlight how the media can either contribute to or inhibit the rights and inclusion of transgender children.</p>
<h2>The importance of representation</h2>
<p>Both episodes are important in that they involve transgender teenagers talking about their lives. Such representation is valuable as it allows other young people to see affirming images. <a href="http://www.transkidspurplerainbow.org/">Some young transgender people report</a> better understanding their own experiences after seeing others who are similar.</p>
<p>Both episodes also potentially combat negative attitudes towards transgender children. Exposure to personal narratives has been shown to contribute to <a href="http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Attitudes-Transgender-Rights-USA-September-2015.pdf">positive attitudinal change</a>.</p>
<p>Media stories may also help parents who have transgender children, reducing their sense of being alone. Parents who are informed and feel a sense of inclusion are more likely to be supportive of their children. Children who are supported are more likely to have <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/02/24/peds.2015-3223">positive mental health outcomes</a>.</p>
<h2>The limits of current representations</h2>
<p>Not all media representations are uniformly positive. Both the 60 Minutes and Australian Story episodes, though more so the former, engage in forms of <a href="http://www.genderforum.org/issues/840/mundane-transphobia-in-celebrity-big-brother-uk/">problematic representation</a>.</p>
<p>For example, the 60 Minutes episode refers to Emma as “trapped in the wrong body” and “born a boy”. The first is a problem both because it <a href="http://janetmock.com/2012/07/09/josie-romero-dateline-transgender-trapped-body/">pathologises transgender people’s bodies</a> and because it ignores the effects of stigma on transgender people. The second is a problem because it asserts assigned sex as a truth. </p>
<p>Both stories show images of the teenagers from their early years and disclose their birth names. Referred to as “deadnaming”, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/144324/what-deadnaming-means-and-why-you-shouldnt-do-it-to-caitlyn-jenner/">transgender people have clearly outlined</a> why disclosing birth names is marginalising: it can be shaming and can undermine the person’s gender. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?tag=clare-bartholomaeus">analysis of children’s picture books</a> featuring transgender characters, we similarly identified an over-emphasis on “wrong body” narratives and references to assigned sex and birth name. This was exacerbated when the <a href="http://www.the-rainbow-owl.com/youngpeople-picturebooks/">picture books</a> emphasised clinical diagnoses, again potentially pathologising transgender people. </p>
<p>It was also the case that, in many of the books, parents are depicted as supportive of their child only once a diagnosis had been made. We found this when <a href="http://www.genderidentityaustralia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Gender-Variant-Children.pdf">surveying Australian parents of transgender children</a>. This may mean that support is not forthcoming for transgender children if parents are hesitant to support a child without a diagnosis.</p>
<h2>Intersections of representation and advocacy</h2>
<p>Certainly, receiving a clinical diagnosis (and <a href="http://www.transcendsupport.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Legal-toolkit-1.pdf">presenting to the Family Court</a>) is mandated at present. Our concern, and one shared by Australian Story, is when narratives of clinical diagnosis or court authorisation aren’t treated as something that <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-transgender-is-not-a-mental-illness-and-the-who-should-acknowledge-this-63182">can and should change</a>.</p>
<p>Transgender teenagers can, with the support of their clinical team, access hormone blockers. <a href="http://www.sciencecodex.com/medical_intervention_in_transgender_adolescents_appears_to_be_safe_and_effective-114120">Research suggests</a>, however, these are ideally prescribed for the shortest period possible. </p>
<p>Instead, hormones appropriate to the child’s gender should be prescribed earlier, rather than later, and this should not require court approval. The Australian Story episode made a strong case for this.</p>
<p>Clarity is still needed, however, in media representations of other services available to children. The 60 Minutes episode, for example, incorrectly stated a child must begin puberty in order to undertake fertility preservation. <a href="https://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/sterilization-of-transgender-children-current-practice-and-future-possibilities/">Ovarian and testicular tissue can be stored</a> for potential future use without the child having commenced puberty. </p>
<p>It’s also important children and their parents are made aware of the many routes to family formation (such as donor conception, foster care, or adoption). The 60 Minutes episode failed to acknowledge the many ways transgender children – like all children – may potentially become parents one day if they so choose. </p>
<h2>The future of representation</h2>
<p>Media representations have an important role to play in promoting awareness and inclusion. Yet they can also hinder the progression of rights through misinformation or <a href="http://www.transmediawatch.org/why.html">by promoting stereotypes and discrimination</a>. The 60 Minutes story, for example, over-emphasised surgery in its representation of Emma and Izzie. Not all transgender people desire surgery, and fewer still can afford it.</p>
<p>We need media representations informed by <a href="http://www.allabouttrans.org.uk/about/resources/">best practice guidelines</a> for representing transgender people’s lives. This includes understanding the diversity of transgender people’s experiences, not referring to genital surgery, and using the person’s correct name and pronouns (rather than their birth name and assigned sex).</p>
<p>As the Australian Story and 60 Minutes episodes showed, transgender teenagers and their families are strong advocates, who have a clear understanding of what it means to represent their lives. The media and those watching and reading at home need to be strong advocates for transgender children too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Riggs receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Bartholomaeus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Transgender children have been the focus of considerable media attention in Australia over the past two years. Much of this has been positive, focused on the rights of transgender children.Damien Riggs, Associate Professor in Social Work, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Flinders UniversityClare Bartholomaeus, Research associate, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.