Psychology

After studying this module and as part of emotional and social development, you learned the difference between gender, sexual orientation, and gender expression. You also learned previously in the semester how the environment (or nurture) influences gender expression.

Think about all the ways we separate boys and girls in elementary school, from lining up in two different lines to having boys sing one part of a song while girls sing a different part. Then watch the following video about nonbinary children and their wishes for how teachers and peers would treat them.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wldZoSOFh2U – Back To School for Non-Binary Youth

For this essay, discuss how parents, teachers, and friends might treat children differently in the future if we view gender to be on a continuum verses being solely binary. Are there any examples you encountered from your own life/schooling?

This response should be a minimum of 300 words and use proper APA Style documentation. Be sure to support your argument with ideas from your own independent research. All information must be cited in the body of the text (ideas as well as writing) even if not directly quoting.

ANSWER

Gender as a Continuum

Parents and relatives are responsible for ensuring that their children grow up confident and happy with how they are born and who they have become. Some children discover themselves earlier than others, and they need to ensure that they are comfortable with their gender or lack of gender. This means not grouping children in terms of boys and girls and ensuring they use the right pronouns for them. This can be done by ensuring that the children know each other on the first day of school (Human Rights Campaign, 2017). The introductions should include the students identifying themselves with their pronouns. This will help clear the confusion and also help them be included in the class activities. Instead of asking boys and girls to line up separately, they could be asked to choose a side depending on what makes them most comfortable. It is rude to assume because somebody looks like a girl, they only want to do things that girls do.

In my life, I have encountered people who are not comfortable with other people’s identities. I have had to educate a few people that everybody has the freedom of expression and they can express their pronouns without being judged. However, I understand the issue of gender being a continuum is a new issue that most people are learning and educating people like that makes me happy as I know because of me, there are two or more sensitive people who will not assume somebody’s gender or misgender them. This is a new concept, but with time it will catch on, and there will be more people who will be understanding of their children and allow them to choose their pronouns and not misgender them. It is encouraging that schools have started considering these concepts and letting the young people express their pronouns and also educate their peers about it.

References

Human Rights Campaign. (2017). Back to School for Non-Binary Youth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wldZoSOFh2U