Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Hi and welcome to the gender bread spectrum presentation.
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My name is roman.
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I used a and he pronouns and I come from
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come to you from chads Coalition which is a agency
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organization that goes into the schools to address anxiety, depression
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and suicidal ideation among students.
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And I also work in private practice seeing adults.
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I am supported by Marie who uses she and her
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pronouns and she is not only my clinical supervisor but
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the owner and operator of the private practice in which
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I practice, which is called Ways of play counseling services.
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Today we're gonna be talking about the gender spectrum using
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the gender bread person model to help the understanding really
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sink in before we dive into any of that.
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There's some foundational stuff that I just want everybody to
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be able to understand so that as we built so
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that we can build on that as we continue through
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this presentation.
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Some of that is just going to be the fact
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that I get that this is new.
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I get that this is not something that everybody already
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understands. Some of this feels like it has never been
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around before.
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But a lot of times it's that we just haven't
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been introduced to it before.
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Um, I like to think of it in a way
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that we're updating our understandings.
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Just like we're updating the IOS or other operating systems
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on our phones.
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I use Apple as you can tell.
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So uh with that um, you know, sometimes those updates
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are a little bit confusing.
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Maybe they give us new features that we aren't really
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sure how to use or we didn't think were necessary,
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but there they are and eventually we get used to
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them and we enjoy them for what they are or
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we just ignore the fact that they exist.
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Um with that this is something that we can't really
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ignore the fact that people exist because we are school
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counselors and we work in schools and ask a has
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asked that we uh make sure that we are advocating
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for every single student no matter what background or identity
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that person possesses.
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So with that being said, because this feels new because
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some of the language is new um understand that gender
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and a lot of these things are built via social
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constructs. We talk a lot about social constructs and sometimes
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people talk about those being fake.
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Um, what I want to bring our attention to is
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how real social constructs really are.
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So we think about country borders and how they change
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sometimes that even includes state borders.
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If we're looking at the United States, there's been talks
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of, you know, for years, there's been talks of splitting
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California into two different states.
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I have heard recent talks of expanding or gain or
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expanding Missouri's borders.
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And so just understanding that these things are just agreements
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that are made between people.
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Uh, I went through a lot of different definitions to
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come up with, what I felt was a succinct way
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to describe a social construct and didn't find one that
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I felt really fit the bill.
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So I created this one to help us all kind
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of understand social constructs a little bit better as meanings
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defined by societal understandings or agreements which can change between
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cultures and over time.
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So that being said, recognizing that Where we talk about
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these things in the us, if we transplant ourselves into
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a different country, we may actually have a very different
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social constructs around what these things mean.
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Money is another thing.
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Bitcoin wasn't a thing 20 years ago and now is
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accepted a lot of different legitimate businesses as a way
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to pay for their services or products.
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Uh moving right along, like I said, we're going to
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be using a gender bread person to really discuss the
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gender spectrum and with that, I just wanted to give
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you a brief quick overview of what that gender bread
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person looks like and how it delineates the different pieces
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that we're going to be discussing today.
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So we have our gender identity which is related to
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how we think about ourselves.
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Hence it's pointing to the brain, we have our sexual
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attraction and romantic attraction, which is to our heart, how
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we feel about other people.
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Um we have our sex which is predominantly determined by
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our biology and our physiological makeup and we have our
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expression which is determined by how we decide to put
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together and express ourselves to the outer world.
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Um with that something that I want to make sure
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that we really understand and that we really use as
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we as a lens as we go through this is
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that there are infinite possibilities.
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So everything is on a spectrum.
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There are no, um, you know, select this box or
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this box sort of things as we go through here.
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So identity, attraction, sex, an expression.
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I'll have infinite ways to represent themselves in each of
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us and to be able to recognize that and know
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that when somebody is talking about one of these pieces
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of themselves, that whatever they say should be affirmed should
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be respected because they know themselves better than we ever
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could. Um, that all being said, this is about progress
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and not perfection.
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So I'm not asking you to leave here today and
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automatically always get people's names correct, always get people's pronouns
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correct. Always understand all of these pieces.
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No, like it's a learning curve, it's a learning process.
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And so part of that is acknowledging like we're going
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to mess up sometimes I might miss gender.
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Somebody I might use a dead name on somebody and
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that's something that I have to deal with that I
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have to reflect on and that I have to take
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care of as I move forward, what I want to
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also address as we talk about this aspect of progress
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and not perfection is to make sure that you're doing
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your own work.
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So if you do end up Miss jen during someone
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not to make it into such a big deal.
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Where it turns things to the point where they feel
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like they need to comfort you for the fact that
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you miss gendered them.
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And so really being able to just say, oh, you
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know what?
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I made a mistake, correct yourself in that moment and
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make a note.
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I'm going to do better about this in the future
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and move on so that you're not requiring them to
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do the emotional labor for their for your indiscretion towards
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them. Um Mhm.
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Mhm. Going from there, we're going to jump right in.
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We're going to start with identity, gender identity.
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And then we're going to move to attraction.
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We're gonna talk about sex and then expression and then
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what all of these things mean, Why they're important.
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So jumping into gender identity, you all have you grabbed
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on the way and those.
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Mhm. A gender bread person handouts or you have them
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online for yourself to be able to look at, Go
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ahead and take a moment as you're looking at that
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gender identity.
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Think to yourself about what does woman this mean or
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what does man this mean to you?
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Because this is all very personal.
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It's how you think about yourself, how you feel about
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yourself. And so I want you to recognize that on
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these scales.
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Um you know, as you can see there are some
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examples to the right there of what they might look
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like and recognize that yours don't have to look anything
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like those that you are your own person.
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Rate yourself on where woman on how much woman as
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you possess on how much man as you possess.
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Notice that you can Say that you possess all of
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both of those.
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None of both of those in the middle of both
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of those.
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They don't have to equal 100.
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It really, truly is.
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How do you feel about yourself when you think about
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women nous, when you think about madness and what you,
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what you possess and how you are conceptualizing your identity?
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Um, some words that you might hear, some other people
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describe themselves with that are going to be important are
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going to be things like cIS or trans.
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Non binary.
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A gender.
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Um, you might hear gender.
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Expansive gender fluid gender.
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Nonconforming in certain areas.
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You might hear third gender or two spirit.
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I'm not going to go over what all these mean
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because we don't have that much time, but I do
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want to just touch on a couple that are going
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to be a lot more common in a lot of
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the schools that you're in.
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Um, so some of those are going to be cysts
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where that just means that your gender matches your assigned
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gender or sex at birth.
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Yeah. Trans means the exact opposite that your gender doesn't
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match your assigned sex at birth or your assigned gender
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at birth non binary can mean that you exist outside
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of the binary, that you don't ascribe to differing necessarily
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from your gender, that you just don't have one.
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Or it can mean that you're somewhere in between the
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spectrum from being 100% on the madness or 100% on
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the woman is that you're somewhere in the middle there
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and that you just use the non binary term to
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identify that way.
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A gender usually means that you are not within gender
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and gender.
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Food is going to mean that you might at some
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points express yourself in one way and others express yourself
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another way and that you are someone who can wake
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up and realize, okay, today I am feeling more woman
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and so I'm going to express myself in a more
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feminine way versus maybe next week feeling more madness and
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wanting to express yourself in a more masculine way or
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something along those lines.
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That is one example of how that might look.
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So those are just some words to kind of understand
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as you have students talking about themselves and their gender
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identity. Another thing that we really need to talk about
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when we are talking about gender identity is the names
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and pronouns because these things are very important.
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So in here, I have given you an image to
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kind of show you what the cycle of a name
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might be or the cycle of a person's identity in
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this way might be.
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It is not linear.
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So in this way, while I have arrows going from
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one thing to the next to the next, it might
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be like, oh I go from this first one to
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the next one too, changing a name or pronoun and
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going back to self discovery and going down to programs
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recognize that this is not a one way street recognize
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that this is not a linear process.
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Uh, the only thing that does usually stand true is
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that your name or and uh gender slash sex are
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assigned at birth.
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Your parents give you a name, your parents slash doctor
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assigned your gender or sex based on your genitals.
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And that is that now once a person starts to
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discover themselves and begin that process of self discovery, which
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really honestly begins as early as three years old, is
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when we start to conceptualize our gender.
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And so being able to understand that if you have
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a young person in your school or a young person
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in your life that is saying, hey, this is who
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I am.
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It's really important to listen to them and acknowledge what
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they're saying because they again, they know themselves better than
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we know them.
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And so you might see people change their pronouns or
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use different pronouns I have down here, showing that you
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can use, you know, like I do, I used a
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and he pronouns Marie uses she and she and her
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pronouns. Uh some people use any and all pronouns um
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recognize that you can, the mixing and matching is very
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understandable. And okay, also know that there are some other
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pronouns out there that you may not have heard before,
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and people also use their own personalized pronouns as well.
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Um and so you might see things like zooms ears
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or noses, ears, ears, or a number of others.
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Some people use it and it's ah it really is
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all up to the person and how they feel about
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themselves. Um And along with that, people may decide to
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change their name, people may decide to say, you know
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what Brittany doesn't fit me anymore.
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I'm actually more of a bobby and that's something that
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we need to be respecting, that we need to be
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affirming and validating for these people because that is their
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autonomy and that is them taking their own their ownership
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over themselves into account.
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Um Moving on, we're going to talk about attraction next.
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And so we see the detraction is broken down into
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two two pieces.
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So there's sexual attraction and there's romantic attraction.
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So, attraction is who you're drawn to whether again, that's
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sexually or romantically or both.
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So, notice that when we're looking at that piece that
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you can be sexually attracted to nobody, you can be
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sexually attracted to women or femininity or females.
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Men, males, masculinity or somewhere in between those.
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Again, those scales can be zero both all the way
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somewhere in the middle, but they also don't have to
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be congruent with your romantic attractions.
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So if you're At 100% on that I'm sexually attracted
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to women, females and femininity, you might still notice.
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Oh, but I've had some really great bromance is and
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recognize I am kind of romantically attraction attracted to men.
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Males are masculinity as well, but I don't have any
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sexual attraction in that department.
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And so those things may look different.
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Go ahead and take a moment to fill those out
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for yourselves and just be able to understand yourself maybe
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in a way that you hadn't prior uh take that
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moment. And I'm going to go ahead and continue talking
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about the words that people use to describe themselves and
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their attraction.
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Some of these words are going to be very familiar
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with. Probably things like gay, lesbian, queer bisexual have all
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been around for a very long time.
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These are words that we have been that have been
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pretty represented as far as the media and news and
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things go, especially since the 80's um here in America.
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And so those are words that you probably know and
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have some understanding of.
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However, some words that you might be less familiar with,
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they're gonna be things like Demi sexual or Demi romantic,
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a sexual or a romantic um Sapio sexual.
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Those are words that we may not hear as often
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in there again are many more that people use.
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And so being able to familiarize familiarize yourself with these
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terms so that as you have students say things to
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you like, oh well I'm a romantic, so like this
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is my sexual partner or vice versa and being able
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to know like, oh well if a student is identifying
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as a sword arrow, that you have an understanding of
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what those things are, so that you can be able
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to build that bridge with them.
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Um, some of these terms, again, I'm not going to
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go over all of them, but so we're looking at
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things like a sexual, which means that you don't feel
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sexual attraction and a romantic means that you don't feel
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romantic attraction, Demi sexual and romantic means.
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Oftentimes you have to build one before the other, whether
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it is, I have to feel romantic attraction in order
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to feel sexual attraction or vice versa.
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Um, and knowing just those, those pieces are going to
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be really important as your students begin to more specifically
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identify themselves and the attractions that they feel towards others
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in the world.
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Um, the next piece here is about sex.
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So the first thing that I want to say is
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that our sex oftentimes in this world is going to
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be assigned at birth or honestly, a lot of times
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before birth, um, are sex is our biological and physiological
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makeup, but what that doesn't mean is that it's set
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in stone or that based on our genitals that we
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know exactly what that is because our genitals don't always
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uh, represent our biological or physiological makeup.
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And that is often misunderstood.
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The other piece that I want to really bring in
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here is that our sex doesn't have anything to do
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with our gender.
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Remember our gender identity is how we feel about ourselves.
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So how we feel about ourselves doesn't have anything to
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do necessarily with our biological or physiological makeup.
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It might make us feel like we don't fit in
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with our body.
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Um, but as far as our sex determining our gender,
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that is just simply not the case.
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So I want again for you to take this this
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piece of biological sex and go ahead and think to
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yourself, what does create femaleness when it comes to biological
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or physiological makeup?
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What does create male nous when it comes to biological
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physiological makeup?
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Because again, many of these things are socially constructed.
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So they are an understanding within our culture as to
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what defines these terms.
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And so take a moment and just and just note
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on here where how much femaleness you feel like you
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biologically possess and how much mail Nous, you feel like
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you might biologically or physiologically possess while you're doing that.
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I'm going to go and talk a little bit more
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about what the biological code that we're talking about here,
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what that biology and physiology means.
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So we're looking at things like hormones like chromosomes, Those
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things again, don't always match with what genitalia we have.
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So outside of that, when we're looking at chromosomes a
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lot of times we are taught, well there's X.
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Y. Or they X.
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X. Done.
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But we are ignoring an entire vast community of people
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who don't fit into those categories, who maybe have three
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X's X.
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And two wise three X's and A.
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Y. Uh to excess.
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And to wise there are just so many different makeups
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of chromosomes that can be had.
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And recognizing that based on those chromosomal makes up makeups
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that it may not seem like, oh well, like this
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person who has this set of chromosomes has this different
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genitalia. I really want to tear us away from uh
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equating genitalia with sex because it's so much, so much
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more. Again, you know, when we're looking at hormones, people
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don't always have the hormones that align with what we
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might have assigned people at birth.
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And so that is something else.
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Um, genitalia though is part of it.
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It is one part I'm not going to separated so
- 19:10 - 19:12
much that I'm going to say that that isn't a
- 19:12 - 19:13
piece of our sex.
- 19:14 - 19:17
However, that is not the only piece our body shape,
- 19:17 - 19:20
our voice register and our hair growth where it's growing
- 19:20 - 19:21
and how much is growing.
- 19:21 - 19:25
Um and maybe the texture that it's growing in with
- 19:26 - 19:29
all of that can be part of what creates sex
- 19:29 - 19:35
and what creates um our our biology and physiology makeup
- 19:36 - 19:39
all that being said, we can edit these things.
- 19:40 - 19:44
Right? We have hormone replacement therapy to switch hormones and
- 19:44 - 19:49
how that is impacting our body and our development and
- 19:50 - 19:52
in that way we can make at, it's enough to
- 19:52 - 19:53
say, you know what?
- 19:54 - 19:58
I may have been assigned male at birth, but now
- 19:58 - 20:01
that I have gone through and made these edits to
- 20:01 - 20:07
my biological code, I am female and that again doesn't
- 20:07 - 20:08
break from reality.
- 20:08 - 20:10
It doesn't break from science.
- 20:11 - 20:14
And I want us to be very understandable about that.
- 20:15 - 20:15
Mm hmm.
- 20:16 - 20:19
Another, you know when we're talking about these things, some
- 20:19 - 20:21
words that people might be using to describe their sex.
- 20:22 - 20:24
Some again, we're going to be very familiar with as
- 20:25 - 20:26
far as male and female.
- 20:26 - 20:30
Those are things that we have been talking about since
- 20:32 - 20:35
I don't even know when a long time we are
- 20:35 - 20:37
very familiar with the binary that we play sex in.
- 20:37 - 20:41
However, intersects is something that doesn't get talked about a
- 20:41 - 20:43
lot and there's a whole community of people who don't
- 20:43 - 20:44
fit into the male female categories.
- 20:46 - 20:48
Again, based on those things that I was talking about
- 20:48 - 20:51
earlier and they fall into this category of umbrella term,
- 20:52 - 20:57
which is called intersects where people may have, you know,
- 20:57 - 21:02
they may have genitalia and reproductive systems that vary anywhere
- 21:02 - 21:05
from having a little bit of both or and underdeveloped
- 21:06 - 21:09
or overdeveloped pieces of one or the other.
- 21:09 - 21:11
Uh, all of these different things.
- 21:11 - 21:12
As far as genitalia goes.
- 21:13 - 21:14
But again, that's where you're gonna be seeing these double
- 21:15 - 21:18
X, double wise, triple X, Y all, you know, all
- 21:18 - 21:21
these combinations that come out when our chromosomes are aren't
- 21:22 - 21:24
xy or XX fall into that intersex category.
- 21:26 - 21:28
I really encourage everyone to take the time to go
- 21:29 - 21:35
and do your own research about what intersects means and
- 21:35 - 21:40
what the various different people who are out here living
- 21:40 - 21:43
with intersects identities.
- 21:44 - 21:47
How they are navigating that, what they are navigating what
- 21:48 - 21:48
they are going through.
- 21:48 - 21:51
Because oftentimes they are still given male or female at
- 21:51 - 21:53
birth and it doesn't fit.
- 21:54 - 21:56
Um when we're looking at the trans community, you're gonna
- 21:56 - 21:59
be hearing things like FTM or female to male M.
- 22:00 - 22:00
T. F.
- 22:00 - 22:00
Male to female.
- 22:01 - 22:05
Which is really discussing, you know, I was assigned this
- 22:05 - 22:07
at birth but I am male.
- 22:07 - 22:12
I am transitioning to male or I have transitioned to
- 22:12 - 22:14
male. Uh, some people will use those terms.
- 22:14 - 22:17
You might hear a fab or a mob which just
- 22:17 - 22:19
describes, I was assigned female at birth where I was
- 22:20 - 22:20
assigned male at birth.
- 22:21 - 22:24
Those are things, those are kind of again, basic terminology
- 22:24 - 22:25
when we're talking about sex.
- 22:26 - 22:29
Words to describe ourselves that you're probably going to hear
- 22:29 - 22:34
the most um in the glossaries that you have access
- 22:35 - 22:38
to. There are plenty more that I encourage you to
- 22:38 - 22:39
find, seek out and understand.
- 22:40 - 22:42
But this is gonna be the most common ones that
- 22:42 - 22:43
you probably here.
- 22:45 - 22:47
So that all being said, we are going to move
- 22:47 - 22:48
on to the last piece, which is our expression.
- 22:50 - 22:53
So with gender expression, you know, I've got billy porter
- 22:54 - 22:57
down here telling you to love yourself because that really
- 22:57 - 23:00
is where I think our gender expression becomes the most
- 23:00 - 23:04
authentic. So take a moment and think about how you
- 23:04 - 23:07
express yourself to the world, and how much femininity you
- 23:07 - 23:09
are expressing or how much masculinity you are expressing.
- 23:10 - 23:13
And notice again that it can be none of both
- 23:13 - 23:15
of those were all of both of those.
- 23:15 - 23:17
It does not have to be one or the other.
- 23:18 - 23:20
Um and these things do not have to add up
- 23:20 - 23:20
to 100%.
- 23:21 - 23:24
So take a moment and just recognize where you're at
- 23:25 - 23:25
on that scale.
- 23:26 - 23:27
Maybe it might be helpful to look at the terms
- 23:28 - 23:29
and where they put those people on these scales.
- 23:30 - 23:35
Again, those identities might be bringing a different uh set
- 23:36 - 23:37
of points to these scales as well.
- 23:38 - 23:41
These are all personally defined um outside of our academic
- 23:42 - 23:45
world. And so we need to be understanding that just
- 23:45 - 23:48
because they have androgynous looking, you know, like they're both
- 23:48 - 23:51
kind of in the middle doesn't mean that uh an
- 23:51 - 23:54
androgynous person might actually say that they're all of both
- 23:54 - 23:54
of them.
- 23:54 - 23:58
So it might look a lot different, but uh recognizing
- 23:59 - 24:03
that these are personal identities and personal feelings about where
- 24:03 - 24:07
how much we feel your Britain to the world.
- 24:09 - 24:12
So with that I want to talk about words that
- 24:12 - 24:16
we use to describe ourselves and our expression uh you
- 24:16 - 24:19
know, so whether it is androgynous, I've got a little
- 24:19 - 24:25
clip here of someone who uh presents as an androgen.
- 24:27 - 24:32
We have other words like fam mask, butch nonconforming gender,
- 24:33 - 24:36
expansive all of these terms and more help people describe
- 24:37 - 24:40
their expression to the world and it's very important to
- 24:40 - 24:42
be able to understand what they mean, what they're talking
- 24:43 - 24:46
about. Um just to go over a couple of them.
- 24:46 - 24:49
You know, when we're talking about someone who described themselves
- 24:49 - 24:55
as um his androgynous that someone who might feel very
- 24:55 - 25:00
gender neutral or has both masculine and feminine characteristics mask
- 25:00 - 25:06
often describes someone who is identifying as male or as
- 25:06 - 25:11
a man who presents more masculine, maybe someone who is
- 25:12 - 25:15
trans and expressing themselves more masculine.
- 25:15 - 25:18
There again, all of these have very personal definitions as
- 25:18 - 25:25
well as maybe more clinical or academic descriptions as well.
- 25:26 - 25:31
Butch oftentimes refers to a a person who identifies as
- 25:31 - 25:34
a woman expressing themselves more masculine.
- 25:35 - 25:40
Uh Boy might be someone who is in the L.
- 25:40 - 25:40
G. B.
- 25:40 - 25:40
T. Q.
- 25:41 - 25:47
I. A community and presenting um uh themselves as more
- 25:47 - 25:52
boyish. So being able to know some of these terms
- 25:52 - 25:54
is just gonna be important as you might hear them
- 25:54 - 25:55
thrown around in your school.
- 25:57 - 26:00
Again, it takes some time to look those over and
- 26:00 - 26:00
understand them.
- 26:01 - 26:04
So they when you do hear them, you aren't having
- 26:04 - 26:09
to have people explain themselves to you and you're able
- 26:09 - 26:12
to kind of continue the conversation without having to stop
- 26:13 - 26:14
them. And Mhm.
- 26:16 - 26:19
Ask them to help you understand something that isn't what
- 26:19 - 26:21
they're coming to you to talk about.
- 26:23 - 26:27
Uh now that we've gotten through the gender bread person
- 26:28 - 26:29
and being able to talk about each of those four
- 26:29 - 26:32
aspects. I want to talk about why it's important and
- 26:33 - 26:37
why I spent so much time talking about these four
- 26:37 - 26:42
different pieces of the gender red person and what we
- 26:42 - 26:44
can be doing in order to create more validating and
- 26:45 - 26:46
affirming spaces in our schools.
- 26:47 - 26:52
So when we're looking at the implications, my my big
- 26:52 - 26:54
things when I'm thinking about the implications of all of
- 26:54 - 26:56
what I just talked about is our mental health and
- 26:56 - 26:56
safety, right?
- 26:57 - 26:57
Because I'm a therapist.
- 26:58 - 27:02
Yeah. Our school counselors and that's something that I think
- 27:02 - 27:05
is at the top of our brains almost constantly when
- 27:05 - 27:07
we're thinking about our students, when we're thinking about younger
- 27:08 - 27:10
people is that we want them to be mental, mentally
- 27:11 - 27:13
healthy and we want them to be safe where they're
- 27:13 - 27:16
at. And I want also for us to understand that
- 27:17 - 27:21
these students lives are and have been at stake based
- 27:21 - 27:23
on how we are treating them and based on how
- 27:23 - 27:26
they feel connected and represented in the world.
- 27:27 - 27:29
Uh that being said, the first piece that I'm going
- 27:29 - 27:32
to start with here is bullying and assault because that
- 27:33 - 27:37
is something that many people too many people are experiencing
- 27:38 - 27:41
when they are going through their K through 12 education.
- 27:42 - 27:46
Um when I am talking about harassment, I'm talking about
- 27:47 - 27:50
uh maybe as much as being pushed or shoved, but
- 27:50 - 27:52
not not too much more what I'm talking about assault,
- 27:53 - 27:57
I'm talking about actual being punched kicked and uh much
- 27:58 - 28:02
more physical aggression in those ways, remarks are going to
- 28:02 - 28:03
be things that people say.
- 28:04 - 28:07
So when we're going through here and thinking about these
- 28:07 - 28:09
things, uh one of the things that I want to
- 28:09 - 28:13
make sure that you all uh see here is that,
- 28:14 - 28:19
You know, 20% of LGBT youth are being physically harassed
- 28:20 - 28:24
and mhm 10% are being physically assaulted.
- 28:25 - 28:34
Um along with that At least 90%, probably more students
- 28:35 - 28:38
in the LGBT community have heard negative remarks from other
- 28:38 - 28:42
students and still over half of them have heard these
- 28:42 - 28:45
negative remarks from teachers and other school faculty.
- 28:46 - 28:49
Um that's really high for students to be hearing that
- 28:50 - 28:53
especially from teachers and faculty um that we need to
- 28:53 - 28:57
be really aware that that is happening and be able
- 28:57 - 28:59
to acknowledge and address that in our schools.
- 29:00 - 29:05
Um when we're looking at Other things that the LGBT
- 29:05 - 29:09
students are facing, we're talking about, almost 50% of students
- 29:10 - 29:14
being cyber bullied, we're talking about almost 60% experience experiencing
- 29:15 - 29:16
sexual harassment.
- 29:17 - 29:22
Um and about the same amount dealing with discriminatory treatment
- 29:23 - 29:28
or policies, whether it is around bathroom policies dead naming,
- 29:29 - 29:31
which is using their legal name versus their chosen name.
- 29:31 - 29:36
Um, or Miss jen during people by not using the
- 29:36 - 29:40
pronouns that they use, um, recognizing that all of those
- 29:40 - 29:43
things have a detrimental impact on our students.
- 29:44 - 29:46
Um, you know, when we're looking at kind of an
- 29:46 - 29:49
overall thing of harassment and assault, we're looking at over
- 29:50 - 29:52
85% of students experiencing that at school.
- 29:53 - 29:57
When we're talking about trans students, we are seeing that
- 29:57 - 30:00
almost 85% are feeling unsafe because of their gender.
- 30:01 - 30:05
And I want to just be able to know these
- 30:05 - 30:06
things. I want you to be able to know these
- 30:07 - 30:10
things so that you can hopefully find ways to better
- 30:10 - 30:12
address these things in your schools and help your school
- 30:12 - 30:15
be a place where students can feel safe and accepted
- 30:15 - 30:16
and like they belong.
- 30:18 - 30:22
And the reason that I find that so important when
- 30:22 - 30:26
we're talking about these things is because of what happens
- 30:27 - 30:29
when we are experiencing those things.
- 30:30 - 30:33
So, in that we're looking at higher rates of anxiety,
- 30:34 - 30:35
higher rates of depression.
- 30:36 - 30:40
And it's really important to see those impacts and see
- 30:40 - 30:42
how that how much of a difference that really does
- 30:42 - 30:47
make. So the Trevor project in 2021, that's this year,
- 30:49 - 30:52
Um, came out with a report that in the past
- 30:53 - 30:58
two weeks they had 72% of LGBT youth reporting generalized
- 30:59 - 31:03
anxiety disorder symptoms and uh, 62% reporting symptoms of depression.
- 31:05 - 31:09
Um, glisten in 2019 came out with their national school
- 31:10 - 31:14
Climate survey that they do every couple of few years.
- 31:15 - 31:17
Everything as we know is a little bit wacky with
- 31:17 - 31:20
Covid, which is another piece of all of this is
- 31:20 - 31:25
that we are all feeling a lot more um of
- 31:25 - 31:28
these things because of Covid being locked up at home
- 31:28 - 31:31
and and not being able to, you know, feel free
- 31:32 - 31:33
to kind of move about in the same way that
- 31:33 - 31:34
we have in the past.
- 31:34 - 31:38
Um And so recognize that there is a piece of
- 31:38 - 31:39
that here as well.
- 31:39 - 31:44
But glisten in 2019 noted that students who experienced victimization
- 31:45 - 31:51
and discrimination based on their identity of LGBT have lower
- 31:51 - 31:53
self esteem and higher rates of depression.
- 31:55 - 31:57
I think that these things both make a lot of
- 31:57 - 32:00
sense. I think that, you know, as as mental health
- 32:00 - 32:04
professionals, we can all see how linear that is when
- 32:04 - 32:09
they're facing these pieces of harassment and bullying and assault,
- 32:10 - 32:11
that these would be of course higher.
- 32:12 - 32:14
And we are noticing that these are higher in the
- 32:15 - 32:19
LGBT student community, student community and they are in the
- 32:19 - 32:20
general population.
- 32:21 - 32:24
Uh, so I think it's really important to make sure
- 32:24 - 32:26
that we are aware of that and that we are
- 32:26 - 32:29
doing everything that we can to help mitigate that.
- 32:30 - 32:34
Um, when I was doing all this research, I came
- 32:34 - 32:39
across a special edition from the professional school counseling journal
- 32:40 - 32:45
that talked all about how school counselors can be more
- 32:46 - 32:48
effective when working with L.
- 32:48 - 32:48
G B.
- 32:48 - 32:52
T. Q students, One of the things that was set
- 32:52 - 32:56
in there alongside every single article, pointing out that Alaska
- 32:57 - 33:03
really puts the effort in to say that every school
- 33:03 - 33:08
counselor should be advocating and working with and for every
- 33:08 - 33:10
single student regardless of their identities.
- 33:11 - 33:15
And something that one of the articles said in there
- 33:15 - 33:18
was that school counselors provide affirming counseling by being visible.
- 33:19 - 33:23
LGBTQ advocates intervening when harassment occurs and using inclusive language
- 33:25 - 33:29
and recognizing that that inclusive language not only refers to,
- 33:30 - 33:33
you know what I'm talking about, dead naming or what
- 33:33 - 33:36
I'm talking about, misusing pronouns, but also in the way
- 33:36 - 33:40
for us to be acknowledging that we can be using
- 33:41 - 33:46
language like parents rather than your mom and dad, or
- 33:46 - 33:48
we can be using language like your significant other or
- 33:49 - 33:53
your partner rather than assuming heteronormative itty of that student.
- 33:54 - 33:57
These are ways that we can use more inclusive language
- 33:57 - 34:00
because students don't always have mom and dad at home.
- 34:00 - 34:02
Students may just have mom may just have dad may
- 34:02 - 34:03
have two dads.
- 34:04 - 34:05
Uh, we don't know their situation.
- 34:06 - 34:07
They may be living with an aunt.
- 34:07 - 34:11
I, when I am working with students oftentimes use adults.
- 34:12 - 34:15
Uh, so what adults are you living with or who
- 34:15 - 34:19
are the adults in your life are questions that I
- 34:19 - 34:21
used to be a lot more inclusive in the way
- 34:21 - 34:23
that I speak with students.
- 34:24 - 34:26
Um one other thing that I really want to bring
- 34:26 - 34:29
to our attention here is that in that Trevor project
- 34:29 - 34:32
report from 2021 they found that in the past year,
- 34:32 - 34:39
almost half of LGBTQ youth wanted to have professional counseling
- 34:40 - 34:42
or wanted to have professional therapy but couldn't receive it.
- 34:43 - 34:47
And recognizing that while, you know, as school counselors, you
- 34:47 - 34:51
are professional, mental health weight, you are mental health professionals,
- 34:52 - 34:57
uh that y'all are busy, Y'all have usually 3 to
- 34:57 - 34:58
500 people on your case loads.
- 34:58 - 35:01
You don't have time to see students in the capacity
- 35:01 - 35:02
that sometimes they need.
- 35:03 - 35:05
Um so sometimes that does come down to time.
- 35:05 - 35:08
Sometimes that comes down to not having appropriate referrals and
- 35:08 - 35:11
not knowing where to send them because you don't have
- 35:12 - 35:17
the community uh connections with that community, or sometimes it
- 35:17 - 35:19
just comes down to money and the fact that these
- 35:19 - 35:22
students and their families don't have the money to get
- 35:22 - 35:26
them adequate resources for these things, I know that there
- 35:26 - 35:28
are a lot of different boundaries here, but I still
- 35:28 - 35:30
think it's very important to recognize that we are seeing
- 35:31 - 35:35
About 50% of these students not receiving the mental health
- 35:35 - 35:37
care that they are looking for.
- 35:41 - 35:43
All of that comes down to what, where it really
- 35:44 - 35:48
matters. Which is, you know, suicide because that is like
- 35:48 - 35:50
I said at the beginning, when I brought this all
- 35:50 - 35:51
up. Mhm.
- 35:52 - 35:53
Students lives are at stake.
- 35:55 - 35:59
We're seeing a much higher rate of suicidal ideation and
- 36:00 - 36:04
suicide attempts among LGBTQ youth than we are among cis
- 36:05 - 36:09
and head wrote sexual students in our schools.
- 36:11 - 36:14
So we are looking at almost 50 in the last
- 36:15 - 36:19
year of LGBTQ youth from 13 to 17, having seriously
- 36:20 - 36:23
considered attempting suicide, and over half of the trans and
- 36:23 - 36:27
non binary youth from 13 to 24 um in that
- 36:27 - 36:27
same category.
- 36:28 - 36:32
Um we are seeing about twice as many LGBTQ students
- 36:33 - 36:37
attempting suicide insists straight students, and that's a you know,
- 36:37 - 36:41
that's a lot any is more than we want to
- 36:41 - 36:44
see. But having twice as many says that there's a
- 36:44 - 36:44
real disconnect here.
- 36:45 - 36:48
So what can we do?
- 36:48 - 36:50
What are some things that are important for us to
- 36:51 - 36:54
be able to make sure that we are addressing these
- 36:54 - 36:56
things in a way that are going to help save
- 36:56 - 37:02
these students lives, giving them access to affirming spaces, whether
- 37:02 - 37:06
it is to affirm their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- 37:07 - 37:10
Mhm. Just giving them that space to feel validated and
- 37:10 - 37:13
affirmed is going to show lower rates of attempting suicide,
- 37:15 - 37:20
respecting pronouns and allowing them to use their chosen names
- 37:20 - 37:23
again, is going to lower rates of attempted suicide.
- 37:23 - 37:26
So, being being aware of those things and enacting policies
- 37:27 - 37:29
and thinking about the policies that are already in place.
- 37:30 - 37:34
Um whether it is policies around bathroom usage, policies around
- 37:34 - 37:37
what pronouns and names we can use for our students,
- 37:37 - 37:40
what the dress codes are really reflect on what those
- 37:40 - 37:44
policies are and recognize if there's anything that you can
- 37:44 - 37:47
do in order to help change some of these things
- 37:48 - 37:51
uh because school, again, is one of the important places
- 37:52 - 37:55
that we we have a lot of control as to
- 37:55 - 38:00
how accepting and how affirming and how validating we are
- 38:00 - 38:02
to our students that we're seeing.
- 38:02 - 38:07
That school is the second highest place of accessing affirming
- 38:07 - 38:13
spaces, that gender, that transgender and non binary youth are
- 38:13 - 38:17
finding that 47% of them are finding it at school.
- 38:18 - 38:21
That number could be a lot higher if we are
- 38:21 - 38:25
being more mindful and thoughtful about our policies and the
- 38:25 - 38:27
way that we interact with students in these in these
- 38:27 - 38:31
communities. Um also recognizing that they are finding even more
- 38:32 - 38:35
of it online and that as a school we have
- 38:36 - 38:39
the ability to give or restrict access to certain websites
- 38:40 - 38:44
and making sure that we're giving access to websites that
- 38:44 - 38:47
allow students to find connection, that allows students to find
- 38:47 - 38:50
affirmation and validation about who they are and those accepting
- 38:50 - 38:52
spaces is going to help them feel like they belong,
- 38:53 - 38:54
is going to help them feel like school is a
- 38:54 - 38:56
place that they can find that as well.
- 38:58 - 39:02
Um also recognize the difference between schools that are affirming
- 39:02 - 39:04
and schools that are not affirming when we're looking at
- 39:04 - 39:05
those suicide attempts.
- 39:05 - 39:10
So, LGBTQ youth who attempted suicide in the past year,
- 39:11 - 39:14
We saw that six more, 6% more of them were
- 39:14 - 39:19
attempting it because and we're also at schools that were
- 39:19 - 39:26
not affirming and that With that 6% decrease for affirming
- 39:26 - 39:30
schools means that if we're giving them affirming spaces at
- 39:30 - 39:33
the school that we're going to help save students lives.
- 39:36 - 39:38
So when we're looking at that, I've given you a
- 39:38 - 39:41
lot of why all of this matters and a little
- 39:41 - 39:42
bit of how we can do things.
- 39:43 - 39:45
Here's where I really want to bring all of that
- 39:45 - 39:47
to what, what can we do?
- 39:47 - 39:50
What can where can we turn, who can support us
- 39:50 - 39:53
in providing these spaces at the school?
- 39:54 - 39:57
What can we do in order to make more of
- 39:57 - 40:00
that happen so that we are saving these students lives
- 40:00 - 40:01
so that we are giving them the space to feel
- 40:02 - 40:03
affirmed and validated in who they are.
- 40:05 - 40:08
The first thing like I said at the beginning to
- 40:08 - 40:11
come in with an open mind and an open heart
- 40:12 - 40:15
to recognize that you have the space to ask yourself
- 40:15 - 40:18
questions. You have the space to challenge your own biases,
- 40:19 - 40:22
to challenge the beliefs that you have or the stereotypes
- 40:22 - 40:26
that maybe you've held on to recognize when it's your
- 40:27 - 40:31
business to be asking questions about someone's about pieces of
- 40:31 - 40:35
someone's gender bread identity, whether it's their gender identity, their
- 40:36 - 40:40
sex, their expression or their attraction to recognize when that's
- 40:40 - 40:43
your business, when it's important for you to be asking
- 40:43 - 40:47
about those things and to recognize what you can assume
- 40:47 - 40:50
about various different pieces of that person based on one
- 40:50 - 40:55
of those other pieces and how interconnected and disconnected those
- 40:55 - 40:58
pieces. All our um again, I've really tried to draw
- 40:59 - 41:01
that out as I've gone through this, but just to
- 41:01 - 41:04
give you some time to reflect on those things I
- 41:04 - 41:07
think is really important for you to know like, okay,
- 41:08 - 41:09
this is what I've been thinking.
- 41:09 - 41:10
This is what I've been doing.
- 41:10 - 41:14
Maybe I need to uh re situate my brain.
- 41:15 - 41:18
Um, and then that last one I think is the
- 41:18 - 41:20
one that I like to culminate everything to is what
- 41:21 - 41:22
just constantly be thinking.
- 41:23 - 41:24
What can I do to show support for the people
- 41:25 - 41:27
in my life who are part of the gender red
- 41:27 - 41:35
spectrum. One of the things that I found that, you
- 41:35 - 41:39
know, in the article that this was in, it was
- 41:40 - 41:43
very much expressed, Please share this with as many people
- 41:43 - 41:48
as uh, you know, need and I think that this
- 41:48 - 41:50
is a great place for this to be disseminated.
- 41:51 - 41:53
Um, this is just a getting to know you sheet
- 41:53 - 41:55
that teachers or school counselors can use.
- 41:56 - 41:58
Uh, I encourage you to use it with all of
- 41:58 - 42:02
your students whether or not you uh are thinking that
- 42:02 - 42:03
they may or may not be on the gender bread
- 42:04 - 42:09
spectrum somewhere because these are things that then you can
- 42:09 - 42:13
make sure that you're tracking with your students and you
- 42:13 - 42:15
know, okay, this is what pronouns they use.
- 42:15 - 42:17
This is when I can use these pronouns, this is
- 42:17 - 42:20
the name that they used, this is the name that
- 42:20 - 42:21
they were given.
- 42:21 - 42:25
Is it okay to talk to various different people, uh,
- 42:26 - 42:30
and use these things, or are they still protecting themselves
- 42:30 - 42:32
maybe from having issues at home?
- 42:32 - 42:34
So I can't use these things with parents or guardians,
- 42:35 - 42:37
or maybe they're very concerned about certain staff or students
- 42:37 - 42:40
and making sure that you're giving them that space for
- 42:40 - 42:41
them to come out on their own terms.
- 42:43 - 42:46
Um, again, I think that this is a great tool
- 42:47 - 42:48
for teachers to be able to hand out to all
- 42:48 - 42:50
of their students at the beginning of the year, in
- 42:50 - 42:52
that way, they just have an idea of how that
- 42:53 - 42:55
is with every single student as well, as if something
- 42:56 - 42:58
changes, It might allow that student to feel a little
- 42:58 - 43:01
bit more comfortable uh, stepping up to their teacher and
- 43:01 - 43:03
advocating for themselves to say, you know what, the beginning
- 43:04 - 43:05
of the year I said that I used he him
- 43:05 - 43:09
pronouns, but actually, as I've continued to learn about myself,
- 43:10 - 43:13
I would like to use they them pronouns, maybe something
- 43:13 - 43:15
along those lines and they might feel more comfortable having
- 43:16 - 43:18
a conversation if it's already understood that the teacher is
- 43:18 - 43:21
carrying enough or that the student or that the school
- 43:21 - 43:24
counselor is carrying enough to hand these out to all
- 43:24 - 43:26
of the people that are seeing them in order to
- 43:26 - 43:29
make sure that they can respect that student and give
- 43:29 - 43:32
that student the affirmation and validation that they need in
- 43:32 - 43:32
that space.
- 43:35 - 43:40
The last piece here is I've got, it looks very
- 43:41 - 43:44
busy. I know I wanted to provide as many of
- 43:44 - 43:46
these things as I could in a small amount of
- 43:46 - 43:48
space for you to see things that you can put
- 43:48 - 43:51
up in your own school counseling office or around the
- 43:51 - 43:54
school to help students in this community feel more accepted
- 43:54 - 43:56
to help students in this community feel like they have
- 43:56 - 43:59
a space that affirms and recognizes them.
- 43:59 - 44:02
Um so you're going to see things like the safe
- 44:02 - 44:06
zone project, the Trevor project um as place as things
- 44:06 - 44:09
that can show like, hey, I've done some work, I
- 44:09 - 44:10
know that this is important.
- 44:11 - 44:13
I know that I can provide a space for these
- 44:13 - 44:16
people. Um you've got the Safe space alliance and the
- 44:16 - 44:20
L G B T Q flag showing this is the
- 44:20 - 44:23
newest version, so that we are also including identities such
- 44:24 - 44:29
as trans non binary uh and bipod communities and making
- 44:29 - 44:32
sure that that is something that you are recognizing and
- 44:32 - 44:33
acknowledging as well.
- 44:34 - 44:38
Um some places again, because we we see these increased
- 44:38 - 44:43
anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations and attempts among LGBTQ students,
- 44:43 - 44:46
it's really important to know the help lines that are
- 44:48 - 44:53
out here for specifically working with students or people in
- 44:53 - 44:56
the LGBT community, whether again, that's the Trevor project.
- 44:57 - 44:57
They have a number to call.
- 44:58 - 45:00
They have a number to text, I really encourage you
- 45:00 - 45:03
to either have cards or have that number at hand
- 45:03 - 45:06
to give to students because they are the number one
- 45:06 - 45:09
go to place for people who are looking for help
- 45:09 - 45:11
when they are feeling their life is in a crisis.
- 45:12 - 45:15
Um, for your students who are graduating, you might give
- 45:16 - 45:18
them the thrive lifeline Which works with people who are
- 45:19 - 45:21
18 and older, they also have a text line as
- 45:22 - 45:24
well or they only have a text line, I'm pretty
- 45:24 - 45:27
sure. And so that gives them a space where they
- 45:27 - 45:30
can reach out when they are feeling like they need
- 45:30 - 45:30
some help.
- 45:31 - 45:33
The trans lifeline I think works with all ages, they
- 45:33 - 45:33
haven't ever.
- 45:33 - 45:37
And then the National Suicide prevention Lifeline, which I would
- 45:38 - 45:40
hope many of you are already familiar with, but that,
- 45:40 - 45:43
that those are things that you can make sure to
- 45:43 - 45:46
have at your disposal to give out to students when
- 45:46 - 45:48
they are expressing to you, hey, I need someone to
- 45:48 - 45:51
talk to and you either Know that you cannot provide
- 45:51 - 45:55
them the help that they need or that you don't
- 45:55 - 45:57
have the time because again, I know that you'll have
- 45:57 - 45:59
four and 500 students on your case loads.
- 46:00 - 46:02
This gives you a way to say, Hey, there are
- 46:02 - 46:04
people that can talk, you can talk to that care,
- 46:05 - 46:11
I care here is that um, some places that you
- 46:11 - 46:13
can turn to for extra help as far as maybe
- 46:13 - 46:16
coming up with school counselor lesson plans or teacher lesson
- 46:17 - 46:20
plans or school wide activities to connect and engage students.
- 46:20 - 46:24
Um all of the students uh in thinking about L.
- 46:24 - 46:25
G. B T.
- 46:25 - 46:29
Q. Identities and the LGBT L G B T.
- 46:29 - 46:30
Q. Population.
- 46:31 - 46:35
So learning for justice has a curriculum on their website
- 46:35 - 46:38
that you can find that should be in the references.
- 46:39 - 46:44
Um and glisten has a lot of both lesson planes
- 46:44 - 46:45
in school wide activities.
- 46:46 - 46:49
Those are things that you can pull from and use
- 46:49 - 46:50
and implement in your schools.
- 46:51 - 46:55
They very much encourage you to scour their website and
- 46:55 - 47:00
find the things that are important and implemented in your
- 47:00 - 47:04
school setting in ways that they can help support you
- 47:04 - 47:04
to do that.
- 47:04 - 47:07
I'm pretty sure that both of those places have all
- 47:08 - 47:11
of those resources absolutely free so that you can dig
- 47:11 - 47:13
into them and just pull them right in for your
- 47:13 - 47:17
school. Um Glad and the Trevor project again are places
- 47:17 - 47:19
that you can turn to add things into your lesson
- 47:19 - 47:23
plans or to find other organizations and agencies that do
- 47:24 - 47:26
this work so that you can go to them to
- 47:27 - 47:28
find other connections.
- 47:29 - 47:33
Glad has an extensive resource list where you can turn
- 47:34 - 47:37
to a number of different agencies that might be able
- 47:37 - 47:39
to help in this area.
- 47:40 - 47:46
Finally, building that community and finding the local agencies that
- 47:47 - 47:53
can help in creating a more cohesive space for your
- 47:53 - 47:57
students, especially if you have to refer out for anything.
- 47:58 - 48:02
Um so we have great growing american youth in ST
- 48:02 - 48:06
louis, which is a place for LGBT Youth to find
- 48:06 - 48:11
acceptance. It's kind of a social activities sort of group
- 48:11 - 48:13
that is in a number of different schools around the
- 48:13 - 48:15
ST Louis area chads coalition.
- 48:16 - 48:19
Again, that's where I am, you know, that's part of
- 48:19 - 48:23
where I come from that around the ST louis area
- 48:23 - 48:25
and they have options for people who are not in
- 48:25 - 48:27
the ST louis area to have chad staff as well
- 48:28 - 48:31
who come in and work with students around suicide, um
- 48:33 - 48:37
anxiety and depression, knowing that they are a place that
- 48:37 - 48:42
can offer some extra embedded support in your schools and
- 48:42 - 48:44
if you want more information about that, feel free to
- 48:44 - 48:47
reach out to me about that and I can give
- 48:47 - 48:49
you that to you in ST louis again, we have
- 48:50 - 48:51
the spot which is a place for L G.
- 48:51 - 48:52
B. T.
- 48:52 - 48:55
Q. People to go and get tested if they are
- 48:55 - 48:58
sexually active and be able to receive a little bit
- 48:58 - 49:03
of counseling around safe sex practices and what that looks
- 49:04 - 49:07
like. Um something else, you know, some other things around
- 49:07 - 49:09
ST louis that I know about are just going to
- 49:09 - 49:13
be, there's p flag meetings that are important for, that
- 49:14 - 49:16
can be important for parents and friends of people who
- 49:17 - 49:18
are in the LGBT community to attend.
- 49:19 - 49:22
Um there's transparent, which is for parents of people uh
- 49:23 - 49:24
in the trans community.
- 49:24 - 49:27
So all of these things are places that you can
- 49:27 - 49:29
reach out to if you're in the ST louis area,
- 49:29 - 49:32
if you're not, I really encourage you to look around
- 49:33 - 49:37
your your community, look around your city and see what
- 49:37 - 49:40
there is that that has anything to offer in in
- 49:40 - 49:45
the way of services, community building and socialization for your
- 49:45 - 49:45
LGBTQ students.
- 49:48 - 49:52
Yeah, all of that being said, that is the end.
- 49:53 - 49:56
Here are some references feel free to look a little
- 49:57 - 50:00
bit more closely closely at these and pull your own
- 50:01 - 50:03
information that is going to be important for you as
- 50:03 - 50:07
well. I really appreciate you taking the time to sit
- 50:07 - 50:12
through this presentation, and I'm hoping that after listening to
- 50:12 - 50:14
all of this, you're able to take this information back
- 50:14 - 50:17
to your schools and create more affirming more validating spaces
- 50:17 - 50:20
for your students and have a deeper understanding of what
- 50:20 - 50:23
you can do to really be advocating, and working with
- 50:23 - 50:25
your LGBTQ students as well.
- 50:26 - 50:27
Thank you so much.
- 50:27 - 50:32
And I look forward to any questions and feedback from
- 50:32 - 50:33
any of you.
- 50:35 - 50:40
Feel free to reach out and thank you for your
- 50:41 - 50:41
time