Advocacy for gender minority students: recommendations for school counsellors

Abstract

Research shows that teachers’ and educators’ responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review of recent developments in the USA, recommendations are made and resources identified to assist school counsellors in validating TIG students, and improving school systems in pursuit of their academic, social and emotional success.     

Problematizing the cisgendering of school washroom space: interrogating the politics of recognition of transgender and gender non-conforming youth

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how transgender and gender non-conforming youth are represented and shaped as specific subjects vis-à-vis the cisgendered problematics of the washroom space in schools. In the first part of the paper, I undertake a critical analysis of one policy-informing text on the implementation of the gender neutral washroom in schools to consider how the transgender and gender non-conforming student is constituted through specific discourses of accommodation, submission and protection that delimit their recognisability and force a potential risk of misrecognition. I also draw upon my own empirical research [Ingrey, Jennifer C. 2014. “The Public School Washroom as Heterotopia: Gendered Spatiality and Subjectification.” PhD diss., University of Western Ontario] to prioritize transgender and genderqueer voices and provide an analysis of the practice of recognition. The analysis is grounded in [Foucault, Michel. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977. Translated and edited by Colin Gordon. New York, NY: Pantheon Books; Foucault, Michel. 2000. “Afterword: The Subject and Power.” In Michel Foucault: Power, edited by James D. Faubion and Paul Rabinow, 326–348. New York, NY: The New Press] the analytics of subjectivation and pastoral power, [Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. New York, NY: Routledge] the politics of recognition of the self, [Juang’s, Richard M. 2006. “Transgendering the Politics of Recognition.” In The Transgender Studies Reader, edited by Susan Stryker, and Stephen Whittle, 706–719. New York, NY: Routledge] transgendering of the politics of recognition, alongside [Bacchi’s, Carol. 2009. Analysing Policy: What’s the Problem Represented to Be? Pearson: Frenchs Forest, NSW] critical approach to policy analysis.     

PISSAR's Critically Queer and Disabled Politics

PISSAR (People in Search of Safe and Accessible Restrooms) offers an instructive example about the possibility for critically queer and disabled politics. Using public bathrooms as a site of activism, PISSAR, through the consubstantiality of shame, demonstrates the mutually constitutive and performative properties of bodies interacting in space. PISSAR's actions provide pedagogical insight into the negotiation of coalitional politics, especially those politics inflected with queer concerns.     

An Intake Template for Transgender,Transsexual, Genderqueer,Gender Nonconforming,and Gender Variant College Students Seeking Mental Health Services

As more students identify as transgender and genderqueer, it is essential that staff at college counseling centers are knowledgeable about gender diversity. This article provides a template for intake and initial assessment with transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming students. It familiarizes clinicians with gender-affirming language and offers a list of questions to ask. Topics covered include: gender history, coming out, self-injury, suicide, sexual orientation, binding, transition trajectories, options for gender expression, issues with diagnosis and recordkeeping, and interdisciplinary approaches to treatment. The intake is an opportunity to provide comfort and support for students of all genders.