A seminar from the office of university training discussed LGBTQ+ education on Jan. 28, Thursday at 3 p.m.
Facilitated by Department Chair of Philosophy and Religion and Gender Studies Director, Taine Duncan, and Assistant Director for Housing and Residence Life, Veneta Fricks, the seminar discussed the importance of inclusivity in the classroom—virtual or in-person.
At the typical age of a college student, there is a lot of self-discovery going on. People are constantly changing, and it is important for them to have a safe space to where they can explore themselves.
“Particularly for our students who are first coming to understand and express their identities, they’re still learning to feel accepted and find a place where they can authentically represent who they are,” Duncan said. “We might describe that as a transition for our students. When they first come to UCA, they are in transitions in their identity and lots of different aspects of their lives.”
This training not only highlighted the necessity of keeping students comfortable, but also promoted similar treatment towards peers and coworkers. “Know that your students are constantly, your peers are constantly changing, and to be there and support them,” Fricks said.
The recognition of the spectrum of identity, expression and sex can help induviduals escape traditional binaries and their stereotypes.
During the seminar, Duncan included a “Genderbread Person” curated by metereosexual.com that helps explain the various identifiers. “The umbrella of LGBTQ+ includes elements of sex, gender and sexuality… Oftentimes, we confuse and conflate those categories,” Duncan said.
This confusion helps point to the importance of our everyday language, and the steep learning curve that comes with recognizing this. “The process of learning how to be inclusive with our language in the classroom is not just a one-time-only, it’s constantly going to be a process of development,” Duncan said.
One way to promote inclusivity is by simply attaching your pronouns onto your name on Zoom or even at the end of your email signature. “That normalizes a recognition of an individual’s agency and articulating their pronouns and their identity,” Duncan said.
Altering the pronouns you normally use can create a safer space, such as using “they.”
“It affirms the recognition of all people which promotes civility, inclusivity and mental health. It is a health and wellness issue to be gender inclusive in our spaces,” Duncan said.
It is important to be intentional with language to avoid impactful pain. Something simple as the term “you guys” can inflict this as guys is a gendered term.
“For individuals who have transitioned, individuals who are non-binary, individuals for whom maybe they are incorrectly identified as masculine when it is not their identity, the term ‘guys’ can be a trigger that unnecessarily contributes to a feeling of exclusion,” Duncan said.
Duncan added that, good intentions do not always mean that mistakes will not be made. If a mistake is made, apologize and move on. “Don’t dwell on it because that centers you rather than centering the experience of the individual that you want to be inclusive of,” she said.
This seminar emphasized that it is not any one person’s responsibility to assume or assign another’s identity, but rather, give agency to students and peers to discover it on their own.
