In this blog post, biology education researchers Sarah L. Eddy and Aramati Casper describe how to support intersex and queer students through language choices and biologically accurate content.
“It’s completely erasure”: A Qualitative Exploration of Experiences of Transgender, Nonbinary, Gender Nonconforming, and Questioning Students in Biology Courses
Abstract
Biology is the study of the diversity of life, which includes diversity in sex, gender, and sexual, romantic, and related orientations. However, a small body of literature suggests that undergraduate biology courses focus on only a narrow representation of this diversity (binary sexes, heterosexual orientations, etc.). In this study, we interviewed students with queer genders to understand the messages about sex, gender, and orientation they encountered in biology and the impact of these messages on them. We found five overarching themes in these interviews. Students described two narratives about sex, gender, and orientation in their biology classes that made biology implicitly exclusionary. These narratives harmed students by impacting their sense of belonging, career preparation, and interest in biology content. However, students employed a range of resilience strategies to resist these harms. Finally, students described the currently unrealized potential for biology and biology courses to validate queer identities by representing the diversity in sex and orientation in biology. We provide teaching suggestions derived from student interviews for making biology more queer-inclusive.
Challenge norms & build interruption skills
Headline: Male Adolescents’ Gender Attitudes and Violence: Implications for Youth Violence Prevention
[What they measured:] This study analyzed the associations among male adolescents’ gender attitudes, intentions to intervene, witnessing peers’ abusive behaviors, and multiple forms of adolescent violence perpetration.
[Who they studied:] Data were from a cross-sectional survey conducted at baseline with 866 male adolescents in community settings (i.e., youth-serving organizations, churches, after school programs, and libraries) across 20 lower-resource neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA from August 2015 to June 2017, as part of a cluster RCT.28 Eligible youth were aged 13—19 years, identified as male, and recruited to participate in a gender-specific violence prevention program.
[Goals] This community-based evaluation aims to inform future youth violence prevention efforts through the identification of potential predictors of interpersonal violence perpetration.
[Conclusions] Findings support violence prevention strategies that challenge harmful gender and social norms while simultaneously increasing youths’ skills in interrupting peers’ disrespectful and harmful behaviors.
Citation
Miller E, Culyba AJ, Paglisotti T, Massof M, Gao Q, Ports KA, Kato-Wallace J, Pulerwitz J, Espelage DL, Abebe KZ, Jones KA. Male Adolescents' Gender Attitudes and Violence: Implications for Youth Violence Prevention. Am J Prev Med. 2020 Mar;58(3):396-406. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.10.009. Epub 2019 Dec 27. PMID: 31889621; PMCID: PMC7039734.
Ten simple rules for supporting historically underrepresented students in science
Post-secondary science educators, including college and university instructors and informal educators, will find actionable strategies for supporting historically underrepresented students in this PLOS Computational Biology article by Arif S, Massey MDB, Klinard N, Charbonneau J, Jabre L, Martins AB, et al. (2021)
Research documents school staff tend to blame victim of anti-LGBT harassment, incl. removing from school, when perpetrators face minor consequences. (Bochenek & Brown 2001)
Many people experiencing discrimination have encountered “victim-blaming” where the solution to the hate crime is to remove the identity being persecuted. Suppose a woman might have been told her attire “invited” sexual assault or even rape. Suppose a gay teen is told to stop “flaunting” their lifestyle choice, often by teachers and administrators in positions of trust and protection, when they report violence and daily harassment in the classroom. Suppose a recent immigrant is told that once they “learn English”, classmates will stop stealing his things and urinating on his book bag.
Only when teachers and administrators take risks to establish honest conversations that proactively support inclusion and affirm the expressive diversity of all people on campus (including students who feel the need to bully and abuse others) can we create genuinely safe spaces.
In addition to highlighting the inaction of teachers and other school staff, Daniel’s story illustrates the tendency among some school staff to ‘blame the victim’ in cases of anti-LGBT harassment, as other researchers have noted.
In Hatred in the Hallways, authors Michael Bochenek and A. Widney Brown cite situations in which LGBT students were removed from classrooms and even schools as a '“solution” to their having been harassed (while the perpetrators faced minor consequences), as well as one in which an assistant principal reportedly said of a student who had been harassed, “If he didn’t walk around telling people that he’s gay, there wouldn’t be any problems.”
Reference
Michael Bochenek and A. Widney Brown, Hatred in the Hallways: Violence and Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students in US Schools (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2001), 83.
Michael Sadowski, ed., Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education (Cambridge: Harvard Education Press, 2015), 125.
"I am intersex. My middle school science teacher would stand in front of my desk and loudly announce that intersex was made up and there was only male and female." - AH (18 yo)
"Rosie's mother said she felt extremely pressured by the surgeons to consent to surgery on [Rosie as an Intersex baby] even after she voiced her concerns." - CNN
"Rosie is now in the process of figuring out her gender identity on her own terms. While she says she still likes to use female pronouns for now and wants to keep her name, Rosie says that sometimes she feels like a boy and other times, nonbinary. "Because I am both!" she said.
"Rosie's mother, Stephani Lohman, said she felt extremely pressured by the surgeons to consent to surgery even after she voiced her concerns about the procedure, including the evidence that these surgeries can have devastating side effects including a loss of sexual function, psychological trauma and life-long pain.
Pending legislation in California and New York would effectively ban these surgeries in those places by requiring informed consent from the patient before a cosmetic genital surgery.
As of 2013, the United Nations has condemned the practice on the grounds that an infant cannot consent.
Three former US surgeons general agreed, writing in July 2017, "these surgeries violate an individual's right to personal autonomy over their own future."
In 2017, Human Rights Watch concluded the surgeries violate a patient's human rights. Their research found that these surgeries can cause life-long pain, scarring, loss of sexual function, the need for life-long hormone replacement and maintenance surgeries, and psychological harm similar to that of child sexual abuse victims.
Dr. Ilene Wong Gregorio is a practicing urologist and intersex rights advocate who supports the legislation.
"Doctors have been imposing their assumptions on heteronormativity and what a child should look like, and intersex bodies, for decades," she said. "There are still people who practice outdated medicine and the only way to protect children from these people, who through culture or ignorance or hubris, are doing these things, is to actually put something in writing in the court of law."
"Individual self-esteem, healthy relationships w/ parents & peers, and GSAs are most common protective factors." (J Prim Prev)
Protective Factors Among Transgender and Gender Variant Youth: A Systematic Review by Socioecological Level
From abstract
Transgender and gender variant (GV) youth experience elevated risk for poor health and academic outcomes due mainly to social experiences of stigma and discrimination. To supplement the growing evidence on health risks encountered by transgender/GV youth, we identified factors theorized to be protective for these youth across all four levels of Bronfenbrenner's socioecological model (individual, relationship, community, societal). We conducted a systematic search of peer-reviewed research. The articles included in this review were published in peer-reviewed journals in English or Spanish between 1999 and 2014, analyzed data from a sample or subsample of transgender or GV participants with a mean age between 10 and 24 years, and examined the relationship of at least one theorized protective factor to a health or behavioral outcome. Twenty-one articles met inclusion criteria. Transgender/GV youth in included articles ranged from 11 to 26 years of age, were racially/ethnically diverse, and represented varied gender identities. Within these articles, 27 unique protective factors across four levels of the ecological model were identified as related to positive health and well-being. Self-esteem at the individual level, healthy relationships with parents and peers at the relationship-level, and gay-straight alliances at the community level emerged as protective factors across multiple studies. Our findings underscore the relative lack of research on transgender/GV youth and protective factors. Novel recruitment strategies for transgender/GV youth and better measurement of transgender identities are needed to confirm these protective relationships and identify others. Growth in these areas will contribute to building a body of evidence to inform interventions.
Citation
Johns et al. (2018) Protective Factors Among Transgender and Gender Variant Youth: A Systematic Review by Socioecological Level. Journal of Primary Prevention. 2018 Jun;39(3):263-301. doi: 10.1007/s10935-018-0508-9.
Heteronormative safety policies, violence, & harassment at schools cause decrease in perceived safety for gender-nonconforming students in 28 high schools. (J. Adolesc)
Heteronormativity, school climates, and perceived safety for gender nonconforming peers.
Abstract
Students' perceptions of their school climates are associated with psychosocial and academic adjustment. The present study examined the role of school strategies to promote safety in predicting students' perceptions of safety for gender nonconforming peers among 1415 students in 28 high schools. Using multilevel modeling techniques, we examined student- and school-level effects on students' perceptions of safety for gender nonconforming peers. We found that older students, bisexual youth, Latino youth, and youth who experienced school violence perceived their gender nonconforming male peers to be less safe. Similarly, we found that older students and students who experienced school violence and harassment due to gender nonconformity perceived their gender nonconforming female peers to be less safe. At the school-level, we found that when schools included lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in the curriculum and had a Gay-Straight Alliance, students perceived their schools as safer for gender nonconforming male peers.
Citation
Toomey et al. (2012) Heteronormativity, school climates, and perceived safety for gender nonconforming peers. Journal of Adolescence. 2012 Feb;35(1):187-96. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.03.001. Epub 2011 Apr 8.
Study of 245 lgbt adults finds LGBT-related school victimization links adolescent gender nonconformity w/ adult happiness. (Dev. Psychol.)
Gender-nonconforming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: school victimization and young adult psychosocial adjustment.
From the abstract:
Past research documents that both adolescent gender nonconformity and the experience of school victimization are associated with high rates of negative psychosocial adjustment. The participants included 245 LGBT young adults ranging in age from 21 to 25 years. Using structural equation modeling, we found that victimization due to perceived or actual LGBT status fully mediates the association between adolescent gender nonconformity and young adult psychosocial adjustment (i.e., life satisfaction and depression).
Citation
Toomey et al. (2010) Gender-nonconforming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: school victimization and young adult psychosocial adjustment. Journal of Developmental Psychology. 2010 Nov;46(6):1580-9. doi: 10.1037/a0020705.
"The presence of a GSA correlates with fewer depressive symptoms & mental health referrals for suicidal thoughts." (Journal of Youth & Adolescence)
School Climate & Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescent Mental Health.
Excerpt from abstract:
This study uses a survey that measures all four measures of school environment with a national sample of 240 sexual/gender minority high school students ages 14-18 (mean age 15.77) where 53% of participants had a Gay-Straight Alliance in their school. The sample is 53% cisgender, 100% sexual minority and 62% white. Adjusting for demographics and presence of a Gay-Straight Alliance, fewer depressive symptoms were associated with lower help-seeking intentions for suicidal thoughts. The presence of Gay-Straight Alliance was not statistically associated with past-month help-seeking intentions or behaviors. Additionally, a more supportive school climate was associated with lower anxiety and depressive symptoms. However, the presence of a Gay-Straight Alliance was not statistically associated with anxiety or depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that a supportive school climate and supportive school personnel may be important for supporting the mental health of sexual/gender minority students.
Citation
Colvin et al. (2019) School Climate & Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescent Mental Health. (2019) J. Youth Adolesc. 2019 Oct;48(10):1938-1951. doi: 10.1007/s10964-019-01108-w. Epub 2019 Aug 24.
Family Acceptance of LGBT Youth Protects Against Suicide, Depression & Substance Abuse and Predicts Better Health & Self-Esteem (Journal of School Health)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-related school victimization is strongly linked to young adult mental health and risk for STDs and HIV; there is no strong association with substance use or abuse.
Elevated levels of depression and suicidal ideation among males can be explained by their high rates of LGBT school victimization.
Citation: Russell ST, Ryan C, Toomey RB, Diaz RM, Sanchez J. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescent school victimization: implications for young adult health and adjustment. J Sch Health. 2011; 81: 223-230. (pdf)
Using a Transgender Person's Name Can Decrease Their Risk of Depression and Suicide (Teen Vogue)
A new study from The University of Texas at Austin has shed light on the importance of name usage for transgender youth. The study, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in preparation for the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, concluded that when young transgender people are able to use their names in areas of everyday life, their risk of suicide and depression decreases.
They found that young people who could use their names in all four scenarios experienced 71% fewer symptoms of depression, 34% fewer symptoms of suicidal ideation, and a 65% decrease in attempted suicide than those who were not able to use their names.
Read the article here: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/using-transgender-persons-name-decrease-risk-of-depression-suicide
Same-sex attraction & behavior are more common than LGB identity (Advance Data; Annals of Internal Medicine)
Source: http://www.lgbthealtheducation.org/wp-content/uploads/LGBT-Health-Care-for-Asian-Americans.pdf
References:
Mosher WD, et al. (2005) Sexual behavior and selected health measures: men and women 15-44 years of age, United States, 2002. Advance Data; 2005:362.
Pathela P, et al. (2006) Discordance between sexual behavior and self-reported sexual identity: a population-based survey of New York City men. Ann Intern Med. 2006;145(6):416-425.
Transgender youths four times as likely to engage in substance use; linked to depression & bullying
Summary: Based on 621,189 California kids in a 3-year time period, researchers found that transgender youth were 2.5 to 4 times as likely to experience suicidal ideation compared to non-transgender youth. Based on the data, authors identify depression and school bullying as major explanations for this trend, and make further recommendations.
Citation: Amaya Perez-Brumer, Jack K. Day, Stephen T. Russell, Mark L. Hatzenbuehler. (2017) Prevalence and Correlates of Suicidal Ideation Among Transgender Youth in California: Findings From a Representative, Population-Based Sample of High School Students. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Volume 56, Issue 9, 2017, Pages 739-746, ISSN 0890-8567, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.06.010 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856717303167)
Victimization of Transgender Youths Linked to Suicidal Thoughts, Substance Abuse (Journal of Adolescent Health)
In two peer-reviewed papers, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found that transgender adolescents are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts as the general population, and they are up to four times as likely to engage in substance use. Depression and school-based victimization factored heavily into the disparities in both cases.
Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/victimization-of-transgender-youths-linked-to-suicidal-thoughts-substance-abuse
School Victimization of Gender-Nonconforming LGBT Youth Linked with Depression and Quality Of Life In Adulthood (Developmental Psychology)
From the American Psychological Association (which historically pathologized LGBT+ behavior), researchers found that bullying over LGBT status alone is completely responsible for how well that 13 to 19 year-old associates with gender as an adult.
We also found that school victimization due to LGBT status between the ages of 13 and 19 fully accounts for the associations between gender nonconformity and young adult adjustment, measured as depression and life satisfaction.
The researchers also analyzed their data to make sure other kinds of bullying weren’t responsible for depression and happiness.
However, school victimization for other reasons does not mediate this association.
This effect of bullying on the gender development of queer youth affects youth of all genders equally.
On the other hand, we did not find support for our hypothesis that the strength between gender nonconformity and school LGBT victimization would be stronger for boys. The process through which early gender nonconformity affects later psychosocial adjustment is similar for boys and girls.
Homophobic bullying in particular continues on into the young adult years and negatively impacts quality of life.
We found that the negative impact of specifically homophobic school victimization continues into the young adult years and affects quality of life and capacity to enjoy life.
The researchers do recommend that school policies specifically prohibiting queer-targeted bullying will reduce these negative outcomes.
Enactment of school policies that specifically prohibit victimization due to LGBT status, gender nonconformity, and other types of bias-related harassment can help reduce negative psychosocial outcomes in LGBT and gender-nonconforming young people. Thus, although it is clear that all victimization should be prohibited in schools, these findings specifically indicate the need for antibullying policies that enumerate categories often targeted by bullies.
The authors also seem thoughtful about how they are considering their transgender participants:
We also tested the model without transgender participants. The findings (available upon request) were similar to the results based on the full sample (i.e., the indirect pathway was significant and all pathways were of similar strength and the same direction). On the basis of these results, and because our measure of LGBT school victimization was inclusive of transgender experiences, we present finding based on the full sample.
Citation: Russell B. Toomey, Caitlyn Ryan, Rafael M. Diaz, Noel A. Card, & Stephen T. Russell. (2010) Gender-Nonconforming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: School Victimization and Young Adult Psychosocial Adjustment. Developmental Psychology 2010, Vol. 46, No. 6, 1580-1589. (pdf)
Groundbreaking Research on Family Rejection of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Adolescents Establishes Predictive Link to Negative Health Outcomes (Pediatrics)
On the basis of odds ratios, lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults who reported higher levels of family rejection during adolescence were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to report having engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection.
Latino men reported the highest number of negative family reactions to their sexual orientation in adolescence.
Researchers have established a link between rejecting behaviors of families towards lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents and negative health problems in early adulthood.
Published in the January 2009 issue of Pediatrics, journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Citation: Caitlin Ryan, David Huebner, Rafael M. Diaz, Jorge Sanchez. Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes in White and Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults. Pediatrics Jan 2009, 123 (1) 346-352; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2007-3524 (link to abstract)
2018 HRC LGBTQ Youth Report
This is a survey of over 12,000 LGBTQ teenagers in the United States. Although it lacks any specific data about science curriculum, it contains the important finding that only 10% of youth are out to all of their teachers. This informs teachers’ work because we must not assume that there are no LGBTQ students in our classrooms, just because they are not out.