Talking Points #7 Educating Students About Gender Diversity

Everyone should be taught or at least become aware that confusion of one's gender exists. One can feel like like they are a male, a female, both or even neither. Gender also has it's stereotypes and that affects the learning environment. That leads to bullying in schools. An example would be a male who is feminine or a female who is masculine. They are made fun of in public because our society teaches us that male goes with masculinity and female with femininity. Because it's not what they perceive as what is normal in our society, it becomes something funny to make jokes about. In a way, what society teaches us is exactly the cause of the problems we face today. If we were taught in school that it is possible and accepted for each gender to have both or opposite gender identities, there would be none to less bullying in schools for being a feminine straight/gay, masculine straight/lesbian, and a transgender person. The video below talks about a elementary school that implements teaching gender diversity within the classroom. It's such a great idea for all schools to consider teaching children.