Fostering queer-friendly classrooms
August 01st, 2024
A trans professor from Vancouver, LJ Slovin (at right), followed six trans youth over a year (with some later follow-up) as they attended a Vancouver area high school and compiled their findings in their latest book, Fierce, Fabulous, and Fluid: How Trans Youth Work at Gender Nonconformity (NYU Press $32.95).
Slovin examines the efforts of trans youth to create inclusive spaces in their Vancouver high school, critiquing educational policies designed to support trans and gender-nonconforming students, arguing that these policies often unintentionally reinforce narrow definitions of trans identity. The author documents the experiences of gender-nonconforming youth who are frequently overlooked in discussions about trans issues. Despite this lack of recognition, these students navigate their identities with resilience, striving to thrive within the education system. They build more inclusive environments that embrace a spectrum of trans identities. Slovin emphasizes the need for educators to move away from a focus on risk and concern, advocating instead for a celebration and genuine understanding of trans and gender-nonconforming youth. This approach, the book argues, is essential for fostering a more inclusive and supportive educational setting, paving the way for a brighter, queerer future.
Below is an excerpt from the introduction in Fierce, Fabulous, and Fluid: How Trans Youth Work at Gender Nonconformity by LJ Slovin:
“During my year at [the high school], I observed many teachers respond with care and concern to the idea of trans youth and to the trans youth they were aware existed. This response aligns with recent scholarship on the privileging of visibility as a metric when working with and supporting trans students in schools. Overwhelmingly, when [the] teachers were aware of a trans student, they endeavored to support this young person. This support was framed within an accommodations approach, which, as I explore further in chapter 2, has become the dominant strategy for pursuing trans-inclusivity in Canadian schools. Teachers assisted students in accessing workarounds in physical education (PE) classes or changing their names and pronouns. At times, this support was seamless and useful. At other times, it was awkward and halting. However, it was always reactive, compelled either by adults’ awareness of a trans student in their class or by a student making themselves explicitly known as trans to an adult. While there is growing critique of accommodations approaches, scholarship primarily attests to their individualistic focus and reliance on visibility. Beyond these facets, I explore how accommodation-based responses are mired in an understanding of trans identity as inherently risky.”
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