Gender Identity at LWC

This piece serves as an opinion editorial feature on gender identity at LWC

For most, college is a time of immense self discovery. We’re not just working towards a degree; it’s during these four years that we also spend a great deal of time discovering who we truly are. Intentionally or unintentionally, we come into our own, and finally learn to thrive within ourselves.

Our minds are finally encouraged to be opened, explored, and we learn that it’s okay to be unapologetically ourselves. That’s why college is often the first time in a lot of people's lives when we finally feel comfortable enough to reveal who we’ve been inside all along.

So, imagine if this meant for you that college was the first time you felt safe enough to proclaim the gender identity you’ve always wanted to be associated with, and not just the one you’ve wanted to be associated with, but the one you felt you were genuinely supposed to be associated with.

For those who have never felt wrongly placed in their gender, it can be a hard concept to grasp. But for those who have struggled with feeling misplaced, mislabeled, and misjudged in their gender identity, the weight of the burden must be suffocating.

It’s important to understand exactly what the term gender identity means. The Human Rights Campaign defines gender identity as, “one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither --- how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.”

As stated before, most individuals who have never felt out of place in their assigned gender may find this a difficult concept to grasp; in fact, they may feel repulsed by the thought of those who “challenge” the gender they were born with. This repulsion most likely stems from the lack of understanding and communication on the subject of gender identity.

However, this topic seems to be becoming more vocalised, and also well received, among the students here at Lindsey Wilson.

When asked, Dr. Kara Mollis (Women’s Studies Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of English) explained that in her experience as a professor at LWC, she has found that her students are “indeed respectful to one another about gender identity,” and she believes that, “the College as well as organizations such as Alliance have been instrumental in fostering that respect.” Dr. Mollis went on to say, though, that, “it is important to listen to transgender students themselves about their own experiences on and beyond campus.”

Tobi Spangler, a student here at LWC who recently came out as transgender, helped to shed some light on such experiences. Tobi is one out of an estimated 1.4 million adults who have identified as transgender in the U.S., according to a 2016 report made by The Williams Institute.

Dr. Mollis encourages for, “more critical discussions about gender identity [to take place] not only in our women’s studies classes, but also in other spaces on campus.” She went on to explain that the Women’s Studies Program “tries to create various opportunities for dialogue about gender identity issues involving gender norms in general. For instance, our recent brown bag lunch on feminist concerns about the Trump administration involved such discussion, and we are planning to include presentations at this year’s Women’s Studies conference in April that focus on the experiences and concerns of transgender people, including the current debates about restroom laws.”

Dr. Mollis expressed that, “this form of consciousness-raising, which has always been an important tool in feminist politics, is the cornerstone for positive social change.”

Spangler provided even more insight as to how LWC can become more open on the topic.

“I feel like one of the biggest ways we as a campus can become more accepting of gender identity is to normalize the practice of not assuming someone's gender until they personally, explicitly tell you what it is. Normalize using gender non-specific pronouns when referring to someone until they tell you what their pronouns are. Perhaps there could be a section integrated into the FYE course about interacting with people of varying gender identities respectfully.”