JOSEPH DRAKE
Special to The Leader
What’s the difference between “transgender” and “transsexual?” Many people don’t know; the two terms are often mixed up. Their definitions were some of the many topics of conversation, which included the differences between “sex” and “gender” and preferred names, in the Williams Center’s Horizon Room last Tuesday. The “Transgender Awareness and Support” panel featured several speakers. Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Bill Boerner, Dr. Jennifer Hildebrand and Dr. Jeffry Iovannone presented with help from some of Iovannone’s students.
Transgender Day of Awareness is Nov. 20th, making the subject particularly relevant.
Iovannone began by defining common transgender terminology. Quoting transgender historian Susan Stryker, he said, “The term ‘transgender’ generally refers to persons who move away from the gender they were assigned at birth and who also cross over the boundaries constructed by their culture to define and contain gender.”
Three of Iovannone’s students — Amanda Pruden, Claire Woodcock and Kenneth Olsen — explained that “sex” refers to whether someone is biologically male, female or intersex. “Gender” is what an individual identifies as while “sexual orientation” is who someone is attracted to romantically or sexually.
Iovannone explained that our society strongly believes in a gender binary — that people are either men or women — but transgender people can be on or off that strict binary. Someone may be born a biological male but identify as a woman (“Male-to-Female,” abbreviated MtF) or vice versa (“Female-to-Male,” abbreviated FtM). Other people identify somewhere in-between, or outside, the binary.
He also defined the terms “transsexual,” someone who changes their body through means such as surgery to fit their gender identity, “cisgender,” identifying as one’s birth-assigned gender, “genderqueer,” someone who might not identify on the gender binary and doesn’t seek to change their body, “trans*,” pronounced “trans-asterisk” and referring to many different gender identities and “transvestite,” someone who enjoys wearing the clothes of another gender but , in Iovannone’s words, “[doesn’t] necessarily identify with that gender.”
Gender expression refers to “the way that you show yourself to the outside world,” said Woodcock. It can involve how a person acts or dresses: femininely, androgynously, in a masculine manner or in some other way.
The students used gender activist Sam Killermann’s diagrams, “You Soup” and the “Genderbread Person,” to teach the audience. The diagrams show many possible combinations of gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, romantic attraction and identity.
“If confused, it’s always best to ask someone how they identify themselves and how they would like to be identified,” stressed Iovannone.
Boerner discussed issues the transgender community is presently dealing with. According to Boerner, violence, discrimination and unemployment are serious problems.
He also discussed hate crime laws in America.
“In New York State our hate crime laws only include sexual orientation,” said Boerner. “They do not include gender expression. Something to think about.”
While Fredonia stresses that people cannot be discriminated against on that basis, many colleges do not.
Boerner listed ways colleges can help transgender students. Some of his suggestions included: providing and identifying bathrooms — open to any gender — called gender-neutral bathrooms, offering gender-neutral housing and using preferred names more often. Preferred names are picked by transgender people to better match their gender identity. A Male-to-Female transsexual person originally called “Jason” might use “Jean” as her preferred name.
Boerner said it can be difficult for people to legally change their names to their preferred ones. He encouraged colleges to use students’ preferred names on medical files, classroom attendance sheets and online records and networks such as college e-mail accounts and Angel-like systems.
Hildebrand, head of Fredonia’s Gender Inclusivity Task Force, talked about the new organization. Formed last academic year; some of the group’s members include professors and representatives from the student body, SA and ResLife. The task force examines ways to support transgender students on campus. Some issues discussed include the use of students’ preferred names, male and female identities in sports and gender-neutral restrooms.
The committee is also developing a gender-neutral housing program. Gender-neutral dorms give transgender and other non-cisgender students a safe place to live if single-gender housing makes them uncomfortable. Applications do include an essay, but that shouldn’t concern interested students.
“It really is just a way to have the person explain and identify on paper that ‘I’m applying for this because gender neutrality is of interest to me,’” reassured Hildebrand. “You don’t have to out yourself.”
Students interested in gender-neutral housing should contact Resident Director Dan Goodwin.
Audience members left with much to consider.
“As a future educator, it’s interesting to see how you really need to enforce the preferred name, because I think everyone needs to be well-respected and deserves what they believe in,” said junior Stephanie Rosa, a childhood inclusive education major with a concentration in history. “If that’s how they feel, then we should respect it. And I’m really excited to incorporate that in my classroom, because I want everyone to feel safe.”