Adapting Language for Diverse (A)Genders, Bodies, and (A)Sexualities

Visit Adapting Language for Diverse (A)Genders, Bodies, and (A)Sexualities for:

1. clear infographics (see above for examples),

2. a checklist with advice for challenging situations such as:

3. and a statements-editing activity from a workshop by SextEd (a free and confidential texting helpline that answers questions about sex, dating, and health within 24 hours) and ACCM (AIDS Community Care Montreal).

“We also know it can be challenging to use inclusive language when students, peers, or service users don’t, or they’re not familiar with the practice. In these cases, you can still take the time to gently explain why you speak or write the way that you do: to respect the diversity in people’s sexualities, genders, and bodies. If someone asks why you phrased something a certain way, you can take the time to explain why.

In situations where a person is asking a question or speaking in a way that isn’t inclusive, you can....

— Use phrases like “Yes, men, or anyone with a penis, can get an erection at random.”

— Gently remind them of identities they didn’t include in their statement or question, “Yeah, for sure. But I also
think it’s important to keep in mind that some men don’t have penises, and some women do, to make sure we’re
being inclusive.””

— SextEd & ACCM

Language Drops Visual Dictionary

This visual dictionary by Language Drops is available as a web page or a smartphone app. This can be a useful tool for working with multilingual students. For example, the link below is for a set of words called Words for Gender Pronouns in Arabic.

Inclusive Zines from the Queer Sex Ed Community Curriculum

The Queer Sex Ed Community Curriculum is an LGBTQ-led project that is developing inclusive, trauma-informed, and sex-positive resources for use with youth. Their resource library includes zines, posters, and training materials that you can implement in your classroom. Check out the awesome Sex Diversity in Nature Zine, as well as their zine on Deconstructing the Gender Binary.

Podcast on Parenting Language from The Allusionist

Trans parents discuss inclusive language around pregnancy, birth, and parenting with host Helen Zaltzman on The Allusionist, a podcast about language.

Available on all podcast platforms, with transcript and extensive show notes.

Gynandromorph Animals - BBC Earth article

This BBC Earth article explores the rare phenomenon of bilateral gynandromorphs, or animals which develop different physical sex characteristics on their left and right side. This occurs when a cycle of meiosis yields multiple viable eggs rather than one egg and three polar bodies to be discarded. When two eggs are fertilized by sperm, mosaicism can occur in the sex chromosomes.

When introducing students to the article, the teacher should be sure to note that overgeneralizing language is briefly used to describe humans (“In humans, men have an X and a Y chromosome, while women have two X chromosomes.”) However, the article can still have value in demonstrating the nonbinary nature of biological sex and the scientific processes by which evidence is gathered to support this.

A Reddit post shows a gynandromorph lobster found in the wild:

Gender and Sex – Transgender and Intersex (Book Chapter)

This UMass Amherst textbook chapter models the use of precise, modern, and non-pathologizing language for discussing transgender and intersex topics in the context on human biology. The textbook authors are Miliann Kang, Donovan Lessard, Laura Heston, and Sonny Nordmarken. The chapter is available through Openbooks under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Glossary resources, sports access, and new podcast appearances [Dec/Jan]

LGBTQ glossaries in non-English languages are a much-needed resource in many communities.  Check out these resources with LGBTQ vocabulary in Spanish w/English translations, and text and audio in Burmese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Korean.  If you have other resources in languages other than English that can support LGBTQ inclusion work, please email us so we can add them to our resource base!

Queering the animal kingdom: Kudos to River Suh for taking the beloved (but admittedly long and dense) book Evolution's Rainbow and producing useful tools that educators can use in the classroom! This spreadsheet details examples taken from the book of different non-normative sex, gonadal, and sexual selection-related behavior and streamlines them to be easily accessible.

Sports and athletics access for transgender students: Sports and athletics are often a fraught space for transgender and gender non-conforming students, but they don't have to be.  Transathlete has gathered data on athletics policies in all 50 states and promotes this standard, gender-inclusive policy for use in schools across the country. The Transgender Law and Policy Institute has their own succinct set of recommendations for children's participation in athletics, while On the Team provides a more in-depth look at creating equal opportunity for transgender athletes.

Recent media related to gender-inclusive biology:

• Being a Better Ally Podcast: Diversity is the Rule

• Ethical Schools Podcast: Gender Inclusivity: Where Science and Ethics Intersect

Upcoming conference appearances:

• Time to Thrive Conference, Washington, DC, February 14-16

• STAO Conference, Toronto, ON, March 26-27th

• NSTA National Conference, Boston, MA, April 2-5th

Have a great start to your new year!

Lewis, Sam, and River

Resource roundup: etymology, intersex traits, centering indigenous voices [Oct]

Hello, educators!

First off, a warm welcome to everyone who has recently joined our list. We're glad you are here! If you are interested in joining our interactive listserv to ask and answer questions from other educators, follow this link to sign up.

This month's newsletter highlights some more resources that you might find useful in your classroom.

• Etymology stems - This awesome guide set up by Sam Long connects the etymology of words in science to terms common in the LGBTQIA+ community. From Sam: "This year my students are very interested in word origins and why things are named the way they are. I made this partial list of root words that occur in both LGBTQIA issues and science. It is a tool to help science teachers integrate gender-inclusive themes into their teaching. It's a pretty low-lift way to blend gender diversity into a science class. Please share your thoughts and additions!" Feel free to contact him with feedback and ideas - Sam.Long.MT@gmail.com.

• October 26th was Intersex Awareness Day, celebrated in honor of the first known public demonstration by intersex advocates against nonconsensual genital surgeries in 1996. Read more about the history and impact of this day at InterACT and GLAAD, or read 9 ways intersex youth want to be supported by grown-ups to better-support intersex youth in schools.

• Meiosis and Intersex Traits - Teaching meiosis and/or intersex traits at a high school or college level? Matt Gilbert's Sex Chromosome Meiosis Game explores the origins of some intersex traits in a way that is clear and interactive. This can also be a good way for educators to review processes that occur during meiosis in preparation for teaching intersex traits.

• Two-Spirit Identity and centering Indigenous voices - Thanksgiving is coming up in the U.S., and there are lots of great resources about centering racial justice and indigenous rights in discussions of Thanksgiving. Some folks might not know that there are many examples of gender diversity being honored and respected in North American indigenous cultures. Though the terms and roles in different cultures vary, the term Two-Spirit became a universal term for gender diverse Indigenous North American people in the 1990s. Read more about the history the term Two-Spirit at the Indian Health Service or Indian Country Today, or watch a video about Two-Spirit and indigenous identity at them. magazine. You can also find books for your age group centering two-spirit stories - consider 47,000 Beads by Koja Adeyoha for young readers or Love Beyond Body, Space and Time for a young adult audience.

• Conferences - If you're in the Denver area, look for Sam & Lewis at the Colorado Science Conference on Friday, November 8th.

Take care, all, and happy Halloween!

Lewis & Sam

Guidelines, Bio-Inclusive Examples, & Language Checklist [Sept]

Greetings, friends!

For those who are in the classroom at the start of a new school year, I hope that your year is off to an awesome start. Regardless, here's to the beginning of a new season.

In the September edition of the Growing a Gender-Inclusive Biology Education newsletter, we are sending out a few great resources that can serve to support the work you are doing in the classroom.

• This Framework Article written by Sam Long details the principles of the gender-inclusive biology framework that we have been sharing at conferences around the country. Check it out and let us know if you have feedback! We will be sharing our work at several conferences this fall, including the NEA LGBTQ+ Issues Conference (October 11-13, Las Vegas, NV), Northwest Teaching for Social Justice (October 19, Seattle, WA), and the Colorado Science Conference (Noveber 8, Denver, CO).

• Project Biodiversify - This is a phenomenal collection of resources for science educators and students put together by Ash Zemenick, Marjorie Weber, Alex Webster, and Sarah Jones. It includes several detailed slide decks with presenter notes that provide concrete examples of what moving towards inclusive language and pedagogy in the biology classroom can look like, and a collection of scientist profiles from diverse intersectional identities. They even offer in-person workshops! Definitely explore the library and pass along this resource in your professional networks.

• SextEd Inclusive Language Checklist - This is a resource that I share frequently with educators who want guidance on navigating inclusive language for bodies, family structures, and behaviors in the classroom. Even though it is sex ed specific, there are many ways that this can be thought of in a more universal light, and I think this list does a good job of asking questions and providing examples without trying to identify a long list of "good" and "bad" words (which, of course, would be out of date as soon as it was published!).

Want to be more involved in gender-inclusive biology curriculum? Click HERE to sign up to join in on our listserv, a discussion forum where people can share ideas, classroom resources, and ask questions in a group of educators doing similar work.

Happy trails,

Lewis & Sam