school experiences for trans folks

Lee · 07-07-2010, 07:32 PM

I think the easiest thing to do, while taking into consideration the childs gender ID, as well as the possibility that the parents may not be supportive or worse, is to avoid pronouns whenever possible. Since the kid has a gender neutral name this should be fairly simple. Im sure "Randy" would LOVE to be called she and her, but if you avoid pronouns as much as possible you will at least be lessening the sting that he and him leaves. Not using pronouns seems like a hard thing to do, but the important times will be when Randy is present, and if Randy is right there in front of the teacher she can just use Randys name or say you.
Rather than say "Ok class Randy is going to show us his/her picture now" just make sure you phrase things so you can say "Randy its your turn to show us your picture." It does get tricky when your trying to be purposeful about pronouns but it can be done, and really every time you avoid using the pronoun that the kid does not ID with your making life a little easier.

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07-07-2010, 07:32 PM	#20
Lee Junior Member How Do You Identify?: Queer Preferred Pronoun?: Ze Relationship Status: Partner Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: In a House Posts: 9 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1 Thanked 13 Times in 4 Posts Rep Power: 0	I think the easiest thing to do, while taking into consideration the childs gender ID, as well as the possibility that the parents may not be supportive or worse, is to avoid pronouns whenever possible. Since the kid has a gender neutral name this should be fairly simple. Im sure "Randy" would LOVE to be called she and her, but if you avoid pronouns as much as possible you will at least be lessening the sting that he and him leaves. Not using pronouns seems like a hard thing to do, but the important times will be when Randy is present, and if Randy is right there in front of the teacher she can just use Randys name or say you. Rather than say "Ok class Randy is going to show us his/her picture now" just make sure you phrase things so you can say "Randy its your turn to show us your picture." It does get tricky when your trying to be purposeful about pronouns but it can be done, and really every time you avoid using the pronoun that the kid does not ID with your making life a little easier.