Education

‘Normative’ Discussions Of Genitals Distresses Transgenders, Study Says

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Grace Carr Reporter
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Schools should make sex education more inclusive of transgenders by not referring to biological body parts with the correct term because it might make transgender people uncomfortable, a recent study suggests.

The 2017 study, “Transgender Young People’s Narratives of Intimacy and Sexual Health: Implications for Sexuality Education,” analyzes discussions about intimacy based on the perspectives of young transgenders in a sampling of YouTube videos.

The study, conducted by professors Damien Riggs and Clare Bartholomaeus, concludes that sex education should largely eschew the gendering of body parts because transgenders might “find normative discussions of genitals distressing.” Using other words for penis, vagina, sperm, and egg will provide both transgenders and non-transgenders with a better understanding of their own and other people’s bodies and desires, the study claims.

They say that education programs shouldn’t just talk about males with penises and females with vaginas because transgenders don’t associate with these bodies and have different bodies post-op. The study insists that “the language of sperm and eggs can produce dysphoria for some young transgender people,” and that it’s possible to talk about how pregnancy occurs without referring to egg and sperm.

We can talk about bodily functions without gendering them said Riggs, who is also a national rep for the Australian Psychological Society LGBT interest group.

“We have them advocating for the degendering of sex education of all students and confirming the concerns raised by parents about how radical LGBTI sex and gender education would infiltrate their children’s education,” Coalition for Marriage spokesman Lyle Shelton said, according to the Australian.

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Tags : australia
Grace Carr