Avenue T: using film as entrée in teaching about transgender

Abstract

Educators from a variety of disciplines include the concept of transgender and multiple gender identities in course curricula. The ‘T’ (denoting the specific inclusion of transgender) in the popular acronym LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) often is given less pedagogical attention than is sexual orientation, and the transgender concept often is taught in the context of sexual orientation. An experimental study was conducted to determine if a brief film intervention would yield differences in knowledge of the transgender concept. Individuals were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Conditions varied to include no exposure to the concept of being transgender, a 14-minute news documentary about the transgender concept, or a 28-minute news documentary about the transgender concept. Results supported hypotheses that a brief film intervention would produce higher accuracy of transgender knowledge. In addition, and supporting the contact hypothesis, participants with a transgender friend reported less transphobia and more empathy for transgender individuals.

Keywords:

• gender education
• sexuality education
• pedagogy
• transgender
• transgender education

Notes

^1. Also of interest is the fact that scholarship on the pedagogy of teaching about transgender is published in journals such as Radical Teacher (Drabinski 2011; Preston 2011) or Radical History Review (Reis 2004). What is so radical about the intentional inclusion of non-dominant gender identities into course curricula designed to explore the range of human variation among dimensions of sexuality or gender?

^2. In the present research, we use the word ‘transphobia’ to represent the collection of dismissive and demeaning attitudes, values, and patterns of behaviour directed at persons who disrupt hegemonic assumptions of binary gender normality. Our use of transphobia comes from the sexological scale used in the study (Hill and Willoughby 2005) which is intended to measure antipathy towards persons who cross – or who are perceived to cross – gender boundaries.