Gender Identity & Expression Training Reviews

Ultimately I agree with the course that says treat everyone with respect and kindness - that should be a given. Specifically framing this basic human good behaviour as 'gender identity' feeds into a current narrative that is by it's nature divisive. I think you did as best as you can with this ntopic

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The course is a bit simplistic in my opinion, for what is a very complex subject. It seems at odds with traditional dictionary definitions where 'sex' and 'gender' are synonymous (while recognizing that language usage can change over time). This could lead to much confusion. As a scientist I know that biological sex is far more complicated than simply male, female and intersex.

Unfortunately I found the training rather superficial in its approach. The mention of a third gender in India dating back to 4000 years ago was a nice addition, as it draws attention to the fact that being trans is nothing new (which is something many trans people unfortunately come up against when interacting with cis people, the idea that "this is all new"). I think a much broader and more detailed overview of the historical prevalence of gender variance across the world would have been useful, but with a clearer underlying message: that trans people have always existed, and been a part of every culture and society, in one form or another. The explanations around sex vs gender identity were clear, and it's important that the training included an explanation of trans as an umbrella term that does not always refer to people with binary identities. More emphasis could have been given to trans people's individual voices and perspectives. The training video even states the importance of listening to trans people when they speak about their experiences, so why were none included in the training itself? Also the section on gender-neutral pronouns wasn't entirely accurate. It's true that many trans people default to using they/them for other people if they don't know someone's pronouns. However, if someone has stated that they do not use they/them pronouns, you should not refer to them as such. Essentially, you should always try and make the effort to refer to someone correctly, and this can happen either by a) simply asking them what pronouns they use, or b) LISTENING to them if/when they tell you (either verbally, or by including pronouns in an email signature or wearing a pronoun badge). I think the training should have gone into more detail about the specific difficulties and discrimination that trans people face. Transphobia is on the rise worldwide and more needs to be done to combat this, but the responsibility shouldn't always fall to trans people. The section about calmly and politely educating others if you experience discrimination felt very dismissive and unrealistic. As a trans person I experience transphobia on a near daily basis. Being calm and polite doesn't stop us from being attacked or murdered. We need cisgender allies to actively defend our safety, and sometimes this might include verbally or physically intervening to protect a trans person. Politeness won't get you very far in such a situation. There is a time and place for educating people but if someone is yelling slurs at a trans person in the street or in their workplace, this is entirely inappropriate. You should take steps to stand up to the harasser and/or do whatever you can to remove the trans person from the unsafe situation.

I think this is a great introduction to gender identity and if you have very little information beforehand its definitely a beneficial course. It would be great to expand this course further to have more in depth information.

Did not learn anything new apart from the part about India - which was irrelevant.

The study spoke of 'gender realignment', indicating a belief that gender can be altered surgically or medically, hence can be physical, yet insisted we must answer to the contrary, despite various dictionary definitions of gender, which state, for example -'the physical and/or social condition of being male or female, or (specialised) the grammatical divisions of masculine, feminine or neuter into which nouns, adjectives etc. are divided in some languages' The Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1995)To dictate we must choose one part of the definition for a political fad - or fail a test and potentially have our careers damaged - while themselves discarding the demand in the very same test - do as we say - is what might be called taking the pee? Inviting people to make a political answer they don't believe, or their career progress might be damaged, is corrupt, and might make people doing the test feel used. A further flaw to the study was a teaching that we should ask perceived to be 'effeminate men' or 'masculine women' for their pronouns, which might upset or offend. A good part of the study was advice to be kind and considerate, Rather than dictionary altering, dodgy political diktat; That advice might suffice?

Simply put I would be offended if I was to be asked which pronoun I’d prefer to identify as but I have no issue using the pronoun another prefers if they were to say.