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Pre-Teenage Transgender Children: Their Families and Education DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

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Pre-Teenage Transgender Children: Their Families and Education DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements Pre-teenage Transgender Children: Their Families and Education DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jamie Faulkner M.A. Graduate Program in Education: Teaching and Learning The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Mollie Blackburn, Advisor Cynthia Tyson Antoinette Errante Copyrighted by Jamie Faulkner 2015 Abstract This qualitative study focuses upon the experiences of pre-teenage transgender (PTT) children as they negotiate their identities with their families and educational institutions. PTT children are an at risk population in U.S. public schools and frequently experience a lack of support and understanding from their families. Transgender identities are often subsumed into the broader discourse of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities. The lack of awareness of and support for PTT children is a substantial problem within education and leads to problems such as verbal and physical harassment. This qualitative study has two principle foci. The first is to determine how an analysis of historical discourses of transgender informs our current understanding of this concept. Using a Foucauldian discourse analytical style it examines and questions the basis for transgender being categorized as a psychiatric condition. The second is to understand how PTT children negotiate their identities with their families and schools, and to see how their unique identities highlight gender inequities. These questions were addressed by analyzing the data in the interviews conducted with the study participants using Ahmed’s cultural politics of fear, Goffman’s stigma, and Connell’s doing transgender. The first foci area of this study found that transgender as a concept has been shaped more by normalizing heteronormative and cisnormative discourses than scientific facts, and that researchers should reflect the negative impact of discourses on transgender identities when conducting research. It found the contention that transgender was a disordered form ii of gender identity development, when no ordered or normal form exists to be highly problematic, along with the fact that transgender still remains a psychiatric condition. It found the argument that the treatment of PTT children is unethical to be largely unsubstantiated and that in fact treatment constitutes a firmer ethical standpoint than non- treatment. The second foci area of this study found that PTT children had an early awareness of how their identities are stigmatized, but were nonetheless reported as being happier since their gender transition. PTT children became aware of their gender identity from as young as 2 and often felt pressured by society to conform to stereotypical gender norms. Finally, PTT children experienced harassment in schools, faced gender segregated schools that were hard to fit into, and families faced schools that in general were uninformed and unprepared to handle a PTT child. It recommends that educators minimize gender segregation in schools, implement school policies that offer specific protections for gender identity and gender expression, actively incorporate anti-bullying training into school culture, and finally develop guidelines for introducing transgender students to schools. Finally it suggests families incorporate a child-led form of parenting, develop community networks of support, and become aware of the current medical implications and realities for PTT children. iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my deep and sincere thanks to several people who facilitated and enabled this study. On a personal level, I would like to thank my parents, sister, and my husband for the unconditional love they have demonstrated every day. Their support will be treasured. Professionally, I want to thank both the support group supervisor for placing her faith in me and welcoming me into her group along with each and every one of my research participants for having the courage to stand up and share their experiences. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my advisor, Dr Mollie Blackburn. Dr Blackburn has provided meaningful and insightful feedback on multiple drafts of this study and thanks to her guidance and supervision this project has been incalculably strengthened. I would like to thank Dr Cynthia Tyson for her support throughout my PhD and for developing me as a scholar. I would like to thank Dr Antoinette Errante for her guidance and support throughout both my MA and PhD degrees. Finally, I would also like to thank my former advisor, Dr Binaya Subedi for his guidance and support throughout much of my PhD. I would like to end by thanking The Ohio State University for its financial, cultural, and academic support throughout my graduate school experience; it has facilitated the process of making these years truly memorable. iv Vita 2005................................................................B.A. History, University of London 2009................................................................M.A. Education, The Ohio State University 2009 to 2011 .................................................Graduate Administrative/Teaching Associate, Department of Teaching & Learning, The Ohio State University 2013 to 2014……………………………….. Vice President, The Council of Graduate Student, Student Life, The Ohio State University 2014-2015………………………………….. Graduate Research Associate, Department of Teaching & Learning, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Education: Teaching and Learning v Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...ii Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………......iv Vita……………………………………………………………………………………….v List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………….xi List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………...xii Chapter 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………….1 Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………………….4 Study Background……………………………………………………………………7 PTT Children Context………………………………………………………………..8 Transgender Nomenclature………………………………………………………….12 PTT Children and Medicine…………………………………………………………16 Transgender Children and Education…………………………………………………19 The Current Study…………………………………………………………………….25 Chapter 2: Literature Review……………………………………………………………29 PTT Children and Education………………………………………………………….30 PTT Marginalization…………………………………………………………….....34 Inclusion of PTT Voices…………………………………………………………...40 PTT Harassment…………………………………………………………………...42 vi Transgender Inclusion in School Policies…………………………………………55 School Personnel Practices……………………………………………………….59 Elementary Schools as “Innocent Spaces”……………………………………….62 Pre-service and In-service Teacher Programs and Transgender Concerns………..68 PTT Children and Families…………………………………………………………..70 Supportive Families……………………………………………………………….71 Effects of Unsupportive Families…………………………………………………75 Lack of Research on Diversity within Transgender………………………………81 Literature Review Summation……………………………………………………….83 Chapter 3: Methodology………………………………………………………………..89 Researcher Epistemology……………………………………………………………90 Data Collection and Analysis of Historical Discourses……………………………..99 Primary Research………………………………………………………………….99 Foucauldian Discourse Analysis………………………………………………..100 Research Design and Methods of Analysis for Empirical Data…………………...109 Research Design…………………………………………………………………109 Methods of Data Analysis……………………………………………………….121 Chapter 4: Transformations………………………………………………………….148 Sexological Discourses……………………………………………………………150 Naturalists………………………………………………………………………...156 Degenerationists………………………………………………………………….164 Psychogenists…………………………………………………………………….169 vii Links with Current Transgender Constructions…………………………………170 Problematizing Sexual Dimorphism………………………………………………177 Sex and Gender Contextualized…………………………………………………181 Sexual Dimorphism……………………………………………………………..187 Gender Identity Development…………………………………………………….200 Theories of “Normal” Gender Identity Development…………………………..202 Gender Dysphoria………………………………………………………………213 Diagnosis and the Ethics of Treatment………………………………………....223 Chapter 5: Analysis of Interviews with PTT Children and their Families………….245 Family Portraits…………………………………………………………………..247 Cameron’s Family……………………………………………………………...247 Chad’s Family………………………………………………………………….250 Brandon’ Family……………………………………………………………….252 Ginny’s Family………………………………………………………………...254 Paige’s Family…………………………………………………………………256 PTT Children and their Families………………………………………………...258 Family Identity and its Impact…………………………………………………260 Age of PTT Children Awareness of Being Transgender………………………270 Child Gender Identity………………………………………………………….275 How Families Became Aware that their Children are Transgender…………..284 Child Led Parenting: Support through Trust…………………………………..317 Physical Form and Medical Issues……………………………………………324 viii Emotional Wellbeing of the child: Pre/Post Transition Comparison…………332 MtoF and FtoM Comparison…………………………………………………335 Summation……………………………………………………………………343 PTT Children and Education……………………………………………………343 PTT Children and Gender Binaries in Schools……………………………….344 PTT “Choices”: Out, Stealth, and Closeted…………………………………..358 Harassment of PTT Children…………………………………………………364 Coping Strategies…………………………………………………………….373 Sexuality/Gender Conflation…………………………………………………375 How to Introduce Transgender Issues to Schools: Working Cooperatively…380 Summation……………………………………………………………………..387 Chapter 6: Implications, Limitations, and Future Research Directions………......388 Implications…………………………………………………………………….388
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