Gender Identity & Expression Training Reviews

Good to learn about peoples feelings and not to upset and judge

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.

This user gave this course a rating of 5/5 stars