Transgender Educators: Understanding Marginalization through an Intersectional Lens

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Description

This book argues that despite the greater visibility of transgender people today, their lives as professional teachers and administrators remain enormously difficult. Workplace discrimination against transgender educators continues to run rampant, especially outside of the traditionally liberal enclaves. In fact, if their workplace is a safe haven which it rarely is, many transgender educators lead double lives as professionals during the day and marginalized people outside of their workplace. Even the most liberal communities may provide superficial support while continuing to hold longstanding prejudices as this study demonstrates. As a result, nearly 46% of trans educators remain in the closet, and those that are out must endure more subtle yet determined efforts to isolate them. The author's research shows that 100% of survey respondents indicated they believed they were fired or not promoted because of their gender identity. With the rise of students coming out daily to express their fluctuating gender presentation, the author notes the critical importance of strong and supported transgender teacher role models. Written by a transgender woman, this is a highly engaging and timely study of the lives of transgender educators behind the scenes and how you can be an active ally in the fight against transphobia regardless of your profession.

Reviews

Dow (Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston) has written a compelling book about the impact of injustice and discrimination on transgender educators. She emphasizes their marginalization and the need for gender identity and expression to be included within the social justice lens in education systems. Writing as a transgender educator, the author relates personally to the lack of support trans educators receive in the system, and draws on intersectionality as a key component to describe the many layers of difficulty and prejudice they experience within educational institutions. Dow recounts teachers and school leaders who have transitioned while working and the types of challenges they have encountered, focusing on white participants in K12 settings. The study explores these workplace problems and aims to suggest ways that transgender educators can come out successfully, offering insight into the process of transitioning within a work environment. Overall this volume will be a valuable resource for those interested in gender, education, sociology, psychology, and queer studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

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The experiences of trans people can vary widely based on so many factors, including location and access to resources. This is no different for trans educators as gender identity and expression have not yet been included across the United States in employment protection policies. In this book, Michele Dow describes some of the challenges that trans educators encounter on the way to becoming their true selves. She provides us with an insight into this often invisible population through her study of seven trans educators. Anyone interested in school contexts and social justice should read this book. -- Mario I. Surez, Utah State University
Michele Dow takes us on a journey to understand the workplace experiences of transgender educators. Against a backdrop of historical, legal, and socio-political discrimination, Dow shares personal stories from more than 30 transgender educators. Collectively, their voices reveal the ongoing injustices that transgender educators experience and the fortitude required to stay true to oneself and to the profession. Dows work provides equity-oriented readers with the motivation and know-how to build more supportive educational environments for transgender educators. -- Melinda Mangin, Rutgers University

Author Bio

Michele Dow is adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.