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Teaching Gender and Sex in Contemporary America pp 229–238Cite as

Critical Pedagogy: Disrupting Classroom Hegemony

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Abstract

There has been an increase in the number of university students who express an embodied gender identity beyond male and female. Trans* students have legitimate expectations that universities will offer supportive and inclusive learning environments. This chapter calls for teacher-scholars to be reflexive of their own attitudes, knowledge, and understanding of trans* lives. It also provides several teaching tool ideas. Specifically, I focus on the importance and value of recognizing name and pronoun choices among all students. I believe that this pedagogical practice empowers students to express themselves, affirms students’ individual personhood, and disrupts hegemony.

I extend my deepest gratitude to my colleagues and friends, Natalee M. Simpson and Rebekah Orr, for their careful feedback on this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Trans* is a recent term that encompasses all gender identities and embodiments among individuals who move away from sex assigned at birth including genderqueer and gender nonconforming transpeople, who are often less visible compared to transwomen and transmen (Tompkins 2014).

  2. 2.

    Cisgender is a term that encompasses identities and embodiments in which sex and gender align or are “on the same side” (Aultman 2014, p. 61).

  3. 3.

    The student gave permission to use this for teaching purposes.

  4. 4.

    Microagressions encompass the “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward members of oppressed groups” (Nadal et al. 2012, p. 59).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sociology Department, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Tre Wentling

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  1. Tre Wentling
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Correspondence to Tre Wentling .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthrop, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA

    Kristin Haltinner

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthrop, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA

    Ryanne Pilgeram

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Wentling, T. (2016). Critical Pedagogy: Disrupting Classroom Hegemony. In: Haltinner, K., Pilgeram, R. (eds) Teaching Gender and Sex in Contemporary America. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_23

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