Saturday 17 June 2017

Moving gender beyond the binary in academia: Improving academia for trans and gender diverse people and the positive benefits to all

Abstract
Transgender and gender diverse (T&GD) people over the past few years have had an increasing profile in the public consciousness. In tertiary education it has become apparent that to give all students an equal chance to succeed in their studies, education providers must make changes to include T&GD students. Being transgender myself I have been working with staff and students at the University of Auckland with this aim. In this article I point out some of the common misconceptions concerning T&GD people. I then describe what it is like to be trans faculty before discussing obstacles in academia for T&GD persons and how these could be removed. I also highlight how making these changes bring benefits to all in academia.

Introduction
Who am I? That’s a question everyone asks themselves at some point in their lives. The depth of the question varies. At one level it might be asking: am I a person who prefers tea or coffee? Another might be choosing career direction: am I a scientist or an orchestral composer? And at a foundational level, some people ask themselves whether they are male, female, neither, some combination or another gender entirely.

I am a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland and I am transgender. I identify as genderfluid, meaning that sometimes I both present and self-identify as male, at other times as female or somewhere inbetween. In recent years I have become increasingly open regarding my gender diversity and increasingly aware of the problems encountered by trans and gender diverse (T&GD) people at all levels of academia. This awareness has been gained by personal interaction and experience with T&GD students and by being openly trans and interacting with other T&GD faculty on social media, particularly Twitter.

In this article I aim to provide an overview of the issues and obstacles that exist within academia for T&GD staff and students. I will illustrate these through using both the current literature and an autoethnographical discussion via the use of a specific Twitter thread in which I asked ~1950 followers the following question: "what do you find useful in me being open/out on twitter? What is the most useful thing you've learnt? Why is it important?" The advantage of doing this was to gain exterior views on what being openly trans has meant to others.

The vast majority of the population never give their gender a second thought. They are happy to align gender with the sex they were assigned at birth, referred to as being cisgender. Yet between 1.2 to 3.7% (Clark et al., 2014) of the population ask this question of themselves, sometimes multiple times every day. Their gender does not simply align with the sex they were assigned at birth or does not fit into the male and female gender binary. One way to visualize this is to consider the “Genderbread Person” created by Sam Killermann as shown in Figure 1. Gender identity and expression do not always directly link to that assigned by society based on sex at birth. Some T&GD people attempt to live as the gender that links to their sex. Many take steps to align their gender expression and sometimes their sex with their gender identity. This is commonly referred to as transitioning. It is important to understand that this does not have to include medical transitioning and does not have to include any surgical procedures.

Social expectations can feel to be savagely demanding of those who don’t fit them. In all cases, a person whose sex, gender identity and expression are not aligned are likely to face obstacles in their daily lives that most others do not experience. These include not being called by their preferred pronouns (e.g. he/she/they), not being able to use a public bathroom without harassment, inability to compete in sports or experiencing harassment while obtaining medical care and support. These can lead to an increased risk of suicide. Research shows that 20 to 50% of transgender and gender diverse people attempt suicide (Haas et al., 2014). Rates of self-harm are also high among this group (Clark et al., 2014; Miller & Grollman, 2015). However it is positive to note that those who are supported through successful transition have a greatly improved quality of life, similar to that of the general population (Gomez-Gil et al., 2012;Gorin-Lazard, 2012; Durwood, McLaughlin & Olson, 2017).

Over the past few years awareness of these problems has risen, owing to an increasing profile of T&GD people, with examples in the media of high profile celebrities “coming-out” and T&GD characters being included in TV serials such as Transparent, Sense8 and Shortland Street. Research into how to include T&GD students in academia has started to grow in step with the increasing public profile. Studies range from explaining and covering some of the simple steps (Spade, 2011) to more detailed studies of the obstacles T&GD students encounter in tertiary education (Valentine, Wood & Plummer, 2009; Powell, 2016). These provide some idea of changes we should make in academia to become more inclusive. Studies undertaken in New Zealand are relatively recent. Powell (2016) looked in detail about T&GD student experiences in New Zealand tertiary education.

The status of research about LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) people in higher education was recently summarized by Renn (2010). A key point she made was that  T&GD students are included by some researchers into LGBT without acknowledging the differences between T and LGB. As suggested by the “Genderbread Person”, sexual orientation is unrelated and very different to gender identity, which can be simply described as who you are attracted to and who you are, respectively.

The issue that affect T&GD students can be overlooked and lost within the LGBT banner with the assumption that all problems these groups experience are similar and that it is enough to “queer” the academy. An example is that, in the recent “queering the academy” special issue in Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA), T&GD people were not discussed separately, ignoring much of the discussion from Renn (2010) about how important the distinction is. The major difference is that, while LGBT people primarily encounter social problems, T&GD people also find practical problems and discrimination that LGB people do not. Thus these groups should be considered separately.
 
The structure of this article is as follows. I first further clarify terms and facts concerning trans and gender diverse people. I then give an autoethnographical insight into what it is like to be T&GD in academia. After this I describe in depth the obstacles that limit the inclusion of T&GD students and staff, detail the best practice for academic institutions to deconstruct these obstacles and highlight the broader benefits to all in the academic community from these changes.


Mythbusting T&GD people
While the publicity of trans issues might make it appear that we’re being accepted in society – and increasingly, we are – there is still an extraordinary amount of harassment directed towards T&GD persons. Transphobia (less commonly known as transprejudice) is very real, and examples of it are everywhere (e.g. Human Rights Commision, 2008). Many transphobic actions are based on lack of knowledge or misunderstanding. It is thus vital to define and clarify the terms and facts concerning T&GD people.

It is important to understand that sex and gender are quite different. At birth, your sex is determined by a doctor looking at your body and categorising your biological reproductive ability as male, female or intersex. Somewhere between 0.1% and 1.7% of births don’t fit the typical male or female definition and are intersex. The natural variation in sexual development is an active area of research, and we’re really only beginning to understand how bodies develop differently (Ainsworth, 2015; Fausto-Sterling, 2015).

Separate to a person’s sex is that person’s gender. This is the social construct by which we categorise people as a “man” or a “woman”. In short, sex is about your body; gender is about how you present and how you wish to be seen. It is becoming clear that gender arises from both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ working together (Fausto-Sterling A., 2000 & 2012). Here it becomes useful to separate out gender identity and gender expression as in the “Genderbread Person” in Figure 1. Sex, gender identity and expression are separate and take on different values independently. Within each axis there is a huge variation of level allowed and these can vary with time. For most people their sex, gender identity and expression align, with man to male or woman to female, being cisgender. The opposite alignment of sex and gender is to be transgender.

For some people gender is more beyond the female/male binary. It is possible to be a mix of genders or be outside the binary genders. There are multiple other cultures (for example: Maori, Samoan, Tongan, North American, Mexican, Indian and older European cultures) where a third gender (or more) are recognised and celebrated; the idea of gender being more than just male or female has been around for millennia (Nanda, 1999). The fact that so many cultures have developed the idea of a third gender indicates that T&GD persons have been around for a very long time, even though T&GD people have at times been ignored, marginalised or victimised by the dominant culture. Today terms such agender, androgynous, gender diverse, genderqueer, gender nonconforming or non-binary have evolved. Finally for most T&GD people the gender identity is stable, if it is not some use the term genderfluid.


Genderbread-Person-3.3-HI-RES.jpg
Figure 1 – The Genderbread person, retrived from      http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2015/03/the-genderbread-person-v3/


For T&GD people, being able to live in their gender identity and to access appropriate medical treatments if desired lead to vastly improved health outcomes and quality of life (Gomez-Gil et al., 2012; Gorin-Lazard, 2012; Durwood, McLaughlin & Olson, 2017). Therefore, it is inadvisable to force those who struggle with their assigned gender on a daily basis to just “accept it”. For some T&GD people, medical transition is very important. This may include surgery to align their body with their gender identity. A more common step is for trans people to take hormones, which significantly influence various sex characteristics in bodies. However many people transition only socially, where expression and identity are aligned through performance of gender.

An excellent resource for those who wish to learn more about T&GD people I recommend the book “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community” (Erickson-Schroth, 2014). That covers every aspect concerning T&GD people.


A personal story of being a trans academic


 Figure 2 - The various tweets in which I’ve came out on Twitter. Chronologically ordered from left to right.


Stories exist concerning trans academics but they tend to be as blogposts rather than refereed articles (e.g., McKinnon, 2014; Grollman, 2016; Eldridge, 2016; Mink, 2016; Cremin, 2017). Telling our stories can be problematic because individual T&GD people cannot be expected to speak for all T&GD people. We must consider carefully how to encompass the full range of T&GD people if we’re invited to tell our story (Rands, 2009).

While I came out to close friends during my student days, it was some years before I came out more publically as an academic. This was prompted in part by having joined Twitter four years ago. Twenty years ago I was isolated as a student but today the internet and social media makes it possible to contact and interact with other trans people, especially other trans academics and students. This made me realize that I was not alone. Twitter also gave me a chance to come to understand myself and develop strategies about how to be myself. It also led to an interesting way to come out myself to work colleagues without having to have awkward conversations as shown by my tweets in Figure 2.

After outing myself publicly through Twitter, it took some time before I began to present as a woman at University regularly. It is still a balance I’m working on but support from colleagues, my Head of Department and students has played a big part in my social transitioning. To date I have experienced little negativity that others in my situation have (Valentine et al., 2009). This may have something to do with the New Zealand setting with local culture including diverse genders. Or due to the huge privilege I already have as a popular and successful lecturer. This is because I came out only after having a permanent lectureship having benefitted from a large amount of cisgender male white privilege to reach this position.

I am uncertain whether I would have achieved my past success if I had come out earlier. It is likely that the more junior an academic is the more obstacles they would face in their career progression.  In general many T&GD faculty encounter problems in finding employment, receiving negative student evaluations and higher rates of discrimination and harassment than LGB faculty (Valentine et al., 2009; Dualitea, 2014; Hanna, 2016)

There is some debate on whether LGB teachers should out themselves or not. Generally there is known to be a danger that this will negatively affect an academic’s career (Russ, Simonds & Hunt, 2002). For T&GD academics this question is whether they should be the person they know they are or not. It is tricky as for more junior academics they put their future career at risk. Although I know from personal experience that, without carrying around a weight of secrecy, I free up more energy for research and teaching.
I am aware that being out I have raised awareness of T&GD people within academia. To understand what impact I have had I asked on Twitter for feedback from people about what they have learnt from my Twitter feed and what they think is most important. The link to the twitter thread is (https://twitter.com/astro_jje/status/871903363574706176). I was surprised about the number of comments, even from people I haven’t interacted with before who were male, female and T&GD. They also pointed out aspects that I hadn’t even begun to consider, especially indicating benefits to the broader community beyond T&GD people. The following quotation sums up the general tone of comments:

“Okay, several people have given similar responses to mine, but let me chime in. I learn a ton from your tweets because you are so honest about how being trans affects your life and your work. That  helps me understand better the gender-related biases and limitations that exist in our field and in society. Like how the question of what to wear for giving a talk takes on a whole new dimension of significance for you than it does for me. Or how traveling is an extra source of stress for you bc of concerns about how you present.  But beyond that, it's also really cool to get a sense for how you experience the world in a different way than I do.  It's clear that your non-binary identity enriches your research and teaching, and I think that's exciting! “
Jennifer L. Hoffman, @astroprofhoff
(https://twitter.com/astroprofhoff/status/871960399024869376)

What I hadn’t thought about is the broader aspects of my “moving gender beyond the binary” for all genders in STEM. It is shown in this quotation:

“You being open in Twitter is important to me for several reasons: 1) giving exposure to trans people and the trans experience to help the community empathise with it and understand it better. Only by exposure to diversity can you reduce sexism and tackle gender roles 2) the main issue with sexism in STEM is not just aversion to women but aversion to femininity. Being very feminine I am scared I might be taken less seriously. You embrace your femininity and/or your masculinity in different ways everyday but you are still you and are still a scientist. Science is beyond gender, gender roles and gender expression. That is what you represent to me.”  
Héloïse Stevance, @sydonahi
(https://twitter.com/Sydonahi/status/871979693683167232)

It is important to note that not only women responded. Men also follow me and learn from my stories on Twitter. One respondent highlighted the practical issues that affect T&GD people. It is making people aware that many simple things become more difficult for T&GD people, just so that we can be who we are:

From my perspective, just being visible -- constant reminder that some awesome scientists are trans/genderfluid -- is already valuable. On top of that, as others have said, specific things you experience that others take for granted -- broadening our sense of the possible. Example in your timeline:  I hadn't thought seriously about how one might wake up experiencing a different gender than they did yesterday... And how that might affect talk invites, and business trips, and interviews, dude.  Realizing that could even be a thing plants a seed.  Long story short, thanks so much for sharing your experiences -- if you do write things we can pay/tip you for (unlike Nature) let us know!
Richard Scalzo,‏ @scalzonova
(https://twitter.com/scalzonova/status/872062964425261056)

While I am aware of these broader benefits, the one I care about most strongly is that I’ve been a more visible role model for other T&GD students and staff. By being me as an academic, I enable T&GD students to “see” themselves in academia and have some sense of belonging. This is key as many elements of academia make them feel unwelcome and question whether they should be studying at all. Also I hope I can break down some of the barriers that may stand in the way of T&GD students who aim to progress through the academic hierarchy. By being a successful trans faculty I will hopefully reduce any academics’ unconscious bias against T&GD people. These following three quotations from T&GD students show this quite eloquently:

“As for why it's important: role models! Knowing that there are successful academics out there who are trans & that I can be successful too in astronomy w/o hiding my identity ?️‍?”
A Zovaro, @photonhandler
(https://twitter.com/photonhandler/status/872062909735518208)


“helps me feel like i DO belong in STEM even with all the binary talk, and even beyond sci that i'm no less valid than a binary person  i have even, in a particularly stinging instance of being deadnamed/misgendered, perused your tweets to help myself overcome the involuntary queasiness of it. in a phrase, makes me feel represented and less isolated which is super important  i haven't thanked you properly. so thank you for existing and putting yourself out there. it means a lot to me and, i'm sure, others.”
Lemon Beckham, @ecolemonology
(https://twitter.com/ecolemonology/status/872051043172995072)

“as a trans person who is out to basically everyone at school, it's important to see that there are other people like me and also understanding how your experience differs from cis people's, whose perspective is the only one we tend to see”
Kate Mraz, @frostykate
(https://twitter.com/frostykate/status/872067063052939264)

Being active on Twitter can be considered as part of my workload beyond teaching and research. It is one problem with there being so few T&GD faculty that we may be expected to take on a large amount of extra mentoring and service. For example T&GD students come to talk to me for support and advice. Also colleagues see me as a resource to explain best practice when working with T&GD people.

This began in 2014 when I discovered the students had set up an informal support group named Trans on Campus. After joining I used my academic privilege by amplifying their voices to help them gain normalization within the University. Such a role goes largely unaccounted for in formal time allocation processes despite the significant extra load on my time and the hidden emotional and mental load of having to think and explain these issues. It reduces the time and energy I have for teaching and research. This negates some of the gains from being out. However I know the work has been worthwhile and rewarding. It seemed upon first joining Trans on Campus, every few weeks there was an issue to work to drive change at the University of Auckland. However the intensive work has been done and serious problems to resolve occur less frequently. Based on my experience gained in the last three years and combining it with the current literature, I am able to outline the main obstacles for T&GD students and suggest how to remove them.


Obstacles, solutions and benefits for all for T&GD people in academia
The obstacles for a T&GD person in society are constant discrimination and harassment (Human Rights Commission, 2008). While many people are accepting of T&GD people, a few are actively hostile and many may be unconsciously biased. Inside universities and tertiary education environments there is possibly less discrimination and harassment but they still exist. There are also obstacles unique to the tertiary environment (Valentine, Wood & Plummer, 2009; Powell, 2016). Typically they concern changing personal details on institutional records or being asked not to use toilets or changing facilities. The severity of problems depend on a T&GD person’s stage of transition. A person who transitions before University will meet fewer issues. More significant problems are encountered by T&GD people who find that the university environment is the first time they can begin to explore their gender identity away from strong parental influence.
While studies have been undertaken around the world on the experiences of LGB and T&GD people in academia (e.g. Valentine et al., 2009) the local culture of a country can change the nature of the experiences of minority groups (e.g. Suen, 2015). It is interesting then to explore how the experience of T&GD students in NZ is different to those from the UK interviewed by Valentine et al., (2008).

The first detailed NZ study was performed by Powell (2016) who undertook a pioneering investigation into the experience of T&GD students in tertiary education in New Zealand. The work revealed that discrimination was not, except for one out of seven students interviewed, overt or intended but pervasive in minor events that led to repeated microaggressions. Examples include, every time a class list is handed around or a roll is called the student might be outed or challenged with the “oh but that was a male name”. Perhaps the worst case is when the student needs to visit the toilet. Most people don’t have to stand in front of two doors and decide whether they should go in one and run the risk of being verbally abused or the other where they might get physically abused. Even if they opt for the all gender accessible toilets they might be challenged with a “why are you going in there?”. This leads to the students experiencing a state of hypervigilance, always being on guard and having to plan out their day, for example how to avoid certain groups of people or to use a bathroom at a quiet time of day. It is a significant extra mental load in comparison to cisgender students.

In addition to the challenges from interacting with other members of academia, there is also discrimination at an institutional level. Administrative processes and course curriculums typically assume only binary gender. This can range from only discussion of only men and women in gender studies courses, or courses that include ‘gender’ in the title, e.g. history, literature or art history courses. But this can extend to gender options on forms and surveys for administrative purposes or gender segregation of student groups, societies and sports teams. Or in the planning and design of new buildings, including only male or female toilets and changing rooms when including all gender facilities would be easiest at this point. In the wider world T&GD encounter many of the same problems but many businesses are becoming more inclusive and Universities are in some ways being left behind (e.g. Weiss, 2007).

In the past, students and staff members had to develop their own personal strategies to overcome these issues. The most important is getting in contact with one another and sharing their knowledge and strategies about how to cope or get around these issues. Also my experience, having discussed this with colleagues and T&GD students themselves, endorses Powell (2016), who found how significant personal interactions were to the comfort or discomfort of T&GD students. A well-educated, understanding and proactive person can make an enormous impact on making T&GD students feel welcome. Making them feel welcome in a class is as easy as remembering their name and taking care with pronouns without requiring them to explain themselves (see Spade, 2011 for a list of simple steps). If universities and tertiary education establishments undertake some simple steps to normalize inclusion of T&GD students, they can achieve what a few individuals already have across their institution and improve the experience and achievements of these student.

Powell (2016) made recommendations of how universities can achieve this (here we have changed inclusion to normalisation as discussed in a recent presentation):
  1. Tertiary education providers should recognise the impact of binary gender norms on T&GD people.
  2. Providers should begin education programmes for staff that support the active creation of environments that normalise T&GD people.
  3. Providers should investigate policies, processes and curricula where T&GD people require inclusion.
  4. Establishment of research scholarships to support increased research within the community and to create events where findings relating to T&GD studies can be shared.

Upon considering these recommendations and using my own experience from dealing with T&GD people in academia, there are three broad themes to tackle these issues: identity, environment and culture.


Identity
The major issue in identity concerns how a person interacts with the administration of an institution. For example, can a person identify as a gender other than male or female within the University computer systems or when filling out applications and surveys? Can they change it by specifying a gender not currently considered? Recently NZ Statistics have undertaken a significant review to determine how best to include options beyond the gender binary. Other studies have been performed to determine best practice to include transgender people in such surveys (Statistics NZ, 2014; Staples et al., 2017).

How easy is it for a student to change their name? Can they get their degree certificates reprinted with a new name due a gender change? These questions each highlight very simple change that can be made. Their simplicity can make them seem unimportant but they are vital in acknowledging that a student has the right to say who they are and for an institution to recognize them. They also ensure a student’s safety as all these simple steps remove the accidental outing of a student which may place them at risk.

Specific examples at the University of Auckland include a grant that was set up for T&GD students to be able to change their name legally to avoid problems with being outed by use of the legal name that does not match their gender. Unitec has also created a similar grant for T&GD students to aid their transition. These are positive and simple action. For people who transition after graduating the University of Auckland will reprint their degree certificates without charge. Students can also now change their unique ID used to access the University IT system.

This achievement is one example where a gain for T&GD students has broader consequences. In working and debating with University IT services on how and why people can change their unique IDs, the process is clarified for all. Thus others at the University also clearly know if, when and how this identifier can be changed. For example if the ID contains offensive words or needs to be changed for the safety of an individual. Clarifying how to change the unique ID and the processes of when this can be done makes it easier for all.


Environment
Environment concerns the buildings and physical infrastructure of an institution. For T&GD people these cover four physical needs: toilets, changing rooms, a safe space where LGBT students can meet and work in peace and access to healthcare. These issues in essence boil down to ensuring T&GD student safety. All the evidence points towards the fact that discrimination and harassment commonly occur in toilets against T&GD persons (Powell 2016, Spade, 2011;  Valentine et al. 2009). This makes the simple act of using the toilet a major event that requires planning or a good deal of travelling to find a safe toilet. This places unnecessary strain on T&GD persons. I myself have stopped using a gendered toilets when I can and felt reluctance using gendered toilet when there is no other option.

A tertiary institution should tackle this problem from two directions. First to change culture so it is clear that everyone can use the toilet or changing room that matches their gender identity without harassment. Second to endeavour to create all gender toilets and changing rooms available on many locations on campus so students do not have to go on a long journey to find one. There is some debate as to whether it is the best practice to use accessible toilets for this. In fact the best solution is for all toilets to be for all genders. This also have benefits for others in the University environment, for example for students with carers or who are carers of someone with a different gender to themselves. Improving toilet access has been difficult at the University of Auckland although there are now more all gender toilets near to large lecture theatres. Auckland University of Technology has led the way here with 165 toilets now assigned as all gender.

One physical resource that is more difficult to supply is a safe space for T&GD students to study. Setting up on campus’ a “Queer Space” for all LGBTI students can have a positive impact on the academic achievement of students, providing a place for them to be themselves and study in peace. At the University of Auckland a Queer Space was setup in 2013 (Joule, 2015).

The final issue around environmental concerns is the access to medical care and counselling at University health services. T&GD people rely on these services for support of their transition as well as general health care. Some health services can be fantastic while others refuse care of T&GD people (Human Rights Commission, 2008; Giffort & Underman, 2016). This is true in the society and within academia. Steps can be taken within universities to make sure that services are compliant with policy on inclusion. This solution is to raise awareness of T&GD people to all staff members, not just doctors, on how to interact with T&GD students. This links into our next topic of changing the culture of the institution.


Culture  
The culture concerns the attitude of the institution and specifically the people within it. This is the most difficult to change as it involves getting everyone, staff and students, to treat T&GD people with respect despite their backgrounds, beliefs and points of view. This can be achieved by getting everyone working together as shown by Case et al. (2012), where staff and students worked together to include transgender students in University Nondiscrimination statements.

Changing the culture involves making people aware of the above issues in identity and environment for T&GD people. For example, with the class roll try to make sure that a list of names isn’t passed around or called out. Try not to create situations that might out people. Try not to use sexist or misogynistic binary gender examples, or treat T&GD persons as examples where they are portrayed as something that could be ridiculed. Schools are already taking steps to educate students and the benefits of such education appear clear (Burford et al., 2013; InsideOUT, 2016).

Don’t wait for students to ask for options beyond the gender binary. If something is setup for a gender binary someone should always say, “but gender isn’t binary, what’s the best thing to do?”. One good example is sometimes teams have gender quotas, rather than saying “must have so many male or female”, perhaps say no group can be dominated by “more than 60% of one gender”. The advantage here is that it works in both a male, female or diverse gender dominated group.

While a general education in diversity is useful, a specific introduction to T&GD issues is important. A way to achieve this is to use the fact that universities are there to educate. A key step is to change the way gender is taught within courses, modifying the teaching and curriculum to teach gender as a more complex issue. This is difficult but much research has been done into how to achieve this (Rands, 2009; Malatino, 2015). The primary role of universities is to teach. If they teach gender as we understand it today that understanding will ripple out into society. It must also extend into research processes and methods. For example the University of Auckland ethics panel has now started to request this to be included for any such surveys they are asked to endorse. This is a simple way to bring awareness of T&GD people into the minds of many within the University.

Other steps that have been taken at the University of Auckland is to set up a LGBTI staff & student network to begin some activism for positive change within the University. In addition the Trans on Campus group was setup, initially by students, for T&GD people at the University. This has been a positive group that has achieved significant changes to the University policies and procedures. The group also created education documents that are included on the University website as well as gave some training sessions. AUT has recently set up a similar group for their own students. Our most recent work concerns the inclusion of T&GD people in university sports teams, this involves working with other Universities. The current inclusion policy in place for inter-University sport (UTSNZ, 2017) is problematic and does presents obstacles to inclusion of T&GD students in sport.

The benefits of this work for the broader academic community are many. Raising the discussion of equity and inclusion within an institution can only be positive, especially if people just start to think about the experiences of others. Also challenging all aspects of the gender binary of male and female in expression, identity and roles can lead to greater thought and consideration of gender equity. For example as pointed out by comments to my Twitter question, my own exploration of my masculinity and femininity encourage other people to express themselves as they want to. There is sometimes in STEM subjects a pervasive atmosphere that women should perform like men to succeed. By to some degree exploring and expressing my own femininity I normalize in some way that you can be feminine and be successful in a STEM subject and more broadly in academia.

There are many other aspects to equity and inclusion that are outstanding in academia beyond gender such as race, ethnicity, disability and socioeconomic status and these issues can all intersect (e.g. Traxler et al., 2016; Prescod-Weinstein, 2017). These aspects also intersect strongly. Raising awareness that academia is unequal, even for one group, is important because by bringing these issues out into the open and driving education and discussion the result can only be positive. When asking questions about gender and seeing the problems with the binary system, it leads to a broader understanding and acceptance for all.


Looking forward
In this article we have argued that tertiary education institutions need to change to normalise T&GD people, including how they deal with the identity of members of academia, how the environment is shaped and culture of the institution. The required changes at the core involve seeing gender as more complex than the antiquated pervasive binary. It is also important to note that changes will also have a broader benefit to all members of academia, not just those requiring them to ensure their safety and ability to succeed in academia.


Acknowledgements
I thank my supervisors Susan Carter and Alistair Kwan for continuous support, advice and encouragement to take my work as far as possible. Fellow Trans on Campus members for continuing support and education. Trudie McNaughton and Terry O’Neill for help dealing with T&GD issues at the University of Auckland. Elizabeth Stanway, Nicholas Rattenbury and Dr Wife for constructive comments and proofreading.


Bibliography
Ainsworth C., 2015, Sex redefined, Nature, Vol. 518, pp. 288–291.
Burford J., Lucassen M.F.G., Penniket P., Hamilton T., 2013, Educating for diversity: An informative evaluation of the Rainbow Youth sexuality and gender diversity workshops. Auckland: Rainbow Youth Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-473-23216-0
Case K.A., Kanenberg H., Erich S.A., Tittsworth, J., 2012, Transgender Inclusion in University Nondiscrimination Statements: Challenging Gender-Conforming Privilege through Student Activism., Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 68, No 1., pp 145-161
Clark T. C., Lucassen M. F. G., Bullen P., Denny S. J., Fleming T. M., Robinson E. M., Rossen F. V., 2014, The health and well-being of transgender high school students: Results from the New Zealand Adolescent Health Survey (Youth’12). Journal of Adolescent Health, 55, 93-99.
Cremin C., 2017, Man-Made Woman: The Dialectics of Cross-Dressing, Pluto Press. ISBN-13: 978-0745337128
Dualitea., 2014, Transitioning in Academia, Tenure She Wrote, https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/transitioning-in-academia/#more-1512
Durwood L., McLaughlin K.A., Olson K.R., 2016, Mental Health and Self-Worth in Socially Transitioned Transgender Youth, Volume 56, Issue 2, Pages 116–123, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.016
Eldridge, J.J., 2016, Guest Post: Understanding Gender Fluidity, Women in Astrononmy, http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/genderfluidity.html
Erickson-Schroth L., 2014, Trans Bodies, Trans selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community.  Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0-19-932535-1
Fausto-Sterling A., 2000, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. Basic Books. ISBN: 9780465077144
Fausto-Sterling A., 2012, Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World, The Routledge Series Integrating Science and Culture. ISBN-13: 978-0415881463
Fausto-Sterling A., 2015, Intersex: Concept of multiple sexes is not new. Nature, Vol. 519, p. 291
Giffort D.M., Underman K., 2016, The relationship between medical education and trans health disparities: a call to research. Sociology Compass. Vol. 10, p.999-1013 DOI: 10.1111/soc4.12432
Gomez-Gil E., Zubiaurre-Elorza L., Esteva I., Guillamon A., Godas T., Cruz Almaraz., Salamero M., 2012, Hormone-treated transsexuals report less social distress, anxiety, and depression. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 662-670. Doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.08.010.
Gorin-Lazard A., 2012, Is hormonal therapy associated with better quality of life in transsexuals? A cross-sectional study. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 9(2), 531-541. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02564.x
Grollman, E.A., 2016, On being trans and non-binary at UR: one (sort of closeted) professor’s perspective. The Collegian. Retrived from: http://www.thecollegianur.com/article/2016/02/on-being-trans-and-non-binary-at-ur-one-sort-of-closeted-professors-perspective
Haas A.P., Rodgers P.L., Herman J.L., 2014, Suicide Attempts among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Retrived from: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf
Hanna, A., 2016, Being Transgender on the Job Market. Inside Higher Education
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2016/07/15/challenge-being-transgender-academic-job-market-essay
Human Rights Commision, 2008, To Be Who I Am: Report of the Inquiry into Discrimination Experiences by Transgender People, ISBN: 978-0-478-28639-7
InsideOUT, 2016, Making Schools Safer For Trans and Gender Diverse Youth. Retreived from: http://insideout.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Making-Schools-Safer-For-Trans-and-Gender-Diverse-Youth-web.pdf
Joule L., 2015, Getting things done: a collaborative approach to supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) staff and student community at the University of Auckland, Higher Education Research & Development, 34:4, 808-810, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2015.1034347
Malatino H., 2015, Pedagogies of Becoming Trans Inclusivity and the Crafting of Being. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Volume 2, Number 3, 395 DOI 10.1215/23289252-2926387
McKinnon R., 2014, Some Thoughts on Being a Trans Professor, p166, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community. ISBN: 978-0-19-932535-1
Miller L.R., Grollman E.A., 2015, The Social Costs of Gender Nonconformity for Transgender Adults: Implications for Discrimination and Health. Socialogical Forum. Vol. 30, p. 809-831 DOI: 10.1111/socf.12193
Mink, J., 2016, Losing Privilege and Gaining Something Else, Women in Astronomy,
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/losing-privilege-and-gaining-something.html
Nanda S., 1999, Gender diversity: Crosscultural variations. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. ISBN 13: 978-1-4786-1126-4
Powell C., 2016, A place to stand: Creating inclusive environments for diverse gender tertiary students.  Master’s Thesis, Unitec Institute of Technology.
Prescod-Weinstein C., 2017, Curiosity and the end of discrimination. Nature Astronomy, 1, 145, doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0145 Retrieved from: https://t.co/1YAaCUtrmu
Rands K.E., 2009, Considering Transgender People in Education A Gender-Complex Approach, Journal of Teacher Education Volume 60 Number 4 p.419-431 DOI: 10.1177/0022487109341475
Renn K.A.,2010, LGBT and Queer Research in Higher Education The State and Status of the Field 2010 Educational Researcher  Volume: 39 issue: 2, page(s): 132-141 DOI: DOI: 10.3102/0013189X10362579
Russ T.L., Simonds C.J., Hunt S.K., 2002, Coming out in the classroom…an occupational hazard? The influence of sexual orientation on teacher credibility and perceived student learning. Communication Education, 51(3), 311–324.
Spade D., 2011, Some Very Basic Tips for Making Higher Education More Accessible to Trans Students and Rethinking How We Talk about Gendered Bodies. Radical Teacher, Number 92, Page 57
Staples J.M., Bird E.R., Masters T.N., George W.H., 2017, Considerations for Culturally Sensitive Research With Transgender Adults: A Qualitative Analysis, The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2017.1292419
Statistics New Zealand, 2014, Gender identity: Developing a statistical standard. (Fleur Mulligan) Available from www.stats.govt.nz.
Suen Y.T., 2015, Methodological reflections on researching lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender university students in Hong Kong: to what extent are they vulnerable interview subjects?, Higher Education Research & Development, 34:4, 722-734, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2015.1051009
Traxler A.L., Cid X.C., Blue J., Barthelemy R., 2016, Enriching gender in physics education research: A binary past and a complex future. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 020114
University & Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ), 2017, Transgender Policy, https://www.utsnz.co.nz/files/UTSNZ_Transgender_Policy_.pdf  
Valentine G., Wood N., Plummer P., 2009, The experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans staff and students in higher education. Research report, Equality Challenge Unit
Weiss J.T., 2007, Transgender workpace diversity: Policy tools, training issues, and communication strategies for HR and legal professionals. North Charleston, SC: BookSurge