Everyone, including LGBTQ+ young people, deserves access to accurate, developmentally appropriate information and resources to care for their health and safety. Many CSHE curricula include lessons on gender and sexual orientation. We all have something to learn when it comes to these topics and, for some, teaching on these topics may be new.
This article offers resources for building foundational understandings of the dimensions of gender and sexuality and tips for offering sexual health education that are inclusive and relevant for all students.
According to The Trevor Project’s 2024 US National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People, LGBTQ+ young people who had access to LGBTQ+-affirming spaces, and transgender and nonbinary youth who had access to gender-affirming spaces, reported lower rates of attempting suicide compared to those who did not. Additionally, most LGBTQ+ young people who attend school (78%) reported having at least one adult at school who is supportive and affirming of their LGBTQ+ identity. Still, we know that 65% of young people have felt discriminated against in the past year due to their gender identity, and 46% of young people have felt discriminated against in the past year due to their sexual orientation. Having access to comprehensive sexual health education that is inclusive of gender and sexuality diversity is one way to increase support for young LGBTQ+ people in our schools and communities.
Dimensions of Gender and Sexuality
The acronym LGBTQIA+ has evolved over time to include more identities, which is important because self-labeling can be a powerful and validating experience. Most commonly, LGBTQIA+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and more (including Pansexual, Two-Spirit, and Gender Non-Conforming). Resources like this LGBTQIA Resource Center Glossary provide definitions for each of these terms (and many more) – a helpful way to increase our vocabulary and understanding.
Here are four dimensions of gender and sexuality that help us see and understand gender and sexuality in a more nuanced way.
- Sex Assigned at Birth: At birth, health care professionals assign a sex based on external genitalia (and sometimes based on internal organs or chromosomes). This is documented on the birth certificate. Click here to read why “sex assigned at birth” is a more accurate term than “biological sex.”
- Gender Expression: How an individual expresses themselves, in terms of dress, presentation of secondary sex characteristics (e.g., breasts, body hair, voice). In our society, people characterize these expressions as “masculine,” “feminine,” or “androgynous.” Individuals may embody their gender in a multitude of ways and have terms beyond these to name their gender expression(s).
- Gender Identity: A sense of oneself as trans, genderqueer, woman, man, or some other identity, which may or may not correspond with the sex and gender one is assigned at birth.
- Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional attraction or non-attraction to other people. Sexual orientation can be fluid, and people use a variety of labels to describe their sexual orientation.
Gender and Sexual Diversity in CSHE
There are many ways to represent gender and sexual diversity in CSHE instruction. For example, when teaching about puberty, we can utilize Gender Spectrum’s “Five Principles of Gender-Inclusive Puberty and Health Education.” The table below illustrates these five principles and how they can be applied in a CSHE setting.
| Principle 1: Provide a Foundation of Gender Literacy | What This Can Sound Like in Practice |
| Gender literacy provides students with a foundation to understand puberty and human growth and development in a manner that creates understanding and comfort with their individual pathways and the variety of pathways that may experienced by their peers. | “We don’t know what someone’s gender is just by looking at them.” “While many of us thought that genitals define our gender, our gender is richer and more complex than that.” be experienced by their peers. Suggested resource: I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthal & Jazz Jennings |
| Principle 2: Distinguish Patterns from Rules | What This Can Sound Like in Practice |
| If educators share only examples of gender and physiology that are consistent with assumed patterns, it is easy for students to conclude that those patterns are rules. However, when differences are discussed—without judgment—all students are given the opportunity to recognize themselves, and everyone around them as natural parts of human diversity. | “A lot of people think that certain things are just for boys and others are just for girls. Let’s look at dolls. In your experience, who plays with dolls more often, boys or girls? Does that mean that all girls play with dolls and no boys do? Of course not. So you might see a pattern that girls play with dolls more often than boys do. But it’s not a rule. By the way, are ‘action figures’ dolls?” Suggested resource: Williams Doll by Charlott Zolotow |
| Principle 3: Emphasize Physiology Rather than Gender | What This Can Sound Like in Practice |
| A gender-inclusive approach…will convey the important physiological terms and definitions students must grasp without assigning or assuming genders. On a basic level, this means describing the parts that different bodies come with (and their functions) as opposed to connecting those parts to a particular gender. | “Some of the ways that I will be talking about bodies in this unit might sound a little strange to you at first. For the most part, when I talk about bodies I’ll talk about bodies with a penis and testicles or bodies with a vulva and ovaries. You might wonder why I’m doing this instead of just saying male bodies or female bodies. As we’ve discussed, there aren’t just two kinds of bodies. I also want everyone to get used to using accurate language for body parts and functions without assuming that there are only two sexes and that everyone within a particular sex is the same. It’s important to be able to communicate about our bodies in accurate ways.” Suggested resource: It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris |
| Principle 4: Describe Many Pathways to Adult Bodies | What This Can Sound Like in Practice |
| Educators who convey the range of experience people have in this maturation process will help every student see their path within a norm, including those that may require some form of medical or surgical support. | “Puberty is the time of life when a child’s body begins developing into its adult form. It looks very different for each person. Many kids will see their bodies beginning to change around 9 or 10 years old. Some will change a bit earlier, and some much later. Some young people will start puberty at such a young age that they may be given medication to slow down the process. Puberty can also be delayed. Some young people will experience puberty in a way that does not feel right for their gender, and medication can be used to pause that process. During this unit, we will look at the various ways puberty can unfold. Each body is different.” Suggested resource: Wait What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up by Heather Corinna& Isabella Rotman |
| Principle 5: Describe Many Pathways to Families | What This Can Sound Like in Practice |
| Describing different pathways to starting families fully incorporates information about basic processes of reproduction, such as conception, embryonic growth and other milestones of development, but it does not limit the creation of a family to one particular narrative. | “We have learned that each of us is unique in the ways our bodies will grow and change as we become adults. Many of you may at some point want to become parents. Well just as there are many pathways to your adult body, there are also lots of ways of becoming a parent. We will explore a number of these during this unit.” Suggested resource: Making a Baby by Rachel Greener |
How does your CSHE curriculum represent gender and sexual diversity? Here are some questions to guide reflection and review of your CSHE lessons.
- Gender literacy: How does this curriculum support a foundation of gender literacy (e.g. representing the complexity of gender in terms of our bodies, our identities, and our expression)? How is complexity of gender literacy represented via bodies, identities, and expression?
- Distinguish patterns from rules: How can I deepen critical thinking in this lesson with learners by distinguishing patterns from rules and uplifting physiological and gender diversity? In what ways can I support analysis of noticing patterns, not rules, and uplifting gender diversity?
- Emphasize physiology rather than gender: How does this curriculum label and define body parts, and how can I describe body parts and their functions without connecting those parts to a particular gender? In what ways can I use purposeful language to define, describe, and refer to body parts without using gender?
- Describe many pathways to adult bodies: How can I convey the range of experience people have in the way they grow and develop into adulthood? How can I convey the range of experiences in growth and development?
- Describe many pathways to families: How can I represent many pathways to families by fully incorporating information about basic processes of reproduction, such as conception, embryonic growth and other milestones of development, while not limiting the creation of a family to one particular narrative? How can I represent many pathways to families while not limiting the creation of a family to one?
By integrating gender and sexuality within CSHE, we can begin to create communities where all students feel represented and respected, especially LGBTQIA+ youth.
If you would like support in increasing your skillset in teaching gender and sexual diversity in CSHE, WA PREP would be happy to support you.
Resources for Further Reading:
- Gender Spectrum | Principles of Gender-Inclusive Puberty and Health Education
- Gender Spectrum | Responding to Questions and Concerns
- The Trevor Project | 2024 US National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People