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Practical Strategies for Teaching About Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Biology
Now that gender and sexual diversity are more visible than ever, our science curriculum must adapt to serve our students and prepare them for the future. Among youth ages 13-18, 10.5% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (Kahn et al. 2018) and at least 0.7% identify as transgender (Herman et al. 2017). Public awareness has grown to a point where 27% of Americans know someone who is transgender, and 45% view gender as a spectrum rather than a binary (n = 1306; Carmichael 2020). On television, one in 10 characters in the 2019-2020 broadcast season was LGBTQ (GLAAD 2020). Yet schools remain a place where youth experience daily bullying and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression (Kahn et al. 2018).
Even teachers actively working against bullying may be surprised to learn about the impact of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum on youth safety and learning. When a school implements LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, students report less victimization, less absenteeism, and more positive relationships with their teachers (Kosciw et al. 2014; 2018). Yet this is exceedingly rare in science classes, with only 2.4% of LGBTQ students seeing any LGBTQ-inclusive science content in 2017 (Kosciw 2018). Lack of inclusive curriculum also impacts students' career pathways-LGBTQ high school seniors who saw positive LGBTQ representation in science class were 17.3% more likely to choose a STEM major (n = 1124; Kosciw 2014).
High school biology teachers have rich opportunities to include gender diversity in our teaching. Inquiry lessons, by nature, allow students to create and discuss claims from evidence, and this can include claims about gender. When we teach genetics, we can highlight the complexity of genetic sex determination to add depth, rigor, and relevance to the lesson. When we teach evolution, we can include diverse animal reproductive strategies that make for captivating case studies. When we teach anatomy and physiology, we can expose students to data that challenges the notion of binary "male" and "female" bodies, and validates the complexity of human experience.
This article will outline a thinking framework that any teacher can use to adapt curriculum through a lens of gender diversity. We will illustrate the adaptation of several sample lessons to achieve three key...