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By: Bishop Owis

"So long as we refuse to accept that 'woman' is a holistic concept, one that includes all people who experience themselves as women, our concept of womanhood will remain a mere reflection of our own personal experiences and biases rather than something based in the truly diverse world that surrounds us.

-Julia Serano

Today is International Women’s Day, and March is Women’s History Month: a time to remember, celebrate and uplift the voices and experiences of women. The Addressing Injustices project has always sought to centre voices of marginalized authors, including women. Many of the work that we cite in our academic writing comes from women and feminist scholars (Susan Lytle and Hilary Janks) and a lot of the books read in the book clubs we run with students at Delta Alternative School are written by women (Eleanor and Park, The Hate U Give, I’ll Give You the Sun).

In 2018, students from Delta worked with the novel Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. The book is narrated by a transgender boy named Gabe and throughout the novel we learn about his life, his struggles and his transition. Students from Delta used project-making to turn Beautiful Music for Ugly Children into a documentary called Gender is Like an Ocean. The documentary takes an in-depth look at their journey to understanding gender identity and gender expression.

Looking back at the work Delta did with Beautiful Music for Ugly Children and Gender is Like an Ocean, we see a few things:

The importance of being able to tell your own story

While novels featuring transgender youth are slowly becoming more prominent, the importance of seeing a trans person as the main character in a novel cannot be understated. At the same time, we have to recognize that Kirsten Cronn-Mills isn’t transgender and has noted that she would think twice about writing about someone she doesn’t share an experience or identity with (see video below and read Kirsten’s article in English Journal here). Thinking about whose story it is to tell, the ethics behind embodying experiences that don’t belong to us and recognizing how much space we take up, is part of the un/learning we are all engaging in.

Beautiful Music author Kirstin Cronn-Mills and a panel of six Delta alumni who shared reflections on the project, the film, and their ongoing learning about gender identity and expression

2. Gender is indeed, like an ocean

The metaphor of gender being similar to an ocean illustrates that gender is always shifting within and against the world we live in. Our understanding of our own gender identity and gender expression can shift overtime just like the tides and the waves of an ocean; they push and pull us within and against our social and political world. As educators it’s important to make space for that in the work we do and in our classrooms, and using literature is a great way to begin that discussion.

3. Women, non-binary, genderqueer and genderfluid people

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children is written by Kirstin Cronn-Mills, an author who is a woman. Taking into account the lessons learning throughout the book as well as our work with Delta Alternative School, it’s important to note that we understand International Women’s Day as a broad category. A day like today celebrates all women, including transgender women, and especially Black and Indigenous trans women who are leaders in the LGBTQ+ community. We also recognize that while some non-binary, genderqueer and genderfluid people who are born “female” and might not consider themselves a woman, they have also been socialized and perceived as a woman at some point and might share similar experiences and struggles.

By broadening our understanding and history of the term “women” we can better grasp how powerful and diverse the experiences of women are. Beyond today and this month, we must celebrate and uplift the voices and power of women in the work we do, in order to truly begin to address social justice.