Gender is Like an Ocean: Pride 2021
By: Ashleigh A. Allen
This Pride Month (or anytime!), we invite you to take 45 minutes to watch and maybe even be inspired by the movie Gender Is Like An Ocean, which the Addressing Injustices Project made from our work with grade 8 students at an alternative school in Toronto in 2016. This movie shows the grade 8 students alongside Masters of Teaching (MT) students from OISE as they create arts-based projects related to their experiences of gender and identity in response to the book Beautiful Music for Ugly Children (2012) by Kirstin Cronn-Mills.
It is important to us that you note the work documented in Gender Is Like An Ocean occurred five years ago. Some of the people and their perspectives shared in this movie have likely shifted, or aren’t exactly the same, as they’ve changed as people. (For instance, these grade 8 students are now adults!) Our friend and co-researcher benjamin lee hicks wisely says, “We are all always in transition,” and it’s important to us that you keep this idea in mind as you watch and reflect on the film.
Consider one facet of your own life and its transitions: Where were you on your journey of understanding and exploring gender and sexuality five years ago? Where are you now? Where will you be five years from now?
We draw attention to this video in the month of June because it is essential to us not just to acknowledge but to celebrate queerness, in others and ourselves. We want you to experience a learning environment that was co-created and mutually held as an accessible space for exploration, friendship, and even love and joy, where young people and teacher candidates investigated political issues important to them.
We hope this film inspires you to teach Beautiful Music and other texts that explore the complexity of gender and sexuality while keeping in mind that everyone (including you) is always in transition.
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