Student Voices Tackles First Gender Assembly

On October 7, Student Voices tackled gender for the first time during an assembly in the PAC. The goal was to start a conversation about gender and what that means at an all-girls school. The assembly aimed to explain key gender terminology and to begin a conversation about how Westridge can hold firm to its single-sex identity while not silencing those who are not cisgender.

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 “Our Student Voices kids decided that because there is just so much going on in the national conversation about transgender rights. All these different conversations are going on at once, that it made sense for us, for Student Voices, to put this assembly together,” said Zoe Muñoz, co-dean of Student Voices.

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The presentation began with important terminology, personal stories, and policy language from the Student Handbook for Westridge. The powerpoint also included a video from Andrew Lee ’19, who transitioned while at Westridge. In the video, Lee discussed his own journey with gender during his time in the Westridge community.

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“As humans, we’re all living in a community, and we need to talk about the identities that other people live with because someone else’s problem is my problem too because we all co-exist,” said Danielle D. ’21, a member of Student Voices. 

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Student Voices provided additional opportunities for students to discuss issues surrounding gender. The following day, Ella Baker, a Korean transgender lesbian who taught at a religious school but was fired when she came out, spoke to students during a lunch meeting. The next town meeting theme was another opportunity where students resumed the discussion and were given a space to ask questions about gender without judgment. 

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Click here to read the brand new column from Gender Affinity that answers all gender questions and is hoping to begin a conversation about the gender spectrum at Westridge.