From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience - A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project

Oct 15, 2026

Gender expansive students have drawn intense media attention, creating pressure on educators to protect students while operating within a highly binary educational system. This qualitative case study reviews two years of work from the Youth and Gender Media Project through four workshops, describing educator, mental health expert, healthcare provider, and caretaker experiences. Findings highlight the need for gender expansive and inclusive curriculum materials and argue that educator engagement is essential for equity, social justice, and classroom discourse transformation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Gender expansiveness and the normalized binary

Youth and Gender Media Project (YGMP) aims

A Pedagogy of Vulnerability

Vulnerability perpetuated by mental health professionals

| | From a Pedagogy of Vulnerability to a Pedagogy of Resilience: A Case Study of the Youth and Gender in Media Project | | --- | --- | | | | Steven Funk, Montana State University, Billings Jaydi Funk, University of California at San Francisco Abstract Much media attention has recently focused on gender expansive students in schools. Whether arguing over bathroom rights or wardrobe freedoms, many educators feel caught in a crossfire between protecting their students and maintaining the status quo of an extremely binary educational system. After reviewing the history of the pathologization of gender expansiveness and the normalization of the gender binary, this study reveals the data from an examination of four workshops conducted by the Youth and Gender Media Project over the course of two years. The experiences of educators, mental health experts, healthcare providers, and primary caretakers of gender expansive individuals who participated in the workshops are described using qualitative methods. The findings underscore the need for introducing gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula while expressing the frustration of those who feel that this is important, yet difficult. This article suggests that educators play a critical role in challenging the history of discrimination against gender expansive individuals and that their willingness to avail themselves of the material that currently exists is not merely a matter of taste, but a matter of social justice, of equity, and of proactively evolving the discourse of gender and its ideological implications in the classroom. Keywords: gender, gender expansiveness, Youth and Gender Media Project, LGBTQIA, education, vulnerability, resilience Addressing and helping to make schools more safe and inclusive for transgender and (a)gender youth, and for their peers to be part of helping to legitimate their lived experiences, school systems and all of their stakeholders, must step up immediately. If not, the consequences will be deleterious. -s.j. Miller (2017) Introduction As exemplified by current media trends, the concept of gender expansiveness 1 seems finally tobe coming to the fore, and rightfully so. Gender expansive individuals have suffered enormous injustices perpetrated against them by the very individuals who should, ostensibly, have their best interests in mind—educators. Moreover, educators often feel justified in their actions because of the way the gender binary has been normalized in popular culture and media while intersex, transgender, gender expansive individuals have been pathologized (Funk & Funk, 2016a), vilified, mocked, or dismissed (Jobe, 2013) . This study examined the Youth and Gender Media Project (YGMP), an organization working with K16 educational systems to expand the concept of gender, to create safe educational spaces for students and teachers to live authentically, and to facilitate the discourse that may eliminate the need for such programs in the future. This study sought to describe what K16 educators (working in K12, higher education, and medical professional fields), therapists, and caretakers of gender expansive youth learned from a gender inclusivity workshop focused on creating gender inclusive spaces in schools. Individuals working with gender expansive youth are in a critical position to offer support for youth who are statistically more likely than their cisgender2 and heterosexual counterparts to experience discrimination. The Youth and Gender Media Project (YGMP) offers such support by harnessing the power of film to work with teachers, after school program administrators, and others overseeing youth educational programming to share methods of pedagogy and practices that help to develop more inclusive educational environments for all. The authors, an academic and a medical professional, having first-hand experience with transgender hatred in academia and in the medical and mental health fields, sough

FAQs

What issue does the study focus on regarding gender expansive youth?

The study examines how gender expansive individuals have been treated as a vulnerable population within education, shaped by discrimination and by the normalization of a gender binary.

What organizations and programs are analyzed in the case study?

The study reviews the Youth and Gender Media Project (YGMP) and its workshops, drawing on qualitative accounts from participants across education, mental health, healthcare, and caretaking roles.

What do the findings suggest educators should do?

The findings emphasize integrating gender expansive and gender inclusive materials into curricula and treating educators’ use of available materials as a matter of equity and social justice.

Oct 15, 2026

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