(possible trigger warning)
My college, Vassar, offers a sexual assault prevention education program through http://www.rad-systems.com/index.html which is "women-only." I emailed the sign-up list less than an hour after it was presented, and didn't receive a reply on it until 8am the day of the class, when I finally demanded a response. As I'd feared, the Security officer who ran the program had decided to exclude me, and had obviously been intending not to inform me. I'm a transwoman, and because our campus email service lists our legal names in our emails, I was forced to out myself to him. NY state law and college policy prohibits discrimination based on sex, gender, and gender identity/expression, but the officer is claiming that Title IX allows them to exclude me because I'm not, as RAD states, a "woman."
I'm not sure if that's illegal, since "woman" is a gender identity/expression, not a sex. But I don't think it should matter whether it's illegal, because Vassar has recently been touting itself as a place where gender is fluid, and this is really not in line with that. Likewise, an organization like RAD that claims to exist to protect people should seriously consider the implications of excluding transwomen, who are statistically at a ridiculously higher risk for sexual violence than ciswomen. Apparently, my campus security doesn't mind if I'm raped. The officer who teaches the course made the following remarks as I presented my case:
"Do you have male appendages?"
"If you're female-identified, why did you name yourself '(my male name)' at the top of all these emails?" (it's common knowledge that the system puts those names there, we don't have a choice)
"Look, is this all just a Halloween costume or something?" (the course started today, November 1st)
This is in a long line of issues I'm having with my campus claiming to be a lot more accessible than it really is. We don't have a disablist or working-class students' org (I'm in the process of founding the former). Most people have only the most basic grasp of intersectionality--It's rare that people understand that my working-class background, paragraph-long list of disabilities, queer sexuality, and transgender status all work together to make even the most basic aspects of college life extremely hard to work around. Has anybody else dealt with college-centered institutionalized patriarchy? Any advice on how I approach this problem with RAD?
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Stories like this make me wish I was a rich alum now (hopefully in the future) so that I could be all "Oh, you know those $50K I normally donate? Yeah, I don't like what you did this year. Fix it or it's not happening."
Other than the above wishful thinking: is there an GLBT or trans-specific organization at your university that can help back you up? And, (although you shouldn't be required to educate others) perhaps you should send the RAD program the statistics which demonstrate the risk that you face?
And, if you found someone to help you put it together, you could always threaten with a sexual harassment lawsuit. Some of those questions in response to your email are really inappropriate. And often, the threat of a lawsuit is enough to make one cave.
For a place that's stating that gender is a fluid identity, they're really not getting the point. My sympathies for putting up with this.
I would contact the Dean of Students and the governing board of RAD nationally. Tell them of your experience and demand action.
(With the understanding that yes, men are raped, too, and yes, women can be rapists...)
>> sexual assault prevention education program...which is "women-only."
Prevention?!
No.
Risk reduction, maybe. But that is not prevention.
As long as men are the vast majority of rapists, NO "woman-only" program can prevent rape.
/sigh. Sorry to tangent like that. The questions the officer asked you are absolutely obscene.
One place to start might be with whatever offices handles sexual harrassment complaints. As an undergrad, I had a problem with a professor that was only very vaguely linked to SH, but that was where the complaint was routed, and they dealt well with it. My situation was pretty different from yours, but it seems like the same kind of thing might apply. Is there an (or more than one) LGBT or trans student group that could help you advocate?
So a campus in "inaccessible" if it doesn't have an organization to cater to every need of every student? I think that it is a bit ridiculous that they are restricting the gender of the class, the only reason I can think they would do this is to try and create a "safe" space for women, and the way you have personally been treated is just ridiculous. Have you tried contacting the Dean of Students, or raised this issue to the myriad of organizations on campus concerned with LGBQT issues? I really hope you resolve this issue, but I wouldn't take out your frustration by bashing a campus, that for does try (and I'd say is generally successful) to meet the needs of it's students.
I am not defending RAD's decision here, but their reasoning for women-only classes is that they want women to have an ace in the hole. They don't want men to know what tricks the students have up their sleeves. You're not allowed to practice with your partner in case you have to use the moves on him. There's also a lot of demonstrating ways men might try to incapacitate you (and then showing you how to turn the tables), and they don't want to give ideas to anyone.
Anyway, for better or worse (and there are problems with this), that's their reasoning. It's not entirely a safe-space thing.
RAD is a separate group that has its own rules. It is not your campus making them up. In order to be an instructor, you have to agree not to give lessons to anyone but women (this is what my instructor told me when I asked her why my gay male friend could not come). Going at this on the campus level will not work if you specifically want RAD classes. You'd have to contact the heads of the organization. If you want to deal with it strictly at a campus level, you'd pretty much have to start a non-RAD self-defense group.
I'm so sorry these things have been said to you, they are completely outrageous. Something tells me though that unless there is a very sexist, inappropriate sort of attitude all around your campus these questions would not have been asked. Transfer? Just a thought. Not always a possibility. But still, a thought.
On the subject of orgs:
Vassar is the kind of place where, even though we have student government options that include a few committees relevant to underprivilege issues, the vast majority of progress is made through the actions of student orgs. Hence, not only do we have ~10 orgs at least loosely affiliated with our LGBTQ center (one of which I'm the Treasurer of), but we also have a specifically trans-oriented group. Since Transmission started two years ago, transgender has gone from a "theoretically accepted" category into one that we actually take steps to include. Vassar has a long tradition of student voice outside of student government, so that's why the lack of disablist and low-income orgs is an accessibility issue at Vassar. Change is driven by orgs here.
Also, update on the situation: I'm told that the director of security has been in contact with the RAD headquarters to discuss this, and also the director for affirmative action issues here. Although I'm wary of the administration taking control of the change here, it seems that some good may come out of this.
NY state law and college policy prohibits discrimination based on sex, gender, and gender identity/expression, but the officer is claiming that Title IX allows them to exclude me because I'm not, as RAD states, a "woman."
Wait, Title IX? Isn't Vassar a private college? If the school doesn't receive federal funding, Title IX shouldn't even be part of the landscape; it doesn't apply. And if Vassar weren't private, RAD doesn't fall into the type of organization that is excepted from Title IX considerations. So, I'm confused.
Vassar is a private college, but that doesn't mean it doesn't receive federal funding. The vast majority of financial aid programs operate with at least some contribution from federal sources, especially those programs that drive a need-blind admissions policy like Vassar's.
It turns out that the administration aren't sure about the exact nature of RAD's restriction, but I've received word from the woman in charge of affirmative action policies, that if RAD decides that I don't fit their definition of "woman," that it could be considered a breach of our own non-discrimination beliefs (as was the case when our united way continued to endorse the Boy Scouts' discrimination practices, causing us to pull out and found our own "Community Works" program), which would be just cause to break our contract with them and start our own program/find a trans-inclusive one.
On the other hand, my suggestion to that administrator, should we break from RAD, was that we reconsider the ablist linking of rape avoidance and self-defense classes. Since my disabled sisters are, if I'm not mistaken, at an increased risk as well, I think it's important to offer them the information they can benefit from without attaching it to the physical self-defense that they most likely won't find accessible. At this point I'm not sure what the administrative climate is on that. Any thoughts?