Title IX- Equality in Education

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." 

-Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 to the 1964 Civil Rights Act

As a part of the college community it is important for all of us to know what Title IX is as well as know our rights and responsibilities. We need to take action and speak up and ensure that the college is doing what it is, by law, supposed to do. Also, below are contacts for the university and a link that you can report violations.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.

Title IX is one example of our progress in gender equity.

Looking at the statistics for women now in colleges and universities across the country, enrollment rates for women are over 50%. Without Title IX this would not be possible. Equality for all if far from being achieved but we have come much further then we were over 40 plus years ago.
For more information on Title IX please visit: http://www.titleix.info/history/history-overview.aspx

The Following information I pulled directly from the University's webpage. http://www.uaf.edu/oeo/title-ix/

UAF Equal Opportunity Non-Discrimination Statement

           The University of Alaska Fairbanks provides equal opportunity without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, or veteran status, pursuant to Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Civil Rights Act of 1991; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; Executive Order 11246, and Executive Order 11375, as amended; Equal Pay Act of 1963; Age Discrimination Acts of 1974 and 1975; Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974; Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1992; the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008; Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008; Pregnancy Discrimination Act; Immigration Reform & Control Act; Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Alaska Statutes which guarantees equal opportunity to individuals and groups within our society.
             This policy affects employment policies and actions, as well as the delivery of educational services at all levels and facilities of the University. Further, the University's objective of ensuring equal opportunity will be met by taking affirmative action: i.e., making intensified, goal-oriented efforts to substantially increase the participation of groups where their representation is less than proportionate to their availability; providing reasonable accommodations to employees and students with disabilities; and ensuring that employment opportunities are widely disseminated to agencies and organizations that service women, minorities, Vietnam era veterans and people with disabilities.

What is SEXUAL MISCONDUCT?

Sexual Misconduct offenses include, but are not limited to:
1. Sexual Harassment
2. Non-Consensual Sexual Contact (or attempt/s to commit same)
3. Non-Consensual Sexual Intercourse (or attempt/s to commit same)
4. Sexual Exploitation
1. Sexual Harassment is unwelcome, gender based verbal or physical conduct that is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that it has the effect of unreasonably interfering with, denying or limiting someone’s ability to participate in or benefit from the university’s educational program/s and or activities, and is based on power differentials (quid pro quo), the creation of a hostile environment or retaliation.
2. Non-Consensual Sexual Contact is any intentional sexual touching, however slight, with any object, by a man or a woman upon a man or a woman that is without consent and / or by force.
3. Non-Consensual Intercourse is any sexual intercourse, however slight, with an object, by a man or a woman upon a man or a woman that is without consent and or by force.
4. Sexual Exploitation occurs when a student takes non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for his/her own advantage or benefit, or to benefit or advantage anyone other than the one being exploited, and that the behavior does not otherwise constitute one of other sexual misconduct offenses. Here are some examples:
• Invasion of sexual privacy
• Prostituting another student
• Non-consensual video or audio-recording of sexual activity
• Going beyond the boundaries of consent (such as letting your friends hide in the closet to watch you having consensual or non-consensual sex
• Engaging in voyeurism
• Knowingly transmitting an STI of HIV to another student
• Exposing one’s genitals in non-consensual circumstances; including another to expose their genitals
• Sexually based stalking and/or bullying may also be forms of sexual exploitation

UAF's Title IX Contacts
Mae Marsh Title IX Coordinator Office of Diversity & Equal Opportunity P.O. Box 756910 Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6910 907.474.7599 mmarsh36@alaska.edu http://www.uaf.edu/oeo/	Ana M. Richards Deputy Title IX Coordinator 907.474.7393 amrichards@alaska.edu http://www.uaf.edu/oeo/	Mauria Gerdeman Investigator Office of Diversity & Equal Opportunity Nordic House, 739 Columbia Circle University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775 907.474.6600 Office mbgerdeman@alaska.edu http://www.uaf.edu/oeo/
University Police Department 612 Yukon Drive University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775 907.474.7721 Office E-mail: UAF-Police-Dept@alaska.edu Website: http://www.uaf.edu/police/about/	Don Foley UAF Judicial Services 104 Eielson Bldg. University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775 907.474.7317 Office E-mail: djfoley@alaska.edu Website: http://www.uaf.edu/ses/judicial/	Laura McCollough Residence Life MBS Complex, 732 Yukon Drive University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775 907.474.7247 Office E-mail: lcmccollough@alaska.edu Website: http://www.uaf.edu/reslife/

Resources:

Sexual Misconduct/Title IX. (2014, January 13). Sexual Misconduct/Title IX. Retrieved August 2, 2014, from http://www.uaf.edu/oeo/title-ix/

Title IX and Sex Discrimination. (1998, August 1). Title IX and Sex Discrimination. Retrieved August 2,  2014, from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html

Facebook's Gender Evolution

 For as long as I can remember the only gender choices available on everything from standardized tests to social media profiles were male and female. 

That is until recently when Facebook made a change.

As I went into my "About Me" section to edit it I noticed something out of the ordinary. The gender section not only has male and female but a custom block. They have also added which pronoun you prefer. 

 

A step in the right direction…

I did some research online and found from www.slate.com that Facebook now has 56 genders to choose from. Here are what Slate's writer Peter Weber listed and defined some of the genders that can now be selected:

1. Agender/Neutrois — These terms are used by people who don't identify with any gender at all—they tend to either feel they have no gender or a neutral gender. Some use surgery and/or hormones to make their bodies conform to this gender neutrality.

2. Androgyne/Androgynous — Androgynes have both male and female gender characteristics and identify as a separate, third gender.

3. Bigender — Someone who is bigender identifies as male and female at different times. Whereas an androgyne has a single gender blending male and female, a bigender switches between the two.

4. Cis/Cisgender — Cisgender is essentially the opposite of transgender (cis- being Latin for "on this side of" versus trans-, "on the other side"). People who identify as cisgender are males or females whose gender aligns with their birth sex.

5. Female to Male/FTM — Someone who is transitioning from female to male, either physically (transsexual) or in terms of gender identity.

6. Gender Fluid — Like bigender people, the gender-fluid feel free to express both masculine and feminine characteristics at different times.

7. Gender Nonconforming/Variant — This is a broad category for people who don't act or behave according to the societal expectation for their sex. It includes cross-dressers and tomboys as well as the transgender.

8. Gender Questioning — This category is for people who are still trying to figure out where they fit on the axes of sex and gender.

9. Genderqueer — This is an umbrella term for all nonconforming gender identities. Most of the other identities in this list fall into the genderqueer category.

10. Intersex — This term refers to a person who was born with sexual anatomy, organs, or chromosomes that aren't entirely male or female. Intersex has largely replaced the term "hermaphrodite" for humans.

11. Male to Female/MTF — Someone who is transitioning from male to female, either physically (transsexual) or in terms of gender identity.

12. Neither — You understand this one: "I don't feel like I'm fully male or fully female. 'Nuff said."

13. Non-binary — People who identify as non-binary disregard the idea of a male and female dichotomy, or even a male-to-female continuum with androgyny in the middle. For them, gender is a complex idea that might fit better on a three-dimensional chart, or a multidimensional web.

14. Other — Like "neither," this is pretty self-explanatory. It can cover everything from "I'd prefer not to specify how I don't fit in the gender dichotomy" to "My gender is none of your damn business, Facebook."

15. Pangender — Pangender is similar to androgyny, in that the person identifies as a third gender with some combination of both male and female aspects, but it's a little more fluid. It can also be used as an inclusive term to signify "all genders."

16. Trans/Transgender — Transgender is a broad category that encompasses people who feel their gender is different than their birth sex—sometimes known as gender dysphoria. They may or may not choose to physically transition from their birth sex to their experienced gender.

17. Transsexual — Transsexual refers to transgender people who outwardly identify as their experienced gender rather than their birth sex. Many, but not all, transsexuals are transitioning (or have transitioned) from male to female or female to male through hormone therapy and/or gender reassignment surgery.

18. Two-spirit — This term refers to gender-variant Native Americans. In more than 150 Native American tribes, people with "two spirits"—a term coined in the 1990s to replace the term "berdache"—were part of a widely accepted, often respected, category of gender-ambiguous men and women.

 Will Oremus from Slate wrote more on the change:

             "There's going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world," said Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison, who worked on the project and is herself undergoing gender transformation, from male to female. On Thursday, while watchdogging the software for any problems, she said she was also changing her Facebook identity from Female to TransWoman.

              "All too often transgender people like myself and other gender nonconforming people are given this binary option, do you want to be male or female? What is your gender? And it's kind of disheartening because none of those let us tell others who we really are," she said. "This really changes that, and for the first time I get to go to the site and specify to all the people I know what my gender is."

 Brielle Harrison, Facebook's software engineer, took a huge step for the community. Hopefully others will soon follow suite.

 You should also take a look at Facebook's diversity page:     https://www.facebook.com/facebookdiversity?fref=photo

 Resources:

Oremus, W. (2014, February 13). Facebook No Longer Limits Your Gender to "Male" or "Female". Slate    Magazine. Retrieved August 2, 2014, from http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/02/13/facebook_gender_options_male_female_and_custom_plus_preferred_pronouns.html

Weber, P. (2014, February 21). Confused by All the New Facebook Genders? Here's What They Mean..  Slate Magazine. Retrieved August 2, 2014, from http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/02/21/gender_facebook_now_has_56_categories_to_choose_from_including_cisgender.html

Born Homosexual vs. Becoming Homosexual: The Worldwide Debate

While society is far from fully accepting homosexuality as a cultural norm, it has entered the public sphere as a subject of discourse, rather than feared and ignored. It is in this sense that scientists are able to invest more of their time and money into researching homosexuality. Also, the study of homosexuality tself both in its cultural causes and social effects, such as AIDS, depression, gender roles, marriage laws, has gained worldwide attention. Research on this matter seems to generally generate more questions than it answers and is often far from conclusive.

Here is a special case I personally have never heard of before and find extremely interesting. According to the BBC documentary “I Woke Up Gay - A Stroke Turned Me Gay”, Chris Birch, a teenager from South Wales, snapped his neck while doing some somersaults and backflips with his friends when he was 19. He claims that after suffering a massive stroke, he woke up as a completely different person, one who is now homosexual.

After watching this, do you believe it was really a transformation, as he insists, or just a realization (after the fact) of something that had been there within him his whole life? It seems to be the focus in this film but is biology really the only factor that plays into this situation? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR_-qg-upJs

Stripping and Pole Dancing

I know this is not completely on target but this week’s reading regarding sex workers made me wonder why they did not bring up strippers, but they brought up escorts and women who work in brothels.  Recently I have seen a growth in stripping and the use of pole dancing as exercise and how it is being used all over the country.  What has been said is it empowers women and makes them feel more comfortable and confident.  Could this theory be applied to sex workers as well?  Most of the benefits of pole dancing are similar to a gym work out.  Its reported one session can burn up to 250 calories.  An article from CNN described how most women attend the classes because they enjoy feeling sexy.  Here is an excerpt for the article, “there’s another benefit, Rogers said. "This made me feel better about my body. I used to be nervous about my body and try to hide it. Now I'm a lot more open and confident. I stand up straight and feel good about myself."” Could some sex workers have the same attitude as strippers and women who do pole dancing?  And why not?  A stripper could make similar money to a sex worker and go into her own business and own her own club.  I think these two ideas are related and should be discussed further.