Let teachers use inclusive terms, and be less heteronormative in health class.

In health class, specifically our reproductive health lessons, I’ve noticed things are being specified as female and male. This can cause gender dysphoria, and invalidate trans students. My nonbinary friend specifically is having a lot of trouble doing some tasks and writing down their notes in class. I suggested to my teacher to use gender-neutral terms, such as uterus haver and non-uterus haver, but she told me that the district wouldn’t let her, and she could only teach the terms they told her to. Immediately I knew that the problem was bigger than just our school, and something had to be done.

In addition health class seems to assume you’re going to get married and have kids. This ignores that existence of many sexualities. My aro/ace friend feels very uncomfortable in these situations, and feels that class time could be used in a wider way, such as briefly going over what the straights need to learn and allowing them to ask questions if need be, then going into other things, like paying taxes or staying safe in the dangerous world we live in. They notice other topics we learn such as drug and sexual harassmentunits are being shortened and less prioritized, while reproductive learning about what reproductive organs are where is made to feel so much more important. We feel that mental health and disease is much more important to everyday life.