1. Research Methods
5.1 Introduction
5.2.1 Learners’ understanding of transgender
Despite the increase in the number of individuals identifying as transgender, awareness surrounding the concept is minimal (DePalma & Jennett, 2012; Jobson et al., 2012;
Potgieter & Reygan, 2012; Bockting, Coleman, Deutsch, Guillamon, Meyer, Reisner, Sevelius & Ettner, 2016; Mangin, 2018; Miller et al., 2018; Ringrose, Bragg, Jackson &
Renold, 2018). Transgender identities refer to individuals who define their sexuality based on their personal feelings and experiences and not the biological sex assigned to
5.2. Main theme: How learners make meaning of the term transgender.
5.2.1. Learners’ understanding of the term transgender.
5.2.2. The lack of awareness about transgender identities.
5. 3. Transgender identities are not accepted into communities.
5.4. Learners’ agency: Sexuality against all odds.
5.5. Reasons for resisting heteronormative activity: Learners’ perceptions
5.5.1. Shift in old boundaries
5.5.2. Women using homosexual relationships as an agency of protection against mockery and abuse.
5.5.3. Sub-ordination versus non-conformative femininity and gangsterism.
5.5.4. Appearance and aesthetics.
5.6. Main theme: Factors that influence how learners make meaning of the term transgender
5.6.1. The influence of the media, modern technology and social media on the way in which learners make meaning of the term transgender
5.6.2. Relationships, physical and behavioural patterns of sexually diverse identities.
5.6.3. The impact that religion and culture have on the way in which learners understand the term transgender.
5.7. Sexuality and sex education: understanding of the term transgender
5.7.1. The need for topics on sexual diversity in the school curriculum as a move towards creating awareness and acceptance.
5,8. How do children make sense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights?
MAIN THEMES
76 them at birth (Eckert & McConnel-Ginet, 2014; Buchanan & McDougall, 2016; Winter, Diamond, Green, Karasic, Reed, Whittle & Wylie, 2016; Ndelu, 2017). In the following extracts, I demonstrate learners’ understanding of the term transgender.
Researcher: Children what do you understand the word transgender to be?
Fatima: Miss, I do not know what this word means.
Clara: No Miss I do not know about transgender.
Shaun: No I don’t know what the word means.
Ben: No Miss, not really.
The above responses demonstrate that 12% of the participants did not know what the word transgender meant at all while others below shared their perceptions.
Pertunia: Miss, it’s like when a girl is very boyish and she plays with boys and it’s when a boy is girlish and he plays with girls.
Anele: It’s a gay person. The boy starts to act like a girl where he wears make- up, weaves and carries his sister’s handbag… you know the one that has a chain handle. He will even sway his hips from side to side and kind of like stick out his behind. Then there are the girls who bounce and play soccer and they want to be mannish.
Sipho: It means people who are males and they like men and women and they like women.
Samkelo: It’s boys who like other boys. They act like girls and they even speak like girls and giggle when other boys are around. They start to show off when the other big boys come. They swing their hands in a girlie way and act they just wear like tights and very girlie things.
Cassandra: For me Miss I think it’s when a boy or a girl changes their gender, it’s not like me …I just like other girls and only sometimes I like boys. But I prefer girls.
77 Sanelisiwe: I understand that many people don’t accept that they are boys or girls, they want to change, they want to be the opposite of themselves.
Buhle: Miss, it’s when someone miss changes their gender from a boy to a girl.
Lumka: It’s when a person is maybe a girl and this person wants to be a boy.
As indicated in the above extracts, the common notion among most of the learners was that a transgender person was a person who was attracted to the same sex. They associated being transgender with being gay or lesbian. Their responses correspond with Butler’s (1990) claim that learners associate the behaviour of certain identities with that of gays and lesbians. Her queer theory is an ideal framework to make meaning of the differences and consistencies of social groups and the power relations that become part of an individual’s experiences (Carlin, 2011). Samkelo and Anele focused on the social interactions of transgender identities in relation to gays and lesbians. They mentioned that their understanding of transgender is when boys wore feminine clothes, walked, spoke and interacted in a feminine manner. They were unclear about the correct meaning of transgender. Some participants reflected on their personal observations of transgender identities within their communities and then associated them with gays and lesbians based on their mannerisms. Only a few learners like Tyra, Cassandra and Sanelisiwe knew that being transgender was when a person wanted to change their gender (Carrera-Fernandez et al., 2013). While most of the participants were unaware that transgender identities required hormonal treatment to fully transition to their desired sex, Tyra displayed knowledge about what being transgender entailed.
Tyra: It’s when a girl is not comfortable in her body as a girl and she wants to change herself into boy, maybe by taking pills and medicines. Miss, the medicines will shrink breasts and then it will make them grow a beard.
Researcher: How many of you know the Kardashians? Anybody here know who Caitlyn Jenner is?
78 Tyra: Oh miss, isn’t their father was a man and then he changed now to be a woman, yes miss his name …was … I’m not too sure but Miss he’s a woman now and has like long hair and breasts even. Miss, they have a lot of money, I think this is how he got to look so beautiful. I saw it in a Peoples magazine that my granny brought home from the hospital. My granny’s a nurse Miss. Miss, he has some surgery to get the titties and remove some other stuff and also has to have medicines to help him become more like a woman.
Drawing on her observations in media, Tyra was the only participant who displayed knowledge about transgender. She said that transgender people are people who want to change their bodies either from a boy to a girl or a girl to a boy. She further explained that they would need to go to a special doctor who would assist them to get medicines that would help them achieve this. She went on to say that when taking these pills they would shrink the breasts and start to grow a beard. She linked hormonal treatment and Caitlyn Jenner. Tyra was also the only participant who knew that the stepfather of the Kardashians (Bruce) was now a woman after undergoing a sex change. It can be deduced that through media Tyra was able to construct knowledge about transgender.
5.2.2 The lack of awareness about sexually non-conforming identities and how it impacts