Even though Smith is a traditionally all women's college, not everyone at Smith identifies as female. That’s right, there are non-binary (an umbrella term for the wide range of genders that are not male or female, but are somewhere in between or outside of the gender binary) people, like myself, at Smith college and even some men!
Never heard of terms like “gender identity,” “gender expression,” “trans,” “pronouns,” or “nonbinary” before? That is ok! For a lot of people, coming to Smith is a bit of a queer culture shock and you will likely learn all about the wonderful world of pronouns and gender within your first semester! Until then, here is a brief Gender At Smith 101 rundown:
What is (and isn’t) gender?
Disclaimer: Gender is COMPLICATED and has a slightly different definition for every person. How I define it is not a be all end all definition!!!
What gender is : Your internal sense of identity of as well as imposed social expectations of "male-ness," "female-ness,” and/or “other-ness.” Gender is a social construction, meaning how it is defined changes depending on era/location/culture. It is assigned to us at birth but can change throughout a lifetime.
Your anatomy (although anatomy CAN be correlated to gender expression)
Who you are / are not attracted to (sexually, emotionally, romantically, platonically, or otherwise)
What your wear / what your hair looks like / how you present yourself (people often use their appearance to portray their gender, but the two are not automatically linked)
What does transgender/trans mean? Trans is also an umbrella term referring to anyone who’s gender assigned at birth does not align with their current gender identity. For example, if you were assigned male at birth due to your anatomy, but now identify as female, you are transgender. If you were assigned female at birth but now identify as nonbinary, you are ALSO transgender. However, be mindful transgender is a claimed word that some people, even if they do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, do not choose to describe themselves. Some trans people get medical intervention (hormone replacement therapy, surgery, etc) to change their bodies to align more with their inner sense of self, but not all do.
Below is a fun graphic that I used in high school to explain gender to my peers / teachers. It is not perfect, but is a good visual to show how gender identity, expression, sex assigned at birth, and various attractions are all separate.
Want more explanations??? - Here is a master list of resources from a very helpful tumblr blog. Here and here are some resources that I made with my high school’s Gay Straight Alliance several years ago. The first link is a “Trans 101″ presentation; the second link is for a presentation I made for the high school faculty about why pronouns are important. Times are changing but the information in them is still like 98% accurate.
Pronouns are what we use in place of people’s names, and in many languages and cultures they are gendered. In English, she/her/hers are used to indicate that someone is female, and he/him/his are used to indicate that someone is male. However, there are more than just two sets of pronouns! They/them/theirs is the most commonly used for non-binary people. There are also ey/em/eirs, ze/hir/hirs, and more! People can also use more than one set of pronouns to describe themselves - for myself, I use she/her/hers AND they/them/theirs.
How do you know what pronouns to use for someone? ASK! As long as you ask respectfully and don’t make a huge deal out of it, the great majority of the time people will really appreciate your consideration of their identity. However, make sure that if someone has not voluntarily shared their pronouns with you, that if/when you ask you are in a space where that person feels safe and comfortable both choosing to share or not share their pronouns with you. Gender identity is very personal and can be a scary thing to share with someone - but as I said, it is always better to ask respectfully than to assume.
Introducing yourself with your pronouns is a regular part of Smith culture - in one on one interactions, in club meetings, house meetings, and even in some classrooms. A typical Smith introduction looks something like - “Hi, my name is Simona. I use she/her and they/them pronouns. I’m a sophomore, an Engineering and Physics double major, and I live in Comstock house.”
Smith’s admissions website claims that Smith is still a “women’s college,” but most Smithies use the term “traditionally women’s college” to describe our school to be more inclusive of the non-female-identifying population here. The admissions website also boasts that “Smith is a place where students are able to explore who they are in an open and respectful environment,” which I for the most part agree with.
Smith admits applicants to self-identify as female on the common app. This means that “applicants who were assigned male at birth but identify as women are eligible for admission.” This is a HUGE step in the right direction for Smith, as previously trans women were not allowed to apply!
However, this also raises the questions - What about nonbinary applicants? What about trans men? Unfortunately, there is no “nonbinary” box to check off on the common app. Therefore, most nonbinary Smithies were assigned female at birth and checked off the “female” box on the common app because they had to, or discovered after getting to Smith that they do not identify as female. Smith’s official policy about nonbinary students is pretty vague: “Our focus on women’s education means that we consider for admission applicants who identify as women and who seek entrance into a community dedicated to women’s education.” As for trans men -- “Smith does not accept applications from men. Those assigned female at birth but who now identify as male are not eligible for admission.” However, if someone arrives at Smith identifying as female but starts to transition (medically or otherwise) to being male during their college years, Smith gives them the option of either transferring or staying here.
Click here to read more about Smith’s admissions policy about trans/nonbinary students.
Smith has an org called Transcending Gender for trans/nonbinary students!
The Resource Center for Gender and Sexuality provides a lot of resources, including counseling, name change help, and more. Click here to see them all.
We have over 200 gender neutral bathrooms.
Students can change their own names on Moodle (Smith’s website for your classes and such) and can request a name change in your Smith email.
Personally, one of the biggest support circles I found for my gender identity was joining Smith Rugby. Smith Rugby has a high percentage of trans and non-binary individuals, and just being around and sharing the pitch with people of so many gender identities has been extremely empowering.
As an incoming student I was extremely nervous about the idea of being nonbinary at a “women’s college.” I had the idea that I wouldn’t be comfortable coming out and would have to pretend to be woman -- but I was very pleasantly surprised at the fact that this would not be a huge issue at all for me at Smith. While I cannot speak to being a trans man at Smith, because I am not and that comes with a whole other set of challenges and stigmas, being nonbinary is a LOT easier than I anticipated. At first, realizing that I could share my pronouns - especially in a classroom - and that it wouldn’t be made into a big was rather shocking and initially scary for me. I was used to having to constantly explain myself and my gender to everyone, and was apprehensive of having to do the same at Smith, but that simply isn’t the case here. Now, I feel comfortable sharing my pronouns and generally dressing however I please. I don’t intend to speak for all trans students here AT ALL but I do think in general Smith is a very accepting place when it comes to queerness in all forms.
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