SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

Gender Identity Education for American Youth

Room 214, West Center

While a majority of American children are typically perceived as highly educated, they are in fact enslaved by the chains of financial struggles within their own homes, communities, and cities. This financial constriction not only plays a vital role in their future mental health, but also their growth into adulthood. Too often, these youth in areas stricken with financial hardship, are raised in gender-demanding homes where they lack self-discovery time indispensible to their identity. When suffering cities tend to their underage children, there lies inadequate (and most times entirely absent) gender identity educational opportunities. Subsequently, they are forced to identify with one gender—usually determined by their parents. As a growing number of the American population are identifying with terms such as “gender-fluid,” “transgender,” and “gender non-conforming,” children in poorer cities are unfortunately barricaded from the ability to learn about the gender spectrum and where they may lie. This creates a widening gap between children raised in middle to upper-class homes and lower class homes. Because our country is experiencing a shrinking middle-class and only a portion of Americans are considered “upper-class citizens,” the remaining lower-class youth are oppressed financially through their lack of opportunity. Ultimately, the upper-class remains privileged in gender identity security—something all Americans should be able to access.