How is one university doing in regards to teaching sex, gender, and reproduction topics inclusively? LGBTQ+ students respond.

Abstract

Compared to their peers, LGBTQ+ students have lower persistence in STEM majors. This issue is, in part, due to exposure to topics that do not align with LGBTQ+ students’ lived experiences, reinforcing the theory of gender essentialism: the thought that gender and gender roles are natural and biologically driven based on sex. These topics are especially prevalent in biology courses where, commonly, sex is defined as binary, sex and gender are incorrectly conflated, and only heterosexual sex is presented making LGBTQ+ students feel erased. We investigate how LGBTQ+ students would alter the way sex and gender topics are addressed in their biology courses at one university. We investigated the following research question: How are biology lessons on sex and gender viewed as inclusive or exclusive by LGBTQ+ students? To conduct this research, we conducted focus group interviews with students who identify as LGBTQ+ and took undergraduate biology classes at one university. We followed focus group best practices. To analyze the focus group interviews, three researchers used iterative directed content analysis to create themes, coming to consensus. Participants were generally impressed with the inclusive teaching approaches in their biology classes, however, students noted potential areas of improvement, including creating safe spaces to use pronouns, providing disclaimers for potentially exclusive terminology (e.g., male and female), and managing the intricacies of active learning practices, such as negative student peer interactions in group work. We suggest several recommendations for instructors to establish a higher standard for inclusivity for LGBTQ+ students, including respecting students' pronouns, implementing a no-tolerance policy for discrimination, and using disclaimers to explain their language choices. Incorporating these recommendations into instruction has the potential to address LGBTQ+ student attrition in STEM majors, increasing persistence through the creation of more inclusive environments.