A lot of progress has been made over the years in terms of gender and sexuality inclusivity in the university environment, but as the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2017 report into sexual harassment at Australian universities indicates, more can be done to make university culture safe and welcoming for all students. Whenever we interact with students or engage in educational activities, we can play a role in changing cultures within the university by demonstrating and promoting respect for students of all genders, sexes and sexualities.
In 2019, Monash University released its Inclusive Education Guidelines, a document that reflects on some of the direct and indirect discrimination experienced by LGBTIQ* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) students in the university environment. These guidelines seek to address heterosexism and heteronormativity, which the document defines as follows:
Heterosexism is defined as a set of individual, group or institutional norms and behaviours that result from the assumption that all people are heterosexual. It is the practice of assuming that heterosexuality is inherently normal, rendering the experiences of others – such as LGBTIQ people – invisible, unacknowledged or ignored.
Heteronormativity is the normalisation of heterosexist ideals and behaviours in our everyday lives on an institutional, interpersonal, and personal level.
This toolkit also seeks to address cisnormativity which:
assumes that everyone is [cisgender]** and that all people will continue to identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Cisnormativity erases the existence of trans and gender diverse people (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2017).
Heteronormativity and cisnormativity can permeate our language and practices, often in ways we don’t expect, so it can be challenging to recognise, examine and adapt our behaviour. Unintentional heterosexism and cissexism can be harmful to LGBTIQ+* students, who may be made to feel inferior or abnormal. The reinforcement of stereotypes concerning gender and sexuality can also make students feel unwelcome in their courses of study, ill suited for their desired career, or increase their feeling of isolation.
*Note: LGBTIQ is the initialism used by Monash University, and is not intended as definitive. This is explained in Monash University's LGBTIQ glossary of terms thus: 'Monash uses the acronym LGBTIQ to be as inclusive as possible. We acknowledge that other variations of this acronym exist and are also valid'. This is under review, with some students and staff at Monash using the initialism LGBTQIA, where the A stands for asexual and/or aromantic. In this toolkit we use LGBTIQ+ to signal that there members of the community who are not explicitly covered in the LGBTIQ initialism.
**Defined as 'a term used to describe when a person's gender identity matches social expectations for their sex assigned at birth' in Monash's LGBTIQ glossary.