Reducing harm and promoting justice for trans and intersex people

At the 2021 Society for Community Research and Action (APA Division 27) Biennial Conference, IAS students Jessica Belmont, Jordan Havlicek, and Luke Scott joined Reid Ellefson-Frank, another trans undergraduate student-researcher from Michigan State University, Yale post doc and LGBTQIA+ scholar Dani Chiaramonte, and IAS faculty member Lauren Lichty to talk about the experience engaging in participatory action research (PAR) in a session titled, When anything other than PAR would be unjust: Stories from two projects with transgender, gender diverse, and intersex activist-scholars.

The UW Bothell undergraduates identified significant issues related to the treatment of transgender, gender diverse, and intersex people (among others) in a human sexuality textbook in Winter, 2021; content analyzed and annotated screen shots of the text as an act of resistance through the visual remaking of the text in Spring; and now in Summer presented brief findings and recommendations to other faculty interested in PAR-based textbook resistance projects. Using a non-traditional podcast style to center personal storytelling while presenting research findings, the session showcased the power that comes with students conducting personal, emotionally-involved research to reduce harm and promote justice and the clarity with which UW Bothell students bring power-conscious intersectional, feminist, and queer frameworks into their change efforts.