An online course offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to meet the school's sexual harassment training requirement includes controversial claims such as it's an "act of violence" to call a transgender individual by their birth name.
Consisting of a series of videos, vocabulary lists, and reflection questions, "LGBTQ+ 101: Education, Allyship, and Self-Advocacy" fulfills a requirement for faculty, staff, and graduate students on preventing sexual harassment, according to The Daily Wire, which obtained and viewed the private training module.
One portion of the course defines the concept of "deadnaming" as "the act of referring to a transgender or nonbinary person by a name they used prior to transitioning." It reportedly goes on to say that "deadnaming is invalidating and may trigger a trauma response" and cautions against "misgendering."
Apart from being perceived as offensive, the act of "deadnaming" is deemed violent by the course. "Even when done accidentally," the act "brings all of their negative life experience with that name to the surface ... it is considered a violent act."
According to The Daily Wire, the training maintains that sex and gender are distinct concepts.
"There is a difference between sex and gender," it reportedly states. "Generally speaking, 'male' and 'female' are terms to describe sex and 'woman' and 'man' are terms to describe gender." It also contends that "gender is a spectrum."
Additionally, the module addresses "gender-affirming care," describing it as a "range of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions designed to support and affirm an individual's gender identity when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth." Such "interventions help transgender people align various aspects of their lives — emotional, interpersonal, and biological — with their gender identity," the course states.
The term "nonbinary" reportedly is defined by the training as a "term for diverse gender identities" that fall "outside the gender binary."
Faculty and staff are instructed on how to make their workplaces more "affirming" for LGBTQ+ individuals through the use of language.
"Provide space regularly in your lab/department/office/classrooms to share their pronouns," the training advises. "Avoid using binary, gendered language ... instead use 'they' and 'people' as gender neutral terms.
"Are you a visible, dependable ally?" the training asks. "What have you done recently, or what are you planning on doing, that can contribute to a feeling of LGBTQ+ belonging at MIT?"
An MIT spokesman told The Daily Wire that completing a training module aimed at preventing sexual harassment is mandated for institute faculty, staff, and third-year graduate students. There are two other options available to satisfy the requirement, the spokesman said.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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