Instructions

Imagine you are a school counselor, and a 14-year-old gender non-binary student asks you for help. The student uses they/them pronouns and would like to be called by a different, gender-neutral name (e.g., Rock instead of Susie or Billy). The student’s parents are trying to be supportive but are having difficulty understanding non-binary gender identities and consistently mis-gender their child and forget to use their preferred name.

The student’s parents have been searching the internet for guidance in understanding and supporting their non-binary child. The student is worried that the websites that their parents are choosing to view may be biased towards the parents’ preconceived ideas of gender instead of the most recent empirical and ethical research.

Your task is to find and review three websites you would feel comfortable recommending to parents for guidance in supporting their non-binary child.

Review each website for possible bias, keeping in mind that you likely have some preconceived biases that could affect your opinions of the website. Create a comparison chart (template attached) of the three websites that can be given to parents and students in the future. Use language that is easy to understand in your reviews of these websites. Provide some analysis with empirical support (or point out if the website contains material not supported by empirical research) from at least 3 peer-reviewed research articles. Add citations within your analysis sections to confirm or dispute the claims made on the website.

You may choose from the websites provided or find your own.

Length: This assignment should be a 3-5 page chart (excluding reference page – title page is not necessary for this assignment). 

References: Include a minimum of three scholarly resources in addition to your three websites.

References

• What Does It Mean to Be Nonbinary?Cleveland Clinic. (2024, June 27). What does it mean to be nonbinary?
• Non-binary gender/sex identitiesSchudson, Z. C., & Morgenroth, T. (2022). Non-binary gender/sex identities. Current Opinion in Psychology, 48, 101499.
• Resolving to Fix Social Injustices for Gender and Sexually Diverse Youth: Starting PointsLytle, M. C., & Sprott, R. A. (2021). Resolving to fix social injustices for gender and sexually diverse youth: Starting points. In Lytle, Megan C. (Ed) & Sprott, Richard A. (Ed). (2021). Supporting gender identity and sexual orientation diversity in K-12 schools. (pp. 13-24). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, vii, 230