BY SARAH/SAL COSMEDY ’20
Performances for alums are simultaneously the most rewarding and stressful of my a cappella group’s gigs. Every time we perform for alums, they’re attentive and tell us just how special it is for them to hear the V8s sing. But as Mount Holyoke is an ever-changing place, the version of the school they remember is often very different from the one that I know. So along with the praise and kindness we receive at these performances, we also encounter gendered language.
BY SARAH CAVAR ’20
A 2016 study in “Transgender Health” revealed that gender variance was almost eight times more prevalent in young autistic subjects than their allistic (non-autistic) counterparts. This has led to scientific inquiry into a neurobiological link between gender dysphoria — as it’s known in the DSM-V, the latest psychiatric diagnostic manual published by the American Psychiatric Association — and autism spectrum disorders.
BY LEO RACHMAN ’20
The definition of trans-ness — and the concept of transition — is different for each person. Some trans individuals need hormones to feel aligned with their body, some need surgeries, some need both and then there are some trans folks who don’t need either of those things to feel valid within their minds and bodies.
