“You gotta pull yourself towards yourself.” A sociological analysis of how Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) school attending youth, school managers and teachers understand and respond to transphobia in South African schools

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how transphobia is understood and responded to in South African schools. Drawing on qualitative data gathered from in-depth interviews with teachers, school managers, and TGD school-attending youth, the findings show that while there are minimal efforts to respond to and dismantle transphobia, school managers and teachers increasingly reproduce cisnormativity instrumentalising TGD youth to either assimilate or change. The analysis crystalises that cisgenderism is highly institutionalised in South African schools, pointing to an urgent need for targeted strategies to include TGD learners. This article sets the stage for further research on transphobia in schools and its response

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender and gender diverse (TGD)
• transphobia
• cisgenderism
• cisnormativity
• precarity
• South Africa

Acknowledgement

I would like to sincerely thank esethu monakali and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions for strengthening this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Population Registration Act laid the foundation for apartheid and its vision of separate development, requiring all South Africans to be categorised as either African, Coloured, Indian, or White. These racial categories remain socially relevant in post-apartheid South Africa, with many South Africans continuing to use these labels to describe themselves and others.