The Progressive Paradox at Trinity College

Let me tell you a secret: I find the phrase “Men and Women of College, and First Years” to be utterly cringe worthy. Not only because it places first years in a second-class position, but also because it perpetuates a gender binary that is no longer acceptable in 2014. It is not only during Strachan announcements and Trin Facebook events that the phrase “Men and Women of College” is used. To be precise, it is used eleven times in our Constitution. Moreover, we still have an annual gender-segregated TCM and a popular song that condemns “pseudo-masculinity” and “losing our virginity to the men of Trinity,” both of which continue under the perverse excuse of tradition. Newsflash: not everyone at Trinity identifies as male or female, and those who are not gender-normative (non-binary, genderqueer, gender-fluid, bigender, pangender, two-spirited, trans) often feel so excluded from the Trinity College community that come the end of Frosh Week, we never see them again. But “gender is fluid,” right?Here is another secret: I find the emphasis on male leadership at Trinity to be highly unfortunate. The next time you go to a Trinity College Meeting, you will notice that many female Trinity members are indeed present. Yet, how often, in comparison to the male population, do females add themselves to the speaking list and discuss an item on the agenda? If you don’t believe me, ask yourself this question: would we have female heads at this college if there wasn’t a quota for them? We are the last college at the university that has gender-segregated leadership positions, and yet I would not be in favour of eliminating this policy for fear that our hard-working and strong female leaders would be pushed to the sidelines. Given how common uncontested female elections are, it seems as though female Trinity students are already discouraged enough.Here is the kicker: the female-male ratio for the 1T6 and 1T7 classes was 60 to 40. 1T8? 70 to 30. This year, thankfully we have had a surge in female leaders within many of our levied clubs. Now, the gender ratio at the Board of Stewards is 50-50. But, is this the new norm? Let’s hope so.I think our assumption that Trinity College is de facto inclusive prevents our environment from being truly inclusive. When we assume that Trinity students are equitable and against all forms of discrimination, we subconsciously ignore or excuse all racist, sexist, and/or homophobic situations - and no, I am not just talking about the Lit. In short, as an inclusive community, we forget that this is a goal we need to work towards, and not something we can take for granted. I call this the “progressive paradox.”