Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

How do I confront my french teacher about using masculine words (I'm physically a girl)?

Backstory (TL;DR) (you don't need to read this part):

So I've been having problems with gender for years. I'm not entirely sure what I am, but I definitely don't feel like a cisgender female. There's so many different labels for gender identities besides male and female, right now I'm just disregarding the idea of gender completely.

I'm having a hard time figuring it out, partially due to outside influences, and trying to fit the role of a female isn't helping. I don't feel a part of the role of a female in society or the role a female plays in nature. I've always had thoughts of how I might be more comfortable with my life if I were born male. What I'm having trouble with is figuring out which label I fit under. I ask that when answering this question, you do not consider that I'm "confused" or something, but rather just provide some advice for the situation. I don't think it matters if I don't have a label yet, it just matters if I want to do something that makes me more comfortable.

Main question:

So I feel more comfortable with gender neutral things and sometimes male things. In French, a female would use feminine verbs and adjectives by adding an extra "e", while the masculine words have nothing added. I feel better using the slightly more generic masculine words, and using feminine just doesn't feel perfect. So I decided that this year I would do myself a favor and use masculine, which I am more comfortable with. However, my French teacher has not noticed that I have made the choice to do this, and always corrects it, and writes "you're a girl" with a stick figure in a dress on my paper. I would like to tell her about the situation to avoid further corrections. However, she isn't usually the nicest person, and some say she's intolerant. My old french teacher is very supportive of LGBT, and disagrees with her on a lot of things. She was upset about her not realizing it was a choice.

So how would I go about asking her to use masculine and not be corrected? I was thinking of writing something instead of talking directly. What if she has a bad reaction?

Update:

She does not have to change the class or the curriculum for me. I am not asking this to affect anyone else whatsoever but me. I would use masculine words, and the rest of the class would continue on as normal, and not even know at all. There is no "changing everything".

Also, Please know the difference between gender and sex before answering a question like this.

Update 2:

Also, I never said anything to her.

3 Answers

Relevance
  • Anonymous
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Talk to your old French teacher and ask her what would be the best course of action. Also, if your parents are supportive, ask THEM to go with you when you talk to the current teacher. A teacher who might give a student a hard time would think twice when confronting the student backed up by parents. If your principal is LGBT-accepting, take your parents to the principal and ALL of you talk to the teacher.

  • 8 years ago

    Just explain to her that you would be more comfortable with using masculine words when referring to yourself. If she is intolerant, talk to your old French teacher or get administration involved. They should get it all sorted out. There's no reason you should have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. I kind of get where you're coming from as I am a lesbian. I know how uncomfortable it feels to be forced into a relationship with a boy, so I can only imagine how awkward and wrong it feels for u to have to address yourself as a girl. Best wishes to you! Good luck and God bless!

  • 8 years ago

    Well, SHE is the teacher not you. If you are having some internal struggle, why should SHE or ANYONE else change everything just so YOU feel more comfortable?

    Do you have breasts and a vagina? Then you are female whether or not you identify with that emotionally, so she is correct.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.