Everybody who identifies as transgender has their own experience and interpretation of their identity. Mount Holyoke College is a historic women’s college; the presence and prevalence of transgender identities is new in comparison to the long rich history of Mount Holyoke women.
The items in this exhibit are a part of the College’s recent history and give visibility to transgender alums and current students of Mount Holyoke as highly creative, intellectual, and valid members of the College and its history.
MHC changed its admissions policy in 2014 regarding the acceptance of transgender students. The response from alums of the College was mixed. Some alums threatened to no longer give donations if the Office of Admission accepted transgender students, while others were supportive.
The College’s transgender admissions policy differs from that of all other historic women’s colleges in the country. MHC is the only college that admits prospective non-binary individuals assigned any sex at birth, assigned female at birth transgender men, and assigned male at birth transgender women. Over a dozen women’s college campuses changed their acceptance policies surrounding transgender women in or around 2014. Mount Holyoke remains the most gender-inclusive historic women’s college in the country.
DYSPHORIA, 2018
Photos of cotton clothing transformed into papier-mâché sculpture with corn husk paper.
Donated by the artist, Lindsay Booker, 2018.
Gender Anarchy, 2018
Linoleum relief print, 11 x 14 in.
Donated by the artist, Lindsay Booker, 2018.
Student Insights and Thought Reflections
“Transness–like all gender expressions–only becomes relevant and recognizable through our relationships with other people. I have watched so many enter Mount Holyoke, only to realize that their respective genders require more critical interrogation than they had previously given them.”
The thrust of Cavar’s passion points to their visibility as an ungendered person on campus. In this entry, they delve deep into what being trans at the College has taught them. They follow chronologically from their first tour on campus through the date this was written.
“For all its failures–in regard to gender and in regard to other issues–Mount Holyoke’s community has allowed me to emerge into the social world as a theythem; an ungendered person; and to both appreciate and demand this from my relationships with others.”
This portion of the exhibition was curated by Leo Rachman, 2020.