Some children and adolescents feel that the biological gender assigned to them does not express who they are. The Waldorf teacher and sculptor Christian Breme has studied the phenomenon of gender identity for many years, asking how Waldorf education can support these young people.
Sebastian Jüngel Is the question of gender identity new or are we only just becoming aware of something that has been suppressed for a long time?
Christian Breme There certainly have always been children and adolescents whose gender identity differed, temporarily or permanently, from the one assigned to them. Today they express themselves more forcefully and demand to be recognized as who they deeply feel they are. They are often quite distressed.
Jüngel What does the fact that they feel so strongly tell us?
Breme It is rooted in a previously unknown authority of the soul over a body that is experienced as alien. We could call it an awakening that first manifests as a sense of not being at home in one’s body. Did we not notice it before? Maybe we had to first get to a point where we are able to look at the phenomenon without fear. We have to learn to support transgender children and their parents in unusual ways today. This confronts us with new pedagogical challenges.
Distracting from the ‘I’
Jüngel How significant is gender in your view on the path to one’s personal identity?
Breme The ‘I’ develops with what it connects to, as Rudolf Steiner pointed out in his book Theosophy (GA 9). My interests, my goals, my studies, my encounters, my work – they strengthen my ‘I’.
When we look at others we should therefore not focus on cultural aspects, family, gender etc., but on what they have decided to do and how they do it. We are still blinded by a person’s appearance, particularly their gender. It pushes itself to the fore and hides the active ‘I’. This deception occurs to a lesser degree when we look at children or elderly people. We can learn from this.
Jüngel How has this topic changed for you over the last decades?
Breme Studying the enigma of gender is part of pedagogical anthropology. How do boys and girls develop? What does puberty mean? I must admit that I neglected the question of homosexuality in the first years. I only learned gradually to perceive a latent homosexuality in older adolescents and to address questions regarding gender orientation in class when we learned about relationships. The question of gender identity became more central for me around five years ago when I visited other countries, and also through reading. This space is now filling with experience, with conversations and individual destinies. And with great amazement: in the end we are each entirely individual.
Cultural differences
Jüngel You have addressed this question with different cultures. What differences do you notice? Where do you see something universally human coming to expression?
Breme In 2013 I was invited by a number of Waldorf Schools in the US to speak about relationships. I visited a small school with five transgender children. That is normal today. In the upper grades of the large school in Austin, Texas, ‘gender issues’ were discussed in depth in the lessons – at a time when we hardly knew what that meant here in Europe.
In Shenzhen (CN), a city with twelve million people, I gave a workshop on sex education and relationships. In China it is generally very difficult to speak of our origin and sexuality because there is a traditional sensitivity and reluctance to unveil the mystery. Many people are also traumatized by the enforced abortions of the last thirty years. In the end it was possible to speak about special forms of sexual orientation and identity only when the topic was presented in an artistic, Goethean way.
Most recently I visited the Waldorf School in Samara (RU). The whole upper school came together. The students had only one question, “What is it with this gender movement? How can we understand gender identity? We are confronted with it in the media. Politicians call it destructive.” The young people were grateful for an approach that made such phenomena more accessible. Then I met the parents in the evening. Again, the same question was discussed vehemently. A doctor translated the outcome of the discussion for me: it is right, we should overcome gender in the future, but it is too early. Our ‘I’ is not strong enough yet.
Authentic ‘I’ awareness
Jüngel How do you think a spiritual community should deal with this question?
Breme Anthroposophy can explain these seemingly sudden and new possibilities at a deeper level. My book Matryoshka is an attempt at presenting ways towards understanding and resolving identity conflicts. As a knowledge-based community our working contexts offer us the space to practise authentic ‘I’ awareness and the unconditional acceptance of the other.
Jüngel Have you ever had a key experience in connection with this topic?
Breme I approach it as I do all problems that I care about: I build bridges. A key experience? All encounters I had with young people or adults in my sphere of life who struggled with their physical gender were moving: I was able to perceive the ‘I’ in its authenticity.
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Sebastian Jüngel Is the question of gender identity new or are we only just becoming aware of something that has been suppressed for a long time?
Christian Breme There certainly have always been children and adolescents whose gender identity differed, temporarily or permanently, from the one assigned to them. Today they express themselves more forcefully and demand to be recognized as who they deeply feel they are. They are often quite distressed.
Jüngel What does the fact that they feel so strongly tell us?
Breme It is rooted in a previously unknown authority of the soul over a body that is experienced as alien. We could call it an awakening that first manifests as a sense of not being at home in one’s body. Did we not notice it before? Maybe we had to first get to a point where we are able to look at the phenomenon without fear. We have to learn to support transgender children and their parents in unusual ways today. This confronts us with new pedagogical challenges.
Distracting from the ‘I’
Jüngel How significant is gender in your view on the path to one’s personal identity?
Breme The ‘I’ develops with what it connects to, as Rudolf Steiner pointed out in his book Theosophy (GA 9). My interests, my goals, my studies, my encounters, my work – they strengthen my ‘I’.
When we look at others we should therefore not focus on cultural aspects, family, gender etc., but on what they have decided to do and how they do it. We are still blinded by a person’s appearance, particularly their gender. It pushes itself to the fore and hides the active ‘I’. This deception occurs to a lesser degree when we look at children or elderly people. We can learn from this.
Jüngel How has this topic changed for you over the last decades?
Breme Studying the enigma of gender is part of pedagogical anthropology. How do boys and girls develop? What does puberty mean? I must admit that I neglected the question of homosexuality in the first years. I only learned gradually to perceive a latent homosexuality in older adolescents and to address questions regarding gender orientation in class when we learned about relationships. The question of gender identity became more central for me around five years ago when I visited other countries, and also through reading. This space is now filling with experience, with conversations and individual destinies. And with great amazement: in the end we are each entirely individual.
Cultural differences
Jüngel You have addressed this question with different cultures. What differences do you notice? Where do you see something universally human coming to expression?
Breme In 2013 I was invited by a number of Waldorf Schools in the US to speak about relationships. I visited a small school with five transgender children. That is normal today. In the upper grades of the large school in Austin, Texas, ‘gender issues’ were discussed in depth in the lessons – at a time when we hardly knew what that meant here in Europe.
In Shenzhen (CN), a city with twelve million people, I gave a workshop on sex education and relationships. In China it is generally very difficult to speak of our origin and sexuality because there is a traditional sensitivity and reluctance to unveil the mystery. Many people are also traumatized by the enforced abortions of the last thirty years. In the end it was possible to speak about special forms of sexual orientation and identity only when the topic was presented in an artistic, Goethean way.
Most recently I visited the Waldorf School in Samara (RU). The whole upper school came together. The students had only one question, “What is it with this gender movement? How can we understand gender identity? We are confronted with it in the media. Politicians call it destructive.” The young people were grateful for an approach that made such phenomena more accessible. Then I met the parents in the evening. Again, the same question was discussed vehemently. A doctor translated the outcome of the discussion for me: it is right, we should overcome gender in the future, but it is too early. Our ‘I’ is not strong enough yet.
Authentic ‘I’ awareness
Jüngel How do you think a spiritual community should deal with this question?
Breme Anthroposophy can explain these seemingly sudden and new possibilities at a deeper level. My book Matryoshka is an attempt at presenting ways towards understanding and resolving identity conflicts. As a knowledge-based community our working contexts offer us the space to practise authentic ‘I’ awareness and the unconditional acceptance of the other.
Jüngel Have you ever had a key experience in connection with this topic?
Breme I approach it as I do all problems that I care about: I build bridges. A key experience? All encounters I had with young people or adults in my sphere of life who struggled with their physical gender were moving: I was able to perceive the ‘I’ in its authenticity.
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