I am interested in the concept of gender and the deeper meaning of being considered a transgendered person. I feel that a lot of people do not know or care to know about these topics on a more in depth level. People who close their eyes to the idea that a person could be born with the physical aspects of a male yet have the psychological aspects of a female and vice versa, tend to be the ones who say that those people are going against nature or god. Discriminating against people on the principles that their view on the matter is right and their main source of information is the bible. I read posts on a weekly basis that have the writer angrily ranting on an ignorant comment made by another person. The posts usually give a very detailed explanation on why the comment was terrible or ignorant because they knew little on the subject that they were writing about. Usually it happens to be from people who do not know enough about gender or sexual identity to make a good argument that does not sound to overzealous and bigoted from their own views. The thing that made me want to find out more about gender and people who identify themselves as transgendered or genderqueer was because of a friend of mine who self identifies as a transgendered person and considers himself as asexual. They have said that it has taken a lot of time to come to terms with understanding why they have never felt comfortable in their own skin. This has had social and psychological impacts on their life. When someone is born the overseeing doctor does the usual measurements, checking the weight, making sure it’s breathing ok, checking to see if the baby is a boy or a girl etc. Even before birth everyone wants to know what the sex of the baby is. Parents get r... ... middle of paper ... ...Apr. 2014. Emmerich, Hal. "Coming out as Transgender." Telephone interview. 10 Apr. 2014. "Gender." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. "John Money." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. Murfitt, Nikki, and Toni Jones. "Pausing Puberty Aged 12 Saved My Life: Transgender Beauty Queen Praises Her Amazing Family Ahead of BBC Documentary on Her Mission to Become Miss England." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. "Transgender FAQ." Human Rights Campaign. THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. "Transgender." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. "Transsexual Teen, Beauty Queen." Transsexual Teen, Beauty Queen. BBC Three. 20 Nov. 2012. BBC News. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. "Transsexual." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 July 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Following Joan Jacobs Brumberg throughout her conveying research of adolescents turning their bodies into projects the reader is able to see where all of the external beauty fascination came from following up to the 21st century. Brumberg effectively proves her point, and any girl of today’s age knows the struggle of which she continuously portrays throughout her book. Beauty has become such a preoccupation that it has gone from soap and washcloths, to makeup, to cosmetic reconstruction of body parts.
The transvestite community is one was rarely accepted in the 1970’s compared to that of today's world. They were known to be trivial and shameful in mainstream society, and those who identified as trans were deemed ridiculous. This did not stop the song “Lola” by the Kinks from reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. Which subtly composed a passionate love story between a young man and a distinctly masculine woman. Despite the negative feelings about transvestites during the time when “Lola” was released, Ray Davies used powerful metaphors and a catchy chorus to create positive vibes towards transvestites and supports justifying everyone in the LGBT community.
In one interview Katie Couric sat down with Cox and transgender model Carmen Carrera to discuss their experiences as high-profile transgender women. However, Couric seemed “…mostly interested in talking to both women about their genitalia, in order to ‘educate’ others who may not be ‘familiar with transgenders’” (McDonough 2014). This demonstrates a distinct lack of the sociolinguistic competence necessary to determine what questions are or are not appropriate in a social setting. No cis woman would be expected to answer questions about their genitalia in a televised interview, yet these inappropriate questions are ones trans women face far too often. The fascination with investigating whether or not they fit with the mainstream media’s view of what a woman is—one who’s gender identity and genitalia both match—results in a complete disregard for what would otherwise be a very clearly taboo topic. Additionally, her use of “transgenders” as a noun shows a clear lack of understanding in even the most basic rhetoric used in describing trans individuals, emphasizing once again the linguistic divide between cis gendered woman and trans gendered
Barbie is tall, thin, has large hips and a large chest; she is beautiful, blonde, and she loves to shop; overall, Barbie is the feminine ideal. As researchers Jacqueline Urla and Alan Swedlund acknowledge, “little girls learn, among other things, about the crucial importance of their appearance to their personal happiness and to their ability to gain in favor with their friends” (1995:281). Gender roles are both centered around behavior as well as around bodies; this poses huge problems for transgender people, as well as explanations for transphobia; society has, for so long, accepted gender and sex to be synonymous. Because of this, a person whose gender is female and whose body is (rhetorically) male is a frightening and concerning deviant to most people’s understanding of the way in which gender exists. Everything that has to do with ideals for bodies leads to problems for transgender people; whether it is, as Urla and Swedlund also commented, that “...woman’s body was understood through the lens of her reproductive functions” (1995:287), or the general idea of “norms” for body proportions. When considering women’s bodies’ main purpose to be that of reproduction, it is apparent why the concept of transgender people may be concerning; transgender women -- that is, people, assigned male at birth but who live as women -- are women whose bodies cannot reproduce in the way that women are expected to; transgender men -- people assigned female at birth but who live as men -- may still have bodies which are viewed as useful mainly for their reproductive capabilities, but which they do not intend to acknowledge or use as such. When things stray so drastically from a norm which has long been accepted with minimal thought, onlookers panic that other norms will start to change as well. Straying from this norm also
Seidman, Steven, Nancy Fischer , and Chet Meeks. "Transsexual, transgender, and queer." New Sexuality Studies. North Carolina: Routledge, 2011. . Print.
Transgender is defined by Wikipedia as, “the state of one's gender identity (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) or gender expression not matching one's assigned sex.” The article explains how a transgender individual may define themselves as having the characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender but will choose to identify elsewhere on the gender continuum. It use’s the love story of Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker as an example. It took five years for Zackary to transition from male to female and Rhys from female to male. But both truly believe that they were born the wrong gender, and choose to correct this wrong with hormone treatments, surgery and personality changes that to the more tradition eye may seem absurd and abnormal. This is one of the main reason such transgender couples are talking about their transformations. To beach this gap between transgender’s and the rest of the population. It is believed that by educating society, we are more likely to accept something than if we do not fully understand the parameters that surround such an issue.
Mental health professional have tried to correct their ‘‘gender identity disorder’’ with brutal aversion therapies. Tran’s youth who came out often faced crises throughout their family and social systems. Once out, developing a sense of realness about their new gender became extremely important. An urgent need develops ‘‘to match one’s exterior with one’s interior’’ In ad...
Puberty is a difficult time for any child, but for transgender teens, it can be the difference between becoming who they want to be or remaining in the wrong body. In June of this year, PBS Frontline released a documentary, entitled Growing Up Trans, which chronicled the lives of eight transgender and nonbinary children, from the ages of 9 to 19, as they navigated through the process of transitioning to their prefered genders. Some of the kids took hormone blockers to slow down their puberty, others were going through puberty at the time and wanted to transition before it was complete, and one had already gone through puberty and was still taking hormones to transition. The controversy revolving around the documentary focused on whether or
When an individual identifies themselves as transgender, it means that they feel that their biological gender does not match with their psychological gender. To put that into a simple man’s term, the individual feels they “were born in the wrong body”. For example, a man feels that he was meant to be born a woman and vise-versa. It does sound rather unusual, but why should that matter? An individual should be able to make his or her own decisions about how they live their life. Unfortunately though, not everyone feels the same way about this. That is how the controversy is created. This is why transgender rights should be strengthened in America not only because it is morally correct, but also because it would ease the lives of the people within this group, reduce the discrimination and harassment rates of transgender individuals, and help establish awareness.
People tend to be less conscious of how they daily use their bodies to express gender and how their bodies generate their identities. Dieting, makeup, nail polishing, wearing high-heels and body movements are one of the examples of the body self-disciplines, which the female unconsciously performs as a part of their gender identity every day. Foucault wrote that identity is a form of subjugation and exercising the power upon individual or society. As a part of identity, gender identity can be considered as a limitation of personal freedom, which prevents individual from moving outside fixed gender boundaries. The society establishes gender boundaries on different social levels according to existing norms and values prescribed to masculinity and femininity. Disciplining as “a political anatomy of detail” is one of the hidden mechanisms of power, which society uses to form ‘docile
She shares the reader a story of a transgender women named Chloie Johnson -who was denied admission to a female CrossFit fitness competition due to her sexual orientation. The letter that CrossFit sent Chloie Johnson stated that she was not allowed to compete due to the fact that she was “… born, genetically - as a matter of fact - with an X and a Y chromosome and all of the anatomy of a male of the human race. Today, notwithstanding any hormone therapy or surgeries, Chloie still has an X and Y chromosome.” Due to the fact that Chloie Johnson had been born as a male, she was denied the opportunity to compete in the CrossFit strength competition. By sharing this story, Castillo gives the readers a chance to pity Chloie Johnson and to feel anger towards the close-mindedness and discrimination of the CrossFit company due to Chloie Johnson’s biological sex.
For many individuals, sexual and gender identity is a highly controversial topic to discuss. Those who have inconsistency with their internal or mental sense of gender compared to their physical gender is now described as a psychological disorder and is found amongst adults and adolescents. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders gender dysphoria also known as gender identity disorder refers to the stresses that accompany with the variances between one’s physical gender they were assigned at birth and one’s expressed or emotional gender (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Gender dysphoria can be contributed to many different stressors determined by ones social interactions. Throughout the years the diagnosis of gender dysphoria has evolved due to the progression of medicine and new treatment discoveries to help limit further mental issues that come with sexual identity disorders.
Society today suggest that revealing the “gender” or “sex” of a child from the moment of conception forward is a necessity. But, in all actuality to some this is an invasion of their privacy and beliefs. Many believe that raising a child gender specific is not important to their upbringing or to their growth and development. Gender is defined with several different meanings such as the behavioral, cultural or psychological traits typically associated with the one sex. The sex of an individual, male or female, based on reproductive anatomy (the category to which an individual is assigned on the basis of sex) and the personal traits or personality that we attach to being male or female. Sex is defined as the biological distinctions determined by our genitalia.
In today’s day in age, different sexualities and gender identities are quickly becoming more accepted in mainstream society. Despite this change, there are many people who believe that having a different sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice that is frowned upon. In order to refute this belief, research and biology of the brain is necessary. Researching the brain on the basis of sexuality is a fairly new topic of discussion because it is somewhat difficult and confusing. This paper will explore the different identities of gender, sex and sexual orientation and the main biological reasons behind these. There is also some validity of different sexual orientations and identities through the evidence of sexual disorders like Klinefelter’s and Turner’s Syndrome and gender dysphoria.
However, it has not been until the past century that transgender individuals have been able to act upon their feelings and work toward changing to their preferred sex. They can now seek medical interventions through hormone replacement pills and/or sex reassignment surgery to fulfill their needs and happiness. Transgender individuals who undergo a sex change are sometimes referred to as transsexuals but these terms are often interchanged in articles and society. A very current and well publicized example of this is Bruce Jenner, a men’s decathlon Olympian winner, who recently underwent a sex reassignment surgery and is now known as Caitlyn Jenner. She states that her “brain is much more female than male” (Sieczkowski, 2015). She has flourished with her new identity and now has her own reality TV show to share her experiences and life with the world. Bruce Jenner’s coming out with his identity issue and him changing into a woman has opened doors for many people dealing with gender identity problems. But the harsh reality is that not everyone has the transition as easy as her. There are many controversies and prejudices that go along with transgenderism and transsexualism. Religious people believe that a transgender is going against what God had