Rawi Hage’s novel, Cockroach, is filled with cold, irony, hate, love, homosexuality and violence. Judy Ruzylo’s documentary, “The Order of Things”, presents the testimonies of people who chose to make a gender change in their lives. These changes can affect them in both positive and negative ways. By analyzing Hage’s novel and Ruzylo’s documentary, one can find similarities between some characters. For instance, Farhoud, a friend of Hage’s protagonist, is homosexual. Furthermore, the documentary is based on gender change and sexual orientation of the interviewed men and women. Although Farhoud and the documentary interviewees might feel comfortable in their way-of-being, society will not accept them. People are afraid of change; it’s a human nature to want to remain in the comfort zone. Whenever someone sees an individual being different they will react negatively due to their confusion. Getting excluded of one’s own home and losing loved ones, not being respected and the use of violence, and the loss of identity are three of many consequences that follow the discrimination of these people in today’s public.
Farhoud and most of the interviewed men and women in Hage’s novel and Ruzylo’s film, lost most of their loved ones by choosing to be what they are and what defines them as a person. This indicates that Hage and Ruzylo are trying to explain that the cost of such choices is major; it takes a lot of courage to take a step and change a lifestyle. Through the documentary, Stephanie, one of the transgender interviewees, explains what had happened after her gender change. “Living in a shelter” “I lost my family, my children and my job”. She has lost all of this in order to obtain something even greater to her life; who she real...
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..., for example, “gender is either boy or girl”; “you cannot change what you already are”. Accordingly, Hage and Ruzylo are trying to explain that no matter what there will always be people judging a unique or different person; this judgement can later cause the homosexual and transgendered people to be stuck between two different genders. Stephanie from the documentary explains; “when ordering something at a store while wearing a dress, they still call me sir or Mr.” Even though she wants to be treated as a woman and she even changed her appearance to be viewed as a woman, people are still determined that she is a man. The public’s confusion makes the transgender lose her identity; there is nothing more she can do to prove that she is a woman. Furthermore, the young boy says that people would call him “she, he, they” because they are not sure of what they are seeing.
In How Sex Changed by Joanne Meyerowitz, the author tell us about the medical, social and cultural history of transsexuality in the United States. The author explores different stories about people who had a deep desired to change or transform their body sex. Meyerowitz gives a chronological expiation of the public opinion and how transsexuality grew more accepted. She also explained the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and the law. In there the author also address the importance of the creation of new identities as well as how medication constrain how we think of our self. The author also explain how technological progress dissolve the idea of gender as well as how the study of genetics and eugenics impacts in the ideas about gender/sexuality and identity. But more importantly how technology has change the idea of biological sex as unchangeable.
I watched the foreign film Ma Vie en Rose (My Life in Pink), a Belgian film by filmmaker Alain Berliner. It is a warm, startling, funny, and realistic study of what happens when a seven-year-old boy is convinced, beyond all reason and outward evidence to the contrary, that he is really a girl. His certitude is astonishing in one so little, and his gender conviction is so strong that his belief can't be laughed away as the result of a “phase” or an “active imagination.” Yet the crux of Ma Vie en Rose is not a study of trans-gendered children per se, despite the fact that such sensational subject matter would seem to be surefire material for attention-grabbing moviemaking. You're never even quite certain about the long-term psychological ramifications of young Ludovic's obsession: Is he trans-gendered, a transvestite, gay, or straight? Such determinations are not the movie's concern. What Ma Vie en Rose is interested in is what it means to be a “difficult” child, a child who whose difference always sets him apart, and what it means to be the parents of such a child. Here we see some cultural differences with the characters.
Sex exists in a binary system of male and female, and people can be forced into this binary. A mother of an intersex child states that the surgery comes from “the message that a child’s body is not acceptable as-is and should conform to what the state thinks it should be” (“Their Baby Was Born”). Sex, just like gender, exists in a binary, and when individuals do not fall into the two categories, society becomes uncomfortable. Sex, like gender, is socially constructed (Fausto-Sterling). This means that sex is a spectrum and not the binary it has been made to be. However, society continues to see the binary as normal and will attempt to force individuals to fit the already established system. Because they are in the middle of the sex spectrum rather than at the ends, most intersex individuals in the documentary experienced and continue to experience the same pressures to conform described by the mother and Fausto-Sterling. One person identified with the female gender, but her mother raised her as male. Despite her gender identification, she was continually told to be more masculine and to conform to her assigned male sex and gender. Others also had their appearance shaped through surgery and other means to fit into the sex-gender binary but now choose to identify as neither male nor female. However, this lack of gender-sex identification can leave them socially isolated since
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...
Kate Bornstein the author of Gender Outlaw, states that sex, gender and sexual orientation are all interchangeable like the shuffle of cards. As in her case, she was a transsexual man, but still desired 'only' women. As a transsexual lesbian she contends that though you may be born a certain sex (the physical genitalia), your gender identity can be the complete opposite. When Bornstein was still a physical man she stated: "I felt I was a woman, and more importantly I felt I belonged with other women." (Bornstein, 24) The problem, in her eyes, is how people treat one another differently because of gender. Throughout her book, she states that society is the cause of the problem. She condemns the social structure that is based around a bipolar gender system. What is a 'man' and what is a 'woman', in her mind, makes no difference. Her goal is to, "...dismantle the (two-gender) system..." and do away with any bias people have toward those who do not fit into the gender system that...
“When trannies were growing up and coming of age-there was no place for us. We were kinda put on the fringes of society...the real safe space for us was out there on the streets” (Trans Views). OR “Gender is a universe and we are all stars” (Lacey Roop). Transgenderism can be best described as moving away from the gender assigned at birth. This can mean wearing the clothes, taking on the roles, and assuming the pronouns of a gender designated at birth, or rejecting gender entirely . Gender variance and transgenderism, although seen commonly throughout human history, are seen as unnatural and an insult to the sex that God “gave”. Many believe that sex and gender is the same thing, and therefore assume that one that is biologically female is a woman, and one that is biologically male is a man. There is a common misunderstanding that transgenderism is an expression of homosexuality, assuming that the trans person is straight. Sometimes, transgender is seen as a gender of its own, excluding transmen and transwomen from their own gender.
When I searched Sassafras Lowery the first article that appeared used the pronouns “hir” and “ze” to reference Sassafras. I think this is a perfect example, of how I earlier noted, that this community is not confused. Sassafras knows that neither male nor female fit the pciture, or whatever category society is forcing her to choose on an application. Which by the way, is another thing that is unjust, employers claim “equal opportunities” and yet, “…we can be fired from our jobs or evicted from our apartments just for being ourselves,” (205) this was appropriately titled, “Why We Pray”. Also contained within this poem, “…the American Psychiatric Association still labels us mentally ill.” This is a real voice. I would like to concur, that in a college-level psychology class I took, a group of students presented a group project on “Gender Identity Disorder”. So, science has us convinced that there is something mentally wrong with this community. But, at the end of the day, it is just makeup and it is just clothing, and apparently there is a law that a dress is only to be a worn by a woman. I think that people are allowed to dress however they like or look in whatever fashion they want because when it comes down to it, its just cotton or polyester. We have a society that hates on looks, and vise versa will go for something that looks
This 2004 novel written by LGBT rights activist Jaime Cortez was based on the transgender life of a Cuban man known as Adela Vasquez. For me, this graphic novel was very enlightening, interesting and demonstrated a great deal of courage. As a young woman who comes from a Hispanic background, I am fully aware that expressing your sexuality is a very touchy and sensitive subject for several. In numerous occasions, people who identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender face numerous acts of discrimination and shame. From time to time, they are disowned from their families and end up becoming homeless with no support from them.
One’s physical sex determines how that person will be treated for the rest of their lives, but a large majority of people find themselves left out because they’re not really a boy but not really a girl either. What if when a child is born, it was unclear what physical gender they were because their reproductive organs pointed to a boy, but also a girl? Or even vice versa. According to Julia Serano’s book Whipping Girl, these children are known as “Intersex”, which is a term used to describe individuals who are “born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not fit the typical definitions of male or female” (25). As an analogy, think of gender as a spectrum of color, where one color is "female" and another is "male." "Intersexed" would then appear to any shade of color in between.
Accordingly, any positive/negative feelings are subordinate to certain bodies, which shows up in many forms including the statement, “the black woman must let go of her anger for the white woman to move on” (39). In addition, it appears as heterosexual family in the gender-binary society. For instance, in the moment when heterosexual arousal is regarded as normal (universal) while homosexual/queer arousal is as abnormal (exceptional), a certain ideology of the society is already operating. At the end of the paper, Ahmed analyzes artistic contents and cautions against the dichotomy of good feeling/object and bad feeling/objects. She points out that social minorities and activists are tend to avoid exposing a dark side of them which brings a negative feeling. Nevertheless, she calls for a discourse which is not fit for the “good feelings” which society has constructed. According to her, the “bad feelings” do not prevent the social progress, but rather let us look back on the present. That is, a “better life” does not just come from the “happy objects,” and “affect aliens” who are unhappy/unhappy objects could also be an “alternative model of the social goods”
When it comes to the idea of sex and gender, and how with the age of modern medicine, people around the world may change their own lives for the better as they change their sex to the gender they associate with. Finally feeling the freedom of being in the body that they wished for, yet this a decision that should be taken by the participating, rather than the doctor making the procedure. Judith Butler’s writing, “Undoing Gender”, there is a story of a person whom goes through their life trying to figure out what they have become. Feeling that they are one thing and being told they are another when in reality, it’s the one being accused of being wrong is right. The story goes as David, being born a boy, is accidently given the circumstances
“The antipathy to marriage by a same-sex couple is deeply embedded in a history of gender roles and sex stereotypes,” argued a Commissioner of the E.E.O.C Chai Feldblum (Feldblum, “Existing Law Often Applies to Discrimination Against Gays”). Gender-role perceptions such as which female takes on the male role and which male takes on the female role again reiterates the emphasis of gender labeling. Thus, the stereotype of gender expectations is a universal stigma. As a society, the gender identity of a stranger seems to cause an inimical response if it does not conform to the cultural norm. Moreover, those who identify as transgender experience backlash for a multitude of reasons. As if struggling with one’s own gender identity and its misalignment to their encoded sex isn’t hard enough, the vigorous stereotypes on gender variance receives punitive judgement from society. This judgment creates the need to remain a “closet case” and perceive “gender history as war stories”, describes Julia Serano (Serano
Identity is a key factor of an individual in the society. Identity often is skewed despite the rhetorical statement: “You are who you are.” However, many times a society unconsciously attempts to mold the identities of individuals into homogenous products. The important thing is not to let yourself prejudge individuals or acts of people because this creates an assumption that brings a stigma against the individual. Transgender people face the difficult challenge of being accepted into society because they either do not fit a traditional gender assignment to their sex, or they are not willing to specify a particular gender recognized by society. The court case that I will use to explore transgender identity is Doe v. Yunits. The case of Pat Doe v. John Yunits involves a young, transgender student disciplined by school authorities. The school deems to be an authority on a person’s dress attire while attending school. The court goes through a series of deductions testing the freedom of expression, liberty in appearance, and the application of sex-class discrimination.
As you said, the transgenders in the movie, Paris is Burning, show that there is no such thing as a real man or real woman. Those people denied to follow the structured binary gender system and found their real identities as well as the way to express themselves. Because they have different gender identities from what are expected in the society, they were expelled by their parents, friends, and community and became subjects of discrimination. They are the example of the social construction of gender. As written in Wikipedia “Social construction of gender,” because people learned the appropriated gender behavior from the early age of their lives, the behaviors which are off from the social expectations are seen as “abnormal” and rejected.
Namaste’s (2000) chapter ‘Gender Bashing’ in Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People discusses the issue of safety for transgender individuals thoroughly. Individuals who are unable to pass during their transition are at risk of bashing because of their non-conforming appearance (Namaste 2000: 136).The author warns that individuals who live outside society’s rigid categorization of male and female are at risk of assault (Namaste 2000: 136). Transgender men are at risk when their gender is not easily identifiable by others within society which makes passing a necessity in order to avoid risk of discovery (Namaste 2000: 144). This instills a driving motivator for transgender men to define their masculinity within the gender binary that society has defined for them and pass within