Sex Change Complicates Battle Over Child Custody
Florida state law does not recognize same sex marriage. In this case, the law had no way of proving whether or not Michael Kantaras is a man or a woman, since having a female to male sex change. Depending on this, it will decide whether or not he (pending on decision) will be able to keep custody of his adopted children. If society had not let technology surpass their conventional thinking and laws, this case would be easier to decide, or at least not pending on the sex of Mr./Mrs. Kantaras. If Florida law, and that of other places, had thought about all the consequences of technology, such a case as this never would have come to be so controversial. So, is Michael Kantaras really a man, or is she the woman she was born as?
Janice G. Raymond would say that Michael Kantaras is really Margo. She believes that transsexuals can never really relate to the female persona and therefore never truly be a woman. She bases this belief on the idea of male privilege. This is the privilege that men receive just for being men; they get higher pay, more leadership opportunities, are always seen as more competent, etc. Even though men are born with this privilege and may not realize they have it, they still experience it and have that edge to allow them to advance in society. Because of this, Raymond claims that male to female sex changes cannot know how it really is to be a woman. They do not realize they have this privilege, but continue to live being dominant because it is inherently within them.
Sandy Stone, a male to female transsexual, is angered by Raymond's view. She became a successful employee at Olivia Records, and obtained a head position. Olivia records emerged during the 1970s toward the end of the women's movement in an attempt to produce lesbian feminist music. It wanted for women to obtain the head positions and dominate the company, so once word got out about Sandy Stone's natural born sex, there was much controversy and debate on whether or not to keep her at the head position. Those who believed she should be fired sided with Raymond's view, that having been a male, Stone had an advantage in being brought up to be competitive.
Andrews begins his narrative by comparing the outlooks upon being transgender to a more normal stance or as his girlfriend (who is bisexual) put it “‘Why can’t you just be gay?’” “‘Why can’t you be normal?’” Being transgender was still a fairly new concept at the time whereas being gay or bisexual was more widely accepted. He affirms the outlook upon being transgender by means of a quote from his current girlfriend “‘Why do you have to mess with this whole transgender thing?’” He
Based on her 2004 book Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-variant People and Their Families, Arlene Istar Lev developed two models to describe sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The first is a binary model. According to Patton et al. (2016), in this binary system “sex, gender identity, gender role (the enactment of gender), and sexual orientation are assumed to align and lead to the next” (p. 176). As Lev (2004) states in her book, the binary model assumes that “if a person is a male, he is a man; if a person is a man, he is masculine; if a person is a masculine male man, he will be attracted to a feminine female woman; if a person is female, she is a woman;
Lucas, 823 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002), rev. den., D.A.L. v. L.A.L., 835 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 2002), the sperm donor had entered a written agreement before the use of artificial insemination.6 This contract specified that the donor would not have parental rights or obligations if the mother became pregnant through the procedure.6 Even though after the mother gave birth to twins, the biological father filed a paternity claim by arguing that both parties constituted a “commissioning couple”.6 The court rejected this argument, because they did not contract to raise the children together as an intended couple and the F.S. § 742.148 was used to prevent the paternity request. The decision in Lamaritata case was distinguished from “Janssen vs Alicea” case. In the Lamaritata case, there was a prior written agreement defining that the biological father was a just a sperm donor and there were no elements that would establish a relationship between the two parties as a couple.6 Moreover, despite the biological parents of the child had agreed to specific visitation, Florida courts do not enforce a contract for visitation in favor of a
Since 1972, the issues surrounding the rights of unwed birthfathers have provided America with a highly controversial and morally challenging topic for debate. Prior to 1972, these unwed fathers were given little or no involvement in their child’s adoption proceedings, but because of highly publicized adoption cases in which birthfathers have retained custody of their child many years after their adoption took place, state legislatures have been forced to review their adoption laws regarding birthfathers and create more concrete ones. The laws in Florida regarding birthfathers have changed dramatically over the past several years, with complicating, senseless laws being replaced with more rational and reliable ones. The newest laws, passed in 2003 regarding a Putative father registry provide the most stable and fair support for legal adoption proceedings.
Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how despite popular belief, gender and sex are not directly related and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor‘s main argument is that gender is not determined by genitalia, but instead by the individual's own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel’s main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity in order to prevent themselves from appearing weak. Both authors present compelling arguments for both gender equality and for how social norms influence individuals’ gender choice. However, the two authors approach the same topic in different ways. Kimmel takes a more laid-back approach to the topic by using simple words and a conversational tone that relates to the casual gender sociologist. Devor writes a more sophisticated essay using complex terms and a more formal tone that relates to the serious sociologist that research gender studies.
Seidman, Steven, Nancy Fischer , and Chet Meeks. "Transgendering." 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.
This was a big milestone in giving unwed fathers more rights to their children. In the United States these days many parents choose to cohabitate instead of entering the institution of marriage. These ruling has protected the rights of these families many years later.
Being for or against gay and lesbian marriage has been the topic that has started a great amount of controversy in the U.S. for the past few years. In some states gay marriage has been already been approved, but in others it has been denied. The next hot topic in the U.S. refers to the approval of gay and lesbian adoption. There are many negative and positives to this subject, whether society is for, or against gay and lesbian marriage. The act of gay and lesbian adoption should not be allowed because, yes its true we don’t get to choose our parents but we should at least be able to have a father and mother, not two fathers and or two mothers. It is also not fair for an innocent little one to get put on the spotlight and get dirty looks from others because of the adults’ choices. The embarrassment of not having a mother or father can be so overwhelming on such children that it could unfortunately lead them to taking bad actions.
...icant. This one for many families today is very important. These cases are also the reason why during a census you have the opportunity to check multiple races, instead of just one. This case stirred debates of gay marriage, which is a matter of personal opinion. It is up to you whether that is a pro or a con.
In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).
In “ The Appeal of an Androgynous Man” an article written by Amy Gross, she compares the characteristics of the masculine brute, to the humble androgynous man. An androgynous man is a man who possesses qualities of both genders. For example, an androgynous man would still have manly traits, but would also be more feminine than other males. In her essay, Gross claims that the androgynous man possesses closely similar traits, in comparison to herself. Gross finds it more difficult to communicate with masculine men than androgynous men, simply for the reason that androgynous men are more sensitive and compassionate.
Hodges is more of a recent test of the fourteenth amendment of the constitution, having happened around two years ago from now. Some groups of same-sex couples sued Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee’s state agencies “to challenge the constitutionality of those states’ bans on samesex marriage or refusal to recognize legal same-sex marriages that occurred in jurisdictions that provided for such marriages.” According to the plaintiffs, the equal protection and the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment were violated. There were two questions to ponder. One, “Does the fourteenth amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?” Two, “Does the fourteenth amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex that was legally licensed and performed in another
In recent years, same-sex relationships have become more encompassing in US society. State legislation is changing such as accepting gay marriages, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and legal gay adoptions; the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming public. Gay-headed families, like heterosexuals, are diverse and varying in different forms. Whether a created family is from previous heterosexual relationships, artificial insemination, or adoption, it deserves the same legal rights heterosexual families enjoy. Full adoption rights needs to be legalized in all states to provide a stable family life for children because sexual orientation does not determine parenting skills, children placed with homosexual parents have better well-being than those in foster care, and there are thousands of children waiting for good homes.
Transgender Today Nowadays, there are lot of unexpected changes coming in our lives every day which are challenging to our society. Gender issues are one of the hot topics among new changes. Transsexuality is a critical part of this gender issue. After reading the article “Night to his day” by Judith Lorber, I found a clarification regarding the social construction of gender. While looking for some facts about transgender, I have also found a lot of articles with different points of views from researchers, scientists and individuals who have transformed from their origin to transgender men/women.