Social Construction of Gender is the idea that society and cultures create certain gender roles, and these roles are prescribed as ideal or appropriate behavior for a person of that specific gender. We are taught to socially construct gender by attaching social and cultural significance to biological differences between the sexes (e.g., masculine, feminine) (Witt 2012). Although there has never been an accurate estimate count of our transgender population in the U.S., according to an article posted by The New York Times there is roughly 700,000 people in the United States who are transgender, but they are certain that the true number is probably greater than that. The inaccuracy of this total number might be due to the fact that many transgender …show more content…
In a study done by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 71 percent of transgender people said they hid their gender or gender transition to try to avoid discrimination. Heteronormativity is a term used by sociologists to describe the cultural presupposition that heterosexuality is the appropriate standard for sexual identity and practice and other alternative sexualities are deviant, abnormal, or wrong. In the literature article I chose titled, Stigma, Mental Health, and Resilience in an Online Sample of the US Transgender Population, the main purpose of the authors and research conductors was to assess the association between mental health, minority stress and potential ameliorating factors in a large, community-based, geographically diverse sample of the US transgender population. Among a Minnesota sample of 181 transgender participants in a sexual health seminar, 66% reported being discriminated against because of their gender identity or presentation (Brockting et al.). Even for those that grow up receiving the help they needed to live a healthy transgender life, society is still harsh on them, simply because they aren’t following the norm. In a US study of 402 transgender persons, 56% reported experiencing verbal harassment; 37%, employment discrimination; and …show more content…
Kids should be educated about this issue and we should stop avoiding talking about it with our kids, family and friends. Education systems should provide help and aid for kids battling through identity disorder, helping them overcome their fear of unacceptance and their “gender-norm” violations. By providing this guidance we can make a change and minimize the suicides committed because of gender identity unacceptance. There should also be programs or classes for parents to take after their child has expressed to them about their preferred gender identity, many parents have always been supportive of their children because at the end of the day that’s their child, but there has been cases where kids commit suicide after coming out to their parents because their parents do not accept their preference. A public policy suggestion could be that there should be a law passed that people shouldn’t be required to specify whether they are male or female, because in most cases that does not accurately reflect some people identities. The more we can do to welcome our transgender community into our “community” the better, not only would we be helping individuals that have always felt unaccepted in this world and have never been able to fully express the way they are but we can also save lives,
The medicalization of transgender tendencies, under what was Gender Identity Disorder, was demoralizing to all transgender people. This resulted in a form of structured and institutionalized inequality that made an entire group of people internalize their problems, making them question not only their own identity, but also their sanity. Therefore, the removal of this disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 2013 and the newest editions was important in that it shows society’s recognition and acceptance of the transgender
The great feminist theorist once said “‘Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they don’t see it, but because they see it and don’t want it to exist’” (Mook 195). Support becomes very important for transgender people at the time they transition. Many families support their transgender family members, but society rejects their transition. Many people want transgender people out of their communities. The resource of knowledge seems important to transgenders because it lets them tolerate the ignorance of people. Money plays an important role when the time comes to pay medical bills. In the book Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, She relates the importance of resources. Resources should be important for transgender people because
Transgender is an umbrella term, meaning an individual’s gender-identity does not align with their assigned sex at birth. Although transgender is a protected class in eighteen states, these individuals still face discrimination within the country and around the world (“Non-Discrimination Laws”). Transgender is not a lifestyle, no one chooses to live their life constantly being discriminated against. Transgender issues should be more educated on and their lives should be more protected. The most common issue transgender individuals face every day is bathroom use.
There are very few times when someone comes out as transgender and their lives are still relatively easy to manage. There are a copious number of people who oppose this lifestyle and want no one to be apart of it.... ... middle of paper ... ...
It is very reasonable to conclude that research on depression of those who identify as gay, lesbian or transsexual is not accurate; there is an underreporting of people who identify as these sexual orientations because of the fear of being different. It is understood that those apart of the LGBTQ community actively hide their identity in hopes to avoid being rejected or abused (Bird, 2013). Once the reporting issue of having a smaller percentage of the actual representation of the LGBTQ population is put aside, there is evidence that highly suggests that lesbians and gay men are at higher risk for psychiatric disorders than heterosexuals (Cochran, 2001). Even after underreporting, there is still enough information to conclude that sexual discrimination can have harmful effects on the quality of life. Common factors that have been observed in lesbians and gays that can potentially increase depression during Cochran's study are anxiety and mood disorders and decreased self esteem. Cochran and her partner also noted that dissatisfaction with how one is treated beca...
Sanchez, N. F., Sanchez, J. P., & Danoff, A. (2009). Health care utilization, barriers to care, and hormone usage among male-to-female transgender persons in New York City. American Journal of Public Health, 99(4), 713-719.
In “Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism”, the author Barbara Risman explains her theory to readers about how gender should be thought of as a social structure. Thinking of it as such would allow people to examine how gender is ingrained in almost every part of society, thus putting gender on an equal level of importance with economics and politics. In society, gender dictates many of the opportunities and limitations that an individual may face in his or her lifetime. Barbara Risman points out the three aspects of the gender structure that happen at an individual, interactional, and institutional level (Risman, pg. 446). First, gender contributes to how a person will develop themselves in life. This is the “individual level”. At an interactional level, men and women face different expectations that are set by society. The individual and interactional level are linked because sometimes, changes to one level can affect the other. The third level, the institutional level, notes that gender is affected by laws, rules, and organizational practices that dictate what
For most people, the idea of Transgenders is new and complicated. Because the idea is so fresh, many adults struggle with how to address this topic to the children because they lack knowledge
In reality, gender is not based on one’s genetic make-up or their reproductive organs. Expanding on this, an individual does not have any control over their assigned gender, but everyone has a gender identity, which is one’s internal sense of being male or female. From a sociocultural perspective, gender roles have the greatest influence on gender as a social construction. Gender roles are the attitudes, behaviors, rights, and responsibilities that particular cultural groups associate with each sex. In regards to gender, the social construction theory acknowledges the connection the topic has with power and meaning, and states that social interaction, or “language” controls how these things are portrayed to individuals. Similarly, sexuality is socially constructed in a sense that, one’s sexual orientation depends on what they are taught to be “socially acceptable”. For example, a person who is raised by homophobic parents would most likely be taught that every aspect of homosexuality is wrong, and therefore they would be influenced to be heterosexual. While many would like to believe that people are born with their sexual orientation, that is far from the truth. All in all, when looking at the big picture, it is clear that race, gender,
The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to cause a person enough mental stress that they would take their own life. This is always unfortunate, but in the case of young individuals it borders on unthinkable. Older LGBT individuals do not tend to fair much better either seeing as they were raised in generations who were stricter on what was considered proper and morally right. All this being said, even as the culture of the world shifts to more accepting LGBT individuals their mental health is something that is only now being looked at thoroughly.
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.
ABSTRACT: This easy inform readers about common issues transgender individuals face daily. Many people take it for granted that they can walk in to a bathroom without any problem but for a transgender person it 's not as simple. Transgender life 's are effected even when just want to fight for their country, they are discriminated against and feel like outlawed when it come to making policies.
Gender is such a ubiquitous notion that humans assume gender is biological. However, gender is a notion that is made up in order to organize human life. It is created and recreated giving power to the dominant gender, creating an inferior gender and producing gender roles. There are many questionable perspectives such as how two genders are learned, how humans learn their own gender and others genders, how they learn to appropriately perform their gender and how gender roles are produced. In order to understand these perspectives, we must view gender as a social institution. Society bases gender on sex and applies a sex category to people in daily life by recognizing gender markers. Sex is the foundation to which gender is created. We must understand the difference between anatomical sex and gender in order to grasp the development of gender. First, I will be assessing existing perspectives on the social construction of gender. Next, I will analyze three case studies and explain how gender construction is applied in order to provide a clearer understanding of gender construction. Lastly, I will develop my own case study by analyzing the movie Mrs. Doubtfire and apply gender construction.
Social Construction of Gender is a process, stratification system and structure. The day to day interactions emphasize gender as opposites. Take for instance, conversations, formalities of daily life, sayings, and so on. The social construction of gender is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This means that gender it is not a fixed or inherent fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
Social Construction of Gender Today’s society plays a very important role in the construction of gender. Gender is a type of issue that has raised many questions over the years in defining and debating if both male and female are equal. Today, gender is constructed in four different ways. The The first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised.