More handpicked essays just for you.
Transgender problems essays
Challenges transgender individuals face essay
Challenges transgender individuals face essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Trans people are those who are born male, but later on in life identify as female, or vice versa. Non-binaries are those who do not fit into 'male' or 'female', but may identify as both, a mix of the two, or neither. Forty-nine percent of trans people attempt suicide at some point in their lives, and one in twelve trans or non-binary people are murdered just for being trans.1 More than a quarter of trans people have also said they required anti-violence services, but the majority of violence is never even reported due to fear of being ridiculed, ignored or making the situation worse. Although, recently, society is more accepting of trans and non-binary people than it was a few years ago, the very idea still has a huge stigma attached to it. …show more content…
Ten percent of these violent acts were against youths – people under the age of eighteen. These include two sixteen year olds who were shot, and an eight year old boy who was beaten to death by his very own father.2 There is an appalling volume of trans and non-binary people who are murdered, beaten, raped and pushed to suicide every year. Many of these incidents go unreported, because the media does not care enough to make it big news. This is disgusting. There needs to be more awareness for trans violence and a bigger effort needs to be made to make it stop. Violence like this should not be allowed to continue unnoticed.
There is even a phrase for the assault – whether that is physical, verbal or sexual – against trans and non-binaries. This phrase is ‘trans bashing’. Trans bashing occurs when someone is beaten or assaulted for their gender identity – similar to ‘gay bashing’ when someone is assaulted for their sexuality.2 The fact that this is such a common occurrence that it even has its own term, and is relatively well known, is, quite honestly, sickening. Sadly, this is becoming more and more
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
Hate violence is a predominant issue against transgender women who wish for acceptance from society. Individuals believe they have the right to perform violence against these transgender women because of who they are. For example, in the novel Stone Butch Blues, Jess Goldberg is physically a women but prefers to live life as a male. Since Jess chooses to live life as a male, or butch, she is frequently a target of policeman and other individuals because of her identity. The society views Jess as a criminal because during the 1960’s homosexuality was illegal and it was considered a mental disorder. Apparently, our society has made much more progress today against transgender women, but they still face a multitude of hate violence. A major example
There is a great deal of confusion around this word because of the meaning behind it. There are two generally accepted root meanings of the word “trans” in transgenderism: across and beyond (Lund, 2012, p.8). In the case of gender nonconformists, this refers to the “beyond” definition, where they view themselves outside of the binary structure of male and female. The “across” meaning applies to those that do not believe they were born on the correct side of that line and seek to cross it, usually physically while some choose to simply self-identify. At the turn of the century, psychologists said at least 2% of American children feel this sense of “being born in the wrong body”, and with the U.S. Census of 2000 reporting over eighty thousand citizens under the age of 20, that means almost two thousand children fell into this group (Part Six: Transgender in America, 2001, p.75). While there has been a great deal of progress as far as resources and options for these “crossing” trans individuals, there have also been a lot of
Around the world, gender is genuinely seen as strictly male or female. If you step out of this “social norm,” you could be considered an outcast. This disassociation includes, biological males/females, intersexed, and transgendered individuals. These people are severely suppressed by society because their gender identification, behaviors, and even their activities deviate from the norm. Most Americans are exceedingly devoted to the concept that there are only two sexes.
When two people are in love and plan on having a family, they look to the future and look at all the wonderful events to come. Yet, they do not think of any negative outcome that may lie in the future. No one likes to think that something different or unexpected can happen to his or her family, but rather image and focus on the great future that is yet to come. However, It seems that people are encountering more conflict with their gender identity and not only the individual but the families as well. This paper will point out how having a child who is gender confused suffers as much as the parents. It is hypothesized that parents who have a transgender child have a hard time accepting the child for who they are because of the negativity that
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.
"A lot of people see gender as very one-sided, girl or boy, but in reality, even the choices of one, the other, both, or neither just don't feel right.” Many people don’t realize that there are more gender identities than just “male” and “female.” In June 2016, The Williams Institute at UCLA estimated that about 1.4 million US adult’s genders don't align with the one they were assigned at birth. One can identify as the opposite gender from their assigned sex, as no gender, as both, or as a unique identity not so easily categorized.
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.
“Qualitative study that paints a picture of what life is like for transgender people, Wyss (2004) interviewed seven transgender high school students and asked them about their experiences at school. … Many report that not just other students harassed them but that people they even considered friends would either help or join with assailants during physical attacks. Two of the students were set on fire in school. There were also constant threats of sexual assault, or coercive sex, or physical assault, both verbal threats and notes left in lockers.”
Imagine going through life believing that you were born into the wrong body. This is how a transgender feels as they go through life. A transgender is a person who whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to male or female sex. This topic is very controversial due to many arguments about the differences between the male and female physique. The natural biological differences between males and a females play a huge role in this controversy.
We, as human beings, should be involved in the idea of supporting rights and equality for transgenders because they are one of us no matter what they believe. It definitely matters to the audience to aware of since discrimination against transgender is still a susceptible issue, not only defense against gender minorities, but also against human rights generally. If we do not start correcting this problem, our family members or children may experience the unavoidable consequences of it themselves in the future. We need to fight to protect the rights and safety of transgender nonconforming students to be treated with respect at school as well as their parents.
Clinically speaking, a person who was assigned female at birth but identifies and lives as a man is referred to as a transsexual man, or transman, or female-to-male (FTM); a male-to-female (MTF) person is a transsexual woman or transwoman (Glicksman). Some people drop the transgender label after they have transitioned to their new gender. However, they want to be referred to only as a man or a woman. But what if our gender identity, our sense of being a boy or being a girl, does not match our physical body? From a very early age we will start to feel increasingly uncomfortable. For some this is a mild discomfort, for others it is so traumatic they would rather die than continue to live in the wrong body. Unfortunately as transsexual people are a small minority of the population the condition has been labeled by Psychiatrists as "Gender Identity Disorder". With the transgendered, the disordered assumption is that the
Currently the citizens living in the United States are imprisoned within the binary of two genders. It is only acceptable for a person to identify as a male or a female. Depending on the gender the person identifies, as there is an expectation of how that person should look and act. The person identifying as the specific gender, must maintain the gender norms that are in place. These gender binaries are so prevalent in our lives; it is to the point where a large group of Americans are being overlooked. This group of Americans identifies as transgender, which means they do not fit society’s expectations of how a specific gender should look and behave. (gaycenter.org, 2012). The trans population does not fit the expected gender molds that are
Transgender people can get refused to see a doctor, just because they are transgender. A study of how transgender people have been discriminated against by medical providers was done and the study showed: “Nineteen percent had been refused treatment by a doctor or other provider because of their transgender or gender non-conforming status” (). Broken down by race, the ethnic group that was refused the most was: American Indian (36%), Multi-Racial (27%), Hispanic (22%), Black (19%), White (17%), Asian (15%) and then 19% (Total Sample). Not only can they be refused medical treatment, but doctors and medical professionals can be verbally abusive as well! “Over one quarter of respondents (28%) reported verbal harassment in a doctor’s office, emergency room or other medical setting and 2% of the respondents reported being physically attacked in a doctor’s office”.
When the subject of gender issues is brought up, people generally split into two sides to argue about either women or men and the inequalities they face. While these arguments are all perfectly valid, a lot is left out that most people wouldn’t notice. Many of the issues that are rarely discussed involve people who lie outside the binary labels of ‘male’ and ‘female’. These people have many issues involving gender inequality, but the only time they’re ever discussed is when something tragic happens to them. As Sydette Harry, a writer, puts it, “I’d like to wake up one morning see a picture of a beautiful black trans woman without a murder headline next to it” (Devereaux). Men and women’s failures, issues, and successes within the realm of gender are broadcasted daily, but where is everyone else? These people shouldn’t have to be murdered in order for their voices to be heard. Transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary individuals are victims to issues and inequalities that are real, prominent, and just as important as those of binary genders.