The film, Boys Don't Cry, Kimberly Pierce's brilliant work of 1999, is the true story of, Brandon Teena, born Teena Brandon, played by Hillary Swank, who created a male identity for herself. Brandon was born in 1972 and died at the hopelessly young age of 21. The actual story takes place within the last two weeks of Brandon's life, in 1993. The movie, a dramatized documentary, was released in 1999. Brandon is a transgendered individual; he was born a female, but feels that he would be happier living as a man. She leaves her brother and hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, where everybody knows her as Teena, to start a new life as Brandon. Brandon ends up in Falls City and his short life, as a man, begins. It is in essence, the epitome of the human spirit's sexual identity crisis, where our souls decide what kind of people we want to be, defying standard gender roles. He searches for truth, regardless of what his body says. In a world where we categorize everything as male or female, white or black, good or evil, right or wrong, heterosexual or not, there is something indefinable about Brandon. He represents the fight for female freedom in a male-dominated society, the freedom to be taken seriously and to be in control of your own life. Brandon was just breaking the gender mold nature and our patriarchal society had set for him. As a woman, you take a backseat position in your own life; the male figure is your driver. Whether it be your father when you are younger, or your boyfriend/husband when you get older, men are given first priority in the decision making process. Teena Brandon wants to make her own decisions, as a man, as Brandon.
Brandon made friends wherever he went because of his docile warm personality, nor...
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...ing humiliating manner, while too, insulting her motherhood - which has no relevance to the issue whatsoever.
This just manifests how horribly we allow women to be treated in this male-dominated world. These women would kill to be treated as a man, just for a day. John puts down Lana and her girlfriends just as her did, her mother. It is a sickening commentary on the maltreatment of females. Brandon just does something about it. All of the girls in the story want respect, it is only Brandon who has figured out a way to get it: by becoming one of the respected, a man. He was on his way to the surgical sex change procedure, which would make his transformation complete, until he was interrupted by another injustice in our patriarchy, the fear and hatred of what is different. Brandon is brutally raped and ultimately shot by his assailants for reporting it.
William Pollack, in his article “Inside the World of Boys: Behind the Mask of Masculinity”, discusses on how boy tries to hide behind the mask and the stereotypical of masculinity. He demonstrates how boy hide their deepest though and feelings and real self. Pollack open the essay with “a fourteen-year-old boy, he is doing badly in school and he might fail algebra, but when teacher or his parent ask about it, he said everything is just fine. He hide his true identity behind the mask, and let no one see his true self.” After read the story, I think the story is really useful source to write an essay about how boy become men and they are emotionless.
A transgender, 25 year old woman named Avery Edison travelling from London, England was detained at Pearson Airport by Canada Border Service Agency. According to her, the reason for her detention was due to an immigration issue involving her overstaying a previous student visa. Despite being identified as a female on her passport, Avery had male genitalia. Avery tweeted that she would be assessed by a nurse before being placed in a male or female cell. However, the fact that she had male genitalia resulted in her being sent to Maplehurst, Correctional Centre in Milton, Ontario which is a prison for males where Avery stayed for one night. In the article, it is stated that Avery had concerns regarding potential sex attacks towards her in the
“Boys Don't Cry” portrays the true story of Brandon Teena, a teenager who is faced with a serious sexual identity crisis. Although Brandon was born with a woman's body, he feels at heart and mind that he is a man. Brandon is portrayed as a loving and romantic individual who's not afraid to embrace himself in a world that often dismisses divergency. This unfortunately leads to Brandon's death at the age of 21. Two men, driven by ignorance, jealousy and hate lead to the murder of Brandon. Gender roles and social norms often deem people from becoming their true selves. Boys Don't Cry explores the constant struggle in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community through the eyes of Brandon Teena.
He went his whole life knowing biological father as his father then suddenly his world is turned around with his father having gender reassignment surgery into a woman. Looking back at the memory now in life he probably regrets how has treated his mom. When this was going on in his life his mind was in a certain mentality. He was very hateful to his mom during her change: he refused to look at her, refused to acknowledge her. Towards the end is when he starts looking at his mom in another light. He even goes on to say, “They’d cough and choke calling her a queer, a he-she, and it. They couldn’t understand because they’d never live with two identities. If and when they would ask me why I wasn’t disgusted, how I could stand to be around him, what answer would I have? She was my Mom.” In the end it did not matter what other people thought in the end it was his mom and would always
The news article I studied is from March 12th 2014 and found in the Fashion and Style section of The New York Times. Its title is “In their Own Terms- the growing transgender presence in Pop culture.” This article outlines the culture surrounding transgender and transgender situations in the United States, whilst following the lives and transformations of some known citizens of pop culture.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical centered on a confused individual named Hedwig. Her plight grows out of a botched sex change operation. She ended up with neither the working penis she had to begin with, nor the working vagina she had been attempting to gain. However, Hedwig, by nature, is neither completely male nor completely female, even when she had fully functioning male genitalia. Instead, she is something called gender fluid. John Cameron Mitchell, by writing a character that is gender fluid such as Hedwig, destroys the gender binary in order to illustrate that by avoiding polarizing concepts like male and female characters, stories can explore a more diverse range of human experiences.
In the story, “Boys and Girls”, the narrator is not the only one coming to terms with their identity.
Selby, J. (2014, April 28). Beyonce ‘harms children’ and is ‘part of the problem’ with black teenage pregnancy, claims US TV host Bill O’Reilly. Retrieved from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/beyonce-harms-children-and-is-part-of-the-problem-with-black-teenage-pregnancy-claims-us-tv-host-bill-oreilly-9302728.html
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
Throughout today’s society, almost every aspect of someone’s day is based whether or not he or she fits into the “norm” that has been created. Specifically, masculine and feminine norms have a great impact that force people to question “am I a true man or woman?” After doing substantial research on the basis of masculine or feminine norms, it is clear that society focuses on the males being the dominant figures. If males are not fulfilling the masculine role, and females aren’t playing their role, then their gender identity becomes foggy, according to their personal judgment, as well as society’s.
I’m a guy. A scared guy, though I try not to show it, and a guy with a long freaking road ahead of him, But still. Just a guy. Beautiful Music for Ugly children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills is about Gabe, a transgender youth who is struggling to find the right path. (Thesis)
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.
Looking at the Functionalist perspective it is perceived that the transgender community goes against society’s traditional concept of sex and gender. Transgender gender-nonconforming individuals face many obstacles in a society that is unforgiving of any individual who does not fit into the “appropriate” expectations or behaviors of gender identity or a gender binary system. The rules of behavior in our society that are considered “appropriate” for women or men inhibit us all. This is the social construction of gender roles, patterns of socially defined behaviors and expectations that are associated with the female and male; men have to dress, act, and speak in a hard, masculine way, while women are to be feminine and soft. There’s not much room for individuality there and for some of us, this is a little more challenging. There seem to be some misconceptions about gender and sex, I believe it is much more complex than we came to
The young girl in the story is struggling with finding her own gender identity. She would much rather work alongside her father, who was “tirelessly inventive” (Munro 328), than stay and work with her mother in the kitchen, depicted through, “As soon as I was done I ran out of the house, trying to get out of earshot before my mother thought of what to do next” (329). The girl is torn between what her duties are suppose to be as a woman, and what she would rather be doing, which is work with her father. She sees her father’s work as important and worthwhile, while she sees her mother’s work as tedious and not meaningful. Although she knows her duties as a woman and what her mother expects of her, she would like to break the mould and become more like her father. It is evident that she likes to please her father in the work she does for him when her father says to the feed salesman, “Like to have you meet my new hired man.” I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure (328-329). Even though the young girl is fixed on what she wants, she has influences from both genders i...
“You’re not your gender. You’re not your sexuality. You are a human being above all else. In the end you aren’t known for your gender, you 're known for who you are.”(Anonymous). Maybe if ideas and people 's mindsets would have been like this in the early 1920’s than Lili Elbe would not have had such a hard time transitioning from a male to female. The Danish Girl tells a story based on the true life of Lili Elbe, a transgendered woman, and her wife Gerda Wegener. Throughout the movie we get to see the turmoil that transgender people felt during this period of time because of things like sexoligists, who misdiagnosed people, mental institutions, and so called “treatments” to help cure the disease of being transgender. This movie also explores