Transgender Students and the Learning Process

Transgender Students and the Learning Process

Introduction

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.

While the ruling of the case brings awareness of the existence of transgendered people, it is stigmatized by a dominant culture whose basis of the legal system protects proscribed gender identities rather than the protection of freedom of choosing multiple identities. Additionally, the court deemed that Pat Doe has a medical condition that requires her to wear women’s garments. The medical condition called Gender Identity Disorder speaks volumes about how society treats unrecognized differences when it comes to diagnosing a gender expression. The information of the court case allows you to get em...

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...aggy jeans and a white-beater is day he fails to uphold her true gender identity. Judith Butler in Stein’s article best describes this as “[D]rawing upon the queer practices of drag, cross-dressing, and butch-femme, she [Butler] develops a conception of gender as performance, and of gender parodies as subversive acts”(Stein 181). My question that comes out of queer analysis and the Doe v. Yunits, Why do people need to perform a gender act? Is it to assert a type of sexuality, sexual orientation, and or rather stereotyped one? Is a transgender person better to perform a gender act that is understood? If the transgender person performs an act contrary to gender they choose, is the person a hypocrite? Is my gender controlling me or I am taking charge of my gender? I hope have attempted to rock your thoughts and perceptions, and perhaps even fuck with your gender.