The main argument of Spades piece is focused on how trans-gendered, gender transgressed, intersex, women, and low-income people are discriminated against and how this is causing them to live a life that is defined by violence, humiliation or lesser opportunities. He also makes a feminist argument and talks about how intersectionality plays a role in the similar issues that the trans community faces.
The Trans community faces a lot of obstacles. Spade exposes some of the nasty things that the trans community must go through every day. He also addresses social welfare policies and how it is intersectional towards women. What society sees when they look at this community is that everything is fine, that nothing is wrong. No one really sees
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Intersetionality plays a huge role in this as well. Lesbian mothers and women of color have absolutely no access to the welfare policies. However, white, poor women do. Women who do not follow the socialized norm of society (those who are not married or those in an abusive relationship) do not receive all the benefits of welfare program. These US systems are designed to help people are extremely gendered, sexist, homophobic and racist. They advertise that they help all types of people, but rather, the discrimination still continues.
People are not thinking about the smaller picture of the poor, trans community. They do not see that many of these people are not receiving a good education, such as high school and college because they are constantly bullied or because they do not know what to put in the “sex” box in a college application. Economic opportunities are also not readily available to the trans community because of the discrimination that they face on a daily basis. People are not thinking about how to solve issues in the trans community, but rather choose to ignore them. Societies eyes need to be opened to these issues and need to start to make a change in this community. People are also not thinking about how women are discriminated much like the trans community. They are mistreated and not given as many opportunities, especially if they are woman of color, poor or lesbian. White women seem to reap the benefits of society and not be discriminated against
After reading chapter 3: "Prejudice and Discriminations" and as well the article "Transgender African-Americans' Open Wound: ‘We're considered a Joke’”, I have a better understanding of the challenges that certain group undergo due to prejudices and discrimination that exist within their own racial group and other groups of our society. Although the LBGT community has made its social conditions a little more better, there is still those within their group that are even more marginalize, this is the case of a African-American transgender. African Americans transgender face twice as much prejudice and discrimination. They battle prejudice and discrimination from their own racial group and from society because of their skin color and their gender
In ¨Sisterhood is Complicated¨, Ruth Padawer explains the uncomfortable dynamic that is occurring at Wellesley Women´s College. She tells of the struggles that trans-men have to deal with at this institution and uses 3 specific stories of Jesse Austin, Alex Poon, and Kaden Mohamed to embody them. Each started as a girl and their personal journeys are illustrated, mentioning the struggles that were encountered personally and through the community. Minority issues and diversity are challenging ideas in this article, but hold an underlying tone without. Padawer does a semi-effective job at displaying the obstacles faced and their effects at Wellesley.
I relate this back to highlight problems with various LGBTQ+ movements which actively dis-include and erase the experiences of trans people of color. It seems almost like through these movements, people had and have forgotten those history forgets in its plea to whitewash and create a “good” cishet society. This is especially true of LGBT POC’s such as Bayard Rustin, Langston Hughes and Marsha P. Johnson in that either they or the facts that they are people of color or a part of the LGBT community are written out of
They should have the right to dress as they choose, love who they choose, and be who they choose. It angers me that people believe differently considering they’ve never been in their shoes. In the “Paradoxes of Gender” Judith Lorber states, “We need to change biological sex in order to uphold the principle that biological sex determine one character”(41). Lorber's’ preconceived notion that one’s sex dictates their personality is flawed. It proves that society is unaccepting of people outside of the “norm”. Middle Sexes speaks to a wide variety of people but is mainly directed to transphobic people. However, the film isn’t very compelling because it doesn’t take the audience’s outlook into consideration. Through biological evidence and personal stories, the film strives to persuade transphobic people to be more accepting. Thomas attempts to persuade his target audience by referencing the science behind people who blur the lines between female and male. His unique approach is more convincing than an argument that stems from one’s opinions. However, his lack of counterarguments makes it difficult for the audience to relate.
In Bromley’s “Feminism Matters”, Chapter Four effectively argues that the way in which race, gender, class, ability, sexual orientation, and a variety of other social categories interact within each other to create a hierarchy of power within our society that has lead to an imbalance of privileges. Additionally, she manages to convince the reader that all these concepts are incorporated in the theoretical tool of intersectionality and that once we can understand this we will be better equipped with the approach to handle the struggles of modern day. Thinking of our positionality as being a blend of pre-existing conditions, we can realize that the advantages and disadvantages we receive in life are not only due to our gender, but the reality that “[we] might be living in Canada, in [our] first year of university, born in South Africa, a Buddhist, and struggling to pay for [our] living expenses, yet able-bodied and employed” (Bromley 2012).
In Octavia Butler’s Dawn the idea of gender is deconstructed and reformed from the typical human’s definition. Often people do not consider the role of gender in society today. Usually the first thing one notices when meeting someone new is their gender or their presumed gender. However, there becomes a problem when the person whose gender we perceived identifies as a different gender. Butler forces the reader to examine how they judge and perceive gender. While the ooloi are actually “its” their personalities seem to imply a certain gender. The transgender community often brings up this issue because these assumptions of gender based on our judgments of what defines a male and what defines a female can skew how a transgender person is treated and addressed. In Chapter One of Gender Through the Prism of Difference by Anne Fausto-Sterling, the idea of expanding the number of genders based on one’s biological differences is examined through the five sexes theory. By now the concept of gender being defined solely by one’s biology has mostly been left in the past but the question remains of how do we truly define gender? How does being outside of the social norms that Michael Warner talks about cause us to feel shame when discussing our gender and our perceptions of gender? In this essay, I will argue that preconceived notions of gender create shame when a person’s own perception of their gender does not fit the social norms. This stigma around the limited and strict definitions
In “Transgender People of Color at the Center: Conceptualizing a New Intersectional Model,” Kylan Mattias de Vries explores the “link (between) multifaceted social positions to institutional and structural inequalities” (21). More specifically, the author hypothesizes that the trans population experiences gender as intersectional, along with “race, class and sexuality” (4).
Elizabeth Blevins quoted Neil Carpathios in an article saying “’ [Stacey Waite] dares to explore and write about the often complicated terrain of gender, sexuality and societal perceptions of the self, the body and desire.’” Waite is slowly helping everyone break away from the idea that gender is a solid tangible concept. In “The Kind of Man I am at the DMV” written by Stacey Waite, traditional gender roles are being challenged by explaining that transgender people are the same as everyone else and pointing out the ignorance that some have towards less commonly recognized genders.
While some issues are not given the amount of attention needed, others are given no time at all. Also, the movies less than positive relationship with transgender women is unfortunately absent. Even though the film is not as intersectional as it should be, it is still a fairly accurate portrayal of the Women’s Liberation Movement. This documentary is great for anyone who is new to intersectional feminism, as well as the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement. However, there is further research needed if one wants a full understanding of either
“Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She” is a documentary that shows a brief explanation on human sexuality. It shows how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people fit in society in various places such as U.S, India, and Thailand. Most transgender people have been struggling to define differences. Most of all, it is not a choice they made to be a transgender, rather it comes naturally. Transgender people face severe discrimination in every day aspects of their life. Based on the documentary, I would like to focus on the discriminations that is happening on transgender people. I would like to see transgender people in at work place, at schools, and at the public.
Society has structured us to believe that people of color do not prosper in life. I know it happens to many people when you are walking down the street you cannot help to feel intimidated by the colored man that walked passed you. It is because we are so adjusted to knowing they are the first to be convicted for assaults. Tim Wise (2012) states, “Yet despite all this we continue to believe, at least most of us, that people of color are taking advantage of “welfare” and that this is what explains everything from their own economic condition to the nation’s current budgetary woes” (p.47). Our tendency to believe that people of color or Hispanics live off welfare has not changed. I think this has a great deal to do with our sensing of people of color. We blame them for living off welfare and assume that the majority of them do since they are the ones that struggle in succeeding. This is due to the limitations that are placed on them when trying to better themselves. We have seen numerous people of color become professionals. Our President is a very intelligent black male that has made it this far despite the difficulties that people of color faced in our country.
Discrimination is the root of the limitations that transgender individuals have. There have been recent issues in public bathrooms within that past couple of years. There was a lot of controversy over the idea of a transgender man or woman using their preferred restroom. People were concerned about the potential of rape, and other crimes which in my opinion is ironic because someone who is transgender has to worry about this daily just because they are who they are and people do not agree with it. In fact, the Williams Institute completed a study focusing on transgender people in Washington DC. They
Transgendered people in America have made many great strides since the 1990s. They have encountered violence, lack of health care, and the loss of homes, jobs, family and friends. There have been many phases of the struggle of being transgendered in America over the years. The current phase we must be in now is equal rights. There are many variations of discrimination against the transgendered community. In our society we simply do not like what we do not understand. It is easier to discriminate than to try and understand. We are all created different and we should appreciate our differences. The change must come by addressing the views of the public. There is much justification in the unequal rights of transgendered peoples. The Human
Many people do not understand what it is like to be transgender but choose to speak over transgender people even when they say it is wrong and not how it is. If people would just listen to trans people then there would be less issues. To help people understand what is going on in this world for trans people I will explain what is happening in today’s world. I will show you some of the issues trans people face in the public eye. Even with talking about all of theses different experiences they are still not everyone's point of view and can not be taken as something every trans person experiences. There are trans people who will never experience any of this hate and others will only experience the hate and none of the good parts.
The problem with transgender rights is that they are not treated as basic human rights. The main cause of this problem is that some people look at it as "not in the norm" or "out of the ordinary" and as a result, transgender people are either out casted, bullied, beaten, killed or denied certain rights. A human male wanting to transition into a human female and vice versa should not make them less than exactly what they are, a human-being. A possible solution would be for people to take the time to research and educate or interact with more transgender people and learn something about their decision instead of going into the problem blind with the assumption that all transgender people are not normal.