Coming Out Struggles

Scholars have been critical of the medical establishment’s and state’s involvement in constructing and policing of transgender identity. These kinds of pressing issues have occupied the small existing literature. There is not much information and studying what is being done on transgender in traditional areas, family studies research, such as their dating behavior and formation of intimate relationships in adulthood. There is little research on the issues around being parents, their children’s experiences with having transgendered parents, as well as relationships in the family as a whole, and relationships in work and school.

American society today is not any different from the past, except today people are apt to discuss everything publicly on various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram just to name a few. Transgender persons happen to be one of those subjects that have become the hot topic of the new normal. Nowadays there are blogs, tweets, and pictures posted online of people’s transition “coming out.” Like the past, society is still tough when it comes to judging each other. Although transgender might not have had a recognized community in the past, it is prevalent that society is becoming more accepting of their community, and aware of issues their community faces. In this essay the names, nouns, or pronouns used will be in accordance to the individual’s preference.

Kidd and Witten define the term transgender vaguely, stating it “describe[s] people who transcend the conventional boundaries of gender, irrespective of physical status or sexual orientation” (Kidd & Witten, 2007, p. 36). This term is a reference for the ‘other gender’ that is not particularly male or female. Currently, within the American society, there is a growing awareness of individuals who are transgender. Much of this awareness comes from LGBT movements and

The United States is a divided society. We like to categorize ourselves according to political affiliation, race, and religion. We are members of the middle, low-income, or wealthy classes. We choose what seats to sit in during a football game according to the team we are rooting for. It is oddly comforting to know that you belong. All too often, however, transgender youth are denied that sense of ubelonging because they defy society’s categories of male and female. The gender binary divides society into two separate, unequivocal categories that marginalizes transgender youth and directly impacts their emotional health and well-being. Society’s collective response of demeaning, shaming, and violence further increases the divide.

Transgenders are being categorized as being mentally ill. Though transgender counseling exists it only focuses on pathology and diagnosis. Transgenders are also severely at risk of hate crimes. In the United States alone, there are 321 transgender hate crimes per year. Transgender hate crimes can be compared to Muslims post-9/11. There’s no law to protect them from these hate crimes and nothing is ever really done to show them that they have rights too. There’s no law protecting them with employment right’s either. Due to discrimination they are vulnerable and led to no job, homelessness, suicide and even no health care. ( Anneliese A. Singh, Danica G. Hays, and Laurel S. Watson 20)

Transgender issues cover a a multitude of spheres: discrimination (at school, in the workplace, when looking for housing), violence, suicide, and identification through legal documents to name a few. Transgender individuals deal with greater struggles than that of cisgender individuals, or those who identity as the gender which they were assigned at birth. Perhaps one of the greatest struggles transgender individuals have to deal with is acceptance, whether it be acceptance from others or acceptance of themselves. Cisgender individuals, or those who identify with the gender identity given at birth, do not have to worry that their gender identity will be accepted; society has already dictated it to be ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ (“Definitions of Terms”). Trans individuals are not afforded this luxury.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has never received as much attention as they are right now. Much of this attention is stemming from this population struggling to obtain the same rights given to the remainder of the population. The LGBT community faces many challenges in their personal system, social environment, and then in the public system. In working with the LGBT population, the social worker needs to examine how the individual views themselves, not only through sexual identity, but as an individual. We need to look at the prejudices and condemnation they have encountered which may have led to further uncertainty or confusion.

Being transgender greatly involves identity, naïve realism, ethnocentrism, and relativism. This relates to ethnocentrism because one who is not transgender or doesn’t have a clear understanding may feel as though it isn’t necessary. I define ethnocentrism as the belief that one’s own behavior and beliefs are superior to others. In many cases, some people have even acted upon their sense of ethnocentrism committing hate crimes, homicide, or even murder. This is a reflection of their belief that they are superior. This also is a reflection of how societies enforce this concept of gender and feel threated when someone breaks the boundary. As one of my classmates said, looking at gender from a religious aspect, God is a sort of genderless being and when one is struggling with gender identity or transgender, it may appear as though they are making a statement. One that is telling everyone else that they are on the same level as God. Naïve realism relates to what the guest speakers discussed because they explained that there are a lot of people who tend to kind of stop and stare at them simply because they look different; they are foreign to them. To those who don’t understand being transgender, they may not understand how someone could such an identity crisis, as the feeling cannot be perceived by one who has not endured it. I found this to especially relate to identity because among age, language, and various other things, gender is one of the primary characteristics used to define self. If someone is experiencing an identity crisis, to whatever extent, that’s related to gender it directly correlates with the concept of identity we’ve been learning about in class. Understanding the concept of being transgender may require a sense of cultural relativism. I define relativism as the attempt to understand another culture’s way of life from their own perspective. If someone is wanting to

Transgender people believe that if one is uncomfortable with the biological body he or she was born with, he or she is free to change and live in a manner that reflects who he or she really is. Not all people feel what is correct is subjective or that tolerance means total acceptance and would rather live according and supporting their faith or way of life. This research on the transgender community, specifically in America, develops our awareness of the American culture and people. The article "America's Transgender Moment " implicitly compares the Trans community in America to the opposing “normal”, accepted culture by clarifying the still prominent hesitance and even violence of the general American people. Since the article focused on the current Transgender movement in America, it failed to mention international aspects of the transgender movement and community which could be contributing factors. In addition the focus is on how the transgender community is moving in main-stream locations like politics and the media, with scarce mentions of the effects on certain social groups, community and family. In regard to relativism cross culture, I believe this

Transsexuals rank lowest in overall wellbeing (Gates). SIRS researcher writes, “The American Psychiatric Association uses the term ‘gender dysphonia’ as the medical diagnosis for people who feel their birth-assigned sex and their gender identity do not match.” Civilians need a better understanding that transgender people need better protection. People against transsexuals believe that transgender are “ghastly” and are having an “identity crisis.” Transsexuals need protection in the workplace, public facilities, and in athletics/sports.

Watching the news one day I noticed that the reported was making a report about transgender people in the jails and how poorly this people are treated. I watched the all report and many of these transgender people have existed, many under different names and cultural identities in the past centuries. Transgender people since their birth they have been apparent to others and are attracted to discrimination, violence and harassment in many of the prisons. It’s really sad that many of these transgender go thru (through) the system in the criminal-justice and are never counted . However, a recent study shows that this people are starting to open up about all the discrimination that they are suffering in the different prisons. Many of this transgender individuals are only recently choosing to be recognized in the population as visible, rather than hiding their presence. Transgender, men and women feel very strongly, (T)they are fundamentally a different sex than the gender to which

This study assessed individual structural forms of stigma as risk factors for suicide attempts among transgender adults. Internalized transphobia was analyzed through a combination of results such as a 26-item scale including four dimensions: pride, passing, alienation, and shame. State-level statistical structural stigma was operationalized as a composite index. Outsourcing a multivariable logistic generalized estimating equation models assessed associations of interest among an online sample of transgender adults (N= 1,229) representing 48 states and the District of Columbia. This is a helpful source for current stigma at multiple levels in order to reduce the vulnerability of

For the second effect of being transgender, they will be affected by emotional problem within themselves or from other people. Due to social pressures and family pressures, transgender people may face a higher level of depression or anxiety than most people. Why is this so? Well, firstly, they will face depression or mood swing due to the operation that they had undergone. This is because they are not really well and they might feel ashamed with other people, because they know who he or she was before they had been operated. They might also have problem with their anger issues due to the medication that they consume to be a new person that they wanted for. Their anger might affect other people or it might only affect them and caused them to

Today people are standing together and expressing themselves as who they believe they should be. Coming out as transgender can be hard for the family, the individual, and people around them because not everyone will be able to agree with their choices, whether it was against religion or personal opinion. When someone classifies themselves as LGBT they need a lot of support from friends, family, and society because it is something new to them also. Coming out as being transgender isn’t something someone goes through every week or month it is something that happens once in the individual's life. Accepting someone for who they are is one thing some have difficulties with but accepting someone who is transgender is even harder for some because

The social issue that I chose which affects society today is transgender inequality. These issues are more recently gaining attention and becoming a prevalent topic of inequality within our country. A transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. As more and more transgender people share their stories in the media, the social problems that arise from these stories are discrimination within their everyday lives. They suffer from scrutiny and judgment from their peers, and thus many hide their gender identity from family and society. This social injustice can be as simple as a glance or staring, or offensive comments and questions to violent hate crimes. Transgender people are prone to violence and harassment, and often not feeling safe in any aspect of society. They are fired from jobs, denied medical insurance, and being murdered left and right solely for being transgender. “A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)” (National Center for Transgender Equality). The structure of this paper will consist of adding all the research that was gathered over the semester, news articles and peer