News Media And Its Effects On American Culture

Over the past few years, the issues faced by people who identify as transgender (gender dysphoric) have gained momentum in the media. From Caitlyn Jenner to which bathroom to use, transgender people have made a lot of progress in addressing

I consider magazines, television shows, films, news media, gossip media, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other Internet sources to be the number one target for negative gender discrimination, stereotypes, inequality, and hatred. For example, Playboy featured its first transgender playmate on a magazine cover which is a positive change in gender role today. However, for some individuals, there was mixed reactions and emotions about a transgender featured on the Playboy cover. To the point where Ms. Ines was receiving negative comments on social media, but she said stated in a recent New York Times Interview, “I would have never thought about people being so transphobic. I knew we still had a lot of work to do to get to a point where people see trans women as women, but I would have never thought of

In the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s, the transgender community faced discrimination such as physical and verbal harassment, denial of social spaces, and alienation in the media. This matters to us today because transgender individuals are still existing and are a part of our human population today. The community is also still struggling to find their representation in the media and in society. The transgender community is still facing a wide array of types of discrimination, from nasty looks to denied access of education. Gender identity should not be taken into consideration when determining another person’s worthiness of respect.

When discussing injustices, it is pivotal--for the sake of true progressive social change--to include all oppressed groups into the dialogue. Transgender People tend to be heavily misrepresented and demonized. Because of transphobia, there

Mass media has experienced many major developments over the past hundred years. As the manner in which media is communicated to the world evolves a definite shift to American culture has occurred in the process. Mass media has undergone numerous changes in the way it is distributed to the general public, going from newspapers, to radio, to television, and now to the World Wide Web. American culture is so ingrained in technology, that distributing mass media in this format seems like a natural step in the evolutionary process of distribution.

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.

America prides itself on being one of the most open-minded and tolerant nations in the world. In many cases, it is true. America does allow “the pursuit of happiness” for many, including other religions, immigrants, and, most recently, homosexuals with the passing of the Supreme Court decision which now allows gay marriage throughout the nation. However, when faced with transgenderism, America remains ignorant. A phobia against transgender people is prominent amongst the American people. This hatred and misunderstanding was evident during Bruce Jenner’s transition to Caitlyn Jenner. People took to name-calling, used transphobic slurs, and even refused to call Caitlyn Jenner by the pronoun she felt comfortable with. Due to this is a high-profile

Caitlyn Jenner was given the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards (ESPY) Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Twice an Olympic triathlon athlete, she blazed new trails. Long before her transformation, Jenner lived a life that her family and society expected of her: a loyal, loving son and father and an outstanding sportsman. Her newest role was as an advocate for the transgender community, which may become one of her greatest roles. Presently, Caitlyn Jenner’s purpose was to promote sexual diversity, accepting differences, and respect for all human beings. As I watched Jenner accept her award, I reflected back on my understanding of transgender orientation.

Discrimination has been a problem for many years, from the slaving of African Americans dating back to 1619, to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals being shot in the streets a few weeks ago. However one specific group of people, transgendered people have been targeted for decades, yet they haven’t had the mass media coverage as other discrimination issues have. Focusing on their physical abuse, and psychological impact and the substance abuse from the discrimination they face; I hope to highlight these issues and show that they need help fighting this discrimination as well, and this isn’t just an individual problem but the bigger society’s issue.

The article “Television, Black Americans, and the American Dream” explained how Black Americans have been represented in the media and television. The media has shifted our understanding of racial inequality away from a structured process. This makes it seem as though racial inequality is “natural and universal rather than as result of social and political struggles over power” (Gray, p. 431). This is illustrated in the CBS News documentary The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America by following the lives of underclass, single parents. It highlights drugs, riots, and teenage pregnancy to show that

Transgender characters in scripted television can seem like a phenomenon. The very fact that there are shows on air that feature transgender characters in reoccurring or starring roles is a huge step for the transgender community. Visibility in the media is the first step in the long journey of erasing the bias and hate that the transgender population faces. However, these steps are only productive if the depictions are positive. Television helps inform and shape the public opinion of the transgender community, and has a strong effect on the formation of self-identity when watched by transgender individuals. Using examples from The Golden Girls, Matlock, Orange is the New Black, The L Word, and Transparent, this paper shows common tropes and characters of transgender representation. Although scripted television shows have become more inclusive in regards to transgender visibility, the onscreen depiction of transgender individuals is still misguided.

Coming out as a transgender, identifying with a gender expression that differs from the assigned sex, has proven to be quite difficult through the ages. While the acceptance of transgender people has grown significantly higher throughout the years, people’s stance on them are still quite divided, and the uphill battle for transgender rights has proven this. Just giving transgenders the right to simply go to the bathroom they identify with has shown to be controversial according to the TIME cover Battle of the Bathroom. The TIME magazine makes sure to note the problem defiantly “far more than public facilities” (Scherer par. 9). Transgender rights are a problem that Jamison Green, president for World Professional Association for Transgender Health, thoroughly addresses in a report written by Alan Greenblatt for CQ Researcher. Jamison Green’s specific purpose in that report is to justify why transgender people deserve basic human rights like everybody else, as shown in society, through his use of facts, qualifiers, figurative language, counterarguments, and appeals to logic and values.

The depiction of transgender women characters in mainstream television has been offensive, insulting and derogatory. An article from GLADD called “Victims or Villains: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television”, examines 102 episodes and storylines on mainstream television that contained transgender characters since 2002. Of these, more than half were characterized as containing negative representations of transgender. In 2007 only 1% of television series had a recurring transgender character, which has slowly increased to 4% in 2013.

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

Despite popular belief, integrating transgender people into public environments reportedly brings about no harm to the general public - instead, transgenders are the ones at risk. The issue is getting so much attention that people are advertising about it. An advertisement featured in several popular Minnesota state newspapers received aggressive backlash from consumers due to condemning young transwomen for joining girls’ sports teams at school, claiming them to be ‘men’ who intended to harm their teammates. The