Y’all Need to Change
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This old adage is repeated on children’s playgrounds across the country in the face of bullying and name calling. What happens when the names actually do hurt the child emotionally, leading to physical self-harm? In a study of transgender youth conducted by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 30% of respondents said they have attempted suicide in their lifetime. Many negative factors have influenced transgender individuals into being more at risk for suicide, including bullying, harassment, and shame. Whenever the topic of bullying comes up, people normally imagine the isolated incidents of kids being pushed down in the schoolyard, rarely thinking of verbal harassment. In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 54% of transgender respondents in grades K-12 have been victims of verbal harassment, revealing the troubling reality that more than half of transgender youth are verbally attacked before the age of 18. Verbal harassment induces self loathing and reduces the chance of the child ever feeling accepted. One way to prevent the problem of transgender youth being bullied is to try to influence children to not see transgender youth as different. Transgender persons will never feel accepted into our society unless we change our discourse in the way we use gender pronouns. The universal “he” taught to children is problematic. Even using the term “he or she” to address the issue of
Many people have spoken about having a tough time accepting a person since the way they sexually identify themselves is different. Being identified as transgender has become a highly controversial topic around the world and part of the population does not quite understand why the people that identify themselves as transgender choose to do so. Some people do not believe in what it means to be transgender and let their opinions on the topic change the real meaning of the term.
Female sports are being ruined, because males are identifying themselves as females and competing with an unfair advantage. The biological men are causing a big problem around the world. They are breaking records and winning competitions in wrestling, weightlifting, track, softball, volleyball, basketball, mixed martial arts, and more. Transgenders competing in women’s sports ask for equality, but it is proven that men are bigger and stronger than women, so they are making the sports unfair for the biologically born women. You are either born as a male or a female, with this being said, you get all the attributes that come with that. Everyone identified as a transgender needs to realize that they cannot change their sex. There have been
Many people have strong opinions pertaining to transgender folk and their rights. It’s becoming more and more of a political issue, especially since North Carolina’s proposal of the “bathroom bill” which declares people should be required by law to use restrooms matching with the sex on their birth certificate. Transgenders have been in a controversial spotlight for just about a decade now, and many people are perplexed. An even more controversial topic is transgender youth. Should transgender teens be allowed to go undergo hormone therapy before adulthood? Transitioning genders is a very long, very complex process. Usually, if a child or young teen wants to transition to the opposite gender, they are given “hormone blockers,” which are agents used to suppress sex hormones and prevent puberty. Hormone blockers make it easier and more effective to achieve the desired physical appearance in gender transition. They also help with gender dysphoria. When transgender people are ready to start the transition, they are given hormones which cause their bodies to develop into the desired form. Gender transition is a very complex process that works differently for everyone, and it definitely makes sense how many people disagree with minors going through such a complicated physical change.
When Barack Obama was president, he passed a law allowing transgender kids and teens, across the country, to use the bathroom of their gender choice. As you know, Donald Trump has been elected President. He took the law back saying that it was too difficult and complicated for the states to follow these guidelines. So, if you really think about it, transgender kids and teens, have no support from the government, and no one is standing up. When I think about the problems and how the United States is supposed to be free (it really isn’t), I think about how kids and teens who are transgender to the public feel different. I think about how they feel and what it would be like in that situation. I wish that someone would stand up and get their voice out and tell the public that this isn’t right. Transgender people, in general, don’t have the rights as others people in the United States. Would it hurt to let teens and kids, that are transgender, to use the bathroom of the gender they choose in public? My question I am trying to figure out is, How can we, as a whole nation, help transgender people get the rights that people who keep their gender have, instead of blocking them out and telling them no to stuff that we have the freedom to do? My question means that people have to accept (which they are learning, too) not just transgender, but gay and lesbian to, because they are in our society and they are humans too. When I finished researching, I found that there are a lot of problems, but they are very alike and we all can improve how we treat transgender people, how to accept them, and get their side of the story.
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.
What defines a person? Looks? Beliefs? Gender or sexual orientation? About 0.58% of all adults in the United States identify as transgender, which is around 1,397,150 people. Society commonly feels as though transgender people are unnatural or disgusting, therefore they perform hate crimes because of this fact. Why is that? How could these people target others simply because of their identity, despite said identity having really no impact on their lives? In more simple terms, the identity itself makes the transgender person uncomfortable because does it not match what the subcortical (meaning the area of the brain below the frontal cortex) areas of the brain tell about them, so they feel the need to become the gender their brain tells them to be. Why is that so wrong? Transgender people are just as human as anyone else. They are a little different than the rest of society, but they should be treated with the respect they deserve.
The Bullying Policy has been introduced around the world which, according to the 2014 observations , rates of bullying vary across studies from 9% to 98%. An observation of 80 studies analyzing bullying involvement rates for both bullying others and being bullied for 12-18 year old students reported an estimate rate of 35% for traditional bullying involvement and 15% for cyberbullying involvement (Modecki, Minchin, Harbaugh, Guerra, & Runions, 2014). This means the Bullying Prevention Policy affects million of students nationwide due to the programs created. More specifically, females face a higher indication of bullying victimization than males do. To explain, high percentages of each gender are faced with the aggressive acts of violence, making it extremely hard to perform well in the school environment. Furthermore, as many as 93 percent of students hear derogatory words about sexual orientation at least once every day at school or in their community (violencepreventionworks). Negative name calling and harassment about sexual orientation can be disrespectful to all students. For an example, 3 out of 4 students who are bullied/harassed with such remarks are not identified as lesbian, gay,
The LGBT society have always been on the lower end of the scale when it comes to respect and fairness. As humans we should see each other for the person we are and the actions that are condoned by oneself, not by who we choose to have intimate relations with. Since some of our leaders such as our president can’t see past someone sexualtity, and instead see their bravery and courage we have implemented a ban on our fellow trans from joining our military. Kids go through plenty of struggles in school, but being a trans kid you are taking the biggest step in your life at a very earlier age, which is finding who you are. Most trans don't have the strength yet and the confidence at such a young age to be who they want to be, but when they do most aren’t accepted with opens arm in society it’s more of a wall that is painted with judgement and violence. The transgender community have had to deal with many social injustices, but in the 21st century there is hope for change.
The struggle for equality has been intense, and still continues to this day. With this being said, much progress has been made in establishing respect and external acceptance for all individuals sense of identity. For example, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Same Sex Marriages, marking a pivotal point in the civil rights movement for the LGBTQ community. For many, this act helped to support their sense of self, a right that been denied for so long. The United States effectively validated the LGBTQ community, giving this group all rights granted to all other citizen’s, However, the creation and acceptance of this community has not had positive benefits for all members. The Gender Binary has been changed, but many distinctions
“I’ve already got one boy I’m supposed to call Heather instead of Mark and treat like a girl. Now there’s some other kid who says that she’s a boy, and wants to be called Michael! How am I supposed to teach when I’m having to keep track of all this shit?” This quote, from a veteran science teacher who became frustrated when I referred to a transgender male student by his appropriate name and pronouns during a department meeting, is reflective of the negative teacher interactions experienced daily by the estimated 150,000 transgender students currently enrolled in America’s schools (GLSEN, 2017). As United States (US) has become a more welcoming place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students, an increasing number of transgender youth have had the courage to come out at school. Unfortunately, these students are not yet being met with kindness nor understanding from their peers or teachers. In a 2015 survey of nearly 3,500 transgender students across the US, 75% of students reported feeling unsafe at school due to their gender expression (GLSEN, 2016a). This paper will explore how the current US political climate is shaping the experiences of transgender youth in US schools, and the steps that educators can take to make their schools more supportive for transgender students.
There has been a lot of questioning and a huge debate concerning the rights of transgender people. Some subjects are concerned about which bathroom or changing room they can go to when needed. They are worried enough to be stating that a transgender person has the right to choose any bathroom, or locker room that he or she prefers. It began in 2016 when the Obama administration banned sex discrimination in schools. That is when the Education and Justice Departments enforced school districts and colleges to allow transgender students to use whichever bathroom or changing room they needed. At this point, many school districts were worried about federal funding being withheld if they didn’t follow through with the enforcement made by the Education and Justice department.
In 2015 the book Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin was banned from several high schools. The reason being that it showed anti-family, Offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and more. This book is about Susan Kuklin, an award-winning author and photographer of thirty books for children and young adults, interviewing six transgender or gender-neutral young adults. She uses their stories about this in her book. It shows how a teenager going threw a situation like that feels like. Some stories are joyful and others are heartbreaking. It also shows that bulling is bad, mainly because many of the students get a lot of hate for being happy in themselves. It teaches students or whoever that reads it that you shouldn’t judge any one because of a choice that they made. It also encourages that people should be more accepting of
Because of my beliefs, it would be easiest for me to side with parents who are concerned about how transgender students will affect the lives of non-transgender, as far as things like bathroom policies. But it is my responsibility to keep all my students safe and love them equally. In reality, transgender students are more likely to be the victims of bullying and I need to look out for them the most. Bullying has always been an issue in schools, and bullying can become violent, especially among those who bully transgender students. Sadly, more than 80% of transgender students do not feel safe at school, and more than 40% have actually been physically harmed (Transgender Bullying, 2015). I must learn how to be more accepting of transgender. To do so, it is necessary for me to put myself in uncomfortable positions to learn more about this lifestyle. I believe more exposure is the best way to accept
People in the world are arguing about whether if the government should be paying for transgender’s surgery while they are serving our country. I do believe that it isn’t a big deal about that. The reason behind my beliefs is that breast work is being paid by the government for female soldiers and spouse to have done, paying for hair transplants, and it could be beneficial for surgeons to improve on the procedure’s that comes with it. They didn’t ask to be born this way. Most transgenders do not have the type of money and benefits that they need to live their lives the way that they want to live it. They shouldn’t be punished for wanting to join the military and have the benefits to continue and improve their lives. It took a while for the homosexual to join the army legally so why not give the same chance for the transgenders.
The staggeringly high statistics on transgender discrimination, including verbal and physical harassment, make it vital to develop and implement anti-bullying and anti-discrimination practices and policies in the classroom and at our schools. These practices and policies also need to be made well known to the students, parents, administration, and all school staff members as a part of their commitment to making schools safer, more respectful, and welcoming for all. This will help ensure that schools do not perpetuate the marginalization of sexual minority youth, including those that are transgendered. By promoting awareness, and skills that facilitate the development of positive peer relationships and positive school climates, we can aim to reduce and prevent bullying. As well as implementing anti-bullying policies, including a no tolerance policy, and creating awareness of transphobic language through posters or seminars, we can attempt to reduce the