Research Paper On Transgenderism

It's so important that CAITLYN is standing for the trans community right now. Trans teens and adults are constantly berated, treated terribly, and sometimes KILLED around the world just because they're born within the wrong body. It's so important that such a huge figure in media transitioned because it has the possibility of opening a safer, welcoming environment for those who face the same issues with gender identity and their body.

Over the past years there has been many phases of the struggle of being transgendered especially those of color. Transgender women of color have higher rates of murder and homelessness. Several states don’t even offer no legal protection in employment, health care, housing and other areas where these people face discrimination. We must realize the current phase which is equal rights, and we need to address the views of the public and make a change. Several people look at transgenders differently especially in cultures. Different individuals have a broad range of different beliefs about gender, not to mention that different cultures have their own way of defining feminine and masculine. Whether we view someone as transgender it really just depends

In “Intro-How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States,” Joanne Meyerowitz writes about the beginnings of transsexuality. She beings the article by defining cross-gender identification, as “the sense of being the other sex, and the desire to live as the other sex” (Meyerowitz 432), while transsexuality, “being the quest to transform the bodily characteristics of sex via hormones and surgery” (Meyerowitz 432). According to Meyerowitz, transsexuality began in the early 20th century. Experiments on changing sex, began in europe on animals. Then in 1920, on humans. Joanne Meyerowitz writes that “the debate on the visibility and mutability of sex” began after Christine Jorgensen, an american who went to Denmark to get a sex change in 1950, became a media sensation in America. While professionals were figuring this out, people “who identified as transsexuals, transvestites, lesbians, and gay men” (Meyerowitz 433) were having the conversation and creating the language within themselves. This conversation on sex change, occurred alongside the sexual revolution in the 60’s, opening “the movement of the organizing of programs, clinics, conferences, and associations to promote study of and treatment for transsexuals” (Meyerowitz 434).

In the article “America’s Transition” Steinmetz reports that George traveled to Denmark to begin his transition to a woman named Christine Jorgensen (40). In the 1950s the transition from male-to-female was very rare. The subject of transition from an assigned sex at birth to the opposite was taboo. After Christine’s story was published in the New York Daily News and Time, American society began to question the definition of gender and why George was now Christine. Deceptively like today, as Time magazine mentions, “history is filled with people who did not fit society’s definition or gender (40).” Media talks about transgender, and it seems new, but it is not. Transgender is not something that just occurred today and had never been heard of before. This subject is just now coming out into the open more often than usual. In parallel to the “coming out” from transition, society is not far from the 1950’s because there is still stereotypes and discrimination against the transgender

According to Michael Bronski’s, Ann Pellegrini’s and Michael Amico’s book “You Can Tell Just by Looking” federal anti-discrimination laws do not protect trans-gendered people or other LGBT members. Transgendered people can lose their jobs just because of their gender identity in 34 of the 50 states. According to the APA, the National Gay and Lesbian Task force did a study that a vast majority of the 6500 hundred surveyed

Stories involving transgender people have been in newspapers, magazines, and tabloids for over fifty five years. These stories have captivated and intrigued American culture from the start, but not always in the most positive light. It began in 1955 when Christine Jorgensen, born George, publicly announced her gender confirming surgery and began life as a legally recognized woman. There was a media frenzy with headlines such as “Bronx GI Becomes a Woman!” and “Bronx ‘Boy’ Is Now A Girl”. But instead of “withdraw[ing] from public attention [Christine] turned the notoriety to her advantage with a series of lucrative tours on the lecture and nightclub circuit” (McQuiston 1989). “By cultivating the demeanor of a lady and refusing to call herself

Grant et al. (2011) explain on the Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey that 19% of their sample reported being refused medical care due to their transgender or gender non-conforming status, with even higher numbers among people of color in the survey. In addition, the survey indicated that 50% of the sample reported having to teach their medical providers about transgender

Media coverage of transgender people and their medical transitions appeared as early as 1952. Sweeping headlines across the country, including in The New York Times, Christine Jorgensen became a household name because she was the first American to ever to have a sex change. Former Army Private Jorgensen was featured in the December 2nd, 1952 article “Bronx ‘Boy’ Is Now a Girl”. For her sex changed she had to travel to Denmark. Although people had begun to speak publically about transgender people and it was a known mental and medical condition, it wasn’t until 1966 when Doctor Henry Benjamin published The Transsexual Phenomenon, that doctors in the United States had a guide to follow in terms of treating transgender

In the mid-twentieth century, Christine Jorgenson became the first publicly known American trans woman to undergo sex reassignment surgery. Christine initially referred to herself as a “homosexual with a large amount of femininity”, before she knew the language for what she actually was (Meyerowitz, p. 59). She claimed that she needed desperately to live as a woman and later claimed that her “condition” was “an error of nature” (Meyerowitz, p. 61). She was initially sent to a psychiatrist

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.

Transgender Oppression is the oppression of people whose gender expression, gender identity, and/ or sex identity does not match the expectations of the dominant norm or society. Being a transgender means to “denote or relate to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender”. There are facilities that supports Transgenders and LGBT’s like the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The biggest factor that needs to be understood, addressed, and dealt with is the rate of suicide of transgender students. Transgender students in high school and college are more likely to attempt suicide at a point in their life if they are not offered gender appropriate programming, housing, bathrooms and locker rooms, counseling, health care, and having name changes on records and documents. There have been countless times that I have gone into the women’s restroom, because I am not fully transitioned and I know that I do not pass as well as I would like to, and I get a mean look or someone tells me I’m in the wrong restroom. I have been at work cleaning the restrooms and a women asks me to leave so she may use the restroom, because she

My paper is exploring modern technology and the uses of it within the transgender community. It will cover the research that supports medical transitioning and the progress still to be made medically. The paper will give an overview of the history behind the community and where gaps in medical research might stem from.

One group of feminist that is often overlooked is the transgender feminist. A transgender woman is a person who was assigned the male gender at birth, but decided that they were actually a different gender on the inside. There are people who are against the transgender feminists because they believe they are receiving benefits from male privilege while being able to live life as a woman. Transfeminism believes in fighting against transphobia so that hopefully one day transgender people will be seen as a normal part of society and not different. The group of transfeminist are not only asking for the help of other transgender people, but also for the help of non trans women.

Being myself around others is easy, but becoming myself is what has truly defined me. I had to discover my authentic self, despite the overwhelming input and expectations of everyone and everything around me. Genetically, I was born into the world female, but inherently, I knew I was transgender before even learning that “gender” was a word. I used to believe that someone had “made a mistake”, because I was arbitrarily born in a girl’s body. But now I know, that was exactly where I was supposed to be. It would have been easier if I was just born genetically male, but I know my time spent living as a female and my time spent living as a transgender male has enabled me to accept, appreciate, and have the ability to communicate with people from all walks of life. The limitations, unwanted attention, and stereotypes that accompany being transgender could have easily broken me, but instead I have geared my experiences towards forming myself into the confident, fearless person I am today.