Summary : ' Just Add Hormones ' An Insider 's Guide ' The Transsexual Experience '

Today, many recognize gender as a spectrum, but understand it in a linear fashion not too different from the original dichotomy of two opposing sexes. On one end sits masculinity, and on the other, femininity. In the instance of people coming out as transgender in the workplace, they were perceived as having jumped from one end of the spectrum to the other with a complete one-eighty degree twist. The definition of gender is multifaceted, and some people may place more importance on it than others. Rather than conduct a scientific study on what defines gender, I’d like to encourage people to take the more widespread knowledge of binary feminism and expand that knowledge to include genderqueer individuals. Be aware that others may fall outside your notion of gender, and do not punish them for that. Do not expect a person to act in a certain “feminine” or “masculine” way any more than one might expect a man or woman to act only within their allowed sphere - but do not criticize someone who does act in what might be considered traditionally “masculine” or “feminine” way for doing

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.

Topics concerning transgender can be very overwhelming for some. When one thinks of the term transgender, one may think of the process of an individual identifying as the opposite sex. The opposite sex of what he or she was born as. For some, this may involve undergoing surgical procedures or taken hormonal medications to fulfill their desire. However, when thinking of this process, one automatically thinks of transgender adults. This is rarely a topic that one would assume would be racing through the minds of young children, but in fact it is. More children today than ever, are either speaking out about their identity concerns, or displaying it in their lives. In fact, according to Date Line NBC, “The handful of American doctors who specialize

With the establishment of these gender identity clinics, and the financial backing of philanthropist Reed Erickson, a transsexual man, the health care needs of transsexual people gained increased attention and support. Despite this new attention, the clinics used Benjamin’s model of “true” transsexuals. This differentiation between “true” transsexuals and other gender variants became a serious and highly important diagnostic decision as gender affirming surgeries were irreversible. This resulted in many transsexual individuals to be denied access to hormones and surgery. Specifically, transsexual men encountered difficulties, as transsexuality was primarily seen as a male-to-female only transition. In fact, during the late 1960s the United States leading UCLA Gender Identity Research Clinic debated whether trans men should be considered transsexuals. Many trans men themselves did not label themselves as transsexuals as they only knew about other transsexual women (Meyerowitz, 2002; Beemyn, 2014).

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 her book “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Woman, and the Rest of us,” Kate Bornstein goes over a lot of the major issues regarding gender awareness and identity politics. She talks about the ideas of labeling ones self, understanding gender differences, how people view laws, behaviors, and the medical and scientific privilege that make transitioning challenging for a lot of people. Bornstein touches on many of the issues today that affect trans people. She includes poetry, pictures, quotes, essays, and a play to raise questions and discuss the idea of gender. This is a great book to introduce and discuss the issues that affect the lives of trans people as they navigate and explore the lines that define gender.

In American culture in the 1950s, men were the predominant head of the household and women were expected to cook, care for their kids, and clean. This is an excellent example of gender roles, and how they control certain aspects of life. Gender roles are, according to multiple sources, the way people behave, what they do or say to express being a female or male. (“Gender Identity”; Blackstone; "Understanding Gender") They are forced upon an individual from the day they are born even in the most trivial of terms of putting baby boys in blue clothes and baby girls in pink. Throughout that person’s life from then on, they will face cultural expectations every day to act according to their sex. Gender roles can often be confusing and hurtful,many stores are moving away from assigning products to a specific gender, but not only can gender roles affect a person’s behavior, it can play a huge role in transgenderism.

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

He had achieved the shock value not only with myself as the reader, but ultimately who he was addressing. Jamison had been an educator of trans people, speaking out to audiences of college students of all ages. His goal of educating the public stemmed from his own experiences with choosing to change genders as well as a broad overview of the ideas that surrounded transsexualism as a whole. He communicates well that his experiences do not encompass all transgendered people’s experiences and that transformation from male to female (MTF) is quite different from female to male (FTM) transformation. The societal complications from FTM are well examined from Jamison’s view. Many people believed that females that wanted to become males could

Just Add Hormones, by Matt Kailey (2005), shows how transpeople are perceived as ‘others’, but are really just people who just want to be accepted. All throughout the book, Kailey (2005) expresses that he tries to act like and be what men act like in order to gain the acceptance that every human being desires. Even in the push for rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, transpeople are rejected and looked down on, even though, as Kailey (2005) puts it, “we share a common problem—we are all discriminated against because of our gender” (Kailey, 2005, p. 93). Furthermore, in general society, transpeople are perceived as sex offenders for going into a restroom, when in reality “we are in there for one purpose only, just like everyone else is,

In Abby Ellin’s article, “For Transgender Women, An Extra Dose of Fear,” the experiences of Abbie Paige, along with a variety of other transgender women, are discussed. Most notably, it has been asserted that as a result of being transgender, not only do these individuals face an increased risk of being subject to physical danger, but they also must conform to what society deems as absolute. For example, even though certain individuals may not be cisgender, or have a gender identity that aligns with their sex, they still must use facilities which their surrounding society deems appropriate. Additionally, as a result of the lack of acceptance and equality in the political economical hemisphere, people who drift away from their assumed gender roles may face extreme difficulties when attempting to get healthcare services.

My Biological sex is female, my gender identity is female, but is my gender expression what I am starting to question. It was after I read Janet Mock’s book and I listened to an interview with Joy Ladin that I became aware of the similarities transgender women undertake in their process to come out, and my own process of redefining the expression of the woman that I am. I feel that the coming out of transgender people is encouraging us, especially women, to deeply question our woman expression. Trans-women like Joy Ladin and Janet Mock are raising a new conversation about gender identity and gender expression…..

Argued in Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003:15), living up to our gender is learning through a life-long process of socialization. Further supported in Kulick and Schieffelin (2006:352), one’s gender emerges over a lifetime through interactive process in which one accepts, rejects, or modifies the cultural and gender norms they are socialized in. These two arguments supported the idea of this essay’s research question in which cultural and social factors do contribute to gendering an individual, and in turn implicating the creation of a boundary that exclude transgenders from the society.

“Gender” is a social construct that is developed solely by our society and the early developmental stages of an adolescent’s life. By introducing youths to the roles, behaviors, expectations and activities that correspond with males or females we give a clear guideline of what is accepted from a young male or female. An individual however can identify his or her gender based on their own system of beliefs without corresponding to their natural biological sex. Our lives are shaped by our true biological identities but the influence of the world and society is enough to define what a male and what a female truly is to an individual.