The Common Gender Binary?

Instead, the article further educated me on the inner thoughts and experiences that are associated with being FTM transgender or transsexual. As a cisgender individual, or someone whose gender and biological sex are the same, I am unable to empathize or related to the experiences of transgender and transsexual people. The inside look that the article provided me was appreciated and granted me a deeper understanding of what it is like to be transgender or transsexual, especially regarding how they are socially perceived. Before reading the article, I knew that transgender and transsexual individuals did not feel that their gender matched their biological sex. Through the article, I learned that while that may be true, they do not always feel pressured to change how they physically appear to identify as a gender other than one representative of their biological sex. There are many factors they consider when choosing to transition or not. The factors include: how they want to be perceived in social interactions – as a man or not as a man -, family and friends, loss of their trans or queer identity, and feeling like their gender and sex match (Dozier, 2005). However, regardless of if they transitioned, once the individuals were accepted as their desired gender, the individuals felt more comfortable breaking gendered norms, like presenting as a male but wearing nail

This book explores the reader to rethink their opinions on social and physical normality. The title suggests that normality shouldn’t be defined so critically and that those of diversity and marginalization should be included. In this instance, the focus is upon the normalcy of those who are transgender. “One image of us that went viral showed us standing in our bathing suits with the caption: ”Does this couple look normal? Because they are.” The intention of the caption may have been good, but what did it even mean by normal? That we passed as cisgender? Were heterosexual?? White? Able-bodied? Attractive? If one of us hadn’t been any of those things, would they still have called us normal?” pg

Main idea: Gender is a social construction in which individuals are placed into “two and only two” gender categories. Individuals are gendered by their appearances and performances. Certain traits or display of traits are associated with a particular gender and most often we label individuals according to that standards. Lucal explains that she is often mistaken for a man because of her short hair and outfits she wears. It is believed that all individual without proper markers of femininity is assumed to be men. Furthermore, if anyone who does not fit into the either of two gender categories, they are automatically placed into the closer category. When Lucal was at a shopping mall with her friend and her baby, people would automatically

In Octavia Butler’s Dawn the idea of gender is deconstructed and reformed from the typical human’s definition. Often people do not consider the role of gender in society today. Usually the first thing one notices when meeting someone new is their gender or their presumed gender. However, there becomes a problem when the person whose gender we perceived identifies as a different gender. Butler forces the reader to examine how they judge and perceive gender. While the ooloi are actually “its” their personalities seem to imply a certain gender. The transgender community often brings up this issue because these assumptions of gender based on our judgments of what defines a male and what defines a female can skew how a transgender person is treated and addressed. In Chapter One of Gender Through the Prism of Difference by Anne Fausto-Sterling, the idea of expanding the number of genders based on one’s biological differences is examined through the five sexes theory. By now the concept of gender being defined solely by one’s biology has mostly been left in the past but the question remains of how do we truly define gender? How does being outside of the social norms that Michael Warner talks about cause us to feel shame when discussing our gender and our perceptions of gender? In this essay, I will argue that preconceived notions of gender create shame when a person’s own perception of their gender does not fit the social norms. This stigma around the limited and strict definitions

The stereotypical labeling of genders can determine one person’s outlook on life. The judgment can make one feel like there is a set rubric to follow in order to remain in the lines regarding which gender they belong to. Such influences from peers or partners can alter

People with gender Identity crises do not feel their genitalia reflects who they are inside. They may feel a powerful drive to have their genitalia match their self-image opting for sex reassignment surgery. Gender expression is far more relaxed than it has been throughout our history in America, but it still poses a problems for some on a daily basis. Gender expression is one area where women have a social advantage over men. It is far more socially acceptable for a woman to dress masculine than for a man to dress feminine; although neither are without predigests.

Discussion of issues related to non-normative sexual and gender identities as related to mental health began in the 19th century (Drescher, 2010). Initially medical and psychiatric providers viewed issues related to gender identity as resulting from delusional thought processes (Drescher, 2010). As a result the concept of surgery as a solution to gender identity differences was viewed as unnecessary and ultimately an incorrect form of treatment (Drescher, 2010). In 1952 the first gender reassignment surgery was performed in Denmark on an American citizen (Drescher, 2010). The publicity in the American media that followed this surgery brought the concept of gender identity to the public eye. During the 1960s research about gender identity started to develop and it was the work of Money, Stoller, Benjamin, and Green that ultimately change professional and public concept of Gender Identity (Drescher, 2010). These four individuals were among the first to conduct clinical and academic research on gender identity and gender roles (Drescher, 2010). As a result of their research beliefs about non-normative gender identity shifted from a problem of the mind to a biological disorder that was fixed and should be treated with

Determining an individual’s gender based on their anatomy was the common practice in western society since the early 1950’s when television commercials begin thus ushering in consumerism and gender normality’s. Easy bake ovens were advertised as toys specifically for girls, while trucks and cars were designed to appeal to boys. This was the beginning of nonscientific gender norms.

Gender is one of the most socially ingrained social constructs. The rigid enforcement of gender is harshly controlled by the medicalization and what I will refer to as the construction of the illness of gender transgression. I postulate that there are two forms of gender transgression: a general rejection of gender norms and a rejection of these boundaries in manners that do not fit into the dominant script of gender (i.e. deciding to transition). When someone “transgresses” the boundaries of gender in this latter way, I postulate, they are inculcated both by society and by the medical community to conform to a normative trajectory of transition. This relationship between a socially constructed identity to a molecularized body – a body

Bradley et al., also mention a similar case in which a 2-month year old male was injured during an electrocautery circumcision and his entire penile shaft was burned and the penis eventually sloughed off. At 7-months the rest of the penis and testes were removed and the parents made the decision to reassign their son to a female and to raise him as a girl. The patient was interviewed at two separate times. The first time was at age 16 and the patient stated that she had been living a female life and had no uncertainty about being a woman. The patient mentioned that during her childhood she viewed herself as a “tomboy” but she still maintained her circle of friends to mainly girls. She wanted to have sexual intercourse with males so she arranged a vaginoplasty. She was interviewed once more at age 26 and reported that she had been attracted to women in fantasy, and enjoyed experiences with both women and men. She now

This is also highlighted in Between the Sexes, when Debbie Hartman makes the hasty choice to change her son, Kyle into a girl. Both parents and intersexed individuals show a great deal of confusion within the standard, two-gender system of the modern world. The seven people from "Gender Identity and Coping...", were asked if they were happy with their gender reassignment surgery. Six replied that they were not (Schweizer, 196). All of these case studies may take from a small sample, but they also all point to similar results. Although, all six described their dissatisfaction with the surgery differently, implying a deeper level of consideration than Gorman and Cole display. One wanted to be left as they were. Another wished their parents chose the other sex. Generally, though, Between the Sexes's assertion that gender reassignment is psychologically harmful is well supported. In order for this to be truly acceptable, researchers would need a sampling of a group of intersexuals who were left unaltered. Unfortunately, no such study exists.

Medical practitioners have a history of not accurately reflecting the understandings of people who trans gender, dating back to the 1800s when they upheld the sexually dimorphic model that states that everyone has “one true sex” (Enke, lecture 2/18). Even in the early 1900s, medical professionals advised trans people to take hormones more closely aligned with their designated sex at birth, as it would help them “feel better”. However, medical treatment of people who trans has improved dramatically over the years. Now, in the 21st century, there are laws in place to prohibit discrimination against people who trans. In order to get from that point to this point, it took growth in both the trans community and the medical community. Medicine mimics society just as society mimics medicine, and as the trans community grew more forthright and educated from those within its community as well as the medical field, the medical field grew more understanding of people who trans. It is all a cycle.

The first article is “The Social Construction of Gender” by Judith Lorber. In this essay she states that sex and gender is constructed through the society in which we live and that, “Gender is so pervasive that in our society we assume it is bred into our genes” (Lorber, 64). Lorber’s article takes the standpoint that physical gender expression is such an important topic to individuals because when the conventions of gender are shifted, “we feel socially dislocated” (65). An example of this is when people who are not used to gender shifts encounter a “transvestite,” or in modern terms a transgender person, their perceptions are disrupted. If someone does not express physical gender “normally” with their bodies—i.e. a

Due to social conformity, along with the advancement of technology and surgical procedure intersexed persons are aimed to be "fixed" at birth.  Although otherwise healthy, there is a need to perform surgery on the baby in order to remove certain sexual organs that don't fit with the perfect idea of what a girl or boy should look like.  This often leaves scars, and the psychological and emotional confusion along with it.

Since the beginning of time, gender has always been divided into two categories, either male or female, with few instances that have stepped in between. As civilization has evolved, it has began to learn that this division is a lie, and that it is disgusting, disgraceful, hurtful and untrue at its rotten core. This is because this “division” has never counted for anything but a label and a set of roles as a stereotype, which was unjustly assigned at birth in a societal attempt to conform each and every unique soul into a shape that they cannot fully fit. There should not exist such standards and expectations that do not account for anything besides what one's body has to say, without asking the mind of the thoughtless vessel known as the body.