The La Santa Muerte

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

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

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.

My report is on Mission Santa Ines which is 35 miles north of Santa Barbara among the rolling hills near the Santa Ynez River. The mission was established September 17, 1804 by Father Estevan Tapis as the 19th mission along El Camino Real.

In a recent podcast regarding a transgender high school student being forced to change in the nurse’s office instead of in the locker room with other students addressed the controversy regarding the treatment of members of our society who identify as LGBTQ. Throughout the podcast, multiple individuals have voiced support for the school’s decision to isolate the transgender student when changing. Do to the opinions voiced in the podcast regarding this case, I realized that the treatment of the high school student is only one example of the existing discrimination towards those who identify as LGBTQ. As such, I intend to explore the controversy of LGBTQ and our obligations that we have as members of the same society. Throughout this paper, I

Utilizing transference immediately and preserving the seeming normalization of the traditional dualistic view of gender roles. In turn reinforced by a somewhat insightful but mystical account of the spiritual and power bases of each gender within the society (Gutierrez 28). In a sense it seems he is avoiding the idea of transgender all together, the unwritten implication being that our current notion of transgendered is nothing but that, a notion developed by ours culture in our present.

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.

Have you ever wondered how sexuality is viewed in the eyes of a different culture? Since America is a melting pot specifically with the Latino culture we have and is a very diverse country, it still carries culture identity. When you have a set cultural ideology for example the Latino Culture ideology, it sets the rules and norms for gender and sexual identity. In this essay we will be talking about how religious aspects of the Latino/a culture are affecting how people view sexual orientation. How religion in the Latino culture creates a discrimination against homosexuality and non-gender norms. This topic was chosen because I believe it is interesting how some cultures are used to believing that certain rituals and big events have to be within a man and a woman and cannot be both. I have personally witnessed how sexuality does affect the Latino culture; and has been involved in the rituals that make it so heteronormative. Through evidence of religious cultures, gendered identities and family structures we will see how religion in the Latino culture shapes and forms sexuality. I will be examining how Catholicism shapes cultural norms for sexual orientation and gender identity, how heteronormativity is reinforced as the main stream within the religious Latino culture and how it is insensitive towards homosexuality. How having family and social circles that are used to a culture around are perpetuating gender identity against sexuality.

From the moment a child is born, the society in which they are born into begins to teach the child what is normal, and what is not. If the aforementioned child has a vagina, they will be labeled a girl and assumed to be heterosexual, and the same principle applies if the child has a penis. Yet the human world is not as simple as this established gender binary. For example, there are people who identify with a gender other than the sex assigned at birth.1 There are also people who are not sexually attracted strictly to the opposite gender, or at all. Such diversions from societal normality are more often than not greeted with opposition, as what is considered normal is also deemed right. The LGBT community has had to deal with fierce societal

The most obvious example is the differentiation of “transsexual” and “transgender.” In the article, “transsexual” is used to refer to someone who has specifically had treatment to physically change their body to match their gender identity; “transgender” is someone whose gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth, regardless of whether they have made physical gender-related changes to their body (155). Today, the term “transsexual” is almost obsolete. Interestingly, however, Halberstam briefly presents conflict between “transsexuals” and “transgenders” that is mirrored somewhat today in informal conflicts between “truscum” and “transtrenders/tucutes” (154-155). In today’s transgender communities, people called “truscum” (generally by other people) feel that people they call “transtrenders” or “tucutes” are not truly transgender; they feel these people are merely pretending to be transgender for the sake of attention. On the other hand, those called “transtrenders” or “tucutes” (generally by other people) feel attacked and policed by “truscum” and insist that they are transgender regardless of whether they meet the standards set by truscum. Halberstam cites some identity politics (154-155) that are reminiscent of this, which suggests that even as terms change, identity policing remains a consistent issue in transgender

Serano recalls her own experiences of being sexualized to shed light on how trans identities are sexualized. The story points out how a person’s transition from one gender to another, or being trans itself can be viewed as sexual solicitation, rather than a result of their own identity (Serano 257). The sexualization of trans people is based on a societal viewpoint that centers itself around male heterosexuality, as Serano expounds:

This paper examines the social aspects of the sexual identity in America, illustrating how sexual identities have progressed, evolved, and transformed. Social categories have been created as a tool used for social divide and control, inadvertently creating stereotypical facts and discriminatory opinions on sexes; while also helping create social and welcoming communities, whose goals are to diminish ideals such as those. Concluding, this paper will have explained the dichotomous categories of different sexualities and the divides within them. The already established sexual divide leaves no room for those stuck in the in between of today's society, especially one as progressive as America’s. Derived from the examples giving, this paper argues

Throughout the past decades sex and gender have remained in major taboos and impacts within the transgender communities. Indeed, after participating in a Transgender Panel Discussion at Fresno State University, reading articles like Meet the Muxes, class discussions and the conclusion for all four sources lead to words like exclusion, discrimination, and oppressions because those define the lives of transgender, Muxes, and that for following their gender identities become the target for judgement and for countless . However, I never imagined that I could put myself in the shoes of these diverse identities until I visualized the challenges that fill their lives everyday for simply

The focus of the article is transgendered Mexican sex workers who travel back and forth between Guadalajara, Mexico and San Francisco, and how they have adapted elements from the marginalized saints such as Santisima Muerte, St. Jude, and the Virgin of Guadalupe from the Catholic faith for protection from the homophobia, discrimination, and danger they faced in their daily lives.

By condemning these people viewed as ‘different’ and categorized as damned by religious texts, those rejecting transgender and homosexuals, such as Leelah Alcorn’s parents, become monsters themselves. The objections against homosexuals and transgender people are not original thoughts; people placing them in the role of ‘outcasts’ utilize the Old and New Testaments to support their arguments, forcing their religious beliefs onto everyone and choosing to selectively read passages, using quotes that denounce anyone within the LGBTQIA and ignoring other quotes within the texts that talk about their God loving all of his creations and that he made them perfectly. Instead, many religious communities reject basic human rights such as the ability to love who they choose or to decide who they want to be. Some will go as far as attempt to “rehabilitate” those within the LGBTQIA community, like Leelah’s experience with an array of biased Christian therapists. The purpose of these ‘conversion therapies’ is to convince someone that they are not homosexual, or that they are not transgender. These therapies force people to reject their identities in favor of those that a religious society deems as appropriate, specifically cisgender and heterosexual. There is not a large community that supports these courses of action; there are even laws on the legislative table that are meant to disband conversion therapies and give more rights to the LGBTQIA community, however these are new developments. Most objections to these views come from members of the LGBTQIA community and allies. In the aftermath of Leelah Alcorn’s suicide, social medias exploded with outrage as teenagers who could relate to her situation in some way learned of her