Transgender Identity Research Paper

When discussing injustices, it is pivotal--for the sake of true progressive social change--to include all oppressed groups into the dialogue. Transgender People tend to be heavily misrepresented and demonized. Because of transphobia, there

After reading chapter 3: "Prejudice and Discriminations" and as well the article "Transgender African-Americans' Open Wound: ‘We're considered a Joke’”, I have a better understanding of the challenges that certain group undergo due to prejudices and discrimination that exist within their own racial group and other groups of our society. Although the LBGT community has made its social conditions a little more better, there is still those within their group that are even more marginalize, this is the case of a African-American transgender. African Americans transgender face twice as much prejudice and discrimination. They battle prejudice and discrimination from their own racial group and from society because of their skin color and their gender

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.

In conducting this investigation, the author utilized “a larger ethno- graphic study…of self-identified trans people of color in the USA… (along with) 31 formal interviews, (and) hundreds of hours of informal interviews” (5). The interviewees were 12 trans women and 19 trans men, aging from 21-52, ethnically diverse and all with some “college education” (5). The topics

Transgender issues cover a a multitude of spheres: discrimination (at school, in the workplace, when looking for housing), violence, suicide, and identification through legal documents to name a few. Transgender individuals deal with greater struggles than that of cisgender individuals, or those who identity as the gender which they were assigned at birth. Perhaps one of the greatest struggles transgender individuals have to deal with is acceptance, whether it be acceptance from others or acceptance of themselves. Cisgender individuals, or those who identify with the gender identity given at birth, do not have to worry that their gender identity will be accepted; society has already dictated it to be ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ (“Definitions of Terms”). Trans individuals are not afforded this luxury.

Being transgender greatly involves identity, naïve realism, ethnocentrism, and relativism. This relates to ethnocentrism because one who is not transgender or doesn’t have a clear understanding may feel as though it isn’t necessary. I define ethnocentrism as the belief that one’s own behavior and beliefs are superior to others. In many cases, some people have even acted upon their sense of ethnocentrism committing hate crimes, homicide, or even murder. This is a reflection of their belief that they are superior. This also is a reflection of how societies enforce this concept of gender and feel threated when someone breaks the boundary. As one of my classmates said, looking at gender from a religious aspect, God is a sort of genderless being and when one is struggling with gender identity or transgender, it may appear as though they are making a statement. One that is telling everyone else that they are on the same level as God. Naïve realism relates to what the guest speakers discussed because they explained that there are a lot of people who tend to kind of stop and stare at them simply because they look different; they are foreign to them. To those who don’t understand being transgender, they may not understand how someone could such an identity crisis, as the feeling cannot be perceived by one who has not endured it. I found this to especially relate to identity because among age, language, and various other things, gender is one of the primary characteristics used to define self. If someone is experiencing an identity crisis, to whatever extent, that’s related to gender it directly correlates with the concept of identity we’ve been learning about in class. Understanding the concept of being transgender may require a sense of cultural relativism. I define relativism as the attempt to understand another culture’s way of life from their own perspective. If someone is wanting to

A review of McKibben, Sarah (January 2016) Charting a Course to Transgender Inclusion, Education Update, volume 58, number 1, pages 2-3,15 reviewed by John A. Kelley. Also found online: http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/jan16/vol58/num01/Charting-a-Course-to-Transgender-Inclusion.aspx

Based on the five interviewees, the research questions results can be discussed. The first question is agreed upon by the sociologist and the graduate student. They were not pleased with the results of media and trans individuals. The sociologist is more practical and thinking of how much media has progressed with this topic. The graduate student is harder on the media and thinks they are not doing enough to bring enough coverage for trans people. They both agreed stereotypes are judgements that make people feel like an outsider and make them feel less than. The victimization of Trans people needs more coverage, heterosexual individuals are always on the news and have more limelight in their issues.

I want to study how individuals perceive people that are transgender. I’m interested in studying the topic since the transgender individuals are misunderstood in society. They are misunderstood based on the fact that they don’t follow the gender norms that society has or the term of transgender. Understand their social environment. How the transgender people are perceived in the family, education, religion, economic and political institutions. Studying how they are faced with transphobic due to the lack of knowledge about the transgender people. But Most importantly, how there is a lack of equality rights for the transgender people due to the fact that the society lacks understanding of the transgender people. Hoping to find out how the transgender people are views when they have, so I could approach them as a competent social a competent social worker and

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.

Imagine this morning you woke up as the opposite gender. You would go about your day as normal, insisting that you were the same gender you were the day before despite the fact that everyone else insists that you are the opposite gender which you woke up as this morning. Maybe eventually you would go along with it and say that you were the opposite gender even though it feels wrong to you. Maybe you would continue to insist otherwise even though no one seems to listen to you. This is only the first of your problems though, as you would soon realize. You would run into many other problems throughout your day. For example, which bathroom would you use? How would you deal with being stuck in a body that just feels wrong? How should you dress yourself now? These are only a few of the problems transgender people face every single day, in addition to the bullying, discrimination, and non-acceptance from other people.

My main inspiration on making this sculpture is based on what’s happening in today's world. There are many boys and girls that want to be the real them without having to hide it or being judge at everyday of their lives. Just for being what they want to be in there life. Being transgender has a lot to deal with the United State history. Transgenders were a big issues back in 1620. Many transgenders were killed or punished by being slaves (Genny Beemyn).They did not had the freedom to be whatever they wanted to be. My view in the next 250 years is that every human being will be loved and cared no matter of who there are they will be accepted . As well have the freedom and right to be themselves. This is important to me because we all are different

The social issue that I chose which affects society today is transgender inequality. These issues are more recently gaining attention and becoming a prevalent topic of inequality within our country. A transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. As more and more transgender people share their stories in the media, the social problems that arise from these stories are discrimination within their everyday lives. They suffer from scrutiny and judgment from their peers, and thus many hide their gender identity from family and society. This social injustice can be as simple as a glance or staring, or offensive comments and questions to violent hate crimes. Transgender people are prone to violence and harassment, and often not feeling safe in any aspect of society. They are fired from jobs, denied medical insurance, and being murdered left and right solely for being transgender. “A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)” (National Center for Transgender Equality). The structure of this paper will consist of adding all the research that was gathered over the semester, news articles and peer

We are conditioned to believe the United States is a country built on equality, a country where we all get an equal, unbiased chance at success and happiness. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case. Many groups in our country are oppressed and discriminated against, for the sole fact that they stray from the norm. One of these groups is people who are transgender, and they are the community I want to “build bridges” with. I chose this community because my exposure to them has been very low, thus my education is limited and my perspective is narrow. I have seen a decent amount of television shows that depict the lives of transgender people, so most of my information comes from the media, which can be immensely problematic. Through this project I would like to become more correctly informed about the transgender community and in the process abolish my own prejudices.

The most obvious challenges I have faced living as a transgender male have been physical, but the hardest I have faced have not only been personal, but emotional. I have encountered countless overly personal inquisitions, questioning looks, and awkward introductions. Existing as a biological female for a large portion of my life imbued that period of time with many challenges. As a child, I fought passionately with my parents to shop in the “boys” section of the store, to play hockey and lacrosse, and to never step foot in a dress. I often wondered why other children would point and snicker at my choice of clothing. I even asked my distraught mother why I was “put in the wrong body” at the age of three. I had to grow up and not only learn, but understand and accept that I am not the same as everyone else. I had to come to terms with the fact that most people do not face the challenge of waking up every day and overcoming the feeling that something is fundamentally “off” that cannot truly be “fixed”. “Average” is a description I often longed to be labeled in the past, but over the years I have discovered that striving to be above average is the true key to success.