Transgender Issues in Patriarchy, a Look at "Boys Don't Cry"

Have you or anyone close to you ever been discriminated before? Multiple types of gender discrimination has always been an issue and it’s time for it all to come to an end. Gender discrimination is discrimination that is based on someone’s gender or sex. Many people have faced it in different ways. I am researching the harm that is caused to different genders, the way women don’t get paid the same as men, and how LGBT people are discriminated in the workplace.

Through out her book she continues to raise questions to make you think such as: “What does it mean to be a man?” and “What does it mean to be a woman?” In her circumstance she is a male to female transsexual who is also a lesbian, whose girlfriend actually ended up transitioning from female to male. And she raises the question, “What does all of this mean?” she also talks about those who define themselves as neither gender (Bornstein). Through her book she strives to make readers think about their life and the people around them. The overall questions she asks are: “What is Identity?” and “What is your identity?” She uses personal experience, stories, theories, political activist, television shows, and humor to back up her theories and arguments while continually raising questions about gender, orientation, desire, and why we as a society are so attached to a dualistic gender system. She does a great job of achieving her goal in teaching readers about the basics of the topic while making readers think.

The film “The Brandon Teena Story” followed the story of Teena Brandon’s, who went by the name Brandon, death in Nebraska. Brandon lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, as a male, despite him being born as a female, at the start of the film. The audience was informed that Brandon had been behaving, acting, and living as a male for years. Brandon’s mother, Joann Brandon, had previously sent Brandon to counseling to treat his attempts and ideas about suicide, and presumably his gender dysphoria. However, after returning from counseling, Brandon’s want of being of man was only solidified. In the middle of November 1993, Brandon moved to Falls City Nebraska. It was in Falls City, Nebraska where Brandon met and befriended ex-convicts Tom Nissen and

The hate crime of Brandon brought national attention to the ideal and possibility that someone would want to change their gender. For many people, this was their first time even hearing about trans people and the violence against trans people. After his death, his identity was challenged and argued even though there are quotes from him saying he felt like a man trapped inside a woman's body. As Karina Eileraas puts it “Transgender violence targets both men and women, but Brandon Teena's case highlights its particularly brutal effects on FTM transgender individuals. Boys Don't Cry provides a clear political incentive to integrate feminist, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender concerns in the analysis of violence against women...Serious risks accompany any attempt to invest the body with particular 'truths' about gender and sexuality”. Brandon was not fully accepted in life or given the support he needed but he is remembered in death and his story continues to inspire many people whether trans or not.

On this page it states, “And you know what? If you think you’re girl… I think you’re a girl too!” This quote is from the scene where George tells Kelly that she is transgender. Kelly is the first person to know, but it took George a while to find the confidence to tell her. Even though it did take Kelly a couple of days to wrap her mind around this idea, when she did, she was nothing but accepting. Kelly’s reaction made George realize that she should not be ashamed of herself. When she told Kelly a great deal of confidence was achieved. Once Kelly accepted her, this gave her enough confidence to tell her mom and

Brandon Teena was a 21-year-old transgender, who dreaded to be associated with the word “lesbian”. She believed she was a man trapped in a woman's body. She considered herself a tomboy starting at a very young age and refused to wear any clothing that appeared feminine. Brandon Teena was a victim of rape on December 24, 1993. John Lotter and Marvin Nissan both raped and brutally beat Brandon. They first drove her to another location away from a gathering they all had attended and both took turns raping her. They threatened to end her life if she had told anyone. The next day after the assault she went to the police to report the rape. She was mistreated by the two sheriffs, who were assigned to her and asked her very inappropriate questions.

The Kimberly Pierce film “Boys Don’t Cry” identifies the undesirable influences that the societal dominance of masculinity has on the structure of sexual identities. The film is an adaptation of the true story of a female to male transsexual named Brandon Teena, who was violently raped and murdered in Falls City, Nebraska in the year 1993. Set in a laboring-class American setting, the film is the depiction of Brandon looking to isolate himself from the constraints of sexual identity that is recognized by the inhabitants of Lincoln, Nebraska. After he is evicted by his cousin, due to the continual threats of bodily injury he receives from neighboring men, Brandon seeks comfort from an alcoholic beverage at the local bar. It is here where Brandon meets a girl named Candace, and her two friends John and Tom.

Brandon must separate his biological sex from the gender that he wants to portray to society and himself. Judith Lorber states that “[f]or the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth” (Lorber 1). This is the case for every individual. When

It was the first mainstream film to present a lesbian romance as sincere and loving…” (Hollinger 141). Both these films presented the innocent love of women who also faced judgment, abuse, and were struggling to break out of the problems and boundaries society placed on them. The film Boys Don’t Cry was based on the true story of Brandon Teena. Brandon was murdered because of her sexuality.

Although the aspect of gender is not revealed in the book Psychology: Core Concepts, the aspect of identity disorder is mentioned several times. The main symptom of gender identity disorder is feeling uncomfortable in the body of the sex a person was born. In the case of Brandon, he was born as a girl, Teena, but he did not feel himself a girl and identified himself as a boy. Moreover, he dressed as a girl, acted like a boy, and tried to persuade everyone that he was not a lesbian but a real man. Nevertheless, it is still unclear to what extent Brandon felt as a boy.

The cisgender casting in Ma vie en rose and Tomboy confirmed thoughts and feelings that I have long felt about youth when they are trying to figure their gender identity out. Dealing with a delicate subject matter, the film portrays the 10-year-old Laure (Zoé Héran) telling her summer playmates she is a boy for the summer while her father and heavily pregnant mother relocate with Laure and her six-year-old sister, Jeanne, to an apartment block in an ex-urban environment. The directness, honesty and tone of innocence in the film is heartwarming and depicts the unsureness youth have at that age when trying to figure out who they are. Tomboy shows the comfort for which Laure, in the identity of new kid on the block Michael, whose hair cut easily

The depiction of transgender women characters in mainstream television has been offensive, insulting and derogatory. An article from GLADD called “Victims or Villains: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television”, examines 102 episodes and storylines on mainstream television that contained transgender characters since 2002. Of these, more than half were characterized as containing negative representations of transgender. In 2007 only 1% of television series had a recurring transgender character, which has slowly increased to 4% in 2013.

With the emergence of more LGBTQ+ characters in today 's media, society is starting to branch out and accept new identities that they were not familiar with beforehand. This new representation comes with benefits, from showing true-to-life portrayals of LGBTQ+ people, and drawbacks such as being misrepresented. One of the most recent works revolving around this topic is the upcoming movie About Ray directed by Gaby Dellal which is supposed to hit theatres this November. The film tells the story of a transgender boy as he goes through his journey of being accepted by his family and his community while he works towards being cleared for hormone therapy. This narrative has stirred up many debates inside and outside of the queer community, mostly pertaining to the heavy plotline and casting of a cisgender, female actress to play Ray.

Throughout today’s society, almost every aspect of someone’s day is based whether or not he or she fits into the “norm” that has been created. Specifically, masculine and feminine norms have a great impact that force people to question “am I a true man or woman?” After doing substantial research on the basis of masculine or feminine norms, it is clear that society focuses on the males being the dominant figures. If males are not fulfilling the masculine role, and females aren’t playing their role, then their gender identity becomes foggy, according to their personal judgment, as well as society’s.

     At first, as I was watching the movie, I was confused as to why Teena wanted to dress up at as a man and be called Brandon. I thought that maybe she was just lesbian that