Transgender Studies In Transgender Studies

Spade’s critique of Billings and Urban also exemplifies the study of transgenders—distinct from transgender studies—Stryker introduces of “people who occupied transgender positions [being] compelled to be referents in the language games of other senders and addressees”. In addition, Stryker’s notion of gender as a “mashup” is brought to life in Mutilating Gender as Spade highlights individuals (himself included) who “seek to occupy ambiguous gender positions in resistance to norms of gender rigidity” and exist counter to a mirror representation. By integrating knowledge such as this into public consideration, those without access to SRS or without the means to pursue cosmetic surgery are not left out of what is socially perceived as masculine or feminine, or are even able to expand gender and deconstruct the

She takes pride in her well maintained home and cooking expertise. Her schedule is full of running her husband’s errands throughout the day and having the breakfast, lunch and dinner completed that he requests. She finished two years of college courses at a local community college and would love to finish gaining her degree in nursing. The client would love to finish school, but her husband tells her that a degree is unnecessary since she should only be relying on him. Her husband’s attitude makes her feel insufficient and does not feel like a positive role model for her daughters to look up to. The client’s self-esteem is very low and the only time she feels pretty or worthy is when her daughters tell her they love her. She is at a point in her life where her self-worth is nearly destroyed, a place she never would have imagined before marrying her husband.

According to Jonathan Alexander’s chapter “ Transgender Rhetorics: Sex and Gender” he notes that “acknowledging the presence of the transgendered is useful not only for understanding those who are differently gendered or whose presentation … falls outside our ‘norms,’ but also for helping us interrogate the constructs of gender that we often take for granted as ‘natural’” (Alexander, 2008, pg. 130). Ways that the cisgendered public attempts to normalize gender roles is through literature where “male authors… depict a young woman as frightened and helpless, and the female authors… poke fun of the muscle-bound idiocy of a “macho” man”( Alexander, p. 137). The idea as the female being weak and terrified and the man as muscular moron help to reaffirm the cycle of “gender tied narrations” that are tied to society’s dominant public. This is important because society’s cisnormative narrative teaches that gender expressions have strict guidelines that are “innate” in us at birth. These instincts dictate a lot about an individual; however, the recognition of transgender individuals cause the cisgendered to think that “gender is not necessarily an essential and natural given, but rather a sociocultural construct whose repeated performances—as masculinity and femininity” (p. 131). The transgendered attempt to create a discourse to disrupt these social categories and show that there is more to one’s identity than what is socially constructed and self

Prosser (1998) enters the gender-identity conversation with a rather counter-intuitive project. At a time when poststructuralism is busily deconstructing the sex/gender linkage in ways that transcend the materiality of the subject, Prosser wants to bring the “ontological” trans body back into the dialogue by charting the arc of the changing body within transgender narratives. Only by mapping these transitions in this frame can he describe a complex transsexual experience that breaks free from the political binaries used by essentialists and poststructuralists, such as “literal/deliteralizing, subversive/hegemonic” (16). If the former has been guilty of a dogmatic reliance on a narrow understanding of biology to describe transsexuals, Prosser argues, then the former is equally guilty of deconstructing gender to the point of reducing the material body to an inconvenient concept (13).

What does it mean to be transgender? Does it mean that you don’t agree with how you look? Does it mean that you don’t think the way your gender should? No, transgender means that your body doesn’t match the way your brain thinks you are.

Grossman, Arnold H. Anthony R. D’Augelli. “Transgender Youth: Invisible and Vulnerable.” Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 51, No. 1 (2006): pages 111-128. Web. 25 June 2015. Arnold H. Grossman, a professor of Applied Psychology at New York University, and Anthony R. D’Augelli, professor of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University, did a study of Transgender youth from ages 15 to 21. The study was designed to determine the factors that affect the youth, who either identify as transgender or their gender does not fit the normal gender descriptions. Focus groups were used as nonthreatening environment to examine the youths’ social and emotional experiences. The study not only provided insight on their emotional and social experiences but

Transgender women will be allowed to enroll in one of the three female-only colleges at Cambridge University, as well as Barnard College and Smith College did in 2015.

For transgender individuals whose gender identities may be visibly different from the norm, there are questions and assumptions from other people about their gender identities in their daily lives (Serano, 2013). For example, during childhood and young adult life, Green (2013), a transsexual male, was constantly judged and questioned by others based on his lack of physical femininity and “inappropriate behaviors” for a female. Additionally, in a male-dominated society, trans women become victims of trans-misogyny, which is defined as a trans person being ridiculed for their expression of femininity (Serano, 2013), because it is inconceivable that a male “inheriting male privilege [would] ‘choose’ to be female instead” (2013, p. 445). Thus, trans women are subjected to violence (Stryker, 2013) and stereotypes (Serano, 2013). During the 1960s, trans women working the Tenderloin district of San Francisco were abused by the police (Stryker, 2013). Transgender women were arrested on suspicion of prostitution, humiliated in front of other prisoners, and placed in men’s jails, where transgender women were susceptible to physical harm including assault, rape, and murder (2013). In the media, trans women are often depicted as sex workers and objectified when they pursue medical transitioning

“ Gender reaches into disability; disability wraps around class; class strains against abuse; abuse snarls into sexuality, sexuality, sexuality folds on top of race... everything finally into a single human body.”

Stresses the importance of transparent and impartial report of all the member states within a fixed deadline and make sure the government works for the well-being of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community throughout the state;

Who hasn't been told to "just be yourself and people will like you?" It seems like such a simple notion. But what if being yourself could lead to harassment, rejection, isolation, unemployment, homelessness, physical violence, or even death? Not so simple anymore, is it? Sadly, this situation is one that confronts transgendered people worldwide on a daily basis.

My paper is exploring modern technology and the uses of it within the transgender community. It will cover the research that supports medical transitioning and the progress still to be made medically. The paper will give an overview of the history behind the community and where gaps in medical research might stem from.

This is not coincidental, as Queer Theory lent the movement a language that could describe a seemingly inexpressible experience many of its members shared. Through its capacity to imagine beyond categories, Queer Theory seemed to adeptly describe not only the mechanisms of gender transition but the political potential the transgender experience via its supposedly-innate ability to deconstruct the monolithic social index of the gender binary. Again, there should be no surprise that recent iterations of the trans movement have challenged the more traditional markers of being a Woman in Western Culture (visible biological signs, socially-controlled regulating behavior, etc.), and in doing so call into question the beliefs that have long constructed the given parameters of women’s (and, more directly, women’s-only)

Summary: Morland argues that queer theory’s valorization of pleasure risks characterizing postsurgical bodies as decisively impoverished. Morland finds that queer theory’s critical value lies in its theorization of desire independent of tactility, and figures this desire not as touching, but rather as reaching, exceeding surgical attempts to discipline the intersex body. The author makes four key claims regarding the intersex body. First, the desensitized post-surgical body cannot be accounted for by a queer discourse in which sexual pleasure is a form of hedonistic activism. Second, a queer discourse of shame enable a critical engagement with the surgical creation of atypically sensate bodies. Third, queerness is characterized by the sensory interrelation of pleasure and shame. Finally, if queer theory is figured as a kind of reaching—not necessarily touching—then it can be of greater use in account for the problematic effects of intersex surgery.

Being myself around others is easy, but becoming myself is what has truly defined me. I had to discover my authentic self, despite the overwhelming input and expectations of everyone and everything around me. Genetically, I was born into the world female, but inherently, I knew I was transgender before even learning that “gender” was a word. I used to believe that someone had “made a mistake”, because I was arbitrarily born in a girl’s body. But now I know, that was exactly where I was supposed to be. It would have been easier if I was just born genetically male, but I know my time spent living as a female and my time spent living as a transgender male has enabled me to accept, appreciate, and have the ability to communicate with people from all walks of life. The limitations, unwanted attention, and stereotypes that accompany being transgender could have easily broken me, but instead I have geared my experiences towards forming myself into the confident, fearless person I am today.