Whipping Girl Julia Seano Analysis

The American dream is an example of a national spirit that represents different ideologies. The set of ideas may be of democracy, equality matters, liberty, rights, and opportunities. The American dream believes in freedom for prosperity and success for its citizens. The idea suggests that upward social mobility for individuals can be achieved only through hard work. In a story done by George Saunders, the American dream is exemplified in several instances. The author, George, tells the story of contemporary America through a diary. The main character in the story is a father to three daughters. The family’s struggles are examples of how individuals will go extra miles just to provide for their families and also

Zhuo uses pathos at the opening of her argument by giving an anecdote about a girl in high school named Maggie Sunseri who experienced, as well as witnessed discrimination for the way she and her female peers dressed. This makes the reader feel sympathy for girls as well as creates anger in the reader towards the district. Zhou continues to build on these two emotions with other anecdotes throughout the article. She describes a high school prom in South Jordan, Utah, where she talks with another high school student named Cierra Gregersen. She explains Gregerson’s experience at her prom where girls weren’t allowed in because the didn’t meet dress code standards. Zhou quotes Gregerson saying ‘“Girls were outside the dance crying hysterically,”(Zhou, 2015) to continue making the reader feel sympathy for the girls in this situation. She also builds anger in the readers to help motivate them to stand up against school boards. She does this by villainizing many teachers and other school employees when she quotes teachers and principals from schools stating sexist remarks such as “boys will be boys”( Zhou, 2015) and “dressing sexy is “asking for a response” (Zhou, 2015) to show the male entitled environment schools produce. Zhou not only builds sympathy in the reader for girls, but also transgenders and gays. She describes how transgenders are also being negatively impacted. By giving a few more examples that cover more than just how girls are affected Zhou is able to impact more readers, creating anger and sympathy in them. She also begins to use ethos

A number of the stories, graphic memoirs and poems we discussed in class have introduced us to women who have been trapped in some way in their lives. Henrik Ibsen’s A Dolls House (1879) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) both demonstrate women being trapped by men in a patriarchal society in the nineteenth century. However, Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are you going, where have you been?”(1974), Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” (1978) and Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis (2005) are about social norms and girls being sexualized at a young age in the 20th century.

The main setting of Trans-Sister Radio is within the small town of Bartlett, Vermont. The primary focus is set on Dana, a chromosomal-male college professor who is in the process of transitioning into the female gender. As a male, Dana is well-received by her community, even though she is perceived as strange and effeminate. She forms normal romantic relationships with women, has a fulfilling career, and is admired by those surrounding her, however she still feels incomplete. Unfortunately, what is missing from Dana is not externally noticeable, it is intrinsic happiness. From a young age, Dana suffered from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder that causes individuals to experience serious distress due to frustration with the sex and gender assigned at birth (APA, 2013). To alleviate the traumatic pain that has burdened her for decades, Dana makes the bold decision to partake in complete gender reassignment surgery. Trans-Sister Radio challenges the prototypical ideologies of character growth, morality, and relationships through its descriptive insight on transsexuality and thus gender.

Growing up in America in the 50s and 60s was brutal for young trans people, let alone an transgender orphan born into poverty. Her mother killed herself when Sylvia was just three; her biological father was already long gone. Sylvia’s forbidding Venezuelan grandmother took her in, but despised Sylvia’s

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.

They should have the right to dress as they choose, love who they choose, and be who they choose. It angers me that people believe differently considering they’ve never been in their shoes. In the “Paradoxes of Gender” Judith Lorber states, “We need to change biological sex in order to uphold the principle that biological sex determine one character”(41). Lorber's’ preconceived notion that one’s sex dictates their personality is flawed. It proves that society is unaccepting of people outside of the “norm”. Middle Sexes speaks to a wide variety of people but is mainly directed to transphobic people. However, the film isn’t very compelling because it doesn’t take the audience’s outlook into consideration. Through biological evidence and personal stories, the film strives to persuade transphobic people to be more accepting. Thomas attempts to persuade his target audience by referencing the science behind people who blur the lines between female and male. His unique approach is more convincing than an argument that stems from one’s opinions. However, his lack of counterarguments makes it difficult for the audience to relate.

Hannah Carson, a 16-year-old high school girl, has a secret that only she and her immediate family knows because if the news would to ever be revealed, she would be regarded as a freak in the eyes of society. For as long as Hannah could remember, she has been told by her parents that she should use the female’s bathroom even though she personally identifies herself as a male. Hannah is what society calls a transgender. She and many others like her are starting to emerge into the mainstream society to express their feelings and take their rights. This can be seen in the article “Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics” which is about should people who have penises be permitted or restricted from using female restrooms. We will analyze this article through several sociological key concepts.

Valentine on the other hand in seeking out so many conflicted and widespread views of gender and self creates enough fragmentation of gender labels for his argument of individualism and self-identity to shine out. In presenting the reader with individuals such as Mona(Valentine 116) plagued with alternating bouts of confusion and zealous certainty regarding herself and labels, Valentine practically invites the reader to conclude that certain gender bound labels cannot be on good faith placed by the reader on such individuals. Additionally in interviewing Sheryl who is not part of the typical subjects found at the meat market, the argument on its own is lent credibility by further enlarging the representation of the gender queer segment to both drag queens and individuals from different ethnic and financial

Eileraas, Karina. “The Brandon Teena Story: Rethinking the Body, Gender Identity and Violence Against Women.” Quod.lib.umich.edu, University

Women yearn for their voices to speak loud enough for the entire world to hear. Women crave for their voices to travel the nations in a society where they are expected to turn the volume all the way down. The world expects females to stay quiet and ignore the pain brought onto them from sexual crime. They do not dare stand up for what they believe in or discuss their experiences that bring them pain. Poets such as Ana Castillo and Lawrence Ferlinghetti describe parts of life that society often ignores. E. E. Cummings supports the ideas of Castillo and Ferlinghetti by appropriating a more disturbing mindset. These poets demonstrate the way in which women obtained a supposable to behave and react to situations that have caused them harm or have the potential to.

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).

In order to properly view a story from a feminist perspective, it is important that the reader fully understands what the feminist perspective entails. “There are many feminist perspectives, and each perspective uses different approaches to analyze and interpret texts. One is that gender is “socially constructed” and another is that power is distributed unequally on the basis of sex, race, and ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, ability, sexuality, and economic class status” (South University Online, 2011, para. 1). The story “Girl” is an outline of the things young girls

Paper Dolls The 2006 documentary Paper Dolls takes a hard look at the ways in which a troupe of transgender women navigates the waters of Israel’s twisted governmental functions. In the film the viewer can see a few themes; gender fluidity, transnational family relationships, domestic labor, and finally gender in militarized nations. Paper Dolls is a key tool for viewers to interpret how transgender bodies are viewed and understood in the militarized context of Israel. In this interpretation is it important to be respectful and stay within the Paper Dolls’ boundaries using the proper pronouns, etc. however, that did not happen in this case.

During an episode of The Cleveland Show a man sleeps with a character who turns out to be transgender and is literally sickened by this fact. Although not a television show, The Crying Game is partially responsible for bringing this idea to the general public. Serano references this movie in “Whipping Girl”, which shows a similar repulsed reaction when the character reveals she is physically male. Serano also states “the media hypersexualizes us by creating the impression that most trans women are sex workers or sexual deceivers” (Serano, 16). They are either deceptive by tricking us with their penises, or they are pathetic and ugly, which makes them look like a failed woman.