Mercedes Ruehl, an Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress, once claims, ”Nature chooses who will be transgender; individuals don't choose this.” Janet Mock is a natural-born girl, but God puts her in the wrong frame. Society and her family should not blame her to be a transgender youth. People should give respect and support for those who suffer from the trouble to identity themselves. However, her childhood experiences with finding and expressing her gender identity is not going smoothly. Janet Mock not only feels the pressure from society, but also from her beloved family members. The important lesson her mother, grandmother and sister taught her in her early childhood is that hiding true identity can help her to keep away from laughter and scold, especially those with malicious intent. Her family members believed that they were rising a boy child, and a boy should not act or wear anything that is feminine. “This [Western culture’s gender binary] system proclaims that sex is determined at birth,” Janet Mock claims. “You should act …show more content…
He came up with punishment and threats to stop his boy to behave like a girl. Janet proclaims that she wants to be a secretary when her teacher asked in the class. She states, “That’s so me, I thought, attracted to the elementary hyper-feminine, submissive depiction of womanhood — a sharp contrast to the masculine world where I lived with my father” (37). Parents always want to give “the best” for their children, but the idea of the best is base upon their experience and learning of the world. Janet’s father believed bicycle, all kinds of balls, and video games are what Janet should be interested in. Therefore, he cannot believe why his boy would choose a “woman” job as his dream job. Her father believed that he was doing his job to guide and protect her baby son to get target or hut from others. However, his way of “love” isolated Janet from the rest of the
We are all living in a society that is filled with social expectations of gender. From our early age, we seem to be able to response to these expectations accordingly. For example, we notice Barbies are for girls while robots and cars are for boys only. In the “Performative Gender”, “Doing Gender”, and “Nerd Box”, authors all indicate gender is learned instead of inherited. They bring out their insightful observation and critical personal experience to illustrate how the social expectations with punitive effects construct our gender unconsciously. These articles provide a great lens for us to understand the mental state and behaviors of the main characters in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. In Fun Home, Alison Bechdel portrays how living in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania during the 1930s not only repressed both her father, Bruce, and her from coming out as a homosexual and genderqueer, but also trapped her mother, Helen, in her “women box”. Through the graphic memoir, Fun Home is able to present the struggling process that one may need to go through before admitting one’s unusual gender identity and sexual orientation.
We have all experienced it. Whether it be a birthday party or a baby shower, we have all been exposed to it, even if we have not realized it. The next time you attend a baby shower, pay close attention to the decorations, specifically the balloons. Universally, a balloon stamped “It's a Boy!” will be blue, and correspondingly, a pink balloon will be labeled “It's a Girl!” This observation might seem trivial at first, but a close look shows that this pattern haunts every baby event.
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
Janet Mock’s story was very interesting to me because it brought about a new approach to people discovering that a person is transgendered than I had seen. For example, in the film Three to Infinity: Beyond Two Genders, one of the individuals, Zander King, recalled how he had been harassed on the street for being transgendered. Nicole in Amy Ellis Nutt’s book also experienced some harassment while she was in the process of becoming a girl. I liked how Janet Mock’s story didn’t have those common examples of harassment. Even though she had to endure her father not always understanding why she wouldn’t “act like a
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.
Imagine, you go to work in your dress shoes, black suit, buzz-cut hair, red power tie, and nobody pays you a second look. But, the second you get home, you kick off your shoes, and don high-heels, the suit is replaced with a dress, your short wig is taken off, and you let your long curls fall, and your tie is in the closet, with a necklace in its place. Such hiding of true feelings is not an unheard concept in the transgender world. Millions of transgender people will never express their true feelings in their lifetime. This is similar to The Intruder by Andre Dubus, Kenneth Girard a
Mock explains her theme throughout her novel based on personal experiences and explains the battles she must face with herself and society constantly. She mentions, “Many cis people assume that trans women, whether we “pass” as cis or not, are pretending to be someone we are not…” (161). Trans women are solemnly capable of deciding whether they want to release their personal struggles. It is a personal choice the individual should take on their own time. She explains how trans women deal with the idea of society not thinking they will be accepted.
In “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls,” Pollitt writes about the differences between growing up as a boy growing up as a girl. She brings up the stereotypes that society naturally creates between genders in early ages, which leads to the lifestyle and path that boys and girls are raised in. Parents and feminist alike play a big part in establishing these sex roles. They raise their kids wanting them to be successful at what they are expected to be good at based on their gender and the trend that has been set before them.
Additionally, she is aware that her son could be outcasted if he doesn’t follow the trend as other young male children are. Instead, he takes an interest in things that aren’t seen as masculine and are not seen as something a man would
Imagine living in a world where not knowing what’s under a person’s pants didn’t get under people’s skin because such private matters had never been a public thing. In an article from The Globe and Mail titled, “The genderless baby? Well-intentioned but wrong”, author, Judith Timson, criticizes the parents of the aforementioned baby, Storm, and their decision to hide Storm’s gender. Brandishing the words of Lady Gaga as if she were a credible source of research, Timson argues that Storm’s parents are depriving the child of a sexual and gender identity by keeping his or her sex a secret. However, as valid as Timson’s concerns are towards this controversial decision, it is important to note that Storm’s parents are not depriving Storm of his/her sex and consequently, Storm’s sexual/gender identity. If anything, the constant input of the public is the main struggle Storm will face in the exploration and development of his/her identity. Therefore, the genderless baby at the center of this societal storm, is not so much in risk of being deprived an identity as Timson contends, rather the child is at risk of being denied one.
Young girls are designated and adorned in pink clothing from birth, establishing the separation from the ‘dominant’ males. Continuing on, the character is “exposed”, and it’s no surprise that she knows exactly “where she stands” in society. Girls and boys become separated in almost all aspects of society. In school, young girls are habituated into hanging out with other girls and learning a set of social norms that are carried into adulthood. Girls are not encouraged to be as aggressive or competitive as boys in either sports or academics. Girls are taught to be dainty and submissive, “knowing their place” in society. Little girls are taught play housewife, nurse, beautician, or singer, while boys play soldier, doctor, heroes, or sports affiliated activities. This seemingly innocent child’s play is teaching
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.
What does it mean to be a woman or man? Whether we a man or a woman, in today’s society it is not determined just by our sex organs. Our gender includes a complex mix of beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics. How do you act, talk, and behave like a woman or man? Are you feminine or masculine, both, or neither? These are questions that help us get to the core of our gender and gender identity. Gender identity is how we feel about and express our gender and gender roles: clothing, behavior, and personal appearance. It is a feeling that we have as early as age two or three. In the article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender,” the author, Aaron Devor, is trying to persuade his readers that gender shapes how we behave because of the expectation from us and relate to one another. He does this by using an educational approach, describing gender stereotypes, and making cultural references. He gets readers to reflect on how “Children’s developing concepts of themselves as individuals are necessarily bound up …to understand the expectations of the society which they are a part of” (389). Growing up, from being a child to an adult is where most of us try to find ourselves. We tend to struggle during this transition period, people around us tell us what to be and not to be, Jamaica Kincaidt in her short story, “Girl” tells just that, the setting is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly. The mother soberly
Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by many elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood followed by adolescence. One major societal issue uprising with the way children are raised in today’s society is the gender specific dressing for boys and girls. The history with gender specific dressing is a one sided masculine enforced point of view for centuries. As children move through childhood and into adolescence, they are exposed to many factors which influence their behaviors and attitudes regarding gender roles. It is difficult for a child in today’s society to grow to adulthood without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping. The question lies whether the view of gender specific dressing shall change or stay the same. As society continues to evolve and grow so does the tolerance of new uprising views for the general purpose of equality and freedom to do as pleased. Children regularly learn to adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. These attitudes and behaviors are generally learned first in the home but then reinforced by their environment, school experience, and media viewing. Nonetheless, the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting. Culture, values, and beliefs are the parents early role for passing on, both overtly
Each person in society experiences their gender and sexual orientation differently, as well as experiencing other people’s gender and sexual orientation. Redefining Realness tells the story and journey, of a trans woman, who ventures through life to finding her inner self. This biography not only delves into a personal story, but also bits and pieces of experiences people of the trans community may have in common in their own personal journeys.