Discrimination And Inequality

Many people do not always realize the amount of discrimination and inequality that is present in our society. One can define discrimination as an action based on prejudice or racism and can harm a group/individual by means of unequal treatment. Discrimination can occur anywhere and everywhere— schools, workplaces, stores, etc. It can also impact a variety of people based on their gender, sexual orientation, race, and/or ethnicity. In a society that is a blend of races, ethnicities, and cultures discrimination and inequality should not exist. While I was a freshman and sophomore in high school, I witnessed the discrimination of a transgender classmate. This classmate was biologically a male, but identified as a female. Many of the students …show more content…
This type of discrimination is most likely rooted in the idea that people were not accepting of others who felt as though they were the opposite sex. For instance, some people from the older generations have the mind set of what it means to be a male or female and that people are the sex that they were born as. In comparison to the film, The Mask We Live In, people have different perception as what it means to be a man or a woman. For many, that does not include a person to live their life as the opposite sex. In addition, this type of discrimination can be a result of individual discrimination It can be considered individual discrimination because one person (or the community of transgender people) are being discriminated by others who have a negative opinion about transgender people. For decades, people have had a negative reaction to people who do not fit the norm and many would consider those who identify as transgender to be going against the norm. One could say that is a result of both acquired and/or ascribed differences. For instance it could be considered acquired differences since many people who are transgender do not identify as being transgender until later on in their life. On the other hand, it can be classified as an ascribed difference because many, if not all, transgender people feel as though they are either a male/female who was born in the wrong body. The discrimination of transgender people is most likely reinforced because people are unsure of how to treat them since they are considered to be “different.” People should not discriminate against anyone. We, as a society, should be open and welcoming towards all people or at the very least have tolerance for those are “different” from