The struggle of finding yourself is difficult enough, but finding yourself in a continuously pressuring society makes it harder. For Alison Bechdel and the time period in which she came out, she was able to do so in a more welcoming environment than her father, albeit with some struggles regardless such as being made fun of and the pressures from her father to be a “girl.” For Hong Kingston, she struggles to find her own voice and identity growing up in a strict Chinese-American family and what it means to be a strong woman. Bechdel’s Fun Home and Kingston’s Woman Warrior come to terms differently with how women (and men) are treated, but they both aim to break the heteronormative, patriarchal stereotypes by embracing their identity and their…
“What Are Your Pronouns: The Latest Craze on Campus” is an opinion piece by Jay Nordlinger written for National Review, which is a conservative political magazine. Nordlinger is a self-identified conservative faculty member at a private university, and his article rejects both feminist and queer theory language tenants. Overal, he criticizes the use of gender-neural pronouns calling the practice overly prescriptive and a craze. He begins the piece by telling a story in which he only used the pronoun “himself” to introduce both male and female facility members on an academic panel. This story was used to frame the conversation around the use of the universal-he as a natural and correct use of the English language.…
The primary goal of the film “L.I.E (Long Island Expressway)” directed by, Michael Cuesta, is about discovering your sexual identity. This is represented through the journey of Howie, a 16-year-old boy, who has recently lost his mother to a car accident. This traumatic experience is exacerbated by his father’s frequent absenteeism and their estranged relationship. Without the guidance of his parents to assist him in navigating themes such as: gender, sexual identity, homosexuality, sexual boundaries etc. Howie is left to gather information from his primary supports, his friends, all of whom, represent a form of sexual identity.…
Strategies/techniques for comprehension and analysis: Strictly female pronouns: We found that the author of The Whole Way made a highly interesting and unique point, that point is that she (the author) strictly used female pronouns. Now, as far as I know, this doesn’t connect to Buddhism, however, I still found this incredibly fascinating, and I am going to connect it to the writing style. Using female pronouns instead of male pronouns goes against a bunch of unspoken rules of writing, making this an intriguing read. Introduction to Buddhism:…
Gender is a locus of power; Class is a locus of power; Age is a locus of power etc… if you need to discuss identity in relation to a text/topic offer something…
When I first watched Tomboy I finally saw something that resembled my boyhood. Adults are still very careful to not assign a transgender identity to children, often times ignoring the child and stating that adults know better than what the child is feeling. The filmmaker is careful to not assign any identity to the character, making the film less of a statement and more of a capturing of a summer, yet so many of the scenes are difficult to interpret in any way other than that of a trans narrative. The use of nature, color, and gender performance don’t let us escape the idea that we are watching a little boy grow up.…
Borrowing the genre of melodrama, Almodóvar’s award-winning film, All About My Mother (1999), features transgender and post-queer study of sexuality. Apart from presenting two pre-op transgenders, the film renders a variety of “abnormal” intimate relationships, including the protagonist, Manuela’s family without a father, Huma’s ultimately failed lesbian relationship with Nina, and the family formed at the end of the film, constituted by Manuela, Rosa’s baby, and queer girlfriends. These unusual forms of intimacy disturb the hereto-sexist institutions, e.g. marriage and family. Portraying gender, sexuality, and identity as unfixed, the film mocks the conventional perception by interweaving the theatrical performance with the real life: On the one hand, the fixity and stereotype of femininity and masculinity are fostered by cinematic representations, exemplified by Hollywood productions; On the other hand, the reference to…
Ever since I was a little girl, I have been taught about what a girl should and shouldn’t do, what a girl should or shouldn’t wear, and even what a girl should or shouldn’t be. And as I got older my identity has slowly conformed to these gender ideas. But, what if when I was younger I hadn’t been taught about gender and what if gender ideals wouldn’t have been pushed onto us by the media? Would I be the same person that I am today, or would I be someone completely different? I would hope that I would be the same person now, but I do not believe that that would be the case.…
Finding Yourself The musical’s central theme was searching for identity through the transition between childhood and adolescence. The teenagers are all learning about their sexuality through conversations, letters, and dreams. The scene at Moritz’s funeral with his father is one I found especially moving.…
This essay opens explaining the problem of the English language from Peter’s perspective which is the gender problem. Peters explains that the words he, she, his, and her are perfectly functional singular pronouns but do not help describe one in a non-gendered way. Peters states that this issue is old; however, it is relevant as more people are declaring as transgender or identifying without a primary gender but want a word to match them. The…
Throughout my life, two things have always remained true and constant, I am female and white. Although my understanding of these two identities has shifted over time, they have still consistently defined me. My gender is something that has always been prevalent in my life, to how conscious I’ve always been of it, to how it affects me now. My race, though, especially in adolescence, was never something I thought about or recognized. Being white, I never and still do not have to think about race.…
Gender Identity Paper Issues in Diversity Social Work 2200 Anjelica Montesdeoca Weber State University Gender Identity Gender identity is defined by being male or female, girl or boy. Females are expected to do many things. For example, cook, clean, have nice bodies, take care of the kids, some are required to have a job, etc.…
that emerged in previous research exploring Black women’s gendered racial identity. Across age groups (15 – 47), Black women consistently acknowledged how their experiences are intertwined, thereby leaving them particularly prone to discrimination, oppression, and stereotyping on the basis of their race and gender (Settles, 2006; Thomas et al., 2011). In this way women’s responses in the current sample align with that of previous research. However, there are three ways in which responses from women in the current sample differ or enhance the findings of previous research on Black women’s gendered racial identity.…
Sex, gender, and social class influence institutions of society, including the criminal justice system. John R. Fuller the author of “Criminal Justice Mainstream and Crosscurrents” says the justice system as a whole is a corrupt system even before sex and gender has been added as a factor. Throughout all levels of criminal justice, local, state and federal, there is a substantial double standard. Along with the prevalent gender inequality influence, intersection of race and gender, and gender and socioeconomic class are determining factors for those who are able to be successful in criminal justice and are more often offenders. Men and women are treated differently based on sex or gender by law enforcement and as opposite gendered law enforcement…
On one episode of MTV’s True Life: I’m Genderqueer, they follow two genderqueer people as they cope with their decision and construct a way to successfully explain their identities and personal feelings to their parents. Most of the time we only hear the genders that exist within the binary, like transgender, that is why it is such a huge step in surfacing their identities as genderqueer. MTV’s episode played a major role in making this group that has generally been invisible to the public, now visible to the world. Over the course of the episode we watch as the individuals struggle with not only being accepted by their parents but also accepting themselves. Jacob Tobia, 24, uses the pronouns as they/them to describe oneself, whereas Brennen Beckwith, 17, uses the pronouns he/his.…