I Am A Woman Bettcher Analysis

In this paper I will be interpreting the exchange “I’m a woman.”, and “You’re really a man.” using the tools Bettcher provides in Trans Identities and First-Person Authority. Bettcher explains what the first person authority is and how it is useful for the transgender community while mainstream uses of gender and sex negatively affecting the transgender community.
First person authority is things that happen internal to a person, such as their thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and desires. These are things others cannot object, and you do not have to show evidence for. Someone cannot oppose when you say, “I’m sad”, “I’m in pain”, or “I want to eat”, and you do not need to show evidence for your belief. This is why it is called first person authority. It would be illogical for someone to say, “I am hungry” and …show more content…
How society visualizes sex and gender has a great deal of cultural pressure. Mainstream society says things like “too girly”, “very manly”, “like a girl”, and “like a man”. As a society we have stereotypes of how each gender should present themselves and expect them to behave a certain way. When someone in mainstream society asks someone if they are a man or woman, they are not asking about chromosomes, it is code for “which set of genitalia do you possess?”. People relate gender to a person’s physical sex and not a mental state of being or expression.
Coded language comes from societies curiosity; it would be inappropriate to ask a stranger if they have a penis or vagina. People in this society equally have a right to privacy of thought and of their physical body. We have a right to cover up our bodies as much as we feel comfortable and do not have to show our bodies to others unless we choose. So mainstream society likes to showcase physical sex by stereotypes, gender roles, and by presuming sex and gender always