Non-Binary and Transgender People
When a child is born the first thing their parents hear is, “Congratulations it’s a girl,” or “Congratulations it’s a boy”. Already trying to enforce the idea that there are only two genders the moment they take their first breath. JAC Stringer of the Heartland Trans* Wellness Group defined, gender binary as the cultural belief of only two genders existing and they have to correspond to the appropriate sex. This social construct is iterated on a daily basis whether it is through medical institutions, language or applications. As a result of its dominance in society, the gender binary system is highly exclusive towards non-binary and transgender people. Today, I will discuss why gender non-conforming and transgender …show more content…
For instance according to Erin D. Thorn in 2014, when a child is born with a variation of male and female genitalia some doctors suggest surgery, “to identify the child as either male or female,”. This implies that they must be “fixed” or that something is wrong with them because their sexual organs defy the binary system. They are also being denied the right to choose if they want the surgery or not by doing it when they are infants. However, according to Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article published in the year 2000, when medical professionals perform surgery, the child’s identity is expected to match the sex picked out for them. They’re reinforcing heteronormativity by having them identify as either man or woman just because the sex they were assigned represents more of the male or female anatomy. Heteronormativity is the notion that there are only two genders, which reflect their biological sex and sexual attraction only occurs between the opposite genders. Basically, people are expected to follow this social construct because anything else is perceived as unnatural or different. Now that I’ve discussed the medical impact, I’ll be going over a few other contributing …show more content…
In 2002 author Emelia Lombardi, organized a study of 402 transgender and gender non-conforming people. Their data revealed that over half had suffered through harassment or violence. Illustrating that violence among them is a prevalent issue within the United States. Although explanations behind using violence differ among individuals, some articles entail reasons as to why this type of hate is common. In August 2009, authors Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook, studied the relationships among cisgender and transgender people. They noticed that cisgender men who responded with violence after being romantically or sexually involved with transgender women justified their behavior by claiming they felt feminized or tricked. Since aggression is believed to be a masculine trait, their reaction was a way to regain their masculinity and heterosexuality. In other words, they wanted to regain their masculinity through violence because to them, being with a transgender woman meant they were loosing their identity as men and becoming gay. This problematic opinion supports the notion that lack of knowledge concerning gender identity leads to intolerance. Now that I’ve spoken about the problem, I will be addressing a few
When a child is born the first thing their parents hear is, “Congratulations it’s a girl,” or “Congratulations it’s a boy”. Already trying to enforce the idea that there are only two genders the moment they take their first breath. JAC Stringer of the Heartland Trans* Wellness Group defined, gender binary as the cultural belief of only two genders existing and they have to correspond to the appropriate sex. This social construct is iterated on a daily basis whether it is through medical institutions, language or applications. As a result of its dominance in society, the gender binary system is highly exclusive towards non-binary and transgender people. Today, I will discuss why gender non-conforming and transgender …show more content…
For instance according to Erin D. Thorn in 2014, when a child is born with a variation of male and female genitalia some doctors suggest surgery, “to identify the child as either male or female,”. This implies that they must be “fixed” or that something is wrong with them because their sexual organs defy the binary system. They are also being denied the right to choose if they want the surgery or not by doing it when they are infants. However, according to Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article published in the year 2000, when medical professionals perform surgery, the child’s identity is expected to match the sex picked out for them. They’re reinforcing heteronormativity by having them identify as either man or woman just because the sex they were assigned represents more of the male or female anatomy. Heteronormativity is the notion that there are only two genders, which reflect their biological sex and sexual attraction only occurs between the opposite genders. Basically, people are expected to follow this social construct because anything else is perceived as unnatural or different. Now that I’ve discussed the medical impact, I’ll be going over a few other contributing …show more content…
In 2002 author Emelia Lombardi, organized a study of 402 transgender and gender non-conforming people. Their data revealed that over half had suffered through harassment or violence. Illustrating that violence among them is a prevalent issue within the United States. Although explanations behind using violence differ among individuals, some articles entail reasons as to why this type of hate is common. In August 2009, authors Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook, studied the relationships among cisgender and transgender people. They noticed that cisgender men who responded with violence after being romantically or sexually involved with transgender women justified their behavior by claiming they felt feminized or tricked. Since aggression is believed to be a masculine trait, their reaction was a way to regain their masculinity and heterosexuality. In other words, they wanted to regain their masculinity through violence because to them, being with a transgender woman meant they were loosing their identity as men and becoming gay. This problematic opinion supports the notion that lack of knowledge concerning gender identity leads to intolerance. Now that I’ve spoken about the problem, I will be addressing a few