Sociology Of Transgendered Bodies

The transgendered bodies, among other bodies, are an inseparable identity of humanity. Despite of the history of the transgendered bodies began in 1755, when the first openly lesbian and transgender woman came out by publishing her autobiography, (Allen 2008) the society that we’re living in is still having a rather difficult time on embracing the identity truly and fully. Though the growing attention towards transgendered bodies nowadays is making some significant progresses, the transgender community is still suffering extreme pressure from society. Since transgender refers both to the idea of moving across from one pre-existing gender category to another either temporarily or permanently, and to the idea of transcending or living ‘beyond …show more content…
It stresses how the contemporary body is increasingly seen as ‘a project which should be worked at and accomplished as part of an individual’s self-identity.” (Ekins & King, 582) With the help of technology, human beings are able to rebuild their gender identities. However, transgendering is a problematic process as four core sub-processes of body transgendering are involved: ‘substituting’, ‘concealing’, ‘implying’ and ‘redefining’. (Ekins & King, 584) ‘Substituting’ means the physical processes of replacing the body parts which are associated with one specific gender, with the substitutions associated with the opposite gender; the result may vary depending on personal preference and technology level. The second sub-process, ‘concealing’, helps to conceal or hide the parts that are visually conflicted with the intended gender role. Then ‘implying’ takes role, as the human bodies are often apprehended in social interaction in clothed forms, to imply the gendered form of the body beneath is necessary. ‘Implying’ also means ‘virtual gender swapping’, which can be vital in transgendering. The final sub-process is ‘redefining’, a stage which is subtler and multi-layered, and it is where the previous three sub-processes relate to one another, then eventually leads to the acceptance of the binary divide. (Ekins & King, 584) These four sub-processes have four corresponding transgendering stories, which are migrating body stories, oscillating body stories, erasing body stories and transcending body stories. (Ekins & King) The transition is considered completed both physically and psychologically after going through all the sub-processes mentioned above. The time spent on the entire process may vary depends on individuals, however it will be equally