Why Did Victor's Family Choose To Disregard Who He Is?

In a recent news story reporting the death of a Ross High School Senior (see Appendix), the name of the individual who had passed was reported inaccurately. Victor, described as Laura in the story, was a transgender male. Born with the name Laura and the female biological sex, Victor felt that even though his anatomical sex was female, his inner sense of being, or gender, was male. As a result, Victor identified himself as male and ultimately decided to behave and dress as a male in order to actualize his identity. When his death was being reported in the news, Victor’s family told reporters that the name of the person who had passed was Laura, completely dismissing the fact that he is not their daughter. Looking at this situation from a sociological perspective, one may ask “Why did Victor’s family choose to disregard who he …show more content…
The fact that someone can identify as something other than male or female or something different from their sex strays from societal norms. In this case, Victor’s decision to identify as something other than his officially recognized sex determined at birth and allows him to be labeled as deviant. This can be explained through the gender binary. We have been led to believe in society that they are only two gender categories. Victor’s parents may feel themselves that his behavior or decision is deviant and through their decision to not recognize Victor’s gender that he identifies with can be considered an informal and negative sanction. Or, Victor’s parents may feel societal pressures and experience informal, negative sanctions by others in society through supporting their son’s choice to go against the societal norms of what it means to be male or female. These sanctions in both scenarios are considered informal because they are no laws that would prevent Victor, and others like him, from doing so. They are both negative because overall, people disapprove of doing