Question

Beyond Binaries; Seeing sexual diversity

After reading and watching or listening to the stories of Thomas Beattie (The pregnant male), Little Jazz (a transgendered child), Princess Boy, Caster Semanya (an intersexed athlete), MacK Beggs ,and Fallon Fox how do you understand gender? How have these stories changed your understanding of gender issues? What are some assumptions that you had previously made about gender that you wish to no longer make?

Discuss at least one story in depth in your paper.

Are you attracted to someone because of their sex(male/intersex/female) or because of their gender identity? (Man-ness/gender queerness/woman-ness) or because of their gender expression(masculinities/androgynies/femininities)? Why or why not?

Your paper will be graded on

your ability to reflect and think critically about the concepts presented.

The mechanics of writing.

Inclusion of facts and accurate data from reliable sources

Citations.

Videos to watch

Pregnant male: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkaL9z2EoI

Im jazz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt_wLU_EB2w

Fallon fox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ps1d7PSUVA

Answer 1

Gender is a term that most so-called "normal" never pay much attention to. One is born either a boy or a girl and well, one behaves accordingly. Or rather one must behave accordingly. Gender is an integral part of who a person is; whether the person will be referred to as he or she. Most people would rarely take a notice of this. It is so obvious for the most of us. And then comes gender socialization. Gender socialization according to Henslin (1999) refers to learning of culturally defined gender roles. That is, people adapt to the attitudes and behaviour that is considered appropriate for the gender they belong to. This what leads to girls liking dolls and pink stuff while boys liking cars and guns and other blue stuff, or what bathroom to use! However, the story doesnot remain the same for everyone. And that is what we see in the stories of Thomas Beattie (The pregnant male), Little Jazz (a transgendered child), Princess Boy, Caster Semanya (an intersexed athlete), MacK Beggs ,and Fallon Fox. It presents to us a side that most of us are either not aware of entirely or are not comfortable with.

When we look at the stories of the people mentioned above we understand the difference between sex and gender which is very cruical for us to be understood. Sex may be used to refer to the person's biological "maleness" or "femalesness" so to say. Wheras gender refers to the non-physical aspects of being a male or a female. It is what a person feels about his/her gender to mention more simply. After looking at these stories I realised that gender is a crucial aspect of our identity and determines not only who we feel we are,but the our choices, our attitudes and behaviour in everyday life. It is who we feel we are naturally despite how our bodies look. And that is hw gender should ideally be looked at. A gender for anyone is what the person feels like. And that it is as normal as some who is biologically a female and also a female. It is not a disorder, or a disease or something that should be considered a taboo in the societies we live in.

The stories of the people mentioned above have definitely changed my understanding of gender. The first is that it may not always be biologically determined. Gender is what one identifies with and that determines a person's masculinity and femininity. This is a natural thing and should never be treated as an anomaly. However, I realise that there are a lot of issues associated with feeling differently than your biological make up. It is means that a person who may be gender dysphoric has a body of one gender and the mind of another gender as Jazz explains in her story. And as a child the process of understanding their reality could be a very tormenting one. The children or even adults, including their parents may actually be confused with what is happening and may not have adequate information or resources to deal with this confusion. It makes me realise that understanding this reality is as difficult for the concerned individual as for the others. What makes this worse for them is that they are singled out, isolated, taunted and at times even are assaulted for being different or special. They may be called names in school or their social surroundings and it totally crushes any confidence or hope they may have while they are trying to battle the already existing gender confusion. The difference in the feeling of gender may even lead to identity crises and eventually lead to suicidal thoughts. Life is not easy for someone who is gender dysphoric. I realise that while there is identity confusion the society in general is more responsible for the trouble the individuals face in coming to terms with their gender. Everyday becomes a challenge for them as they are discriminated against in schools, clubs, sports and other everyday activities. It is difficult for people when forms and applications mention give only a dual choice in gender and various laws and regulations actually stop them from adopting their natural preferences and in fact not allowing them to participate in activities that are so easily available to all others like sports and games. Sometimes parents of other children may not allow their children to play with children who feel differently about their gender. All of these things may lead such people to feel secluded, and they themselves start withdrawing from social situations and eventually deciding even to end their lives.

I used to take gender for granted earlier and felt that there are somethings that are gender specific. But now I realise that it is a preference. What gender one identifies with and what choices one makes as a result of this identification are one’s individual choices and preferences and everyone has a right to make those choices and preferences. Also I feel it is important that family and friends not only supports these choices but will have to make extra efforts in standing up for them with the people who make these choices. Further law specifically and the society at large needs to make it conducive for helping make the right choices for themselves and live with those choices happily.

The story of Jazz (a transgendered life)

Jazz is a girl who feels like a girl in her brain but is a boy by body. But she prefers to be a girl because she feels like a girl. Born in 2000, she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder when she was just five. While initially her family presented her in gender neutral clothing she has time and again asserted that she is a female. When she turned six, her family openly began talking of her as a transgender kid and her challenges of growing up. Jazz has an older sister and two brothers. Her sister referred to her as having a disorder and Jazz didn’t like this as mentioned in her youtube interview with Barbara Waiters. Jazz has all the preferences and likes of a girl. When she play soccer, she wears pink shoes. She prefers feminine clothing and dreams of being a mermaid. In 2005 her family allowed her to openly identify as a girl and even sought medical intervention. Jazz is give hormone blockers that stop testosterone to enter her body. As a kid Jazz drew picture of how a little girl who wanted to dress as a girl to school but wasn’t allowed to. Later however she was allowed to do so. This explains the difficulty and the confusion that transgender kids may feel. She has even made herself a mermaid outfit for swimming because that would help her disguise her genitalia. There is just a tail below the waist and nothing else. I feel it’s like a coping mechanism. The kid may have not known how to escape this constant confusion and the questions related to it and therefore adopt some sort of a disguise. Jazz in the interview herself confesses that people treat her differently as they do not understand the concept of a transgender. She mentions that her friends think of her as weird and that she shouldn’t have the same rights as them. In fact when Jazz shared the fact of her being a transgender on a video online people actually threatened to kill her. However, Jazz is lucky as she has a supportive family and bunch of supportive friends. Life is however not that easy even for her. She has to battle criticism and people telling her that she cannot play on the girls’ team because she is physically stronger. Jazz has fought a two and half years of legal battle that has allowed her to play on the team however.

Jazz and her family have fought hard for the rights of Jazz and people like her. Jazz and her parents founded TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation to assist transgender youth, she founded Purple Rainbow Tails, a company in which she fashions rubber mermaid tails to raise money for transgender children in 2013, she has been on many award shows, modelled for television commercials, featured in reality series and appeared in multiple interviews. I believe what really helped her was that one, her family was very supportive and two, the correctly mobilized the resources they had especially the media to their advantage. The fact that people knew her condition may have actually helped her in getting a wider and easier acceptance. The challenge for her is in making successful relationships with the opposite gender. Jazz is attracted to boys however, they have a trouble in accepting her for who she is and may actually ask her questions that are not fair. She may even find difficulty in getting a partner who actually accepts her for who she is.

It is normally that when someone is attracted to a person sexually it is based on the gender. The manness or the womanness. However, once I understand the reality of being a transgender I understand that they are as much a man or a woman as they feel. And it is normal, the same way as Thomas Bettie delivered a baby with a masculine body. So the manness or the womanness is in the brain. Further wit medical advances it is possible to change the genital organs to match the gender that is felt and that makes things easier for everyone. I believe it is high time that transgender people are accepted into the society just like everyone else. We need the media and social media forums to propagate this idea and create more acceptance. As mentioned by Henri Tajfel, more contact is needed for people to feel a part of the group and get more acceptance and have a positive self image. The stages of Social categorization, social identification and social comparison may be good places to start.

It is imperative that we help these kids build positive self images of themselves so that develop healthy persoalities and become fully functioning individuals.

Tip: Please elaborate on how self image is developed and how positive regard may help in doing so.