The Transgender Issue Societal Gender Constructs Essay

The Transgender Issue Societal Gender Constructs Recently, courtrooms have been filling up with the issue of transgender rights and the need for protection of these people’s basic rights that everyone else has (Scherer 32). The most pressing, or popular issue, within this battle, seems to be which public bathrooms should be used by transgender individuals. On the one hand, conservatives believe that everyone should go to the bathroom specified for the gender they were born with, claiming that invasion of privacy and safety issues would be bound to arise in allowing transgender individuals to go to the bathroom of their choice. While proponents claim that the transgender community is excluded from society, bullied, and forced to live as the gender they were born as, not what they identify with--leaving them restricted, oppressed, and denied of their basic freedoms and rights under the Constitution (Scherer). Are there bigger issues at hand than where someone should go to the bathroom? Why is there so much controversy over such a daily simple task as going to the bathroom? Maybe the real problem is that we, as a U.S. society, have created a separation of genders in numerous social constructs where there need not be even distinction of these genders. Our beliefs have always been that there are only two genders and that with these two genders comes specific traits, behaviors, and characteristics-- that crossing the barrier of the genders by behaving what we consider toShow MoreRelatedWe Are A Divided Society1744 Words   |  7 Pagesbelong. All too often, transgender youth are denied that sense of belonging because they defy societies categories of male and female. Society’s collective response of marginalization, shaming, and violence negatively impacts transgender youth and their mental health. Expanding our view beyond the gender binary could increase understanding and tolerance. Understanding and tolerance creates acceptance. Acceptance means everyone would belong. Our society often uses sex and gender interchangeably, butRead MoreComparing Intersex And Transgender Females Deserve A Place Of Belonging1398 Words   |  6 PagesIntersex and transgender females deserve a place of belonging in the world of sport. Society’s need to categorize humans makes it difficult for minorities to find a sense of belonging. Humans are easily given labels by society - as gay, straight, black, asian, female, male etc. This system works for the majority of people, and those who fit in do not see a necessity to change these constructs. As Judith Butler argues in her essay Undoing Gender we must remake the definition of human by deconstructingRead MoreThe World Of Athletics Has Been Built Around A Binary View1634 Words   |  7 Pages The world of athletics has been built around a binary view of gender. The distinction between genders is obvious: there is women’s sport and there is men’s sport. However, in reality, gender biology is not black and white – there is a multitude of ways to be human. The separation of men’s and women’s sport leads to a large population of athletes getting stuck in the middle. There is a growing social acceptance of transgender and intersex individuals in society, however, when it comes to sport theseRead MoreNeoliberalism : An Dominant Ideology Of The Modern Era1680 Words   |  7 Pagesmodern era, focusing primarily on human well-being as a mode of political economic practice through which constructs like strong private property rights, free trade, and free markets and be liberated through individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills. Neoliberalism perpetrates the ideas of deregulation, privatization, austerity, and blame in modern society, which all affect the transgender community disproportionately in a negative manner. For example, neoliberal ideologies, tactics, and effectsRead MoreWhat Does Transgender Mean? Essay1452 Words   |  6 Pagescountry. Specifically for the LGBTQ movement, we see an increase of people being active and supportive to combat a patriarchal and gender binary society. For example, the recent yet, prevalent argument about same sex marriage. In addition to many people who died, were publicly humiliated, physically and or sexually abused because of their sexual preferences or gender identity. As for transgendered people, they are often ridiculed and are victims of offensive behavior by people who feel that theyRead MoreFemale And Male And Female1325 Words   |  6 Pagesdefine our entire lives from the day we are born. Binary classifications of sex and gender have always been the norm in society. The entrenchment of those categories in identification documents, expose individuals who do not correctly fit into the status-quo of these two categories. Among them, intersex people are especially vulnerable. In recent years, the LGBTQ community has had strong pushes for more rights and societal recognition, however there is still one hole remaining that flies under the radarRead MoreDifferences Between Dominant And Subordinate Groups Of The Dominant Group1503 Words   |  7 Pagesto create advantages for the dominant groups in society. These dichotomies are necessary to maintain the structural power of the dominant group (Hackman, 2013), and one dichotomy in society is based on gender. For the social category of gender, the men are the dominant group, and women and transgender people are the subordinate group (Kirk Okazawa-Rey, 2013). Hence, the dominant group of men creates a system of sexism, which â€Å"serves to privilege men, subordinate women, denigrate women-identifiedRead MoreThe United States Is A Divided Society2038 Words   |  9 Pagesyou belong. All too often, however, transgender youth are denied that sense of ubelonging because they defy society’s categories of male and female. The gender binary divides society into two separate, unequivocal categories that marginalizes tran sgender youth and directly impacts their emotional health and well-being. Society’s collective response of demeaning, shaming, and violence further increases the divide. Therefore, expanding our view beyond a strict gender binary could increase understandingRead MoreThe Transgender Bathroom Policy For Transgender Students Essay1778 Words   |  8 Pagesjudgement. The transgender bathroom policy allows transgender students to use the bathroom they identify as and not by the sex on their birth certificate (Fox News, 2016). The transgender bathroom policy has both successes and failure to ensure safety for transgender students resulting to its change being for not only trans-gender. Gender neutral bathrooms allows safety for those who are not only transgender, but also a part of the LGBTQ community, etc. but it causes a conflict with gender segregationRead MoreA Large Issue Facing Trans Women894 Words   |  4 PagesA large issue facing trans women today is the violence perpe trated against them. In 2003, fourteen murders of trans people were recorded in the U.S, most of them being trans women and people of color. (Bettcher, p. 280) By mid-October of 2015, twenty-one trans women, who were also mostly women of color, were murdered in the United States, and this number exceeds the amount of trans murders in 2014. (Wilkinson, â€Å"You Know What Time It Is†) It is important to remember that these are only recorded instances