Film Analysis: Growing Up Trans

When the boys change to stereotypes they are more likely to be more prone to substance abuse and suicide, having shorter life expectancy, and also engaging in more physical violence than girls. Zoe Greenberg, a journalist at The New York Times talks about gender in her article ¨When a student says, I'm Not a Boy or a Girl¨. In her article, Greenberg talks about the story of Sofia Martin and uses Pathos by using the story of Sofia Martin to play on the emotions of the audience to explain the situation that has occurred with the her, how ¨at the age of 15, after rehearsing in the shower, Martin made an announcement to the students at Puget Sound Community School where she explained to her school how Martin believes that she in not a male or

Transgender is the term used to describe an individual whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth. The documentary, “Growing up Trans”, is a sensitive clip to watch about young youths who attempt to navigate family, friends, gender, and the medical decisions they face at puberty. “Growing up Trans” focuses mainly on transitioned young youths. The transgender youth from the documentary links to many theories from chapter eight. Theories such as socialization, gender, sexuality, homophobia, transphobia, and microaggression are associated with “Growing up Trans”.

Unlike ‘sex’, which typically refers to the biological and physiological differences, gender is a sociological concept that describes the social and cultural constructions that is associated with one’s sex (Giddens & Sutton, 2013, p. 623-667). The constructed (or invented) characteristics that defines gender is an ongoing process that varies between societies and culture and it can change over time. For example, features that are overly masculine in one culture can be seen as feminine in another; however, the relation between the two should not be seen as static. Gender socialization is thought to be a major explanation for gender differences, where children adhere to traditional gender roles from different agencies of socialization. Gender

In more recent times, however, transgender representation in film and television has reached new levels and strides. There is Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black, a trans-woman of color; There is Amazon’s Golden Globe winning and first original series titled Transparent, that revolves around the story of a transgender woman. Popular shows such as Glee explored and developed a new arch about one of its main characters transitioning from female to male. Even ABC Family premiered a show on its network documenting a young man’s experience as his one of his parents comes out as transgender, calling it Becoming Us. But with all of the seemingly positive examples of trans-characters that are being

The LGBTQ community is one that faces an ongoing storm of stereotyping and stigmas and the media is no relief from it. One major factor in this is the common trope of the violent and aggressive transgender woman, which is often shown through

Gender is something that is brought to the attention of people well before people are even brought into the world. Take for instance, when a woman finds out that she is pregnant and is about to have a child. The first question that that women is asked is “What are you having?” In doing this we are automatically emphasizing the importance of being able to identify whether or not to buy “boy” things or “girl” things. As a society we deem it important for each sex to practice a set of “norms” of how to behave via that sex.

Summary of Main Points Growing up Trans is about this generation of children/teens who have gender dysphoria. That is they do not identify with the gender of their biological sex. (Knox p. 51) “Just a generation ago, it was adults, not children, who changed genders, usually late in life and often in shadows. But today as transgender adults gain wider acceptance, many children are transitioning...”(2:59-3:28)

Because of their relative invisibility in public life, many people have a poor grasp on what being transgender really is. To be fair, this is a complicated issue, encompassing its own subsection of the LGBT+ community with its own unique groups. To put it simply, a transgender person is somebody who identifies as a gender other than the one written on their birth certificate. This often means identifying as the opposite sex, but some transgender people live in between the gender binary or outside it altogether. Typically, transgender people live express their identity in different ways: dressing as their preferred gender, going through hormone therapy to alter their bodies, undergoing sex reassignment surgery to change their genitals, or a

In their respective pieces about the transgender community, Mari Birghe’s piece falls short due to its lack of detailed examples and its heavy reliance on eliciting sympathy from the reader to persuade as well as its failure to see the other side of the argument while Elinor Burkett’s piece proves far superior due to its multitude of extensive examples in addition to its surplus of concessions. Burkett’s piece is stronger in part due to the surplus of concrete examples provided in contrast to Birghe’s meager examples. In Elinor Burketts’s piece, which states transgender women are not entirely female because of their previous male privilege, she intertwines many specific examples that help to prove her overall message. This is that transgender

Cisgender and heteronormative privileges challenge those that do not fit into these categories, yet dare to be different which I will discuss throughout this paper. Since transgender people have begun to come out and talk about their gender identities, death rates have risen greatly. It is sad that we live in a society in which people have to live in fear for being different than others and expressing who they are. A difference should not get someone killed because we are not objects and should not be categorized as such. We do not all fit into the binary categories that have been opposed on us, why should those who standout be punished for what they have no control over.

Cisgender and heteronormative privileges challenge those that do not fit into these categories, yet strive to be unique which I will discuss throughout this paper. Since transgender people have begun to come out and talk about their gender identities, death rates have risen greatly. Sadly, we live in a society in which people have to live in fear for being different than others and expressing who they are. A difference should not get someone killed because we are not objects and should not be categorized as such. We do not all fit into the binary categories that have been opposed on us, why should those who stand out be punished for what they have no control over.

A child's earliest exposure to what it means to be male or female comes from parents. From the time children are babies, parents treat their sons and daughters differently. Parents’ dress their children gender specific colors, give them gender differentiated toys, and expect different behaviors from boys and girls. Parents inspire their children to participate in sex-typed activities. Such activities include doll playing and engaging in housekeeping activities for girls, and playing with trucks and engaging in sports activities for boys.

On the one hand, most people probably behave in certain ways to get along with other members of the society, unwittingly corresponding to the deeply entrenched social norms called “Codes,” the concept introduced by William Pollack in his writing, “Real Boys”. On the other hand, there is an exception: numerous individuals around the world nowadays get confused about defining themselves on the scale of the masculinity and femininity. One may come up with question like this: “Given that most people seem to live their lives with the gender they were born with and have no problem

Society tries to create a “perfect” image on people; leading us to believe that if we are not the specific way that we created, we do not fit in. In reality everybody is supposed to create themself, regardless of what society believes. Does what we label others matter? Who are we to judge how others chose to create themselves? In David Crabb’s memoir Bad Kid, Crabb takes the readers through what it was like discovering that he is gay, and how that changed how kids treated him during school.

The question about whether or not an individual’s identity is innate or acquired, has always been a debatable issue. Some people argue that gender identity is a result of the social context they live in, while others believe a person is born into it. Gender identity is a “person 's subjective sense of themselves as masculine or feminine and is exhibited by the degree to which they act upon their gender roles” (Whalen & Maurer-Starks, 2008). However, based on the current society people live in, it is more likely that an individual’s identity, such as their sexuality, education, and social status are acquired as a result of the social context they live in.