Rosskam Summary

Am I still a woman? I will never bleed from between my legs, unless I cut myself shaving. Am I still a woman?” Andrea Jenkins said this in reference to being a transgender woman. I feel like this pairs well with the reading “Trans Action for Social and Economic Justice” in Color of Violence. A common belief of many people throughout the world, specifically America, is that a woman is only a woman if she can bear children. As exemplified by Trans Justice in the following excerpt, “transphobic violence is justified using medical theories and religious beliefs, and is perpetuated in order to preserve US heterosexist values” (TransJustice 228) The theory that only persons who are biologically female can be a woman is a violence against trans women, which is perpetuated daily within the American societal norm of the gender

A transgender person is defined as someone who feels they are the opposite gender of what they were born. A transgender male is a biological female who feels they are a male and lives as a male

The authors conducted a study in regards to the atypical gender development of children. Atypical is a term used to define those who have gender variance and don't yet know what to identify as. Ultimately, the goal of the study is to find if genetic or environmental contributions play a part in the process of defining your gender. To conduct this study, they used the families of opposite twin pairs, along the ages of 3 and 4 to observe the gender development of each. As a result they looked at the boys who were highly feminine and at the girls who were highly feminine compared to others of the same gender. To pursue the study they took the two groups and looked at the behaviors in relation to gender as well as the environment around

An accomplished writer and an open homosexual, Andrew Sullivan wrote his best known work speaking for the struggles and social oppritunnitues of homosexuas in a heterosexual based cuture. His best known work was Virtually Normal: An argument about Homosexuality. This work was directed to a conservative audience, as one can sense the defensiveness as he writes about his own experiences with homosexuality, where he uses rhetoric to address the needs and subculture of homosexuality.

Aaron Devor discusses the patriarchally-expected gender roles of today’s society. He delves into the discussion of femininity versus masculinity. Society associates femininity with weakness, whilst associating masculinity with greatness.

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”.

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

For stealth transmen it can be easier on the individual because he is entering an environment where nobody knows about his transition so therefore they won’t judge him or even choose not to hire him based on what they know about him. The trust in gender appearances make the transman more comfortable going stealth because they know if they are physically passable they have a strong chance of getting the job as a man. If a person is stealth, they can receive more respect, authority, and economic opportunities within the workplace. With these positives, there are some risks that are associated with being a stealth transmen. Stealth transmen can face problems or consequences if a former acquaintance or paperwork shows that the person is a different gender then what they are currently classifying themselves as. An example of one of these risks is when Crispin who had been working in a blue-collar field for a lengthy time to give himself a better chance at receiving a job with better pay. His license and Social Security said he was a male, but after interviewing with several employers the final step was to give the employers references of his past employers. His past employers were unsupportive of his transition and they made it clear to him that they would not be helpful in using male pronouns. A few weeks later after his potential employer communicated

There is much speculation on gender identity and the gender roles that surround them society views that men should be manly and brave while girls must be scared and timid while other people view that this notion is not right. Just because people are born into these genders does not mean that they must conform to how society views them they should them be able to be who they want to without the

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

What we today see as genders is the norms that follow when born as a girl or as a boy. What is being connected to male norms of masculinity is strength, aggression and dominance, while woman more often than not follow norms such as passivity, nurturing and subordination. We have come to realise in recent years that your gender and your sex is not the same thing. The fact that there is not only two genders but a lot more is also something that has been discovered. Transgender is those who is born as one gender, but identifies as another. For example a born woman who identifies as a man. There is also those who do not identify as neither male nor female. “Gender-expansive” is an umbrella term for those who expresses their gender outside of the common male or

There are many stories about de-transitioning, and they are typically not written by people who are against the transgender movement. They are written by people who realize transition isn’t what they needed after all. They are written by people who urge caution. This is the necessity of a certification from a duly licensed practitioner

In class, we learned about so many different types of gender groups, and one was transgender. Transgenders people are usually people who do not identify with their gender, and prefer the opposite sex. Most of the time people bash transgender people because they feel as if they are breaking the rules. People on the outside judge them because they chose to be

This thought has never crossed my mind before because I, myself, took ‘gender’ as a natural phenomenon. Gender is a product of socialization. It is cultural roles and personality characteristics that are labeled appropriate for men and women (lecture). Gender facilitates normative accountability: “structures that are in place to “correct” people’s gender non-conforming behaviours” (Johnson). Normative accountability and gender expectations were big issues children in the film faced. These children were expected to perform certain actions and display specific personality traits based on their natal sex. Daniel’s mother says during her interview that “as soon as Daniel was able to express his preferences, he was gravitating towards boys’ sections, wanting to wear just boy t-shirts”. When I first watched the movie, I did not find anything extraordinary from her line. The second time, I became more critical. What defines “boy t-shirts”? What pieces of clothing are for boys and for girls? Alex and his friends also talk about how being a guy is “working out”, “not showing any emotions” and “not playing with gender”. Why are these traits correlated with masculinity? It is perceived odd for girls to display these characteristics. They are followed with labels such as lesbian, or tomboys. These traits should not be associated with one specific gender as these traits is as likely to be shown by