Gender Feminism and Transgender Activism: A Scientific Disillusion
Debra W. Soh at Los Angeles Times argues that gender feminists and transgender activists are undermining science. Soh begins by claiming that gender feminists and transgender activists are different philosophical/ideological groups yet they both ignore science purporting to advance or advocate for equality (par. 1). Furthermore, the author distinguishes traditional equity feminists from gender feminists on the ground that the latter has not acknowledged the role of evolution in shaping the anatomy of the human brain. Rather, they believe that differences in sex are due to the socialization process that begins at birth. In other words, everyone is born a blank slate; the
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From a personal point of view, Soh’s argument holds water. Gender feminists and transgender activists have misused and ignored biology as a way of substantiating their equality advocacy. Firstly, the process of socialization occurs after birth, primarily after somebody has already been created to be either male or female. The differences in male and female hormones explain it all. For instance, there are research findings which indicate that prenatal testosterone has “masculinizing” effects on the development of the brain. Moreover, scientific reports suggest that the exposure to testosterone changes the programming of neural stem cells that are responsible for sex differences and brain growth (Rudacille, 17). However, feminists have not acknowledged such facts; instead, they always point to studies which claim that there is hardly any difference between the male and the female brains. While this can be plainly termed as ignorance, it is indeed a misuse of scientific knowledge to advance the quest for equality. In fact, scientists have gone a considerable extent to prove that through higher-resolution neuro-imaging; a brain can be successfully classified as either male or female accurately 93% of the time (Soh par. 4).
From a similar perspective, even if the male and female brains were identical structurally, there would still be significant evident functional differences that do not need
Dr. Laura Allen has spent years studying the brain tissue of both boys and girls. She said, "As I began to look at the human brain more and more, I kept finding differences, and about 7 or 8 of the 10 structures that were actually measured turned out to be different between men and women" (Men, Women). Basically, it is best to always try to learn about human nature, that way we can educate people to prevent them from misusing the information. She claims, "knowledge we get is better, we can alter our education system for more equality" (Men, Women).
After listening to the podcast of Hidden Brain podcast, “The Edge of Gender: Nature, Nurture, And Our Evolving Debates About Gender” (October 9, 2017) I realized that biologically we are different because of our chromosomes and genes but even thought that makes us biologically different there shouldn’t be issues on whom we decide to be. A quote from Hidden Brain states, “girls are exposed to unusually high levels of testosterone in the womb. And what we see when they are born is, they will gravitate towards male-typical toys, and this is even if their parents give them more praise for playing with female-typical toys” To true this is a key point biologically, but that doesn’t mean that it’s all-true because as we grow up we are influenced from
Transgender women will be allowed to enroll in one of the three female-only colleges at Cambridge University, as well as Barnard College and Smith College did in 2015.
When I saw this, I knew we had to take a moment and think about it, sex is biological, gender is a man created social construction. It tends to start at birth when a child is called either a male or female. It happens when we give a child a name according to their gender. For example, a girl would be named Jennifer and a boy would be named Adrian. As growing we are influenced by what’s around us. As children our parents and our community taught us how we are supposed to dress, how we should appear to other people and our actions according to our “genders”. Gender construction is assigning roles, characteristics, jobs, and names to our sexes. We are not born men and women, yet we become
Judith Butler (Gender Trouble, 1990) argues that rather than sex determining gender-gender determines sex. Sex is shaped by gender discourses which give us scripts to perform according to whether we are biologically classed as male or female. The continual performance of these scripts on a daily basis is what makes us male or female. The classic example of this is the third sex, yes, the third sex and that is the transgender( born male in a female’s body or
But they couldn’t be more wrong. Victoria M. Indivero of Penn State News’s ‘Sex segregation in schools, detrimental to equality’ say,”Neuroscientist have found a few difference between male and female brains, but none have been linked to different learning styles.” And to further back up this claim, I have Gina Rippon of Neuroscience News’s ‘Are Female and Male brains really different.’Which states,”It can be shown that a ‘characteristically male’ density of dendritic spines or branches of a neuro cell can be changed to the ‘female’ form simply by the application of a mild external stress. Biological sex alone cannot explain brain differences; to do so requires an understanding of how, when, and to what extent external events affect the struggle of the brain.” So as you can see the gender of the host does not determine nor change any aspect on the brain. It all has to do with the uniqueness of the brain and what happens outside it to the rest of the body that determines exactly what is need for living and learning. For example, if someone had been in a traumatizing car accident, but he was a young boy, it would be best not to stick him into a classroom that is littered with pictures and pictures of cars because they are seen as ‘boyish’. The things we do and happen to us as people
Estrogen and testosterone play a role in brain development, emotions and thoughts. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Neither side is generally 'better'. On average, women have smaller brains than men by about 4%. This however, does not mean they are less intelligent in any way. Men generally have bigger bodies, which mean bigger organs, more cells and more muscle. Men’s larger bodies require more brain cells to send and receive information properly. The fact that they have more brain cells has no affect in the amount of knowledge they have. Difference results in conflict. The fact that men and women are different in such distinct ways, it becomes natural for one gender to put the opposite down through the lack of fluently understanding the other. Humanity needs both male and females to continue. Neither gender will go away. There is no point to sexism; all it does is cause negativity and disruption. I think anyone can be whoever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do. In conclusion, I think each gender should be treated equally, and I hope you do
In society, social categories are based on “real or assumed physical, biological, or genetic differences” (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013, p. 12) to create privilege, a desired cultural currency, for particular groups (Taylor, 2013). Hence, gender and sexual orientation are two of these social categories (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013), and transgender people, “whose gender expression, gender identity, and/or sex identity does not match the expectations of the dominant norm of society” (Catalano, McCarthy, & Shlasko, 2007, p. 219), are placed in the subordinate groups of these social categories (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013). Hence, the subordination of transgender people is based on the misguided premise of the sex/gender binary, which states there are only
Coming out as a transgender, identifying with a gender expression that differs from the assigned sex, has proven to be quite difficult through the ages. While the acceptance of transgender people has grown significantly higher throughout the years, people’s stance on them are still quite divided, and the uphill battle for transgender rights has proven this. Just giving transgenders the right to simply go to the bathroom they identify with has shown to be controversial according to the TIME cover Battle of the Bathroom. The TIME magazine makes sure to note the problem defiantly “far more than public facilities” (Scherer par. 9). Transgender rights are a problem that Jamison Green, president for World Professional Association for Transgender Health, thoroughly addresses in a report written by Alan Greenblatt for CQ Researcher. Jamison Green’s specific purpose in that report is to justify why transgender people deserve basic human rights like everybody else, as shown in society, through his use of facts, qualifiers, figurative language, counterarguments, and appeals to logic and values.
Medical researchers have been aware for a long time that the male and female brain is different in size. In 2001, researchers from Harvard found certain parts of the brain were differently sized in males and females; this may answer some of the questions about the difference in the male and female brain in regards to development and
Traditionally speaking, most people view sex and gender as interchangeable, synonymous, and biological. As more studies and research are done, more professionals are realizing the vital difference between the two terms. Sex, according to sociologist Doctor Zuleyka Zevallos, is the “biological traits that societies use to assign people into the category of either male or female, whether it be through a focus on chromosomes, genitalia, or some other physical ascription”. She goes on to say that the definition of gender is “the cultural meanings attached to men and women’s roles; and how individuals understand their identities including, but not limited to, being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, gender queer, and other gender identities” (Zeyallos, 2014). We see sex as something we are assigned at birth due to the body parts we are born with, and we see gender as the way one identifies with their assigned sex. In the majority of cases, assigned sex and gender identity line up, but less often it does not. In these cases, we see individuals who are transgender, gender queer, gender fluid, and more. More people are coming forward about these different ways they are experiencing gender, so many people assume these ways of experiencing gender are new.
Looking at male and females we can see the noticeable physical differences between the two sex, but besides exterior differences, there are subtle but significant differences within the brain. Spasificly INAH3 which is called “third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus” which is typically about two to three times larger
Over the past years there has been many phases of the struggle of being transgendered especially those of color. Transgender women of color have higher rates of murder and homelessness. Several states don’t even offer no legal protection in employment, health care, housing and other areas where these people face discrimination. We must realize the current phase which is equal rights, and we need to address the views of the public and make a change. Several people look at transgenders differently especially in cultures. Different individuals have a broad range of different beliefs about gender, not to mention that different cultures have their own way of defining feminine and masculine. Whether we view someone as transgender it really just depends
It's easy for people to hate what they don't understand. Imagine if you were learning how to play the guitar, and no matter how many times you practice and study the right chords, you just can't seem to grasp the concept, and there is nothing wrong with that. Plenty of people happen to have this mindset when it comes to transgender people. There is this constant debate concerning transgender men and women and their rights. In some cases, they are expected to abide by certain requirements in order to full change their gender and aren't granted the right to use the bathroom based on their gender identity.
The social issue that I chose which affects society today is transgender inequality. These issues are more recently gaining attention and becoming a prevalent topic of inequality within our country. A transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. As more and more transgender people share their stories in the media, the social problems that arise from these stories are discrimination within their everyday lives. They suffer from scrutiny and judgment from their peers, and thus many hide their gender identity from family and society. This social injustice can be as simple as a glance or staring, or offensive comments and questions to violent hate crimes. Transgender people are prone to violence and harassment, and often not feeling safe in any aspect of society. They are fired from jobs, denied medical insurance, and being murdered left and right solely for being transgender. “A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)” (National Center for Transgender Equality). The structure of this paper will consist of adding all the research that was gathered over the semester, news articles and peer