Violence and discrimination have a significant impact on the lives and health of transgendered people, but they are not the only forms of prejudice experienced by this community. Defined as subtle and often unintentional forms of discrimination, microaggressions can be just as damaging and are often much more difficult to detect (Galupo, 2014). Rather than the obvious forms of mistreatment such as hate crimes or physical abuse, microaggressions include actions such as the use of slurs, stereotyping, exoticization, condemnation, objectification, misgendering, and numerous other behaviors that insinuate that a transgender person is not welcome or accepted based on their identity (Galupo, 2014). It is not necessarily the singular experience of a …show more content…
It was found that transgendered people react in a variety of ways, including feelings of being misunderstood, anger, betrayal, and hopelessness. Many assumed their aggressor to be ignorant and insensitive, and though some attempted to educate them, others chose not to stand up for themselves due to fear of retaliation or physical harm. Microaggressions came from numerous different sources and had varying impacts depending on the context of the situation and the relationship one had to the person performing them. Many participants described avoiding medical care and other services to due fear of such incidents, which can have a lasting impact on their health and wellbeing. Incidents involving family members or intimate partners tended to have a worse impact and were more difficult to cope with (Davis, 2014). Though this study provided evidence that microaggressions occur frequently and can be incredibly problematic for the transgender community, it did so with an incredibly small sample size of nine participants and without taking the intersectionality of race or age into
Transgender issues cover a a multitude of spheres: discrimination (at school, in the workplace, when looking for housing), violence, suicide, and identification through legal documents to name a few. Transgender individuals deal with greater struggles than that of cisgender individuals, or those who identity as the gender which they were assigned at birth. Perhaps one of the greatest struggles transgender individuals have to deal with is acceptance, whether it be acceptance from others or acceptance of themselves. Cisgender individuals, or those who identify with the gender identity given at birth, do not have to worry that their gender identity will be accepted; society has already dictated it to be ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ (“Definitions of Terms”). Trans individuals are not afforded this luxury.
Of the study’s 25 participants, 20 were female-to-male. The authors determined the main problem for the participants was the struggle to find transgender-sensitive health care. The subjects described discrimination by healthcare systems, lack of knowledge and hostility by providers, and lack of health insurance to cover transgender-specific healthcare needs. Some of the FtM participants who had problems with pelvic pain, abnormal uterine bleeding, and a history of abnormal Pap tests kept their gender as female on their insurance so they could still get the care they needed. Using a national cross-sectional survey data set, Shires and Jaffee (2015) reported similar findings. Of the 1,711 FtM participants included in this study, 41.8 percent reported verbal harassment, physical assault, or denial of equal treatment in a doctor’s office or
Microaggressions are one problem that ‘furthers’ this prejudice. As said in the study, “microaggressions were subtle and sometimes emotionally charged experiences that were encountered by the majority of the participants…” (Dispenza 71) Microaggressions are, as the word implies, small or subdued bouts of hostility. These microaggressions prove that violence against a minority, however small, is still ongoing. Moving on, another issue that spurs on transphobia is oppression from even inside the lgbt community itself. As also illustrated by the study, “Majority of participants described circumstances of being discriminated against by members of the LGB community because of their gender.” (Dispenza 72) This horizontal oppression, as they call it, is toxic. It relates to how nazis somewhat sacrificed jews because they were too scared to fight the ideology that the nazis perpetuated. The third problem is the fact of discrimination of housing for trans people, and its obvious ties to the holocaust. This type of discrimination is made clear in the study when they say, “A few of the participants reported difficulty with accessing or maintaining residential living facilities.” (Dispenza 74) If this isn’t an obvious example of inequity and favoritism, then one might never understand. This connects to the holocaust in an obvious way; the jews were put into ghettos, and
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been attending most Transmissions meetings. Transmissions is a community-based club for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people and allies at Rutgers University. In this reflection, I’ll be speaking about the meeting I attended the previous week, where the main discussion revolved around internalize and externalize transphobia and self-care. This was a very sensitive topic for myself as well as most others who attending the meeting.
Throughout history, it is evident that inequalities and disparities are part of health systems and society. Even after all the success of activism, such as the work from the human rights movement and campaign, inequalities and disparities are still evident today. Especially within minority groups, such as LGBTQ* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) individuals – this is not to say that LGBTQ are the only categories when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identities, thus it is followed by a * – and racial groups. Furthermore, it is evident that within minority groups there are specific micro-level groups that experience unique and sometimes even greater amount of inequalities and disparities. For example, the micro-level group of transgender individuals from the LGBTQ* community is one of the many minority groups that experience both medical and social disparities and inequalities.This paper will discuss both the medical and social inequalities and disparities that Transgender Individuals face, including structural violence and intentional violence.
Transphobia and trans prejudice manifest in the objectification, misunderstanding, and pathologizing of a transgender’s physical appearance.
There are significant systemic transphobia that occurs on an institutional or community level (Nadal, Skolnik, and Wong 2012). This type of transphobia is particularly damaging because they exist in systems that are enmeshed in the daily lives of trans people. Legislation can have detrimental impact on the mental health of LGBT people. One study found that when same-sex marriage was banned, it had detrimental mental health implications for LGBT people (Levitt et al., 2009). Many transphobic laws are based on historic gender binaries and are passed by voters who may not be aware of the impact these laws have on the transgender community. However, many incidents of systemic discrimination are malicious, conscious, and intentional. Systemic transphobia is found in macro level systems including
In a lot of places around the world more and more people are coming out as “Transgender.” The term transgender means that the person’s gender identity does not correspond with the gender they were assigned as having at birth. From personally having a transgender boyfriend I have since realized that these people experience a lot of discrimination in and from society. Many people simply just do not understand what the term transgender means and they see it as someone just “wants to be a man” or “wants to be a woman.” While there may be people who present it this way, it is more so that the individual just “feels” different, and “feels” as if they are “in the wrong body.” Some people experience this feeling at a young age as my boyfriend did in his elementary age. We live in a world who put these people down for being who they truly are, and no human being wants or needs that.
While discrimination is pervasive for the majority of transgender people, the intersection of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural racism is especially severe. People of color in general fare worse than White transgender people, with African American transgender individuals faring far worse than all other transgender populations. Many transgender people are also the targets of hate crimes. They are also the victims of subtle discrimination—which includes everything from glances or glares of disapproval or discomfort to invasive questions about their body parts (Bassichi, Lee, & Spade, 2011). Discrimination laws and hate crimes laws encourage us to understand oppression as something that happens when individuals use bias to deny
Elderly transgender individuals have their own assortment of psychosocial and relational concerns that are associated with their identified community. They must contend with identity conflict, discrimination, policies and services that may not meet their basic needs. Furthermore, they are increasingly distressed by inflated financial concerns due to discrimination. Transgender adults face increased workplace discrimination compounded with ageism in acquiring new jobs. Increased interpersonal violence and harassment besiege transgender elders. Additionally, they must cope with the same challenges that their non-LGBTQIA colleagues encounter, such as long term care, chronic debilitating physical health and mental health
Many people face insensitive and harmful treatment by healthcare providers. One transgender male described his experience as “traumatizing”. Countless people are treated poorly by staff and/or doctors due only to the fact that they are transgender, including
Writing research papers, essays, answering discussing questions, even presenting a speech are things that makes university what is it. Any university student worst nightmare is not having all these assignments, but rather being penalized for plagiarism, because not only would all that “hard work” would have gone done the drain, but they are now labelled by their teachers, and sometimes, it may be true that this student really had no intention of plagiarising the work of another, it may be the fact that they are not familiar with the rules of referencing. With that in mind, I will provide a more in-depth explanation of what the APA style of referencing is, what exactly plagiarism is, the elements of the APA referencing style and how they are
. Discuss the importance of language use in the counseling setting. Does the movement towards solution oriented positive language leave space for people to express a realistic range of emotion in the counseling setting? Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of this counseling language trend. Language is very important in the counseling setting.
Transgender people are discriminated on an almost daily basis. They are discriminated in the workplace, as shown in a study commisioned by the Equalities Review. In a group of transgender people who have jobs and are prone to workplace-enviroment effects and opinions, “many respondents experienced harassment from co-workers and employers.” Nearly 29% of the group experience verbal abuse and harassment in the workplace enviroment, and about 4% received physical abuse. About 7% experienced threats, and about 27% experienced some sort of different treatment due to their gender non-conforming ways.(Whittle 38-39). In another study, it was found that being mistreated in the school years would have a negative effect on future outcomes relating to employment. “Those who were physically attacked in school were considerably more likely to stay in a job (64%) compared to those who were not (42%) (Grant 50).” They are also discriminated in public as well, adding on to the distress that many transgender people suffer from regularly, making it seem as if all transgender people are crazy. Transgender people are just more likely to be diagnosed as someone with a mental disorder because its helpful to see that those who have been diagnosed are “hurting and something needs to be done to help (Kreitler 1).” In
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