Redefining Realness And Becoming Nicole Essay

After reading chapter 3: "Prejudice and Discriminations" and as well the article "Transgender African-Americans' Open Wound: ‘We're considered a Joke’”, I have a better understanding of the challenges that certain group undergo due to prejudices and discrimination that exist within their own racial group and other groups of our society. Although the LBGT community has made its social conditions a little more better, there is still those within their group that are even more marginalize, this is the case of a African-American transgender. African Americans transgender face twice as much prejudice and discrimination. They battle prejudice and discrimination from their own racial group and from society because of their skin color and their gender

The reading in this assignment made me understand and appreciate the lives of others. Transgender are just like you and me. They have the same goals and inspirations. However, their hardships are more drastic then normal. I got the chance to be educated on trans 101 with this assignment. I have taken so much away from these readings. It has helped me be more understand of what transgender go through. Having the opportunity to have the two articles side by side to make my notes and analyzing. Finding the connections between the two and disconnect from society to transgender communities.

The main setting of Trans-Sister Radio is within the small town of Bartlett, Vermont. The primary focus is set on Dana, a chromosomal-male college professor who is in the process of transitioning into the female gender. As a male, Dana is well-received by her community, even though she is perceived as strange and effeminate. She forms normal romantic relationships with women, has a fulfilling career, and is admired by those surrounding her, however she still feels incomplete. Unfortunately, what is missing from Dana is not externally noticeable, it is intrinsic happiness. From a young age, Dana suffered from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder that causes individuals to experience serious distress due to frustration with the sex and gender assigned at birth (APA, 2013). To alleviate the traumatic pain that has burdened her for decades, Dana makes the bold decision to partake in complete gender reassignment surgery. Trans-Sister Radio challenges the prototypical ideologies of character growth, morality, and relationships through its descriptive insight on transsexuality and thus gender.

Just Add Hormones, by Matt Kailey (2005), shows how transpeople are perceived as ‘others’, but are really just people who just want to be accepted. All throughout the book, Kailey (2005) expresses that he tries to act like and be what men act like in order to gain the acceptance that every human being desires. Even in the push for rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, transpeople are rejected and looked down on, even though, as Kailey (2005) puts it, “we share a common problem—we are all discriminated against because of our gender” (Kailey, 2005, p. 93). Furthermore, in general society, transpeople are perceived as sex offenders for going into a restroom, when in reality “we are in there for one purpose only, just like everyone else is,

There is a lot in this documentary film that can elicit a deep emotional response from the viewer, especially from those who identify in part with the LGBT community. One of the more emotional segments of the film involved the life of the transgender senior KrysAnne. It was disheartening to hear out and observe her life in the film: being estranged by her own family after her transition and struggling throughout the later years of her life to find proper health care. Most of the time, she mainly had to care for herself in her own home until she required medical attention in a hospital setting. Later on in her stay, KrysAnne did have a support circle developed for her by some of the hospital staff in an effort to provide her the love and

He had achieved the shock value not only with myself as the reader, but ultimately who he was addressing. Jamison had been an educator of trans people, speaking out to audiences of college students of all ages. His goal of educating the public stemmed from his own experiences with choosing to change genders as well as a broad overview of the ideas that surrounded transsexualism as a whole. He communicates well that his experiences do not encompass all transgendered people’s experiences and that transformation from male to female (MTF) is quite different from female to male (FTM) transformation. The societal complications from FTM are well examined from Jamison’s view. Many people believed that females that wanted to become males could

Cheryl Chase article “Affronting Reason” and “Beards, Breast, and Bodies Doing Sex in a Gendered World” by Raine Dozier both illustrates the struggles of intersex and transgender face in society. Cheryl article focus on a child who is born intersex and now is dealing with her parents' decision of having a clitorectomy surgery. In Breads, Breast, and Bodies we see how transgender female to male dealt with society at a new point of view. Both stories reflect on the negativities each individual faced and also rise above the norm to embrace their new identity. Betray can cause trusting issue amongst one another, especially when that person is a family member.

My Untold Story was about Abby Stein, activist, blogger, educator, student and a woman living trans experience who grew up in Brooklyn, NY from an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. This Yiddish speaking ultra-orthodox religion has minimal contact with the non-Jewish world and very limited access to technology. Assigned male gender at birth and as a rabbi in this community, Abby married at 18 years old with the marriage producing two children. Abby left her community to explore alternative views and came out as transgendered a few years later. Using her experiences and knowledge Abby blogs about social justice issues related to oppressive practices with the hope of supporting others from orthodox religions to become themselves while highlighting

In her book “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Woman, and the Rest of us,” Kate Bornstein goes over a lot of the major issues regarding gender awareness and identity politics. She talks about the ideas of labeling ones self, understanding gender differences, how people view laws, behaviors, and the medical and scientific privilege that make transitioning challenging for a lot of people. Bornstein touches on many of the issues today that affect trans people. She includes poetry, pictures, quotes, essays, and a play to raise questions and discuss the idea of gender. This is a great book to introduce and discuss the issues that affect the lives of trans people as they navigate and explore the lines that define gender.

Many believe the purpose and end goal in life is to achieve self-actualization. Thus, it makes sense that it would take the average person a lot of time and be difficult to achieve. Maslow, a well-regarded psychologist, broke down the path to self-achievement into five levels that build off of eachother. Unfortunately, due to dealing with numerous hurdles thrown at her at various stages in her life, Janie, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, does not achieve self-actualization, but instead, only fully achieves the third level, love and belonging and partly reaches the fourth, self esteem.

Caitlin Jenner is someone who has recently been in the spotlight as within the past year she had revealed that she was transgender. Growing up as an Olympic champion, Bruce Jenner was greatly looked up to, but is especially respected now for her courage in revealing her difficulties that had developed with being transgender. Always in the spotlight, it was truly difficult for Jenner as she never felt entirely like herself, but was too concerned with the thoughts of others especially the media, to reveal the truth. It is incredibly difficult for many who are transgender as society is often greatly disapproving, but is especially tough for people whose every move is on captured on camera, like Jenner. However, after recently revealing her story, she has become an instant inspiration to many and has recently received this year’s courage award. With today’s societal views this must have been extremely life changing, but with her story, Jenner has shown how listening to the music in which one hears is truly more important than conforming to what society wants everyone to believe. Jenner has paved way for many and is becoming a deep admiration. Without those like Jenner who take risks and listen to themselves rather than the others around them, society would never be able to evolve and

Recently, we had a guest speaker appear in class and tell her story as a transgendered woman. Transgender is defined as an individual’s gender identity differs from their assigned sex. For example, our guest speaker was born as a male named Edward, however this individual, like many others felt as if they were born into the wrong body. It took many years, but Edward transition into Edie. She was extremely informative and told the class her story.

Throughout the book, Becoming Nicole – The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt, there were many topics and vocabulary that were semi new to me. With that in mind, there was a lot that I learned from the book itself, relating to what it actually meant to be transgender, and the glossary in the back helped to even further my understanding of different vocabulary.

Historically, humanity has been obsessed with discovering the nature of reality. Every person eventually develops their own worldview based on their beliefs, morals, and experiences. At one point in their lives, many people undergo a radical change in perception that forces them to change this view, eventually adopting a new perception of reality. Such a transformation occurs once one starts to question the fundamental nature of one’s own existence and that of the world around them. This realization begins with the disillusionment with one’s environment, continues with the questioning of one’s life’s worth, and concludes with the acceptance of a new worldview.

The most obvious challenges I have faced living as a transgender male have been physical, but the hardest I have faced have not only been personal, but emotional. I have encountered countless overly personal inquisitions, questioning looks, and awkward introductions. Existing as a biological female for a large portion of my life imbued that period of time with many challenges. As a child, I fought passionately with my parents to shop in the “boys” section of the store, to play hockey and lacrosse, and to never step foot in a dress. I often wondered why other children would point and snicker at my choice of clothing. I even asked my distraught mother why I was “put in the wrong body” at the age of three. I had to grow up and not only learn, but understand and accept that I am not the same as everyone else. I had to come to terms with the fact that most people do not face the challenge of waking up every day and overcoming the feeling that something is fundamentally “off” that cannot truly be “fixed”. “Average” is a description I often longed to be labeled in the past, but over the years I have discovered that striving to be above average is the true key to success.