Transgender awareness
Heather Jackson
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Opinion
In a world of social constructions and identities, sometimes there are identities we may not understand or even know exist.
People who do not fit into the very specific gender binary can be harassed, abused, or even killed. These crimes and instances of violence are hate crimes, because these people are being targeted with violence out of hate. Survivors of hate crimes are perceived to be in a certain group and in this case, a person's gender identity is in question and they are hated for it.
According to The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, this week (Nov. 15 to 20) was Transgender Awareness Week. Not to confuse people, but sometimes this awareness is recognized at different times of the year. For example, Multnomah County Commission in Colorado decided on August 1 to 7, 2009 as Transgender Awareness Week. However, today (Nov. 20) is International Transgender Day of Remembrance. According to this website, this day "was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. … most anti-transgender murder cases - have yet to be solved."
To stop avoiding confusion and start educating, trans is a term that "allows a person to state a gender diverse identity without having to disclose hormonal or surgical status/intentions" (http://www.trans-academics.org/). More specifically, transgender is "a person who lives as a member of a gender other than that expected based on anatomical sex" while transsexual is "person who identifies psychologically as a gender/sex other than the one to which they were assigned at birth. Transsexuals often wish to transform their bodies hormonally and surgically to match their inner sense of gender/sex" (http://www.trans-academics.org/). Gender identity is important to a transgender/sexual person because they may not feel they are the socialized gender that they have been since birth.
In other terms, a person who was born male-bodied and raised and socialized as a boy/man may realize and feel that identifying as a woman is more in line with their mind. In other words, just because someone has a penis does not mean they will identify as a man. In terms of a female-bodied individual who was raised and socialized as a girl/woman may realize and feel that identifying as a man is more in line with their mind.
People who do not fit into the very specific gender binary can be harassed, abused, or even killed. These crimes and instances of violence are hate crimes, because these people are being targeted with violence out of hate. Survivors of hate crimes are perceived to be in a certain group and in this case, a person's gender identity is in question and they are hated for it.
According to The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, this week (Nov. 15 to 20) was Transgender Awareness Week. Not to confuse people, but sometimes this awareness is recognized at different times of the year. For example, Multnomah County Commission in Colorado decided on August 1 to 7, 2009 as Transgender Awareness Week. However, today (Nov. 20) is International Transgender Day of Remembrance. According to this website, this day "was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. … most anti-transgender murder cases - have yet to be solved."
To stop avoiding confusion and start educating, trans is a term that "allows a person to state a gender diverse identity without having to disclose hormonal or surgical status/intentions" (http://www.trans-academics.org/). More specifically, transgender is "a person who lives as a member of a gender other than that expected based on anatomical sex" while transsexual is "person who identifies psychologically as a gender/sex other than the one to which they were assigned at birth. Transsexuals often wish to transform their bodies hormonally and surgically to match their inner sense of gender/sex" (http://www.trans-academics.org/). Gender identity is important to a transgender/sexual person because they may not feel they are the socialized gender that they have been since birth.
In other terms, a person who was born male-bodied and raised and socialized as a boy/man may realize and feel that identifying as a woman is more in line with their mind. In other words, just because someone has a penis does not mean they will identify as a man. In terms of a female-bodied individual who was raised and socialized as a girl/woman may realize and feel that identifying as a man is more in line with their mind.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 4
Trans Lover
posted 11/22/09 @ 7:18 AM CST
After a long night of making love, this guy rolls over, looks and notices a framed picture of another man on the nightstand by the bed. Naturally, the guy begins to worry. (Continued…)
yucky
posted 11/24/09 @ 1:41 PM CST
that sucks
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