Social Evolution of a Transgender Culture
Introduction
The present transgender studies center on gender deviance and difference. However, with time, society made extensive adjustments to accommodate transgender individuals. For instance, in 2014, social media sites reorganized gender choices to allow users to designate their gender. Previously, users were restricted to male or female. Nevertheless, social media brands such as Facebook approved the cultural patterns existing outside the prevailing traditional standards and gave individuals the capability of defining themselves predominantly, within societal contexts. Conventional standards of predominant culture permitted only two sexes- men and women as authentic sex groups. Transgender issues have received a ton of attention from media platforms and an overall change in public perspective over the years, as well as more individuals, are being given a chance to openly embrace the gender they identify with.
History of Transgender in the USA
Transgender is a present-day term hence most sociologists frame it as gender nonconformity. In the initial period, some people tried to violate recognized gender systems and efforts to avert and manage such violations were met with normalcy or fierce rejection. For instance, in 1620 a Virginian servant claimed to be both female and male and even sometimes played the role of both a woman and a man. This prompted the people near him to carry out certain physical examinations to ascertain his mental health status (Karami et al., 2018, 215). The case became known as bi-gender and the court was given the mandate to conclusively decide on the case. At the end of each court session, the court ruled that the man could men’s breaches and women’s clothing. This outstanding ruling was marked a remarkable step for transgender persons. With time gender beliefs have remained the same henceforth making it hard to make space for transgender individuals within the society. This goes to prove that history is rife with instances of transgender people.
The 14th amendment of 1868 would have safeguarded transgender people’s rights as well as other defined categories. Even though the Supreme Court did not completely adopt the amendment, the changes formed part of future rulings. In 1923 a German medic coined the term transsexual to be used in a medical journal (Scandurra et al., 2017, 563). Despite using the term transsexual in medical settings, some people considered it offensive thus forcing people to come up with the term transgender. It is vital to note that transgender and transsexual are not interchangeable. Transgender is a general word used to refer to individuals who do not recognize the sex designated at birth. Although medical experts generated medical recommendations, however, these commendations are regarded as personal perspectives. With time, medics were forced to come up with data and results connected to these outcomes.
In 1949, San Francisco medical expert Harry Benjamin pioneered the usage of hormonal treatment in the medication of Trans patients. Benjamin’s focus was anti-aging and sexual individuality. In the same way, he believed that people have the right to change their sex if they felt that the gender allocated to them at birth was incorrect (Chong et al., 2019, 186). Benjamin instructed one of his Trans patients to undergo surgery. At first, he was susceptible because psychotherapy was ineffective among trans patients. Thus, the only solution for these patients was surgery. Through surgery, Trans patients could change their gender. In 1959, Christine Jorgensen, a trans- female was denied a marriage permit due to her gender. Her partner, Howard was fired when the issue became public. Jorgensen took advantage of the publicity to launch an activism platform for transgender individuals. Additionally, the stonewall riots of 1969 highlighted the plight of transgender communities. The stonewall uprisings triggered the present-day gay rights activities. Marsha Johnson was the initiator of the riots with law enforcers. This movement championed gay rights.
One of the most memorable transgender cases was MT V JT in 1976. In this case, the New Jersey magistrate concluded that Trans people can marry based on their gender identity, irrespective of the gender allocated to them at birth. This milestone case established that the accuser, MT had a right to acquire spousal support after her husband abandoned her (Pang et al., 2020, 215). The court ruled that JT's matrimony was legitimate hence a solid ground for seeking spousal support, partly due to her transgender surgery. In 1989, Anna Hopkins was denied a promotion because her employers claimed that she was not feminine. She sued her employer and the court ruled that gender discrimination was part of sex discrimination. Thus, the court ruled that the employer was discriminated against Anna Hopkins. In the end, the employer had to prove that Anna was not feminine enough.
Transgender Social Status Evolution
The transgender issue began as a gender crisis because trans people could not identify themselves as either male or female. Therefore, discrimination has often be tied to the plight of transgender communities. Most transgender individuals are rejected and cast out of their communities due to their gender identity and mannerisms. This rejection often leads to social marginalization. Transgender is a general term that assists in the description of people who want to change the sex assigned to them at birth. Therefore, this issue assists in the expression of gender identity and also gender deviance. More so, transgender shelters routines and standards that might seem unacceptable to the rest of the world. For instance, a woman changing her mannerism to align with manhood. Transgender communities are minute in number with an estimation of .3% in the USA alone (de Jong et al., 2017, 71). This number translates into 2million transgender adults in the USA alone. Most transgender individuals are rejected by close relatives and friends which in turn leads to social marginalization. In the long term, transgender individuals become displaced and jobless consequently leading to a life of crime as a way of earning an income. Some of the studies prove that 67% of the transgender individuals have a criminal record and the remaining were imprisoned at one point in their lives. Hence, there is a high prevalence of transgender arrests in the USA alone.
Transgender communities are made of diverse ethnicities and USA statistics show that the USA transgender population is made up of 2million people. Therefore transgender communities consist of parents, workers, and even children. In other words, transgender communities are entitled to equal rights just like any other person in the community. Diversity represents different races and ethnicities and even cultures. Over the years the legal systems have not been sufficient enough in the protection of transgender rights (Morris et al., 2020, 915). Transgender individuals encounter numerous legal issues because the government is not doing enough to protect them from discrimination. Despite the USA Supreme court declaring that transgender people are protected against discrimination, failure to put in place conclusive federal regulations that would see to it that transgender individuals' rights are not violated. In terms of privileges, the government has enabled transgender communities to coexist with the rest of the societies. Transgenderism advocated for the rights of transgender individuals and encouraged them to live among other people without feeling inferior to them. For the sake of coming up with more than one way of protecting transgender individuals, the government has ensured that transgender individuals are accepted and live among other people because they are part and parcel of the community.
Present Social Status of Transgender Individuals
Ten years ago, only a few people supported transgender rights in the USA. However, in recent years the support for transgender individuals has tremendously increased. For instance, in 2019, 62% of Americans supported transgender rights. Despite the obvious progress, transgender communities experience stigma from time to time as most people label them as socially deviant people. While some people have developed intolerance towards transgender individuals, some ensured that most of their rights are preserved and enacted into the community (Billard, 2019, 165). Communal work and professional standards sometimes protect transgender from discrimination and stereotyping of transgender individuals within the communities. In simpler terms, the social status of transgender individuals is not yet cemented in society due to a lack of legislation that fails to protect them from oppression and discriminative people.
Studies on transgender social lives documented that the increasing rates of transgender discrimination are both physical and expressed through words or even mannerisms that would translate into abusive language. In the current age of the internet, numerous transgender people are speaking out against stereotyping. For instance, pop culture tried to change the perception people have of transgender. Recently, more transgender individuals are being considered for major film roles in the entertainment industry (Cannon, 2017, 68). This progressive nature connected to transgender individuals sometimes is mistaken for acceptance. However, transgender individuals encounter numerous medical disparities within the communities. For instance, higher rates of HIV infection are found in communities that do not have primary medical facilities and this explains the underlying reasons for the high rates of medical disparities among transgender individuals. In terms of economics, transgender individuals tolerate the economic impact of discrimination such as the ever-increasing poverty levels, joblessness, discrimination in the academic sector, and even homelessness. Additionally, transgender persons from minority groups experience violence and isolation from the rest of the members of the communities. Also, transgender individuals taking part in prostitution and other related fields tend to be violated and isolated from the rest of the society. The future of transgender individuals
The concept that transgender individuals are not normal, is a false misconception that has misled communities all over the world. Just like any other group in the community, transgender has to access equal rights. Transgender individuals have the same goals as other people. With time people will learn to accept them as normal members of society. For the sake of coming up with an accepted norm, society can learn to define gender as male or female but also the inclusion of other gender possibilities. This will help to iron out most of the negative perceptions associated with transgender communities and their people. Americans' attitude towards transgender individuals is rapidly changing and most transgender individuals are aware of these changes (Goldberg, 2018, 176). These change in public perception implies that transgender individuals will be welcomed in most public spaces. More so, the universal acceptance has enabled a sense of belonging to the transgender individuals due to the optimism received from most people. According to transgender studies, out of five people, only one accepts transgender individuals, the rest are not ready to make accept them into the community. A significant number of transgender individuals feel that the people in society are not ready to accept them into the community hence they are normally treated unfairly. Thus, most transgender individuals believe that society has accepted them but it is not enough. A transgender person does not need to undergo surgery to fall under the category of transgender. Some transgender individuals have been allowed to make a self-declaration on their preferred gender. Therefore, after a self-declaration, they can comfortably live as either male, female, or any other preferable gender (de Jong et al., 2017, 71). The public panic is not directed at transgender people but at gender recognition regulations that fail to recognize transgender people as normal people.
In summary, transgender revolves around gender identities that differ from the sex allocated at birth. Transgender individuals express gender identity in various ways such as dressing, mannerisms, and even character. People can become transgender through self-declaration, consuming hormones and surgical procedures to change the physical anatomy of their bodies. Some individuals refused the conventional comprehension of gender identity and forced the government to include more genders to give transgender individuals preference. Society's attempt at accepting transgender has made it possible to protect their rights in the community. Transgender individuals experience discrimination and isolation due to their choices. The isolation often lead to engagement in crime and other vices.
References
Billard, Thomas J. "Setting the transgender agenda: Intermedia agenda-setting in the digital news environment." Politics, Groups, and Identities 7, no. 1 (2019): 165-176.
Cannon, Yuliya, Stacy Speedlin, Joe Avera, Derek Robertson, Mercedes Ingram, and Ashely Prado. "Transition, connection, disconnection, and social media: Examining the digital lived experiences of transgender individuals." Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling 11, no. 2 (2017): 68-87.
Chong, Eddie SK, V. Paul Poteat, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, and Jerel P. Calzo. "Fostering youth self-efficacy to address transgender and racial diversity issues: The role of gay–straight alliances." School Psychology 34, no. 1 (2019): 54.
de Jong, D. "Christian social work education and transgender issues: A faculty survey." Social Work & Christianity 44, no. 1/2 (2017): 53-71.
Goldberg, Abbie E. "Transgender students in higher education." (2018).
Karami, Amir, Frank Webb, and Vanessa L. Kitzie. "Characterizing transgender health issues in Twitter." Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology 55, no. 1 (2018): 207-215.
Morris, Ezra R., Louis Lindley, and M. Paz Galupo. "“Better issues to focus on”: Transgender Microaggressions as Ethical Violations in Therapy." The Counseling Psychologist 48, no. 6 (2020): 883-915.
Pang, Ken C., Nastasja M. de Graaf, Denise Chew, Monsurul Hoq, David R. Keith, Polly Carmichael, and Thomas D. Steensma. "Association of media coverage of transgender and gender diverse issues with rates of referral of transgender children and adolescents to specialist gender clinics in the UK and Australia." JAMA Network Open 3, no. 7 (2020): e2011161-e2011161.
Scandurra, Cristiano, Anna Lisa Amodeo, Paolo Valerio, Vincenzo Bochicchio, and David M. Frost. "Minority stress, resilience, and mental health: A study of Italian transgender people." Journal of Social Issues 73, no. 3 (2017): 563-585.
