The most basic challenge of the issue is that some people just won't take the common courtesy of treating people with the respect they deserve, and being outright discriminative at times. To dig deeper, some people have religious beliefs that go against this, which is a VERY tricky thing to work around, since it's THEIR religion, but that's a debate that could last millennia. Another thing that has been pointed out to me recently, is gender stereotypes. Our society has slowly moulded itself around the identification of two basic genders, male and female, and shoved us into a category by force. Take public washrooms for example, which one would an agender person pick? The keyword being pick. It's like it's a CHOICE. In the end, it's not only the members of society that cause a speed bump in the road, but society itself, that make all this an issue.
What we can each do:
All of us together, can help by supporting members of the LGBT community and realize the truth in the matter. We can help educate and spread our words for others to join the fight and this HAS been happening. Lately, there has been a lot of buzz around Caitlyn Jenner (Formerly known as Bruce Jenner) in the media, and when negative feedback is given, the poster (usually a celebrity) will lose a lot of respect and end up taking down the post (As seen below). Along with this comes the fact that there has been an OVERWHELMING amount of positive (and jealous) feedback on the image released by Vanity Fair just a few days ago (See below). This marks a huge milestone and a clear visual reminder that support is there.
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It really is a debate that could last a millenia, isn't it? I completely agree with what you said about it being a choice and I think it's really great that you are mentioning non-binary genders such as agender rather than just male and female. A lot of this comes down to safety as well since a huge ammount of transphobic acts happen in public washrooms. So the question comes down to: would a transgender person choose the bathroom for the gender they identify with and risk their safety, or choose the other resulting in a blow to their self identity? Also, great example using Caitlyn Jenner to show a recent portrayal of the current representation of transgender people in our media.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Cole! This is quite a debatable question, I totally agree with what Julia said that this isn't something that looks like it will end anytime soon. I Also loved that you incorporated Caitlyn Jenner in your blog because it is a resent discussion that is mostly seeming to get negative attention but then again it is such a debatable thing, so some people aren't impressed by it and others are all for the idea.
DeleteI agree with Julia, Caitlyn Jenner was a very good example for this. The funny thing is that I've seen almost exclusively positivity in the media towards her (surprisingly), but funnily enough this isn't always a good thing. Have you seen what some people are saying? Things like "wow, she's sexier than me!" Are almost implying that its unusual for a transgender person to look better than a cisgender person, and that's transphobic. But yeah, Good job on bringing Caitlyn up in your post!
DeleteI feel as though to start the end of transphobia, as a society we must start treating transgender people with same respect and expectations as cisgender people. Implying that a transgender person cannot be good looking is not a fair judgement as someones gender has nothing to do with their looks (or it shouldn't). Saying "Wow, she's more attractive than I am!" is such a backhanded compliment that it can hardly be seen as a compliment at all.
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