BACKGROUND INFORMATION: I have a long time friend from Puerto Rico. We both went to the same bilingual school in Santurce (a sector of San Juan), we both were from “the states”. He from New Jersey and I from New York. We were in the same class throughout middle school and high school until we both graduated. After our graduation, which commonly happens to other classmates, we both went our separate ways in life. Thanks to social media, we reconnected about 10 years later and discovered that we lived in close proximity to one another. We mostly keep in touch through social media and make it a point to meet up at least once a year to “catch-up” in person, if it is possible ,usually during the holidays.
After a few attempts to meet or have a phone conversation during a course of a few weeks, finally, we both were able to find time to talk about his “son”. His son was born a biological female. I have always been an advocate for him and his wife for being openly supportive of their child. I knew about his son was “coming of age” as a lesbian, but was surprised to discover that this young “girl” I once knew was transforming into a bonafide, by all definition, male! I discovered this through social media. Reading comments from fellow ex-classmates were
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However, a parent 's unconditional love goes beyond textbook definition or my personal experience for that matter. Therefore, I cannot fathom any other unconditional love other than that of a parent for a transgendered child. There is much to be learned from parents who not only stand up for their child but for themselves as well. Tenacity alone is not enough to survive in this fickle world. What I have learned from this experience is one needs to be stronger than you give yourself credit for. The topic of transgender people is still not completely openly addressed, take my initial reservation about asking my friend about his experiences for an
I was born in Guatemala in a city called, called Guatemala City. Life in Guatemala is hard which is why my parents brought me into the United States when I was eight months old. Some of the things that makes life in Guatemala hard is the violence. However, Guatemala has plenty of hard working men, women, and children who usually get forced to begin working as soon as they are able to walk. However, unlike many other countries, Guatemala has a huge crime rate. I care about the innocent hard working people that live in Guatemala and receive letters, threatening to be killed if they do not pay a certain amount of money at a certain amount of time.
Many transgender people lived in dysfunctional families when they were young. The support becomes vital for the wellbeing of kids. In her book Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, recaps the importance of support from Michelle his cousin, who kept in secrets of gender dysphoria of Charles (Keisha) by saying “‘Pinkie –swear you won’t tell your mom’…She’d keep the secret my secret because I was her favorite cousin” (Mook 76). Michelle, kept Keisha’s secret by allowing her to use her swimming clothes. Michelle shows the importance of support from relatives. This is a fundamental factor that might help with the development of her gender identity. Many transgender people may feel a relief at the time to disclose their identity. When transition is in progress the support from friends and families becomes important because, many transgender people might suffer if they lack support. Many transgender people seem depressed because they are rejected by society. Janet Mock, relates how Wendi, support Charles, by making him feel comfortable, saying “Wendi and I grew inseparable trough middle school, a bond that would link us for the rest of our lives. Through association, my class –mates learned that I was like Wendi-who hadn’t yet adopted any labels to describe her shifting self” (Mook 107). In most cases transgender people’s acquaintances can be referred as transgender people just by friendship. The association makes transgender people to gain confidence about their gender identity. The support from groups or friends makes transgender people feel that they are accepted and not alone. Support from friends might urge transgender people to come out the “closet” and reveal their gender identity to gain respect among society. The support from friends is important, but family support seems to be the most important. When families do not support transgender people it causes a hostile environment that may suppress
As a Haitian immigrant, my parents and I would spend our family vacations in our hometown of Port-au- Prince, Haiti. I would enjoy participating in family activities such as card games, cooking, and just the quality time that we spent together. We could play these games and laugh amongst each other for hours, without a care in the world merely telling jokes and listening to the elder parables. Amongst my family I felt untouchable. Like a tree in the wind, my only cares were that of the breeze and the beauty of my foundation. In the sway of the wind I was overcome with a sense of peace.
Transgender is defined by Wikipedia as, “the state of one's gender identity (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) or gender expression not matching one's assigned sex.” The article explains how a transgender individual may define themselves as having the characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender but will choose to identify elsewhere on the gender continuum. It use’s the love story of Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker as an example. It took five years for Zackary to transition from male to female and Rhys from female to male. But both truly believe that they were born the wrong gender, and choose to correct this wrong with hormone treatments, surgery and personality changes that to the more tradition eye may seem absurd and abnormal. This is one of the main reason such transgender couples are talking about their transformations. To beach this gap between transgender’s and the rest of the population. It is believed that by educating society, we are more likely to accept something than if we do not fully understand the parameters that surround such an issue.
Too many times, parents of transgender people force their children to live somewhere other than their homes, such as with other family members or with friends. While they likely are better off without a discriminative family around, the sense of being disowned or potentially unloved is often too much for some to handle. The word transgender describes those who identify differently than their assigned birth genders. However, an umbrella term, or a word that covers more than one specific topic, such as transgender, does not only describe people who identify as the opposite sex; it also describes people who identify with both male and female genders, people who identify as genderless, or people who fluctuate between two or more genders.
As a Latina growing up in New York City with parents from the Dominican Republic, I knew the difficulties of living in poverty. As a child, financial arguments were a common thing, budgets were strict and extra funds were low. However, when it came to education money was not a factor. Education was the solution to poverty, with a good education you’ll succeed and obtain a great job. I kept this mentality with me throughout my academic career. I completed my undergraduate studies in Rhetoric and Communications in hopes of starting a marketing career. That quickly changed when I started my first post-undergraduate job.
All of this happening within the span of roughly three months. Like McCandless, I have also formed friendships with others that resulted in nearly becoming family. It wasn’t adoption, but we became so close, it was almost like I’d grown up with them all my life, and am viewed as another daughter. this was all because I had decided to strike up a conversation He wasn’t too fond of truly becoming close to others.
Seventy-three transgender children who were allowed to express their gender identity freely, forty-nine of their siblings and seventy-three non-transgender children were involved in the study. None of the transgender children had taken hormone, but they lived freely to express their gender identity. The study measured anxiety and depression levels. For depression levels all the numbers were almost all the same. Anxiety levels for all the children varied. Transgender children had higher levels of depression and anxiety than the siblings or non-transgender children, but the variables were only one or two numbers more. These transgender children were relatively happy with their lives as they were able to live with the gender identity they wanted. Letting transgender live the identity they feel comfortable can improve their mental health in the long run. (“Transgender
In closing I would acknowledge that I may be just a little envious of the transgender women. After all they have more testosterone then biologically born women, and this hormone seems to allow them not only to stay stronger longer, but to retain their figure longer as they seem to have better muscle tone. Transgender women also have a certain advantage over men as they are fully aware how a man thinks, and understand them a little better. Finally, these transgender women seem less likely to get involved in drama or screaming matches as some women tend to do, instead it appears when they are disturbed with a conversation they just excuse themselves, leave the room, or ignore the drama completely, something women could learn
Throughout American history, society has grown from the many different aspects of cultures coming together as one. Many of our families leave their homeland to come to America for more opportunities where we often are told to embrace our cultures yet to a certain extent. While growing up we adapt to American culture without realizing that we are even allowing ourselves to hide our own cultural beliefs and upbringings. The two main characters within “Puertoricanness” by Aurora Levins Morales and “Elena” by Pat Mora both demonstrate an interest of the significance regarding race in contemporary American society. Within both readings, it is implied or many of those who believe that if we assimilate to American culture that it will open more
...er roles. The US has medicalize transgenderism to being a disorder where they face transsexualism, this act of diagnosing transsexualism as a disorder is also dangerous because it would make the child feel as though they are an anomaly. What some parents have recommended for people who have transgender children to is just let them embrace it and to help them to be happy with who they are. The parents say to do this because the child would feel depression and face problems developing in the future.
Transgender children have obstacles to jump through while they are in the process of changing. In The LA Times article “A Transgender 9-Year-Old Tells Her Story” Sonali Kohli, writes about a nine year old transgender child's life and the struggles she went through becoming transgender. Many children who are transgender struggle with bullies and other personal issues during the change. Children should be allowed to make their own decisions if they are confident about what they want to do like the nine year old boy who wanted to become a girl.
He or she is often discriminated against and they aren’t able to live to their fullest potential, without the acceptance of society. It’s important to understand that transgender people want to be accepted for who they are. They make the decision to change their gender to make themselves happy inside and out. Despite the differences of gender identity, a person shouldn’t be limited to activities they wish to engage in. They aren’t the ordinary male or female, but they do deserve to be treated with respect and they should be able to live
Supporting point #1: The transgender community is continuously changing and is very diverse and it spans from every region in the United States and abroad to every ethnic background and faith based community. Various members of the transgender community have different requirements. Most importantly, there isn’t a particular way to handle every interaction with a transgender. Just have to be respectful of the person and how they are.
Students: Students can sometimes feel confused about how to behave around transgender individuals at school. They often feel that approaching a transgender peer can be daunting, feeling scared of offending them. There is no way for a student to be a perfect ally to another transgender student, every transgender student has their own needs and students just need to try their best, be respectful and keep making an effort. Don't be scared to approach them! Continue to educate others: One of the simplest ways people are able to help Transgender individuals is through education.