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Transgender discrimination in society
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Transgender discrimination in society
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The research study “Where the Margins Meet: A Demographic Assessments of Transgender Inmates in Men’s Prisons” by Lori Sexton, Valerie Jenness, and Jennifer Macy Sumner (2010) was funded by The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and The School of Social Ecology. Their hypothesis was “are transgender inmates more marginalized than other groups in terms of their basic demographic and social profile? And if so, why?” (Sexton, Jenness, & Sumner, 2010). The independent variable in this study is the marginalization of demographics and social profiles and the dependent variable are the transgender inmates. They used basic information about the United States and California population as a buffer variable. They define a transgender inmate as someone who:
(1) self-identifies as transgender (or something analogous); (2) presents as a female, transgender, or feminine
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in prison or outside of prison; (3) receives any kind of medical treatment (physical or mental) for something related to how she presents herself or thinks about herself in terms of gender, including taking hormones to indicate and sustain the development of secondary sex characteristics to enhance femininity; or (4) participates in groups for transgender inmates.
(Sexton, Jenness, & Sumner, 2010).
First, they collected field data within eight weeks, traveling to 27 adult men’s prisons in California and met face to face with more than 500 inmates, 315 of which fit their definition of transgender. These interviews asked questions about the transgender inmate’s: “daily personal life, fear of victimization in prisons, perceptions of sexual and non-sexual victimization in prison, personal victimization of sexual and non-sexual assaults in California correctional facilities and the community, opinions on safety and reporting, and demographics” (Sexton, Jenness, & Sumner, 2010). Then they compiled information from another larger study
of transgender inmates, preexisting data from the CDRC’s database on inmates, and information on social status and welfare across broad populations of the U.S. they used this comparative information to analyze their findings from the interviews. Their results on whether or not transgender inmates were more marginalized were significant. “Most significantly, transgender inmates fare far worse in terms of their health, participation in sex groups, homelessness, and history of sexual victimization” (Sexton, Jenness, & Sumner, 2010). Physical abuse and victimization in men’s prisons of heterosexual men (U.S 11.9%, California 12.4%) were much higher than that of the U.S. population (2.3%). These percentages were even higher in the transgender inmates in male prisons (67.3%) compared to transgender individuals outside of prison (37%). Though sexual victimization is higher among heterosexuals out of prison (10.5%) compared to those in prison (U.S. 5.7%, California 5.6%), the percentage of sexual victimization of transgender inmates is considerably higher (75.3%) as to the transgender community outside of prison (53.8%) (Sexton, Jenness, & Sumner, 2010). The researchers were not surprised by their findings, as they reinforced their opinions of victimization of transgender inmates. They concluded that the criminal justice system has not put forth enough effort in understanding of the differentially of transgender inmates, and how it is needed to fix our criminal justice policy. Law enforcement, especially corrections officials need to know how to provide custody and care to transgender inmates. Transgender women in a male prison population poses serious challenges to these correction officers’ ability to ensure safety of all inmates.
Hate violence is a predominant issue against transgender women who wish for acceptance from society. Individuals believe they have the right to perform violence against these transgender women because of who they are. For example, in the novel Stone Butch Blues, Jess Goldberg is physically a women but prefers to live life as a male. Since Jess chooses to live life as a male, or butch, she is frequently a target of policeman and other individuals because of her identity. The society views Jess as a criminal because during the 1960’s homosexuality was illegal and it was considered a mental disorder. Apparently, our society has made much more progress today against transgender women, but they still face a multitude of hate violence. A major example
The perspectives from transgender youth is critically missing in many discussion, research, intervention and implementation strategies. Transgender youth, are misunderstood, misrepresented and excluded from conversations, decision making, and policy execution when in actuality they should be involved. Shelton & Bond (2017) elucidates that although there is a growing body of research that examines LGBTQ youth homelessness, gaps in knowledge about the specific experiences of transgender and gender-expansive homeless youth remain. Studies focus largely on transgender youth in the context of the methods and measures in studies. Hence, including transgender youth within research on sexual minorities, rather than allowing them a distinct category of inquiry, can replicate the common misreading of transgender people as
For instance, sociologists would argue that characteristics of the male gender in a given society include independence, and dominance whereas females express more passive behavior. Gender identity, on the other hand is an individual’s sense of their gender or in other words, their sense as to whether they are feminine or masculine. Therefore, transgender is a term related to “people whose gender identity is different from the gender commonly socially assigned to them on the basis of their biological sex” (Morrow & Messinger, 2006, p. 7).“Biological theories assume that gender should be consistent with biological sex and there are only two genders and two sexes” which does not correspond to transgender people. Furthermore, transgender is also used as a general term to include people such as transsexuals and cross-dressers
“Qualitative study that paints a picture of what life is like for transgender people, Wyss (2004) interviewed seven transgender high school students and asked them about their experiences at school. … Many report that not just other students harassed them but that people they even considered friends would either help or join with assailants during physical attacks. Two of the students were set on fire in school. There were also constant threats of sexual assault, or coercive sex, or physical assault, both verbal threats and notes left in lockers.”
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) recommends that inmates be treated as individuals in the community (Reflections on the Legal Battles). After lawsuits and recommendations, prisons are developing ways to assist the inmates who request treatment of their gender dysphoria condition through name and pronoun change, access to feminine attire, estrogenic compounds, facial hair removal, and sex reassignment surgery. In order for an inmate to be granted permission to these treatments, they have to be diagnosed and recommend by a mental health professional. For that reason, keeping Gender Dysphoria as a diagnosis is important.
The correctional system as a whole has a significant impact on the United States. Incarceration, sexual victimization, and segregation all have a relationship of sorts. Simply stated, it is the butterfly effect. The overpopulation throughout correctional facilities across the United States leaves more opportunity for inmates to encounter sexual victimized. Additionally, the number of people placed in segregation is higher because of the large population of inmates in prison. When one decision, action, or lack thereof, is implemented, there will either be positive or negative consequences. Statistics encompassing sexual victimization,
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.
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. Many transgender people often refer to themselves simply as “trans.” Transgender does not define one’s sexual orientation, however; gender is considered a social construct while sexuality is not.
Transgender people are discriminated against due to a variety of reasons. We will look at how being transgendered in prison affects their right to health care, how health care laws are changing for people who have transgender identity disorder (GID) and how the Eighth Amendment is changing the care they receive while they are incarcerated. Without the right to receive hormone therapy, that they would otherwise receive on the outside, they risk having both emotional and physical issues.
In this paper I will explain how life in prison differs for a female as for a male. I will explain how they differently deal with the situation of being incarcerated and how it affects them both. I will show how the number of incarcerated male and female inmates has gone up throughout the years. I will talk about the challenges and rewards officers face when working with male and female inmates. I will also incorporate the different type of organizations and programs the criminal justice system offers to help them. I will include examples throughout my research paper of both, female and male, to show how they are different.
Living life as a transgendered person is not easy. There are very few times when someone comes out as transgender and their lives are still relatively easy to manage. There are a copious...
Clinically speaking, a person who was assigned female at birth but identifies and lives as a man is referred to as a transsexual man, or transman, or female-to-male (FTM); a male-to-female (MTF) person is a transsexual woman or transwoman (Glicksman). Some people drop the transgender label after they have transitioned to their new gender. However, they want to be referred to only as a man or a woman. But what if our gender identity, our sense of being a boy or being a girl, does not match our physical body? From a very early age we will start to feel increasingly uncomfortable. For some this is a mild discomfort, for others it is so traumatic they would rather die than continue to live in the wrong body. Unfortunately as transsexual people are a small minority of the population the condition has been labeled by Psychiatrists as "Gender Identity Disorder". With the transgendered, the disordered assumption is that the
Currently the citizens living in the United States are imprisoned within the binary of two genders. It is only acceptable for a person to identify as a male or a female. Depending on the gender the person identifies, as there is an expectation of how that person should look and act. The person identifying as the specific gender, must maintain the gender norms that are in place. These gender binaries are so prevalent in our lives; it is to the point where a large group of Americans are being overlooked. This group of Americans identifies as transgender, which means they do not fit society’s expectations of how a specific gender should look and behave. (gaycenter.org, 2012). The trans population does not fit the expected gender molds that are
Transgender Employment Experience is an inside look at what goes behind the doors of being transgender. The book is about transgender life experience at work by stories of discrimination and harassment and to know the policies that might work or not in having a healthy working environment. Kyla Bender-Baird focus on analyzing the experience of twenty transgender people around the United States. That includes both feminine and masculine spectrum in her sample and she carefully thought about her participant identity, confidentiality and diversity in regards of sexual Orientation, age, income, and Career or occupation. Every Book about the transgender study have limitations because of few data available on transgender especially in this book that
In the United States, more than 700,000 people have identified themselves as transgender. These statistics include people of all ages from the children to the elderly. In several surveys conducted in U.S. schools, several children were identified as transgender. For instance, in a 2015 survey in Dane County, 1.5% of the students were transgender (Hoffman). With the revelation, there is a call for unisex bathrooms to accommodate all these students. For example, a nine-year-old student was denied access to the female bathroom in Queensland (Hosking and Sun). This shows that transgender people sometimes go through a hard time; especially in societies where being a transgender has not been accepted. Statistics show that transgender people often become victims of bullying. For instance, 22 women were murdered in 2015 due to being transgender (Goodyear). Additionally, a report by The National Transgender Discrimination Survey shows that more than 40% of transgender people have attempted suicide because of the lack of acceptance in the society (Grant, Mottet, and Tanis 2). Although unisex bathrooms will not eliminate transphobia, it will be a start to ensuring their acceptance in the future. Stereotypes associated with transgender people will be crushed at an early age, giving an opportunity for their acceptance in the