Is it possible to have a rational conversation about transgender issues?
By Allison Backiel
When trangender people open up to their parental guardian(s) about how they feel about their gender identity, there are many possible outcomes as to what can happen.
Parents could be super proud and support you. They could be calm and understanding. And they could lash out with aggression and frustration.
But what about outside of your household? Let’s say you’re an adult and you have a job – a job you need and maybe even enjoy. Does the company tolerate transgenders and sex changes? Does it affect your work? In some places you could get fired for being a transgender individual.
What about sports? According to Sunjournal.com, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida voted to ban trans athletes from women’s sports. The website states “Under (Congressman Greg) Stuebes’ bill, recipients of federal funding who host, operate or facilitate women’s athletic programs and violate the new amendment by allowing transgender athletes to play on a girls’ or women’s team could risk losing that funding.”
Representative Nancy Mace, R-S.C. says, “As a woman who is pro-LGBTQ, I don’t care how you dress, I don’t care what pronoun you take, I don’t care if you change your gender, but we ought to protect biological women and girls in their athletics.”
Why is it such a hassle for transgender citizens? When transgender people say, “It’s none of your business,” it truly isn’t. The same truth holds for sexual orientation – nobody needs to know you’re gay. Your life, your preference.
Backing up a bit ….
Transgender is defined as someone whose gender identity, gender expression, and/or gender behavior does not correlate with the sex they were assigned with at birth. Put another way, people who say they are trans female mean they were born male, but identify as a woman. As for a person who was born as a woman and then becomes transgender, they are called a trans male.
In a nutshell, human beings who don’t feel like they were assigned the right sex at birth may want to change their identity and adjust their gender to their comfortable preference.
One of the biggest reasons people transition is because of body dysphoria. You become obsessed with perceived flaws in your physician appearance. The way you think changes the way you act. As Budda, a famous religious teacher from a long time ago, said, “What we think we shall become.” Meaning, the way you see yourself and the way you think affects the way you do and see things. This correlates with transitioning. If you truly believe you were meant to be born a female but were born a male, your brain will manipulate you in a way into believing you are a female. If you think something very strongly, you are more apt to believe it. The way the brain works is sophisticated and complex.
The dangerous aspects of transitioning are very severe.
Transgender citizens who choose transition surgery are more likely to get cancer in the breasts, uterus, ovaries, prostate, and liver. When transitioning, you can also get diabetes, heart problems, infertility, and issues can occur during surgery.
When transgender people get surgery done on their body to fit in with the gender they identify as, not only could the surgery go wrong, but you’re also risking getting cancer in many or more parts of your body, you’re putting your heart and private areas at risk, and you’re more likely to gain more body dysphoria. ( Source: Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Health Issues - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center)
People transition because they feel like they were born the wrong gender or don’t feel like the gender they were assigned at birth. This can cause body dysphoria. Depending on how surgery goes and how it looks, the body dysphoria can get worse.
Why take that risk?
When you get your driver’s license, you need your biological name and your biological sex. You also need that for a birth certificate, when you apply for a job, and when you have a passport. For the transgender community, this is a lot harder than it seems. When people turn trans, they prefer to be called by the name they desire and the gender they identify as. This, of course, leads to uncomfortable conversations or conflict between transgender citizens and the Department of Motor Vehicle Branches, as well as hospitals, private companies, or the State Department.
How many genders are there?
A few gender identities people have created are transgender, nonbinary, agender, pangender, genderqueer, third gender, trigender, demigender, cisgender, ambigender, genderfluid, xenogender, and many more. A variety of debates are at stake for how many genders there are. People say two, people say around 20, and, according to sexualdiversity.org, there are 107 gender identities.
What now? What next?
Transgender lives matter, too! Trangender people matter just as much as any other human being on earth. Starting with a baseline expectation of mutual respect, we can have productive conversations about transgender issues – social, political and even scientific.
It’s a mistake to assume all transgender people think alike on transgender issues. For example,
what impact does the transgender community have on new children coming into the world?
A segment of the transgender community is teaching kids that it is OK to suddenly change yourself because you’re not happy with the way you look and feel. Kids with this newfound interest in transgender matters learn about insecurity, body dysphoria, and, inadvertently, how to lower their self esteem. What they may be learning – and what adults may be teaching – is that it is completely OK and normal to take full control of things that you do not like and change it into something that you do like. No matter how old you are.
Children (and teenagers?) can do and feel whatever they want – within the boundaries set up by grownups. Yes, some adults in the transgender community can have a negative effect on children. Some are not moving the conversation forward.
“Sex is typically determined by the morphology (shape) of the pelvis or skull and long bone measurements,” says bumc.bu.edu.
For archaeologists, when they dig up deceased human bones, they are able to identify whether you are female or male by examining bones, DNA testing, and how the person was buried. That is not going to change anytime soon.
Knight Writer would like this article to be a conversation starter on transgender issues at PRHS. Please send your thoughts on any of these or other transgender issues and topics to Allison Backiel at [email protected] or Mr. Chutchian (Knight Writer advisor) at [email protected].
By Allison Backiel
When trangender people open up to their parental guardian(s) about how they feel about their gender identity, there are many possible outcomes as to what can happen.
Parents could be super proud and support you. They could be calm and understanding. And they could lash out with aggression and frustration.
But what about outside of your household? Let’s say you’re an adult and you have a job – a job you need and maybe even enjoy. Does the company tolerate transgenders and sex changes? Does it affect your work? In some places you could get fired for being a transgender individual.
What about sports? According to Sunjournal.com, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida voted to ban trans athletes from women’s sports. The website states “Under (Congressman Greg) Stuebes’ bill, recipients of federal funding who host, operate or facilitate women’s athletic programs and violate the new amendment by allowing transgender athletes to play on a girls’ or women’s team could risk losing that funding.”
Representative Nancy Mace, R-S.C. says, “As a woman who is pro-LGBTQ, I don’t care how you dress, I don’t care what pronoun you take, I don’t care if you change your gender, but we ought to protect biological women and girls in their athletics.”
Why is it such a hassle for transgender citizens? When transgender people say, “It’s none of your business,” it truly isn’t. The same truth holds for sexual orientation – nobody needs to know you’re gay. Your life, your preference.
Backing up a bit ….
Transgender is defined as someone whose gender identity, gender expression, and/or gender behavior does not correlate with the sex they were assigned with at birth. Put another way, people who say they are trans female mean they were born male, but identify as a woman. As for a person who was born as a woman and then becomes transgender, they are called a trans male.
In a nutshell, human beings who don’t feel like they were assigned the right sex at birth may want to change their identity and adjust their gender to their comfortable preference.
One of the biggest reasons people transition is because of body dysphoria. You become obsessed with perceived flaws in your physician appearance. The way you think changes the way you act. As Budda, a famous religious teacher from a long time ago, said, “What we think we shall become.” Meaning, the way you see yourself and the way you think affects the way you do and see things. This correlates with transitioning. If you truly believe you were meant to be born a female but were born a male, your brain will manipulate you in a way into believing you are a female. If you think something very strongly, you are more apt to believe it. The way the brain works is sophisticated and complex.
The dangerous aspects of transitioning are very severe.
Transgender citizens who choose transition surgery are more likely to get cancer in the breasts, uterus, ovaries, prostate, and liver. When transitioning, you can also get diabetes, heart problems, infertility, and issues can occur during surgery.
When transgender people get surgery done on their body to fit in with the gender they identify as, not only could the surgery go wrong, but you’re also risking getting cancer in many or more parts of your body, you’re putting your heart and private areas at risk, and you’re more likely to gain more body dysphoria. ( Source: Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Health Issues - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center)
People transition because they feel like they were born the wrong gender or don’t feel like the gender they were assigned at birth. This can cause body dysphoria. Depending on how surgery goes and how it looks, the body dysphoria can get worse.
Why take that risk?
When you get your driver’s license, you need your biological name and your biological sex. You also need that for a birth certificate, when you apply for a job, and when you have a passport. For the transgender community, this is a lot harder than it seems. When people turn trans, they prefer to be called by the name they desire and the gender they identify as. This, of course, leads to uncomfortable conversations or conflict between transgender citizens and the Department of Motor Vehicle Branches, as well as hospitals, private companies, or the State Department.
How many genders are there?
A few gender identities people have created are transgender, nonbinary, agender, pangender, genderqueer, third gender, trigender, demigender, cisgender, ambigender, genderfluid, xenogender, and many more. A variety of debates are at stake for how many genders there are. People say two, people say around 20, and, according to sexualdiversity.org, there are 107 gender identities.
What now? What next?
Transgender lives matter, too! Trangender people matter just as much as any other human being on earth. Starting with a baseline expectation of mutual respect, we can have productive conversations about transgender issues – social, political and even scientific.
It’s a mistake to assume all transgender people think alike on transgender issues. For example,
what impact does the transgender community have on new children coming into the world?
A segment of the transgender community is teaching kids that it is OK to suddenly change yourself because you’re not happy with the way you look and feel. Kids with this newfound interest in transgender matters learn about insecurity, body dysphoria, and, inadvertently, how to lower their self esteem. What they may be learning – and what adults may be teaching – is that it is completely OK and normal to take full control of things that you do not like and change it into something that you do like. No matter how old you are.
Children (and teenagers?) can do and feel whatever they want – within the boundaries set up by grownups. Yes, some adults in the transgender community can have a negative effect on children. Some are not moving the conversation forward.
“Sex is typically determined by the morphology (shape) of the pelvis or skull and long bone measurements,” says bumc.bu.edu.
For archaeologists, when they dig up deceased human bones, they are able to identify whether you are female or male by examining bones, DNA testing, and how the person was buried. That is not going to change anytime soon.
Knight Writer would like this article to be a conversation starter on transgender issues at PRHS. Please send your thoughts on any of these or other transgender issues and topics to Allison Backiel at [email protected] or Mr. Chutchian (Knight Writer advisor) at [email protected].