Free Will in Society Today

There are many boundaries that affect how much we can change or alter what we are set out to become. Growing up a middle class white teenager I have always felt I must become the regular hard-working family man my father is. I have choices, however society’s image of an American male adult plays a major factor in the shaping of the man I will become. In the four pieces from the reader, the authors collectively believe they must conform to society’s perfect image of what they must look like and become. It is this pressure that has transformed me into the individual I am today. My life is pre-determined by my race and gender but I believe I have as much free will as I would like to express myself and change my status as an individual in today’s society. Free will is defined as the ability to choose, and I believe we all have that right to choose what we look like and become when we age. I believe free will is one of the most important aspects of living in a free society, like the one in which we live in today. My life is pre-determined by my race and gender. I have felt the pressure to conform to society’s image of a white wealthy male. Being male has given me benefits that many transsexuals have noticed and worked to become accustomed to. In Deborah Rudacille’s piece “Introduction”, Rudacille noted that one person “simply cannot understand why a successful middle-aged man would surrender his cultural power to assume the lower-caste status of a middle-aged woman” (Rudacille XIX). Growing up male already gives me a title and path to what I must become. Early on I was lead to believe I must become the main provider and source of security in my family, and the amount of free will I possess allows me to choose this path for myself.
Another benefit of being male is way they are treated. We don't like to think men and women are treated differently, however many transmen, or people who change from female-to-male, believe “men are treated far more respectively and