Transgender Discrimination Essay

In order to be more aware of what things play a part in privilege, power, and inequality , we covered quite a few topics related to the privilege non trans people have and how certain parts that are normal and taken for granted are used to hold power over and discriminate against trans individuals. One of these topics being the that some medical professionals act as gatekeepers to the medical necessities of trans individuals. Trans people are required by some professionals to prove that they are trans but dressing a certain way that matched up traditionally with the gender you identified as (Serano, 2016). For these situations trans people were required to pass as their gender though not for their sake but for the sake of non trans people who would be made uncomfortable by the knowledge or presence of a trans person. Another problem tied in with the medical aspect of transgender discrimination
and stereotyping is the fact that to be able to get access to the medical treatments needed to easy body dissonance, trans individuals are often labeled with the mental condition of gender identity disorder or gender dysmorphia, thus receiving the stigmatization that goes along with it (Teich, 2012). There was also discussion over privilege and gender entitlement had by non trans people, going over how they are deemed more “natural” or “correct” with their gender for being the gender that would traditionally be paired with their sex. Similar to this, their view on gender is also viewed as correct as well making trans people subject to the views on gender of other people.
Along with this, non trans people are not required to pass, aren’t subject to ungendering, and don’t have to be interrogated over why they are the gender they are (Serano, 2016). The other subjects that we were made more aware of that go kind of hand in hand are stereotyping and discrimination. We got a look at how trans people would experience discrimination at work, costing them jobs or promotions (Beemyn & Rankin, 2011), how they lose some aspects of being treated like a person by being ogled at “like if I was a circus freak” (Nadal, 2013, p. 24), made comments about, and not taken seriously by others. The stereotyping described by Serano (2016) refers a lot to the media depictions of transgender women (it is mostly women due to the under representation of trans men) as either deceivers or pathetic transsexuals while Bettcher (2007) explains in her writing of how this stereotype or view of trans people gets used as an excuse for
murder. Besides these discussions that we have had over the above topics, to help us understand how society is causing these inequalities for those who do not fit the gender norm, being able to talk with the panel and Jaye during class and hear their experiences straight from them makes is a bit clearer on a personal level rather than just reading and I think what they are going through is better articulated in person. In class we have also created more understanding as we flipped the uncomfortable questions usually asked of transgender people onto non trans people and thought of how weird and unnecessary they were and made us realize that questions we have been thinking as harmless curiosity, have been actually microaggressions that put trans people in a place of judgement and scrutiny. Finally there was the connection made to other minority groups that are experiencing discrimination or privilege held over them, or other groups who are negatively affected by the same thing such as sexism mentioned by Serano (2016) and brings up the fact that the sexualization of women means negative implications for everyone (man or woman, trans or not), Getting across (in a way) that an problem with a specific group of people based on who they are and not their actions, is not just their problem but everyone’s problem.