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Jordan Engelke
Mentor: Dr. Graham-Bertolini
Fall 2014
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Throughout this paper I will use some terms that may not be familiar to
everyone, so I will define them here for convenience.
As pictured in Figure 1, transgender is an umbrella term for anyone who
defies their birth-assigned sex (Stryker 19). Underneath the transgender umbrella
are people who identify as transsexuals, crossdressers, intersex, grad queens or
kings, androgynous, and anyone who considers themselves a gender bender. I
will sometimes use the abbreviation trans in reference to this term, or the term
transpeople to refer to the group of people who may define themselves as
transgender. A transsexual is someone who wants to physically change their
birth-assigned sex with surgery (Stryker 18). Transman, transwoman, and
transpeople refer to those who have transitioned from their birth-assigned sex to
a different sex. For example: a transman was assigned female at birth, but he now
lives as a man, and a transwoman was assigned male at birth, but she now lives as
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health insurance, then it needs to be taken out of the DSM in order to prevent
transpeople from being seen as mentally ill (Stryker 15).
The term intersex refers to a baby who was born with undetermined
physical sex characteristics and/or undeterminable genitalia (Serano 25). In
cases like these, a doctor will typically choose a sex that the external genitalia
most resemble and select that sex on the childs birth certificate. This is a
controversial practice and the subject of much debate among activists, parents,
the medical industry, and intersex people. There are many cases of doctors who
have chosen a sex for an intersex child, performed some kind of surgery to fix
a genital anomaly, and the child then grew up with Gender Dysphoria or other
gender anxieties because their legal sex didnt match their real sex. According to
some experts, about 1 in every 2000 births result in intersex babies (Stryker 9).
According the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA), these numbers are
sometimes problematic because doctors judgments about what is considered
intersex differ widely. Some doctors only take the external genitalia of a babys
anatomy into consideration, while some doctors will look into their chromosomal
makeup. This only compounds that fact that better visibility and acceptance of
transgender needs is necessary in order to address these kinds of issues. Overall,
however, the ISNA has estimated that a whopping one in 100 births results in
babies whose bodies differ from standard definitions of male or female bodies.
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fetishism and, in doing so, void their right to participate in the feminist
movement (Goldberg 9). This, of course, is not only hateful, but incorrect. The
reason people transition is generally not embedded in sexual desire, but in
intense psychological distress with the body they were born in or assigned at
birth.
Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl and a preeminent theorist and
transgender-rights activist, does not identify as a male-to-female transsexual, but
as a woman (30). She was assigned male at birth, but is now living as a female.
Serano argues that her position as a woman who was born in a mans body forces
her into the margins of society in numerous different ways. She says that most of
the discrimination she has faced has not been anti-trans discrimination or
transphobia, but actual misogyny because our society still sees women as the
weaker sex (3). She goes on to explain that many people are horrified that a man
would ever want to relinquish his privileged status in the world to live as a
woman, and that is where she has experienced most of the hatred and
discrimination in her life. Serano says, discriminating against someones
femininity is still considered fair game in our culture, and she laments that,
while progress is being made on many fronts for diversity and change, women
still remain the least privileged and most discriminated against group in todays
society. Seranos difficulty is two-fold: she is a woman and she is transgender,
which puts her at the mercy of two different, but sometimes overlapping, types of
hate and discrimination.
Opinions like those of Jeffreys can stem from a place of hate and general
misunderstanding, but are also likely a result of her privileged position in our
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society as a cisgender person. Like male privilege and white privilege, cisgender
privilege typically goes unnoticed until someone points it out. It manifests in the
same way that heteronormativity does: we automatically assume that everyone is
either male or female, and when we encounter those who do not fit exactly into
those categories, we see them as strange, confusing, or even threatening. If
Jeffreys were made aware of her privilege as a cisgender individual, perhaps she
would be able to see the extra layer of discrimination she is placing on the
transgender community.
This is why exposure is so important to the acceptance and integration of
transpeople into our society. It is scientifically proven that groups with higher
diversity accomplish more than homogenous groups do. This is because diverse
people can bring their experiences to our attention, provide different points of
view and different solutions to problems because of their unique positions in life.
The same goes for transgender people. With their help, we can create a more
diverse atmosphere in our society, and in our classrooms.
Inclusion on Campus
Despite the advancements that have been made in the last several years,
problems still exist for trans students, faculty, and staff on college campuses. For
example, a college professor at Quinnipiac College in Connecticut who was born
male, but asked to be recognized as female in her workplace, was suspended in
2013 because she refused to submit to a medical examination to prove her sex
(Sausa 49).
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know they are a female, but are legally obligated to check the box for male. In
the last few years, many public institutions and social activist groups have called
for public health surveys and applications to add transgender to their
sex/gender options (Conron).
Teaching The T
The blatant lack of trans literature in high school and college classrooms
contributes to and even encourages our heteronormative and cisnormative
culture (Curwood). This lack of discourse regarding transpeople causes confusion
and unnecessary challenges for transpeople and their would-be allies (Drabinski
10). Exposing the problems that transpeople face and adding a transgender
discourse to the literature classroom is one important way to reverse some of the
negative statistics they face. It is generally rare for texts by transgender authors
or with transgender themes to make their way into the literature studies
classroom. In an arena where gender studies and multicultural studies are a
common area of emphasis along with the literature major, there is no focus on
transgender studies (Blackburn 627). When English departments concern
themselves with the study of diversity and cultural exposure, its unfortunate to
see the overall lack of concern and general unawareness of transgender studies.
Therefore, I am calling for even greater diversity in college curricula starting with
the humanities. [Page] Transgender acceptance is a social issue and therefore
needs to be discussed in a social environment like the literature classroom.
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gives the reader. Educators are in a unique position to promote acceptance and
social justice.
Drabinskis solution to avoid making transpeople seem like objects of
study is that instead of trans people we should think of trans phenomena,
because it will help us see the bigger pictures of the transgender movement. I
disagree. The very practice of teaching a phenomenon rather than the people who
perform it is degrading because in that way, we are substituting our voices for the
voices of transpeople. Instead, we ought to make a concerted effort to include
more trans voices in our conversations, considerations, and literature. We should
consider trans people and their writing because they are the ones who know the
most about the struggles and triumphs of the trans movement. Without studying
their experiences, we have no basis with which to study the phenomena they
produce.
The gender dichotomy is a difficult construction for students who are new
to the study of gender to overcome. If this is an issue in the classroom, professors
can ask questions that provoke students to question their own cisgender
privilege. They can ask things like: how do you know someone is male or female?
Is it their unseen body parts, their names, their body language? We can even give
examples of people who do not subscribe to traditional gender roles, because
everybody is doing gender, but nobody is doing it right (Drabinski 15-16).
Another common mistake to avoid when teaching transgender studies or
trans students is the use of common, but hurtful, phrases, such as transpeople are
trapped in the wrong body or that they are beyond the [gender] binary
(Bettcher 401). Both of these models are detrimental to the trans movement.
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According to Talia Bettcher, the trapped in the wrong body model feeds the
oppression it opposes; it requires the individual to undergo sex-reassignment
surgery to correct the wrongness, and thereby accepts the dominant ideas of
what counts as being a man or being a woman (Bettcher 384). The beyond the
binary model keeps the gender binary itself in a privileged position by assuming
anyone who doesnt fit concretely into the categories of female/male is inherently
different, an anomaly. This is also problematic because it prevents transwomen
from voicing their struggles as women in our culture, who are subject not only to
transphobia and trans-misogyny, but also sexism (Bettcher 387).
Another consideration is the special guest model commonly found in
womens studies and gender studies classes. This occurs when a transgender text
or writer is brought in to the conversation briefly and only to highlight the tenets
of another theory. Womens studies courses are a great place for transgender
theories to be integrated because of their existing frameworks for critiquing
gender and social constructs. In order to prevent, however, the special guest
syndrome, the course should embrace trans studies from the very start, and
continue to include trans voices throughout the semester. Most study of
transgender texts does indeed begin with a focus on womens literature or women
writers, but we should bring transgender studies out of the shadow of womens
studies because it should no longer be used to further the claims and arguments
in feminist theory (Drabinski 19). Trans study is a framework in its own right and
should be taught as such.
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Teaching Recommendations
First, I suggest a primer or introduction to transgender theory for students, as
many students will have little or no previous knowledge of the transgender
movement. Its important to place this discussion in terms of its social and
historical context. That is why it would be helpful to start with something nonfiction. An excellent option would be the renowned Transgender Studies Reader
2 by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle. It offers 50 essays on recent trends in
transgender studies (the first volume has more of a historical focus, so that, also
could be a good option). Of course, professors could select a few essays rather
than having students read it in its 700+-page entirety. I would teach this text
initially because, as my previous research in pedagogical practice has taught me,
students need to have context and stories in order for the text to feel relevant to
them, thereby increasing their engagement with the text.
The next section of the class could then focus on works of fiction. My
search for college-reading-level novels that featured transgender characters or
themes was met with much difficulty, but that isnt to say that novels with
transgender characters or written by transgender authors cannot be found. There
is a massive outpouring of transgender novels in young adult literature and
online literature with novels like Beautiful Music for Ugly People by Kirstin
Cronn-Mills, Luna by Julia Ann Peters, and Every Day by David Levithan. Its a
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sign of progress that the majority of the transgender fiction movement is starting
with young people. These young fans will likely grow up to be more accepting and
comfortable with themselves and each other, and these novels are not entirely
inappropriate for a literature class because they offer the opportunity to discuss
YA lit, societys youth movements, and the experiences we all have in high school
in exploring our identities. However, more challenging novels are desirable for a
college literature classroom.
Orlando by Virginia Woolf is a good place to start. This novels main
character, Orlando, unexpectedly wakes up in a womans body. She lives 400
years and experiences struggles with love and friendship. The themes in this
novel range from identity and gender to time, love, and class. This novel would
work well in a transgender studies class because it asks the readers to see the
struggles a person who changes bodies might face, while also allowing for infinite
other kinds of interpretations and analyses. This way, the focus is not entirely on
the transgender-ness of Orlando, but on his (and then her) life experiences and
struggles and what those experiences mean in the bigger picture for not only
transpeople, but also people of all genders.
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg is a pivotal contemporary text in the
trans rights movement. It follows Jess who struggles to find her identity as a
butch lesbian who identifies as transgender and starts to take hormones in order
to begin her transition. This text would be useful because, first, it is written by an
influential trans theorist and activist, which gives it a note of authenticity. In this
way, we are allowing transpeople to speak with their own voices (Serano).
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them, and supporting them. Changes must be made, and they can start in the
literature classroom.
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Works Cited
Curwood, Jen Scott, and Megan Schliesman, and Kathleen T. Horning. Fight for
Your Right: Censorship, Selection, and LGBTQ Literature. English
Journal 98.4 (2009): 3743. JSTOR. 6 Nov. 2014.
Drabinski, Kate. Identity Matters: Teaching Transgender in the Womens
Studies Classroom. Radical Teacher 92 (2011): 10-20. EBSCO. 19 Oct.
2014.
Goldberg, Michelle. What is a Woman? The Dispute between Radical Feminism
and Transgenderism. The New Yorker. Conde Nast. 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 15
Oct. 2014.
How Common Is Intersex? Intersex Society of North America. ISNA, n.d. Web.
18 Nov. 2014.
Lambda Legal Sues Doctor and Clinic for Denying Medical Care to Transgender
Woman. Lambda Legal. Lambda Legal, 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
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