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trans(sorry for the cross-posting)
hiya, just thought i'd share this. i know it's somewhat out of context, but still. it's an email i sent to the professor of a class i'm taking on diversity in aging: the roles of gender and ethnicity. in this class, gender refers to male vs. female. i was doing some reading for my trans studies class, and i came across a quote that was directly applicable to what we were learning in my aging class on what it means to belong to a minority or dominant group. ok, enough explanation, here's the email:
Hi Dr. D-R,
I hope you had a wonderful trip. We all missed you in Cluster seminar on Tuesday. I was just doing some reading for the LGBT studies class I'm in, "An Intensive Introduction to Transgender Studies" with Prof. J.H. The book I was reading from is "Gender Outlaw" by Kate Bornstein, and I came across a paragraph in it that reminded me very strongly of the reading we did for seminar on the subject of minority and dominant group status. I thought I would share it with you...I also posted another quote from Bornstein's book on the class discussion board, but I did not want to post this one because it is somewhat more explicit than the other one. To provide some context for this quotation, she is discussion the differences between sex (the act) and gender (the identity) and how much they have become intertwined in our society:
"The confusion between sex and gender affects more than individuals and relationships. The conflation of sex and gender contributes to the linking together of the very different subcultures of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, leather-sexers, sex-workers, and the transgendered...A dominant culture tends to combine its subcultures into manageable units. As a result, those who practice non-traditional sex are seen by members of the dominant culture (as well as by members of sex and gender subcultures) as a whole with those who don non-traditional gender roles sand identities. Any work to deconstruct the gender system needs to take into account the artificial amalgam of subcultures, which might itself collapse if the confusion of terms holding it together were to be settled." (p. 38)
Since this quotation deals directly with membership to a minority group and the relationship between minority and dominant groups, I'm curious to know your thoughts on this subject and how/if they apply to our class. I think transgendered people are very underrepresented in most talk of minority groups in general, so I like to try and spark discussion about these issues whenever possible.
Thanks!
R.Z.
hiya, just thought i'd share this. i know it's somewhat out of context, but still. it's an email i sent to the professor of a class i'm taking on diversity in aging: the roles of gender and ethnicity. in this class, gender refers to male vs. female. i was doing some reading for my trans studies class, and i came across a quote that was directly applicable to what we were learning in my aging class on what it means to belong to a minority or dominant group. ok, enough explanation, here's the email:
Hi Dr. D-R,
I hope you had a wonderful trip. We all missed you in Cluster seminar on Tuesday. I was just doing some reading for the LGBT studies class I'm in, "An Intensive Introduction to Transgender Studies" with Prof. J.H. The book I was reading from is "Gender Outlaw" by Kate Bornstein, and I came across a paragraph in it that reminded me very strongly of the reading we did for seminar on the subject of minority and dominant group status. I thought I would share it with you...I also posted another quote from Bornstein's book on the class discussion board, but I did not want to post this one because it is somewhat more explicit than the other one. To provide some context for this quotation, she is discussion the differences between sex (the act) and gender (the identity) and how much they have become intertwined in our society:
"The confusion between sex and gender affects more than individuals and relationships. The conflation of sex and gender contributes to the linking together of the very different subcultures of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, leather-sexers, sex-workers, and the transgendered...A dominant culture tends to combine its subcultures into manageable units. As a result, those who practice non-traditional sex are seen by members of the dominant culture (as well as by members of sex and gender subcultures) as a whole with those who don non-traditional gender roles sand identities. Any work to deconstruct the gender system needs to take into account the artificial amalgam of subcultures, which might itself collapse if the confusion of terms holding it together were to be settled." (p. 38)
Since this quotation deals directly with membership to a minority group and the relationship between minority and dominant groups, I'm curious to know your thoughts on this subject and how/if they apply to our class. I think transgendered people are very underrepresented in most talk of minority groups in general, so I like to try and spark discussion about these issues whenever possible.
Thanks!
R.Z.