Rubin Believes Like Gender Sexuality example essay topic

Transgendered's Rosario and Currah would both concur that homosexuality is not always congruent to transsexuality. Rosario would argue that the world of psychiatry has made the atrocious mistake of viewing transsexuals as those who are plagued with Gender Identity Disorder. (pg. 36 Rosario) Rosario had a patient who was deemed a long- term issue, due to her "psychoses" and previous suicide attempts. Patient "B" as she was titled had a desire to become a gay man. When finally identifying the issue and having the ability to talk about the identity in which she wished to pursue her hallucinations and suicide attempts seized. However, once patient "B" was placed in a day clinic and choose to voice that she wanted to become a gay man, a psychiatrist believed that this new found communication was hindering her transition from involuntary psychiatric confinement to an independent, happy life. (pg. 36) Thus, illustrating the ignorance of the psychiatrist and a majority of the psychiatric community. Many in the psychiatric community view gender only by the view of the genitals.

Gender is thus predisposed and can only fall under terms of biology and not innate feelings or desires. It is this mentality that has caused such a hindrance for a great deal of transvestites and transsexuals. The psychiatrist viewed patient "B" as a female heterosexual transsexual". Rosario mocks the notion of patient "B" being labeled a heterosexual transsexual. The problem lies in not being able to divorce one's biological identify from their inherit desires of the sex they wish to portray and become. Brandon must be viewed as a man and not as a woman that wants to become a man.

Thus, Brandon is a heterosexual. He is a man who is sexually attracted to women. Regardless, of surgery his feelings of being a man are overwhelming in regards to his biological predisposition. Patient "B" is a female who wants to become a man to pursue other men. Psychiatrists fail to understand why patient "B" wouldn't want to pursue men as a woman.

Psychiatry according to Rosario would deem Brandon a female to male homosexual. The female homosexual transsexual occurrence is an area in which the psychiatric world is terribly uninformed, very few articles have been written on the issue. Rosario states that the new psychiatric criteria for the "diagnosis" of GID has two components: strong and persistent cross-gender identification, or the desire to be or the insistence that one is, of the other sex and gender dysphoria of "persistent discomfort about one's assigned sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex, specifically a "preoccupation with getting rid of primary or secondary sex characteristics". (pg. 37) Thus, a transsexual will only be recognized with sex reassignment surgery. The articles have proven that one can be a transsexual without undergoing surgery. Brandon Teena is a perfect illustration of that fact. In Rosario's article he cites Dorothy Clare who coined the term "trans homosexuality" to describe "individuals who express a strong penchant for, attraction to, and / or idealization of homosexual persons of the opposite sex". (pg. 39) Only a few of these individuals were transsexuals or had a desire for surgery.

With this definition "B" would be labeled a female heterosexual trans homosexual transsexual. Ulrichs viewed transsexuals by the psychiatric world as those with a female sole caught in a male's body. pg. 40) This is similar to the way he viewed inverts in Sexual Orientation & Gender. Ulrichs stated that "Our character, the manner in which we feel, our entire temperament in not masculine but feminine, we only act male". (pg. 40) This view confuses Freud's contrast of sexual orientation and gender identity through sexual aim and sexual object. The conversion of these two elements formed was viewed as transvestitism. Unfortunately, transvestitism was only thought to pertain to cross-dressers and those that had fetishes. Only, later to be viewed as those holding inverted sexual feelings. (pg. 41) Recent medical literature has still continuously in forced the ideology that homosexuality and transsexuality are linked.

Sexologists only continue to perpetuate the ideas of the medical community. Currah in her article begins to question queer politics and queer theory. Queer politics similar to Butler attempts to break down categories and to stand as a non identity. Currah identifies gay rights activists as those that argue the notion that "we are just like you" (pg. 180) Queer politics attempts to abandon identities and instead embrace "cultural contestations" as the means of political intervention. (pg. 180) Currah begins to question the notion of approaching society as a non-identity due to the legal complications many transsexuals face. Currah cites an example of Karen Ulan e who was a flight attendant and was fired after undergoing sex change surgery. Perhaps, Karen would have won the suit if she could have labeled herself as a non-identity and not a woman.

However, this is where the issue of breaking down labels doesn't pose to be so uncomplicated. Currah cites many examples of the legal complications that transsexuals face daily. Amongst these issues is not holding the ability to change your sex on your drivers license, and of one of the largest issues marriage. Currah argues that "arguing the laws prohibiting same-sex marriages are a form of gender discrimination is a far cry from arguing that discrimination against gender-variant people and practices, such as effeminate men, masculine women, cross-dressers, transvestites, and transsexuals, is also a type of gender discrimination".

Currah believes that there is a rigid line between transsexuality and homo and heterosexuality. Currah believes similar to that of Cohen that both queer theory and queer politics entail a wide divide of inequality simply by dividing individuals merely by their characteristics. Thus, the LGT community should embrace the issues of transsexuals because they are subjected to the same injustices as gays, lesbians and bisexuals. These issues should be fought on a whole as gender discrimination and not as separate entities. Currah says suggesting that sexual orientation and gender nonconformity are separate issues skirts the problem. (pg. 192) Blasius states that an ethos is based on a voluntary choice of an individual, therefore, is not a biological predisposition. In the cases of Brandon Tenn a as labeled as a heterosexual transsexual I would argue that it is not an ethos.

Brandon did make the conscience decision to go against his biological predisposition; however, the feelings that led him to pursue life as a man, I do not believe were biological. I believe the desire to live life as a man in an innate feeling and desire, one that could not be voluntarily chosen. The movie Boy's Don't Cry could be explained in this way: Almost everyone behaves exactly according to their nature. Feminism is the act to seek women's rights not only to enhance those rights, but to find a status equal to men in a society that has seen little progress in women's liberation and equality.

There are many facets of feminism some more extreme than others and many of the different ideologies seem to combat the notion that all feminists strive for: equality. At one time, and in some circumstances still today, feminists defended not only the rights of women; they defended the rights of other groups which also suffered from oppression. This would be similar to Cohen's world view approach to end discrimination. Rubin and Rich both believe that feminism is being jeopardized by today's forms of sexual liberation.

However, their notions behind their ideologies contrast greatly. Rubin believes that the government should be divorce from all regulations of sex and sexuality. She covers three main historical periods and how political acts at those times have conformed today's ideas of sexuality. She believes that there are historical periods in which sexuality is more sharply contested and more overtly politicized. (pg. 267) Rubin believes like gender sexuality is political. It is organized into systems of power, which reward and encourage some individuals and activities, while punishing and suppressing others. (pg. 309) Rubin believes that the radical theory of sex is inhibited by sexual essentialism, fallacy of misplaced scale, hierarchy valuation of sex acts and what she finds to be the greatest wrong of society and government sex negativity.

These are just to name a few of the issues, beyond this there are legal controls such as religion, family and universities etc.