Robert Eads is a transsexual from Toccoa, Georgia. The focus of the film was to film Robert’s life of when Robert switched from female to male. SoCo is southern comfort which is a documentary film on Robert Eads life and his friends who are all transgender living in rural Georgia. The significance of their lives is that they switched to being transgender back in the late 1900’s when it was not nearly as socially acceptable too and Robert was denied being seen by over a dozen doctors because of that.

The film talks about the concept of family as in family are the people who stand by you and your choices no matter their opinions. With the cases of most participants in the show, their biological families did not like nor agree with their decision to be a transgender so they stopped talking to them. Although, this group of friends made their own non-biological family together and it works out great because they are there for each other and love each other.

The film talks about gender identity in a way that if people feel they are not what their external genitalia displays then they can still claim however they feel with or without surgery. Transgender people get a lot of stereotypes labeled on them in our society today. For example, people believe all transgender have medical transitioned, “transgender are mentally ill” (vox.com) and that transgender is drag queens and kings. While none of this is true many people have their judgements and beliefs on random people they have not even met just because of a label or way they look.

Help Received: internet and class movie
https://www.vox.com/cards/transgender-myths-fiction-facts

Menarche is when a woman gets her first menstrual period. “Mounting evidence has established the significance of menarche as both a footprint for chronic disease risk and compass for health and developmental trajectory” (NCBI). This contributes to the reasons many females react in a scared, negative way when getting their first menstrual period. There is fear of the unknown and also some shamefulness for having to deal with this once a month for many years to come. Although, in some cases, there is a celebration of this a signal becoming a woman which is exciting for young girls.

Traditional Native American approaches to puberty in girls, such as the Apache, were four day long ceremonies and celebrations of girls going into womanhood. This includes traditions, feast and nights of praise to the gods and girls compared to contemporary ways of viewing puberty which is less of a celebration and more of a normal everyday duty woman keep up with. Women in the United States have negative views on menstruation because they do not want to have to upkeep with the hygiene part of it and with so many hormones in our foods and differences in our bodies, most females periods are far from normal. This makes most females not want to have one at all and the ease of access to birth control helps this desire to become accomplished with little to no effort.

In the Jewish Orthodox society, there are rules on omens menstruation cycles. Such as, “No physical contact at all [for two weeks]? Nothing not even a high five or small kiss” (youtube video Metropolis). The origin of their views is Judiasim and this empowers their lives because once a month for two weeks they change how they sleep, act and what they do just because of the menstrual cycle. The issues associated with menstruation in other countries is their low economic income rates which leads to little/no access of needed hygiene products. This leads to increase the risk of diseases and death. I think this cycle is a way of life and it is healthy to keep having it and not trying to get rid of it. Although, I think people should not change their everyday lives around for it because it is easy to handle and not that big of a deal.

Help Received: internet and class resources


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3912848/

According to the United Nations and Women’s Health Organization, female circumcision is, “any partial or total removal of the female genitalia or any other injury of the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons”(womenshealth.gov). This is not commonly practiced around the world, but more in third world countries. Women practice this due to religious and/or cultural beliefs and customs. There is a high risk of diseases and pain resulting in female circumcision. Although, some people believe it makes men more attracted to them. When in reality, there is no health benefits, just risks, to do this and increases risks of infections for the female it is performed on.

Male circumcision is, “[the] surgical removal of some, or all, of the foreskin (or prepuce) from the penis” (pediatrics.aappublications.org). This is very popular all across the world on newborns, especially in the United States of America. This is not for a religious reason, but more of the belief of greater health benefits. There are many health benefits to practicing this such as, decrease the risk of penile cancer and getting urinary tracts infections. It is also performed commonly in third world countries during the teenage years and when performed on a young boy he then becomes a man. Which usually consists of cultural rituals and non-sterile typical instruments used to perform this. In this case, the risk of the man receiving infection and penile health issues increases.

Help Received: internet
https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/female-genital-cutting
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/130/3/e756

Since the beginning of human civilization men have traditionally been tasked with the jobs of hunters and the women were the gatherers. This instinctively led to men being placed in hierarchal roles due to their strength and dominance over women and children, who were pictured as weaker physically and mentally. Even though this is true for most of the world there are places where there is not patrilineal culture, but a matrilineal culture where people trace descent through the female line. In selected traditional human groups factors such as modes of production, social organization and political organization plays huge roles in gender relationships.

A true matrilineal culture such as the Mosuo of China attracts many tourist year round due to their unique lifestyle. In the video, a young girl explains how money and possessions are not shared by people who are married, but the two just sleep together at night and go about their work during the day. Also, the women are in control of who they marry and who is allowed to sleep with them. There is a tradition called the “walking marriage”. This happens when a guy walks into a woman’s bedroom and she decides if he is allowed to stay or not and he always has to leave before the family gets up in the morning. All of this is affected by the modes of production because they mostly farm agriculture for a living and that is something women there thrive on doing. Therefore their social and political organizations are run by the women and the men are believed to be thought of as lesser, which is in contrast to most other places around the world.

In the United States, it was a traditional patrilineal culture for most of history where people trace descent back through the male line. This was mainly due to the strength thought of in the men who were the ones exploring America off west, hunting new species of animals and fighting tribes found along the way, opposed to the women who gathered and watched the children back home. Although, globalization and development have embarked new opportunities for women in this day and age producing more female college graduates than men and women in political power than ever before. Women were exhausted of staying at home and not having the freedoms men did, so now women are taking charge in their futures and developing a strong platform within a college and the workforce. These actions are examples of how the United States has developed over the years because women used to not be able to go to college and out for work to support the family because that was a mans job. The United States has transformed into a bilateral culture where men and women are experiencing more and more equal opportunities and have equal freedoms.

Help Received: Mosuo of China video
https://youtu.be/bbzG0n3shTM

Jocelyn Anop
Help Received: PPT Sex vs Gender, Stratified Societies handout

Artifact 1

Sex and gender are commonly either mistaken for one another or thought of as the same concept. Although, these two topics are very different from each other. Sex is the biological characteristics that differ between males and females. This includes chromosomes (XY for male and XX for female), hormones and internal/external reproductive organs. Gender has a physiological, behavioral and social aspect of it being the role and social identification of an individual as male or female independent of biological characteristics. We define gender roles and expectations off of tradition and stereotypes. For example, implications of these roles for individuals may mean if someone is male then they are typically expected to do “manly” work, as in hard labor, or if it is female they are expected to wear a dress and do a little to no physical workload. This is gender role and a social aspect of gender. The potential consequences of how we view gender roles are people may not be accepted by family and friends due to cultural norms and expectations of behavior may not be met. Defining gender beyond the “binary” is when someone is both, male and female, another type, or neither type. For example, someone who is transgender is non-binary. If a person is outside of the gender binary they potentially will develop social issues, deal with gender gaps and get reproductive organ surgery.

Third gender is the “other” box people check on documents when marking their gender. These individuals are categorized either by themselves or by society, as either man nor woman. This could mean someone is more than three genders, intermediate gender or indeterminate gender. The United States of America recognizes third gender in some states such as Oregon. Oregon was the first U.S. state to approve the option of neither gender on a driver’s license and state licenses. Also, among other communities as in Hijra of India, Sworn virgins of the Balkans, the Muxes of Mexico and Mahu of Hawaii there is acceptance of people who choose to be a third gender.

In stratified societies such as the Haida and Tlingit of the Canadian Pacific coast, there is social ranking, class differences, and prominent gender behavioral expectations. Men were mainly hunters and fishermen and the women often were the gathers of fruits and nuts. The eldest and highest ranking man in the house was chief of the house. Haida was dispersed into clans throughout its community and these clans controlled martial possibilities for people. Throughout this very delegated society, it was difficult for anyone to express themselves if they went outside of the binary. Therefore, not many people went outside fo the cultural norms.

In conclusion, what a person is born with biologically does not determine what they will grow up to be as an adult. People use gender expression, gender identity and surgeries to make themselves feel what they think is best for their body and desires. To contrast gender and sex, sex is what can be changed surgically because sex is the biological characteristics of a human and gender is physiological, behavioral and social. Gender is a choice that can potentially drag along many consequences in the outside world because it is not accepted by everyone to go outside of a cultural norm. In my opinion, it is an amazing thing when people express themselves by the way they truly are because as long as they are happy that is all that matters.

Works Cited
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/06/21/third-gender-option-non-binary/359260001/