BIO-218X

Noah Delaney-Manuel

6/19/18

Reflective Essay-My Experience

In this course, my mind has gone through many changes as to the true meaning of gender and the identity a person has. Having come from a background where a boy is a boy, and a girl is a girl, it was hard for me to see through the eyes of someone who says they are a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Having now learned that gender has nothing to do with the physical features of a person, I now know that I was wrong before. Part of the reason I think I had this misunderstanding to the true meaning of what gender was is the way society portrayed this community. If anyone looks, it is clear to see that anyone in the transsexual community tends to be shunned in our culture. Many of my assignments in this class opened my eyes to many of the issues and facts about gender and culture. The main points I took away from this course were culture affects gender identity, and how the transsexual community is treated needs to change.

From a cultural standpoint, America has never been one to accept people who are different from our “social norms”. Between the oppression of the African American people and Latino communities, everyone looks past the group that often gets treated the same, and maybe even worse. The group to which I am referring to is the transgender community. For someone to come out and say that they do not feel home in their own body is a hard-enough process as it is. But, when you add in the social repercussions that one can get from coming out in their culture has an impact on the number of people who have the courage to come out. In one artifact that I completed, when the culture one lived in supported a third gender or accepted the gay community, those people tend to come out easier and have an easier life (Artifact 2). In this artifact, I found many cultures which not only accepted people who were transgender, but they in a way praised them. In India, the culture believes that people who go through the change from man to woman, have sacred powers that have been bestowed by a higher power. For this community of people, there is a sense of safety in who they truly are. If they had the cultural views on third gender in their society like America has, they would not have this sense of safety. They are able to get healthcare in their close to third world country, where some transgender people in America are denied help when it is most needed (Artifact7).

Another point I learned was that the treatment of the transgender community needs to change. For artifact 7, our class watched a film called “southern comfort”. In this film, we followed a transsexual man by the name of Robert Eades. Robert was born as a female and then had the sex change later on in his life. In the film, we learn that Robert still has his female sex organs on his body. This confused me at first until I referred to the definition of gender that I studied in artifact 1. Sex is the physical anatomy of the person which makes you male or female where gender is the social and cultural aspect of whether someone is male or female. In Robert’s case, he had the female parts, with a male mind. For Robert, he described his situation as a serious personal dilemma. He had the choice of staying a woman and making his family happy, or changing himself to make himself happy. Unfortunately, seeking his personal happiness led to his death. In the film, Robert saying that he has diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Since the doctors did not want to remove his female parts, and did not allow him to get regular check-ups to see if he had cancer symptoms, they let him wait until he had the cancer. Despite knowing they could help Robert by removing the ovaries, no hospital would take him because he was a transsexual. It would not be accurate to say they are the cause of his death, but they definitely had a major impact in it. For doctors to be able to deny someone treatment simply from the fact that he was a transsexual was mind boggling to me. After much time reflecting on previous artifacts on gender gap pay and genders role in society, it made sense to why this was okay in the doctor’s heads. Our culture does not yet support this community nor the people in it, so they were doing the “Christian” thing to do and turn a blind eye to a person in need (Artifact 2, Artifact 3, Artifact 4).

In all the assignments that I have completed this year, I see myself as one of the lucky ones in our society. From doing all these artifacts, I see how we need to change our society as a whole so that everyone, no matter who or what, gets the same treatment. The case with Robert Eades is a prime example of the problem our nation has. For anyone to be denied help and allowed to die because they are different is inhumane. Unfortunately, I can honestly say that before this course I would have been one to say that it is wrong what Robert did by changing himself and he deserved what came to him. It disgusts me that I used to be like that, but I am fortunate enough to have changed my entire outlook on the transsexual community, and I believe it is time for our nation to change theirs as well.

Help Received: Artifacts from my portfolio

Noah Delaney-Manuel

BIO-218X

Noah Delaney-Manuel

6/17/18

Artifact 7: Gender Identity and health

For any person in life to come out and say that they feel as though they are the opposite sex, it takes a tremendous amount of courage. Taking the next step and becoming the sex that they feel they are is an even bigger leap of courage. For many people who have this issue in their life, it is an impossible task to them because how society treats these people when they finally do come out or do indeed go through the procedure to become the opposite sex. Between the name calling, isolation, and lack of equality for these people, it may be better in a sense to stay in their so called “closet”. At least that is what society would want these people to think, but if you live your life for the likes of others you will never truly be happy.

In the film “Southern comfort”, we follow the life of a transgender man by the name of Robert Eades. Robert was born a female and had the switch later on in life. So later on in life that Robert had a son of his own through his female parts. As reflected in the film, for someone who feels as though they are a man and to carry a child and go through child birth was a horrible experience. So how can anyone say that it is wrong for someone to change their bodies to what they feel they are? Also reflected in the film, Robert was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Before the surgery to reduce Robert’s breasts and start taking testosterone, doctors refused to make the change of sex organs, meaning Robert never had a penis and kept his ovaries and vagina. Since Robert was in the shape that he was, doctors did not allow Robert to come in and get regular check-ups because it would make some clients upset or uncomfortable. After being diagnosed with the cancer, like any other person, Robert sought after treatment options and a way to become healthy. Unfortunately, Robert was turned down by every doctor and hospital he reached out to and paid the price of that with is life.

If the sole purpose of the medical field is to heal and help others to become healthy, then why did they turn down a dying person who could have been helped? The answer to that question is answered in how transgender people are treated in society every day. When we stop treating trans-people as though they are different from the rest of us we will see the problem change. The fact that a person in need of help was turned down because they were trans is horrible and really opened my eyes personally to how much these people go through and how much we need to change how our society views these human beings.

Help received: Film

Noah Delaney-Manuel

BIO-218X

Noah Delaney-Manuel

6/11/18

Artifact 6: Menstruation

In female life, the menstrual cycle is an intricate part of a female’s life. There is no escaping the fact that menstruation is an important cycle that must happen in order to regulate the females body. There are two parts in the menstrual cycle; the ovarian and uterine cycles. The ovarian cycle controls the development and release of the egg and hormones in the body of a female. The uterine cycle builds up and breaks down the endometrium of the uterus. Just like sex, menstruation is a natural phenomenon, but menstruation is almost hidden away from public discussion and seen as gross. In our country alone, men tend to know little to nothing about periods (the menstrual cycle) because they say, “it’s gross”. This contributes to women having to hide their pain while going through the cycle. Despite being in the horrible pain, women still go to work and function in our society, often times not showing any signs of being on their period.

Different societies also have different views on the menstrual cycle. In African societies, while the female is going through the menstrual cycle, they are separated from everyone and put in separate huts until they are over the cycle. While they are on the cycle, people do not have contact with them because this process is not a rejoicing moment in their community. Because of the lack of talking about it, they put their females at risk of getting toxic shock syndrome, a rare disease caused by a bacterial toxin associated with tampons. Tampons are safe, but if left in too long, you are in danger of contracting this potentially fatal disease. Contrary to the African culture, in Apache society, the menstrual cycle is a rejoicing moment. Like circumcision in some cultures, the menstrual cycle is a part of coming of age for females. The Apache culture believes that this is a sacred moment in a female’s life. Maybe society should model their behaviors towards the menstrual cycle after this old culture.

Help Received: Powerpoint slides and videos from class

Noah Delaney-Manuel

BIO 218X

Noah Delaney-Manuel

6/7/18

Artifact 5: Circumcision

In the world and all its countries and different people from different regions, circumcision has a hold on many of these societies “coming of age ceremonies”. In the U.S, it is less of a religious deal than it was in the past. Although many Jewish and Islamic people do this tradition when it comes to their children, the U.S. encourages circumcision for its health benefits. Many countries from around the world also encourage circumcision for its health benefits as well. In Africa, they even made a song called “lets circumcise” to encourage males to circumcise because it is safe as well as the cool thing to do. Although we do not have a song for our men to become circumcised, we show our youth that uncircumcised penis’ have a higher chance of contracting the HIV virus because it houses the virus better. We also have ways around the painful process which some men go through with the cutting of the foreskin. Now, we have devices called “PrePex” which cut off the blood flow to the skin on the penis and after about a week the skin falls off of the penis. This helps men get around the fear of the surgery to circumcise the penis.

Many people in our country do not know about the horrible tradition of female circumcision. With females, female circumcision is also called genital mutilation. With females, it is a much more painful process than with the males. Many societies cut the clitoris off of the vagina to discourage the “promiscuity” of females. This is believed in many cultures to make them better wives and less likely to be disloyal to a husband. Along with these reasons, it is also many times a coming of age ceremony. When a girl is old enough, there is a designated person who will come and circumcise the girl. Most of the procedures are done by untrained and uneducated people. This raises many health concerns because if the person performing the circumcision does not know what they are doing, they could permanently hurt the girl being circumcised. Since it is so dangerous, it is outlawed in most of the countries around the world, but that unfortunately does not stop these horrible for procedures from happening.

For males, there is a much different view for the circumcision process than with the females. For males in other countries, there is religious reasons to circumcise as well as health reasons for circumcision. When males are circumcised, the foreskin which is around the penis is cut so that the head of the penis is exposed. This makes the penis a less hospitable place for STD’s and viruses which could harm the host. In Africa, cultures circumcise their boys so that they can become a man. Some of these processes can be dangerous because of the risk of infection. In one tribe, boys are circumcised and then sent away from their village to heal and become a man. If the boy leaves that area before he has completed the process, he will never be acknowledged as a man. So many times, these boys deal with deadly infections so that they can be called men. Male circumcision in society is viewed as a much more positive thing than female circumcision because it actually has benefits towards the male, where the female circumcision has more risks and no benefits. Although some will argue the religious customs are a benefit, I personally think that female circumcision will never be a justifiable deed.

Help Received: PowerPoint slides and circumcision videos

Noah Delaney-Manuel