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

BIO-218X

5/30/18

Cadet Delaney-Manuel

Male and Female Health Gap

In our country, healthcare is a hard topic of debate. When it comes to gender in healthcare, although many diseases run through both male and female people, there are certain diseases which are more prevalent in one sex more than the other. This occurs mainly because of biological such as reproductive function, concentration of sex hormones, and expression of genes on X and Y chromosomes. Men, in the field of disease, tend to get Parkinson’s disease, skin cancer, ALS, HIV, and autism more than females do. One example of a behavioral reason to be more susceptible to a disease for men is skin cancer. On average, men tend to spend more time in the sun than women do. When it comes to HIV, men who have sex with other men are highly susceptible to contract HIV. Women Tend to get more mental disorders over males. Many times this happens because women have lower self-esteem, tendency for body shame, and experience sexual abuse along with gender inequality.

Men and women also have different social tendencies which affect the health gap that is prevalent. Women in the household are the gateway to healthcare for their homes. Men usually don’t even make doctors appointments for themselves. The women make the appointments and tell their husbands to go to the appointments. Why is this? Some believe that our culture of the “manly man” have made some men think that going to the doctors is a display of weakness. This is a mindset which should be changed immediately because the doctors office is not at all a place that people should avoid at all. Men also hide their depression more than females because of the social stigma of the manly man. This reflects to the large gap between Male and female suicides. Men have a much larger suicide number than females do.

The workforce also have an impact on healthcare.along with the social features that make women more responsible when it comes to healthcare, men tend to have the more dangerous jobs. This leads to men having higher work related injuries. Unfortunately, this does not reflect the only injury types that males are susceptible to. Males tend to make ill advised decisions more than females as well. Binge drinking, stunts to improve their friends, and other manly activities lead to these male injuries. A unfortunate but also positive disorder that occurs in males is erectile disfunction. Erectile disfunction brings many males to actively visit the doctors. Although not being able to “be a man” and please your woman, many times doctors find prostate problems in these men. this would never be found if these men did not visit the doctors for their disorder.

Help Received: Powerpoint slides

Noah Delaney-Manuel

BIO-218X

5/29/18

Cadet Delaney-Manuel

Pay gaps between genders

When it comes to the workforce of our country, pay is always the main topic of debate. Whether the talk is revolving around minimum wage, or equal job opportunity, gender has a large role in the debate. Some may say that there is no pay gap between genders, but data proves that incorrect. When calculating the gender pay gap, differences in education, as well as experience are factored into the total pay. Even after these are factored in, there is still a gap between male and female pay. This does not necessarily mean that there is discrimination, but it does mean there is a undeniable inequality. This inequality stretches across race as well. although the biggest gap between male and female pay in the workplace occurs in Asian and white communities, it is also apparent black and latino communities. In the medical field in particular, there is a large gap in pay between men and women. Despite the fact that the women on average worked more nights than their male counterparts, they made $14,581 less than their male peers.

This gender gap can be seen across the globe as well. Due to the simple fact that women have certain gender inequalities that men do not have in life, like reproductive control, they have less opportunities than males do. They have less access to work, child care which is a large factor because mothers tend to be the caregivers of children, education, and also healthcare. Women in other countries not having control over their reproductive rights is a major factor and also a problem. Women have to , in some cases, consult their husband about getting and taking birth control. They also have less access to healthcare without the presence of a husband. In many cases hospitals will not treat women without their husband present and will not keep the doctor to patient privacy from the husbands.

For the U.S., one problem we have in the gender gap debate is where we rank ourselves. In a study done, where they take in to account the number of infant mortality, ad how the mothers are treated during and after birth, we rank 33 in the world. Considering that the U.S. is supposed to be the land of equality, why should we rank so low? One example of why we rank so low is because the U.s> does not always mandate paid maternity leave or paternity leave in some instances. This would force parents to not be able to nurture their children as much and put them into daycare systems and get back  into the workforce before they should. The U.S. also has a fairly large pay gap between genders. In 2017, the U.S. ranked 49 out of 144 out of the best place in the world to be a woman. Not only were salaries accounted for, but they also took into account healthcare options, social freedoms and expectations and standard of living for women in general. These numbers are scary and need to be changed if we are to call ourselves the land of equality.

Help received: Powerpoint slides

Noah Delaney-Manuel

BIO-218x

Cadet Delaney-Manuel

5/28/18

Gender And its role in society

Gender roles differ because of many factors. One of these factors is which level of kinship a society falls under. There are three levels of kinship, Matrilineal, Patrilineal, and Bilateral. Kinship relates to bloodlines and from which parent (Mother or Father) the child will inherit whatever that particular family has to offer. Matrilineal is when the inheritance comes from the side of the mother. One society in which Matrilineal is used is in China. The Mosuo of China are unlike many cultures in both todays society and past societies. In this culture, the children of families inherit the mothers surname and female children are also preferred over sons. Usually in societies, sons were preferred because they were the ones who carried on the family name, but this society changed that norm into their own. The next field in kinship is patrilineal kinship. Patrilineal was most common in ancient cultures because inheritance runs through the man in the family. This means that the surname of the male is taken by children and boy children were preferred because thats who would carry out the family legacy. Bilateral kinship is when the child inherits from both mother and other roles.

The example which I was given was Incan/Andean culture in Peru. In this agricultural society, power was controlled by kinship groups called Ayllus. In these land regions, poor people performed acts called mitas. These included public works and other physical labor for the men, and wool work and weaving clothing for the women. The most powerful person in this society was the supreme ruler. In order to keep power within the family, the ruler would have a wife called a coya. A coya was the sister of the supreme ruler. This allowed bloodlines to rule for longer periods of time other than have to switch power to another family.

In the U.S. today, gender roles as well as expectations have changed a lot as our production lines have gone away and as our country has become more developed. When countries are more under developed, they tend to have less rights for their women than countries that are more developed. For the U.S., women in the early 1900’s did not have equality which was eventually fought for. As the U.S. developed in industry and gained a higher standard of living, women’s rights began to climb. In middle eastern countries, women do not have as many rights as the women in the U.S. This is due not only to the strict religious culture of the Middle East, but also to the development of the countries. When the roles of gender are more , so called, “traditional” men tend to be the gender that benefits the most from the expectations that people have.

Help Received: Womens Suffrage article

Middle Eastern Women’s rights

Noah Delaney-Manuel