**Paragraphs 6-9 are a Christian religion’s point of view**

Robert Eads was an American transgender that transitioned from being female to being male.  He transitioned late in life and acquired ovarian cancer.  He had gotten top surgery, but was denied bottom surgery because of his age and ovarian cancer.  He was discriminated against and few doctor’s agreed to treat him.  By the time he found a reliable doctor the cancer had spread to everything except for his lungs, which is ironic because he was an avid smoker!  He is well known for hosting the film “Southern Comfort” and a huge player at the Southern Comfort conference, held in Atlanta, Georgia annually.  The purpose of this film was to educate and spread awareness that trans people were being socially and medically discriminated against!  The only people that truly accepted these people were also trans.  I believe that this film had a bit of satire in it and was trying to show that trans people are people too!

This film harps on the fact that a person’s family doesn’t have to be biological.  Families are supposed to be a person’s support system, no matter their race or gender.  Some transgenders get disowned by their families, so they usually create a non-biological family with people that face the same issues that they have faced and are facing.  That is why the conference was founded, to reach out to people that are hurting in this specific area of their life.  This conference gives the participants hope and a sense of belonging and acceptance- something that everybody should have the right to experience.  Although some people do not agree with being transgender due to religious reasons- God made you how you are and you shouldn’t have the authority to change that.  This sort of mentality is what drives this prejudice and discrimination against anybody who is not cisgender.

Honestly I do not agree with being anything other than cisgender, BUT just because I don’t agree with doesn’t mean that I will judge or discriminate others that do not hold the same religious morals and values that I do.  Somebody once told me that “you will never look into the eyes of someone that God does not love and to always be kind to everyone that I meet”.  Just because these people chose to identify as the opposite sex that they were born with, doesn’t mean that they should be “pitchforked out of the village”.  Everyone deserves to be loved and judging is not within the human authority either- judgement should come from the Lord not from people!  It makes me sad that these people were treated so badly and even denied medical care for CANCER!!!

This film harps on gender identity, most of the people that attend the Southern Comfort conference have identified as transgender- or identifying by the opposite gender that they were born with.  Some people get top and bottom surgery, but some don’t get either surgeries.  For example, before transitioning Robert was married to a man and had two children.  Robert’s sexual orientation was that he wanted a male partner, but he himself also wanted to identify as a male.  He divorced his husband and transitioned and then began to date Lola.

There are many stereotypes associated with people that are transgender.  One includes that transgender make up a third gender; transgender and third gender are completely different!  Another stereotype is that transgender people are confused and tricking others.  Honestly my family believes this stereotype, and it is hard for me to reject this idea due to my Christian beliefs.  To elaborate a little more, I know that there is a God and that there is a devil.  The devil wants nothing more but to kill, steal, and destroy EVERYONE on this earth because every human being was made in the image of God.  The devil is jealous and will do anything to confuse God’s people into sinning so that they can get a one-way ticket to Hell!  Don’t get me wrong, everyone sins but it is a matter of having your sins forgiven by God  that establishes a persons eternal fate!

People think that the devil is stupid, but that is what he wants you so desperately to think!  He’s not just gonna give away his evil tactics!  Everybody knows or has a sense that horror movies are evil, but the devil is a master of disguise and inserts his evil into what society believes are “pure” or “good” things.  He disguises himself and his demons as well; he is not just going to come out and expose himself!  We are in the End Times; the Bible warns us of what will happen!  Even if you are not a Christian, scientist even say that the end of the world is near.  Think about it, if you were trying to deceive someone would you expose your intentions?  We believe that the LGBTQ Community is a tactic of the devil to demonize Christians and blame our nations problems on us!  After we are demonized, we will be subjected to “bow down” to the LGBTQ community by accepting views that don’t line up with our beliefs and if we don’t we will be thrown in camps- literally! (Also, the economy will crash in 2019 and it will be far worse than 1929- prophetic insight. When you see these events on the news, I hope that you will come back and re-read what I am telling you!)

After the world “ends”, we believe that the devil will not have any more influence on God’s people because an Angel will lock him into Hell!  Then God will give all humans a second chance to turn to him over an 1,000 year period.  After this grace period there will be judgement!  “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss……he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and bound him for a thousand years…..he threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to KEEP HIM FROM DECIEVING the nations anymore” (The Bible, Revelation 20:1-3).  I said all that to make my point that the devil is deceiving people by assigning demons at birth that cause these hormone imbalances and malformed genitalia.  I believe that it is a trick of the enemy.  Although I will never agree with the LGBTQ community, I still won’t judge those who are being tormented.  Love, Jesus, and God is what keeps the world going round! “Judge not, or you will be judged”- Jesus!

The thing about the devil is that he will trick you into sinning, and then let that sin destroy you.  An example would include how transgender people have absolutely HORRIBLE health care and are subjected to horrific violence!  It is not fair that a woman that wants to get her boobs and butt done, which have no functional purpose get treated far better than people that are transitioning and have functional issues that MUST be fixed!  There are many accounts of how transgender people have been discriminated against.  There was an instance where a transgender veteran was denied medication while staying in a Long Island jail for burglary.  Jessica was needing estrogen so badly because her anger was overloading her mental capacity to function (Leland 2019).  A 32- year old trans man arrived in the emergency room because of an ectopic pregnancy.  Unfortunately his case was misdiagnosed by the nurse as stable and he ended up delivering a stone cold, dead baby!  The death of the baby probably couldn’t of been prevented, but if the doctor wouldn’t have sent him for an emergency C-section he could of died himself (Stroumsa 2019).

According the American College of Pediatrics, some physicians have come to the conclusion that child gender dysphoria, or allowing children to pick their own gender is child abuse (APIS 2017).  Depending on your beliefs, one could completely agree with this statement or one could declare it as callous and cruel.  Opponents of this statement probably believe that it would actually be cruel to force a child to identify with a gender that they did not feel themselves as.  Proponents would believe that it would be abuse because children learn from their environment and confusion can cause people to think or make decisions that they truly don’t want.  Its always mind over matter, your mind is very powerful and can actually trick you into thinking things that just aren’t true (the devil)!  If a person opposes this statement then they probably feel extremely offended, isolated, and hurt by how pediatrics are treating this issue.

There have been several attempts to advocate to transgender rights and help with medical care and psychological care!  According the Politico, the Trump Administration is trying to cut back on ObamaCare and deplete health care for trans individuals (Diamond 2019).  I believe that Trump is doing this due to religious beliefs, which I can fully support!  At the same time it is grieving to see how badly these people are being treated, but God says that he will turn people over to their own devices so that they can see just how miserable they are and turn back to him!  It seems that things are getting worse for the health and mental well being for trans people in this country.  I presume that the next President will be an advocate for trans health and will give them more benefits.  It is very sad to see the little amount of respect that these people are getting, but for me it is kind of hard to understand why someone would choose this lifestyle.  I am not being critical, but I honestly just cant imagine what is going through their heads.   I can understand medical conditions such as gland or hormonal disorders, but not the fact that some people switch with no medical evidence!

Religious Videos**

Satan Has Many Disguises

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjlx4iMvOTiAhUKheAKHcuZAZwQFjABegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fscience%2F10-times-experts-predicted-the-world-would-end-by-now&usg=AOvVaw1WU_7SFIqdd4Y6AFnjGxot&cshid=1560360621559870

Artifact Videos**

Gender stereotypes affect the health of men and women all around the world.  Factors that lead to these differences include genetics, chromosome assortment, symptomologies and occupations.  Women seem to face more social stress due to care taking, nursing, while men seem to face more physical stress such as lifting heavy objects and working in more dangerous environments (Regitz-Zagrosek 2012).  Men and women also face different symptoms for common diseases.  For example, men and women have different symptoms for cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks.  Women get abdominal pain, discomfort in the neck and jaw, shortness of breath, stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting.  Men get chest pain, discomfort to the shoulders and back, and sweating.  Until 1990 the difference of symptomology led scientists to believe that women were unaffected by cardiovascular disease.  This is because women were thought of as “little men” and were therefore excluded from research studies.  Female exclusion from research studies have led to the lack or slow progression towards women’s health rights such as no pay while on maternity leave (Scientific American 2017).

Gender stereotypes have influenced individual behaviors that have led to these health differences between men and women.  Most men refuse to go to the doctor’s due to the fact that they would be seen as “weak” or “lacking” of their masculinity.  This most likely leads to the lack of data on men, given certain conditions such as depression and osteoporosis.  It is hard for men to admit that they are hurt or injured, especially if that condition could lead to embarrassment (Cleveland Clinic 2016).  Women are more often the care takers of the family which gives them inspiration to seek medical care more often.  Women and men also differ with mental illnesses due to their occupations or different life experiences.  More men tend to suffer from PTSD because of military deployments and exposures to life or death situations.  While women can also obtain PTSD from sexual harassment, the amount of these cases are minimal compared to military expenditures(Olff- NCBI 2017).  According to the Lancet Psychiatry, women are more likely to face gender related violence which influences the status of their mental health.

These violent encounters such as sexual harassment, domestic violence, and trafficking greatly impact a woman’s self image and sense of security.  These horrid encounters often lead to severe depression and low self confidence (Lancet Psychiatry 2016).  Power inequalities such as male domination in the workplace leads to the manipulation of the “weaker” sex (women) and gives way to many types of harassment.  According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, harassment towards women in the workplace has discouraged them to move up the ladder causing a huge gap initiating the gender wage gap (Shaw 2018).  In India, patriarchy is the biggest inducer affecting women’s mental health.  Caste discrimination, very similar to America’s “southern prejudice’, have affected the outraging reported cases of mental illness in women today.  Women cannot have high positions within the Caste system which leads to extreme violence and discrimination to women who try to stand up for their human rights.

The global gender gap is caused by gender inequalities from education, misrepresentation in politics, healthcare, and reproductive control.  Scientists have determined four main modes of measurement to attempt to quantify this gender gap.  These four measurements include economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.  The top three ranked countries include Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.  The bottom three ranked countries in the global gender gap rankings include Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen.  The United States is ranked in the top third at 51st.  There are several cultural and social reasons that would explain each countries ranking.

The top three countries are at the top because they have better education and health.  The bottom ranked countries are at the bottom because of patrilineal culture, lack of political empowerment, lack of health care, and lack of education for female citizens.  In these countries women are seen secondary to men, and men have little respect for their female counterparts.  Pakistan’s lack of political empowerment has ceased women’s voices by causing severe segregation between genders (Kazmi 2018).  Iceland was the top ranked country because of its economic status, pagan religion, and its immense political empowerment given to female citizens.  Females are almost equally represented in Iceland’s Parliament due to a Feminism movement in the late 1960’s.  Women have been given a voice that can be heard via political positions.  Political empowerment seems to be one of the most important factors in high rankings of gender equality.  If women need more benefits in the healthcare field, then they need a person that has political influence to stand up for their rights- whether that person be male or female.  Political empowerment seems to be the basis of getting voices heard and the basis of getting discrimination dealt with.

According to the World Economic Forum, the United States was not ranked in the top ten because of the underrepresentation of women in the STEM field, lack of gender parity and lack of women’s healthcare (Cann 2018).  The top ten ranked countries seemed to have higher rankings in the political empowerment categories.  For example, Iceland had a ranking of 1, Norway sat at third, Sweden sat at seventh, and the United States was ranked 98th (WEF 2018).  The United States needs to put more effort into women’s healthcare by allowing women more political empowerment.  If there are women delegates and candidates, then their are more voices to advocate for women’s health.  Issues such as maternity leave without pay, lack of prenatal care, longevity, and post pregnancy deaths should be addressed as an emergency to our nation.

Reproductive responsibilities can potentially restrict women’s mobility and role in society.  This has contributed to the global gender gap because when women are taking care of these responsibilities they most likely aren’t in good enough health or don’t have time for a full time job.  If a woman is not working then they don’t get paid.  It is not fair for companies to treat pregnancy as an injury.  New mothers could be faced with post pregnancy medical issues like hemorrhages, infections, and blood clots.  Their babies can also have medical issues that need to be dealt with, that would also hinder a woman from working.  If women can’t work and men can, then that creates segregation and allows for men to have more opportunity to work.  This creates a societal gender gap, which eventually affects the global gender gap.  Some men also contribute to domestic responsibilities such as becoming stay at home dads, or taking time off of work to help out with the baby.  Men also indirectly contribute by bringing in more money to pay for domestic maintenance, supplies, food, and toiletries.

Gender inequality is caused by different factors depending on the society.  In Israel women were asked on the streets if they thought if men and women were treated equally in their culture.  One woman was in the Air Force and did not think that she was discriminated against at all, but for the most part women were stating that they were treated unfairly.  One woman admitted that she was paid less than a man, but stated that she “liked it because the men have more money to pay for [her] on dates” (Israelis – YouTube 2015).  Two other women also stated that their husbands “don’t clean or cook…and are just in the way” (Israelis- YouTube 2015).  There are very few female CEO’s or female representatives in the Israeli government to stand up for Israeli women.  They face the same issues as the United States-lack of political empowerment and economic opportunity.

YouTube Video Link

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+israeli+what+is+the+status+of+women+in+israel&view=detail&mid=CB8B18A56D0D817EEF17CB8B18A56D0D817EEF17&FORM=VIRE

what are men’s domestic responsibilities in the US.

Discuss factors related to inequalities in the country of your choice.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjF9oKrwb7iAhWrg-AKHVZiD78QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Ffunny%2Fcomments%2F2hkowc%2Fgender_equality%2F&psig=AOvVaw3F3tvCzUsy_GS8jAEOmiKN&ust=1559142680264785

Although many people use the terms “gender” and “sex” interchangeably, these terms are far from the same. Sex refers to biological characteristics, hormones, chromosomes, structures, internal environment, and external environment. Gender is the role and social identification of a person as either a male or female independent of sex (biological characteristics). Gender can be identified based on social environments, culture, personal experiences, and hormone conditions received at birth (Middlesexes 2005). Gender is usually identified by social and cultural roles and expectations. The way a society identifies its roles and expectations of each gender determines how people perceive and identify their own gender (Middlesexes 2005). Gender varies from society to society. Depending on the culture and society that a person grows up in, conclusions can be drawn that these roles and expectations are defined based on personal experiences.
There are three dimensions of gender: psychological, social, and behavioral. Gender identification can be based on psychological, or a person’s internal sense of being a male or female which may not be the same as the gender that they were assigned at birth. This can cause gender dysphoria- the anxiety someone feels when they identify with a gender other than the one given to them at birth. Behavior leads to gender expression- how a person expresses and is perceived by their appearance and actions. Gender is also determined by society; society tends to associate certain attributes, actions, and attitudes to a person’s biological sex. This is why a person’s culture and society has a huge impact on how they will choose to identify.
There are many stereotypes and biases that people face today regarding gender identification. Stereotypes depend on the cultural beliefs of that society; different parts of the world have different stereotypes. For example, West Virginia has a southern prejudice outlook upon society which most likely means that a person will be judged if they are different from the societal “norms”. If a person is born with male genitalia and identifies as a female, most restaurants and businesses will refuse to serve them. Generally speaking, West Virginia is very religious and uses the Bible as their caliber. “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 22:5). Although Jesus taught in parables and some verses should not be taken literally, most people take things out of context to ridicule people.
Another example includes stereotypes in Sweden; most of Sweden used to believe that the genitalia you were born with was the gender that you should identify with. Their beliefs have changed and now these stereotypes anger many Sweden citizens. Melisa Esteka, an outraged preschool teacher, has taken matters into her own hands and has encouraged the students to defy gender roles. She encourages them by making the girls play outside, making the boys play in the kitchen, and using pronouns such as “hen” rather than “he” or “she” (Barry 2018).
Gender can represent wealth, fortune, and social status in countries like Afghanistan. If a couple does not have a son then they are looked down upon and pitied because men act as powerful, authoritative figures in Afghan culture. Males symbolize success, so many families that do not have a son dress one of their daughters up boys to avoid the gossip and social scrutiny that their society impales upon them (Bacha Posh). Gender is more manifold than most people realize. Some people identify as nonbinary; this means that they neither identify as male or female. This categorization is considered to be called “third gender”. The consequences of identifying as “other” or “third gender” include being misunderstood and being accused of having a mental illness. An “intersex” can also be considered a third gender. Olympian track athlete, Caster Semenya, is an intersex whom was born with a hormone condition. Given the fact that the testosterone her body was making had no target, her athletic abilities were becoming enhanced. She was forced to compete with the male athletes in the 800 meter run. Caster was ridiculed and mocked by many athletes and fans. In 2012 there was a standard guideline for testosterone levels that were monitored for both female and male athletes. If a persons testosterone level exceeded this standard, then they would be forced to take medication to lower their levels in order to compete. Third gender was not accepted by most of the track and sports society.
Another example of third gender would include the Mahu of Hawaii. In Hawaiian culture Mahu means “third self” and is an accepted, valued, and respected practice in Hawaii. They describe the Mahu as someone that “embodies both the male and female spirit” (HuffPost- Queer Voices). The ability to embrace both male and female spirits is seen as a skill and is thought to empower that person as healers and teachers. Western civilization, Americans, invaded Hawaii and ridiculed the Mahu with their religious beliefs. In conclusion, cultural practices and personal experience have a huge impact on gender identity. The Mahu that practiced before the Americans invaded had different personal experiences than the Mahu that were practicing their beliefs during the invasion. Society has defined what is and what is not acceptable via social stigmas. Gender identity is based off of cultural practices, society, and personal experiences.