Julie L. Nagoshi Transgender Theory:Embodying Research and Practice

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Transgender Theory: Embodying Research and Practice
Transgenderism is not yet an accepted concept or identity in the world today. The society still holds on to its traditional binary system of gender, gender roles, and identity which leads to discrimination of transgender individuals. Many activist groups have in the past come up to protect people of certain genders, for example, the feminists who fight for equal rights of the female gender. However, transgender individuals lack representation as their gender or sexuality still lacks definition in the public eye and is sometimes seen as going against nature. According to Bornstein (1994, 72), the presence of a transgender individual makes people sick and their physical presence is viewed as a political statement. Transgender individuals break the social confines of gender and transgress between male and female genders by changing their sexual orientation or not.
Unlike the queer theory which suggests that gender is just an idea that society instills in us, transgenderism accepts the physical orientation of gender which makes individuals female (being able to get pregnant and give birth to another individual) or male but also incorporates a both/neither concept of gender where one can be female but have male sexual organs or be male with female sex organs. Transgender theory not only gives transgender individuals a sense of identity but also provides a fluidity in sexual orientation as well as an opportunity for self-construction where one can transition into any sex he/she wants with or without changing their physical sexual orientation (Nagoshi and Brzuzy, 435).

Transgenders receive criticism from all ends. When transitioning from male-to-female, they are seen as having relinquished their privileges as men and would still not be considered as true women. On the other hand, female-to-male transgenders are viewed as deserters who betray their oppressed identity. This criticism provides some truth to Shields (2008, 304) view that identity is not only about how people identify themselves but also how the society identifies them as belonging to a certain group. Sexuality has to intersect between self-identity and societal structures.
Works Cited
Bornstein, Kate. Gender outlaw: On men, women and the rest of us. Routledge, 1994.
Nagoshi, Julie L., and Stephan/ie Brzuzy. “Transgender theory: Embodying research and practice.” Affilia 25.4 (2010): 431-443.
Shields, Stephanie A. “Gender: An intersectionality perspective.” Sex roles 59.5-6 (2008): 301-311.