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crispipaper · 4 years

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A polite letter to J.K. Rowling By a transgender fan of Harry Potter (TW. Suicide and trauma)

Dear JKR,

My name is Alex Hernandez, and I have identified as a Harry Potter fan since I was six years old, and a non-binary/ transgender individual since I was sixteen. I recently read your essay concerning your opinions about transgender individuals, and your claim that by providing information you were ‘protecting natal girls and women.’ I was extremely disappointed when I read your piece, both as a queer person and as a Harry Potter fan. The factual information you provided was ill-informed and often taken out of context. The opinions you shared were harmful to many members of the trans community, and perpetuated stereotypes that we have been trying to dismantle for years.

What stood out to me most in your essay was the insinuation that the only way a person could truly be considered transgender is if they underwent hormone replacement therapy and/or gender confirmation surgery. This is simply incorrect, as there are many people (myself included) who happily identify as trans that have chosen to or cannot undergo those types of treatments. It also completely leaves out the identity of non-binary, a-gender and gender fluid individuals, who do not subscribe to the binary gender identities that accompany these types of treatment. It is also not as simple to gain access to these procedures as you seem suggest, even within your home country of the United Kingdom.

In your writing, you state that “a man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law.” According to the official website for the government of the United Kingdom, a person who wishes to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate must be over the age of 18, have documented proof of a diagnoses of gender dysphoria, have lived as their intended gender for at least two years, and intend to live as this gender for the rest of their life (https://www.gov.uk/apply-gender-recognition-certificate). This clearly shows that a person must provide more than just their word in order to gain legal recognition of their gender by the British government. You are correct that surgery and hormones are not prerequisites for obtaining a GRC, however, medically transitioning is not a prerequisite for being a trans person.

You also cited a very controversial study performed by Doctor Lisa Littman the supports the theory of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria. According to this study, children and young adults are more likely to come out to their parents as transgender after engaging online with other trans individuals. Dr. Littman claims that according to the survey she conducted (which was directed at parents of children who had recently come out as trans), gender dysphoria can just appears out of nowhere during puberty, and that internet forums and peer pressure is a large contributing factor to this. However, there are several things wrong with her writing. To start, the survey she conducted in order to obtain her data was targeted at parents of children who had recently come out as trans and only posted to websites that were about parents questioning their teen’s recent coming out. She asked irrelevant questions about the child’s mental health, including whether or not they had been diagnosed with a mental illness prior to coming out, or if they had experienced trauma at some past point in their life. Although I understand that the article was taken down and re-reviewed, the author did not rescind her findings, and simply used the republication as a way to clarify what she had previously stated.

The other aspect of your writing that stood out to me as particularly harmful to the trans community and those questioning their gender identity was the supposition that one could just “choose” to be trans because they have experienced trauma. Your experience as a survivor of domestic and sexual assault are real and valid, and your trauma regarding these situations is real and valid. However, this does not give you the right to suggest that you might have chosen to transition during these times in order to escape abuse. Transitioning (in your case) from an Assigned-Female-At-Birth (AFAB) individual to a male identifying individual does not automatically exempt you from abuse and violence typically experienced by cis-gendered women. It is not a choice people make because they have experienced a trauma. It is a recognition of what has always been true to them, that they were previously unable to freely express.

Here’s where you seem to be missing the point. People who choose to transition from a female to a male are not trying to “escape womanhood.” What they are doing is finding ways to freely express themselves in the most authentic and truest way. For example, say you were born with red hair. But for years and years your family was dying your hair brown because it was more “socially acceptable” to have brown hair. You knew that you had red hair, and that wasn’t something that anyone could take away from you, even if they were trying to cover it up or pretend like it was brown. And one day, you meet a group of people who have naturally red hair, who are flaunting their red hair and making a point of not dying it to fit societal standards. And maybe you don’t agree with what these people are doing, and you continue to dye your hair. Or maybe, you realize that you’ve always preferred having red hair, and now you’ve come across a space where it’s ok to be a red head. These people understand what it’s like to have their hair dyed for years and years, and want to embrace their naturally red hair. That’s how it is for trans people. A trans man was always a man, he was just born into a woman’s body, and socialized as a woman. But once they encounter other trans people, and realize that these people will accept and love him for his true self, then he will “come out” because he realizes that he was always a man and now finally feels comfortable expressing that.

I also want to take this opportunity to share with you my own personal journey of gender exploration, since the stories of non-binary trans people are often overlooked and rarely heard. I was assigned female at birth. I was given a traditionally female first name, and socialized as a girl for the first sixteen years of my life. However, even as a little kid I had a sense that something wasn’t quite right. When I was younger, I really didn’t like my name, and always wished I could have been called Amber or Ashley. I knew that I was not the person I wanted to be, but I didn’t have the language or understanding to really figure out how I was feeling. As I grew up, I came to embrace my feminine name, and to enjoy traditionally feminine things such as princesses and makeup.

Fast forward to high school, when I was beginning to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community. Before I got to high school, I didn’t know a single queer person my own age. Existing on the internet at the time, I encountered many stories of trans people, but the only ones I ever saw were of binary trans individuals. I knew that I didn’t want to be a man, but I also knew that I didn’t really want to be a woman either. So I cut my hair short and started wearing clothes that showed off less of my figure and that attempted to obscure my female form. When I was fifteen, I was doing a presentation on LGBTQ+ identities for school, and came across the term “non-binary individual.” At the same time, I was taking a class where we were learning about the history of feminism, and how many ancient cultures saw femininity and masculinity less as physical forms and appearances, but rather as energies that a person could embrace. Both of these streams of information collided, and I suddenly realized I had words to describe how I’d been feeling this whole time. I didn’t want to identify as a binary woman, and I didn’t want to identify as a binary male. Instead, I wanted the language that would allow me to feel comfortable traveling between these two energies.

My personal definition of what it means to be a non-binary individual is a person who embraces both masculine and feminine energies, and can express themselves as one, neither or both. I keep my hair long and have chosen not to go on hormones or have reconstructive surgery partially due to trauma I experienced as a child, but also because I want to keep these aspects of feminine energy close to me. There are days where I feel more masculine, where I wear “mens” clothes and attempt to present as a more masculine individual. There are days where I want to feel more feminine, and I choose to wear skirts and makeup because that is what helps me to embrace my feminine energy. And there are days when I want to combine energies, so I will present myself as some combination of masculine and feminine presentations.

All of this is just to say that when you, a person who has considerable influence especially on younger children, make these inflammatory statements and harmful claims, you are effectively telling children that this is not a world where they can be as authentic to themselves as possible. You are creating a hostile environment that encourages other people who share your ideas to be more vocal, which honestly does more harm than good. Many of those statistics that you quote about rising rates in teen and transgender suicide are often because people who feel forced to conceal their true identity would rather not exist in a world that won’t allow them to be who they really are. So if you are truly interested in changing public perception of transgender individuals, while continuing to support the education of children and the protection of women, I would suggest reading literature that directly opposes your view points, and having conversations with people (particularly trans people) who have real experiences and are willing to share them with you.

Sincerely,

Alex Hernandez (they/them)

#tw suicide #tw trauma #tw transphobia #Harry Potter #HP #JKR #JKRowling #trans #lgbtq

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fluidityandgiggles · 6 years

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Sleep Is For The Weak - Chapter 7

Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 5, Last Chapter

Writing Masterlist - for previous chapters not otherwise linked, Read on AO3

Notes (I guess): I decided to post this earlier than usual, both in honor of fanfic writer appreciation day and because I finished writing this one yesterday, and I was going to schedule it, and just not worry about anything... and then there was a power shortage and as I’m was writing this, on Tuesday, I had to rely on my phone to provide me with wifi. God bless... (Well, I have wifi now, don’t I?)

I just thought that after all the angst of the last two chapters you’d appreciate a bit of sweetness, and where this chapter started almost as harshly as the last two, it’s just. So sweet. And fluffy. And I feel so happy that I managed to do such a thing. Well... that and prove to the world that I’m a massive nerd. (If you really want to know, some of Emile’s rants in this chapters are based on actual answers I gave in my finals. And those of you who know me well enough know that I studied theatre in high school...)

Thanks and credits go to @broadwaytheanimatedseries for the initial idea (and for being there to listen and talk about ideas with when we hang out, which happens a lot more lately actually), to @whatwashernameagain the absolute angel for Keep Him Safe and for being incredibly awesome (and for the German translation of one of my favorite quotes ever), to @anony-phangirl and @asleepybisexual for their usual contributions that shall never go un-thank-ed and uncredited, and a special one to @winglessnymph who is the person and inspiration behind a good chunk of Emile’s background and who, after showing them a screenshot of this chapter, just said “my old high school can burn, but yes at least Emile survived”.

Tag list (sort of): @bunny222, @ab-artist, @secretlyanxiouspersona, @your-username-is-unavailable, @virgilcrofters, @why-things-go-boom, @ilovemygaydad, @violetblossem

Trigger warning: period appropriate transphobia (the early 00s were not exactly trans-friendly). This chapter in particular also has mentions of alcohol and drug use.

—————

"But I want you to come!"

"Leah, sweetie, I can't come. I'm going to Emile's. But I'll see you sooner than you think, okay?"

"Okay… but it's not going to be fun. Rachel is two and she's boring and I don't like Mom."

Leah called every day after school. Remy could've been in a class, or at a group meeting, or taking a shower, and she would call every day after school. It was somewhat adorable.

But now was no time to deal with adorable.

"Emile, my darling, my precious, my sweet sweet love," Remy declared at the beginning of their morning sols 20 class last Monday, "can I come over for thanksgiving?"

"Didn't you say you have to see your mom?" Emile whispered over his cup of tea, struggling to get comfortable. The weather got extremely cold lately, and at thirty-six degrees at eight in the morning, not even the four layers and giant thermos full of tea could keep Emile warm enough to survive morning classes.

India literally asked him if he's not supposed to be used to such temperatures, which earned her a lecture on hypersensitivity and illness caused by stress.

"But it's Linda! Emile, babe, sweetheart, darling, dollface—"

"Don't call me bubbeleh and I'll consider it."

"It'll be worth it. I promise—"

"I need to ask my mom, and my sister is coming to pick me up because I'm kinda scared of flights, and Minnesota is kind of far away."

"Alright. I don't mind."

He really hoped Nathalie would agree.

"I don't want to be here alone," Leah half-whined.

"I know, babe, but it won't be long. Trust me."

He let her talk about school for a good while more, at least until he could hear Linda screaming at her to stop holding the line. It was horrifying. He didn't remember her doing it much.

Then again, she was barely home anyway.

The call disconnected rather quickly, right on time for his appointment at the psych clinic. The grad student who claimed Remy as his personal project was supervised today by the head of the department, as part of his research, which meant Remy had to be on his best behavior.

It also meant he'd get misgendered. Which was a thing said student, whose thesis was on gender dysphoria and gender identity (same subject as his big project for AP psychology back at Bronx Science, really), made sure to not do.

This was going to be fun.

——

"You went to the Bronx High School of Science, right?"

"Yeah? Gurl, why you asking me? I told you that already."

"A 4.0 GPA, went to a gifted program in Columbia—"

"Why are you asking me questions you already know the answer to?"

"Dr. Freeman wanted to hear those for himself," Remy heard the guy - Michael, his name is Michael, stop calling him "the guy" - mutter to himself as he typed away on his laptop.

"What makes you think that you're a boy, Miss Harris?" The doctor asked, pushing his glasses up. What a prick…

"Well, considering how I was quite literally diagnosed with gender identity disorder by a licensed psychiatrist, I don't think I am. I know I am."

"And yet, you've enrolled into Harvard under the name Rebecca. Is there any explanation as to why?" Freeman looked directly at Remy. "You're an intelligent young person, and enrolling under your preferred—"

"I didn't know I could do it, and now I have, like, no idea how to change it in administration."

"Biologically speaking, Mr. Harris, the concept of sex is very non-binary." The older man's gravelly voice seemed to chill even Michael, still taking notes. Suddenly he didn't seem so evil.

"First of all," Dr. Freeman said, "in sexual species, you can have female be XX and males just be X. For example, in insects. Female birds are ZW and males are ZZ, for reptiles it's temperature differences that female or male make. In some flatworms it's a penis fencing competition. Some fish like clownfish and parrotfish can have females become males because there are no males left, and the New Mexico whiptail lizards are a female-only species who reproduce asexually. Some species, like cuttlefish, have males act like females in order to get close to the females. And fungi have thousands of sexes. And that's not even getting close to humanity."

The doctor cleared his throat and took a sip of his coffee. "You can be male because you were born female but have a 5 alpha-reductase deficiency, and so you develop a penis in puberty. You can be female because you were born with XY chromosomes but you're insensitive to androgens, or because your Y is missing the SRY gene, both of which would result in developing a female figure. You can be male because you were born with two XX chromosomes but one of them does have the SRY gene. You can be male by having two X chromosomes and one Y, or a female by having only one X chromosome. And you can be male or female by being born in the wrong body for your brain.

"As I said, there is no such thing as two biological sexes only. So I'll ask you this again. Why would you enroll as a female named Rebecca if you know that you are neither?"

Remy had no idea how to respond. The professor looked at him, straight at him, and Michael kept typing away…

"...I told you, I had no idea I could do that."

"I'll write you a note to give to Vivian in administration. She'll take care of everything, you just need to provide her with a name."

"It's Remy—"

"I hope you understand that this isn't legal, it's only official. I don't have a doctorate in psychology just to explain what's the difference between the two to my students."

Remy nodded nervously, swallowing air. "Yes sir."

——

"Your suite is so much more comfortable than mine," Emile wiggled on the couch, petting his bunny, as Remy was making him a cup of tea. "You can… clearly see Leah was here."

"The marks on the wall? Yeah… she brought her scooter with her and wouldn't stop running into the wall with it."

Emile giggled - how much cuter could this boy get? - and scratched Mycroft's head a bit. "I asked my mom and, yeah, my grandparents and my uncle and his family are coming over, so it wouldn't be that much of an issue if you came over, but…"

"But?"

"We're having thanksgiving at my grandparents' on my dad's side. So it might be a bit of an issue. I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. It's okay, we didn't plan for this or whatever. I'll watch over Leah and you take care around your family, okay?"

"Okay. Have fun with her. She'll really need it."

"I know and I'm willing to suffer for that."

The kettle started whistling. Remy filled the mug with the boiling water and took it to Emile.

Just yesterday Emile screamed "I waited five minutes and the weather didn't change, get your shit together, Boston" at the sky when it started to snow. It wasn't even that much, Remy had seen bigger storms and he was sure that Emile did too - he was from Minnesota, after all - but it was still somewhat funny. After asking, Emile explained that in Minnesota, and basically all around the Midwest, "if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes".

Remy didn't think he meant it literally. He probably didn't.

"How's India doing?"

"Midterms."

"Cool."

Emile was muttering something to himself in a language Remy didn't understand. He let Mycroft go and the bunny just sat there, on the couch, looking happy enough.

"Hey Remy, what's the Hebrew word for thanksgiving?"

"...I'm a Christian from New Jersey. Why are you asking me?"

"I don't… I don't know. My parents are expecting me to call my cousins before thanksgiving and they don't know English or Dutch yet… not that I know that much Dutch either, but… wait, you're from New Jersey? I thought you're from Manhattan."

"Only since I was five."

"Oh. Cool."

Remy moves the bunny and sat down next to Emile, who leaned against his side and put his head on his shoulder. His hair was incredibly soft, Remy was never quite able to stop running his fingers through it, and the whole situation just… made Remy feel like everything was going to be okay. Just… don't move from this spot, where the his adorable, tiny friend was cuddling up to him and muttering to himself in a different language, and everything will be alright.

His hair smelled like jasmine and seawater. And Remy was torn between admitting to himself just how much he liked it, and wondering if Chris would be jealous.

"You went on a date, right?" Emile raised his head, his hair tickling Remy. "I just…"

"Yeah, I did." And it was a bit better than Halloween. Chris was… way more interesting when not in parties, apparently. For one, he did not talk about his crush on Harrison Ford, and he did talk quite a bit but at least it was about law school and not Indiana Jones. It was… it was great.

"Huh… that's nice." And then, "a friend once asked me on a date. I had to say no."

"Why? Was something so wrong that—"

"No… I like that guy, but… he's the same guy who always paid me to bake weed brownies for him and his friends, and that's not very appropriate, right?"

He had to do a double take. "Weed brownies?!"

"Yeah… my school was the druggie school, you know?"

"No… I didn't know."

"Yeah… it's not like my parents couldn't afford to send me where my sister went, but they were worried about how the stress would affect me so I went to a public school. And… at least I only ever sneaked vodka in water bottles and baked weed brownies, I never, like… held someone's hair out of their face in the bathroom or had to keep someone from killing themselves, which now that I say it out loud just sounds so bad and I totally would've done it if I had to but—"

"Emile, babe, you're making me worry. Like, really."

"Sorry… I never ate weed brownies, though. I'm sensitive to weed."

This… this was the thing that baffled Remy about Emile. This… tiny, pure, angelic thing, with the soft hair that always smelled like jasmine and seawater and the bright, sparkling eyes. His soft little friend whose sunny disposition never faltered, not even in the darkest of times, and whose dedication and determination shone through everything he did.

Emile Picani, the sweetest human Remy ever met, was used to sneaking vodka into school and baking weed brownies.

Fuck.

"How do you even find out that you're sensitive to weed if you don't, like, smoke weed or whatever?"

"You have to decarboxylate the weed to activate it, which basically means heating it up, and the smell gives me migraines, so… that's how I found out."

Yeah, because that's so much better.

"But I mean, good riddance. Can we watch Mulan? I want to do something…"

"Aren't you reading that Sartre thing?"

"No Exit? I already finished it." Emile sipped on his tea. "I don't… get it? I can see why Estelle and Garcin will never achieve an epiphany, but Ines came in already aware that she's amoral… can't she just… leave Hell?"

Gilliam gave the class an optional assignment, to read and analyze No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. It wasn't even going to go into their final grade, but he did say that it might be very important to the next semester when they study Freud ("and how he almost ruined the entire field of psychology, more or less"), so Remy chose to leave it for Christmas break. Or maybe not even read it.

"It's something like sixty pages, it's shorter than Hedda Gabler or The Cherry Orchard… it's an easy—"

"Question one, what the fuck is Hedda Gabler, and question two, what cherry orchard?"

Emile's eyes lit up and he almost jumped in his seat, spilling some of his tea on his lap and causing Mycroft to hop a bit farther. "Did you ever do theatre?"

And off on a rant he went, explaining every little nuance and allegory in both the plays ("so like, back in Ibsen's time, realistic theatre was meant to portray real life and keep the three unities, so Hedda shooting herself off-stage is meant to shock the audience as well as preserve the unity of place, which is pretty much…", "you know, the reason it's called Hedda Gabler despite Hedda being married to Jorgen Tesman is to show that Hedda sees herself as the daughter of General Gabler first and the wife of Jorgen Tesman second", "the cherry orchard is never really in scene ever, so it's kind of like a fantasy, or trying to hold onto a thing that isn't there anymore, like the Russian aristocrat's status, so when middle-class Lopakhin buys the orchard and orders to start cutting it before the others even left is like an even bigger sign that the aristocracy has fallen and there is no place left for it in the modern Russian society, in the face of the upcoming bourgeoisie and their budding materialism").

It was worse than Leah talking about betta fish. Well… no it wasn't, but he couldn't bring himself to shut Emile up… he was too cute to be told to shut up.

"So I just… I don't get it. Ines should be able to pick herself up and walk out the door, so why isn't she doing it?"

Emile was out of tea by the time Remy caught him looking at him with questioning eyes and realized he'd completely zoned out.

"Maybe… societal pressure?"

"Maybe… but it still makes no sense. She's in one room with two incredibly selfish people… can I boil some more water?" Remy nodded and Emile practically jumped out of his lap. The cold immediately hit Remy with a wave of disappointment. He wanted to hold Emile just a bit longer...

"Then again," Emile kept ranting, "this is the play that coined the term ‘Hell is other people'. L'enfer, c'est les autres. De hel zijn de anderen. Hagehenom hu hazulat."

"How many languages was that…?"

"Four." Remy choked. "I don't speak Dutch or Hebrew very well, I told you that. I only know the basics because of my family. But I do know this saying in five languages. I think... My oma and opa really like saying it. But I don't remember how to say it in German."

This boy was impossible.

"No, no, I do remember it. Die Hölle, das sind die anderen."

And Remy absolutely loved him. (A bushel and a peck.)

"And I only know how to say it in German because my neighbors are German. So like… I really only speak two languages."

"That's still way more than me, babe."

"Well, enough about me! I want to hear more about your date! How awesome was it?"

Oh, it was great. Chris didn't talk only about himself, he was actually interested in listening to Remy talk about his interests, they had a lovely dinner and went to see a slightly better than okay movie (he was not going to tell Emile that The Ring gave him nightmares for three days after watching it though), and he kissed him when they got back to Harvard. Nothing big, everything was nice, and they were going on a date again in early December. Nothing could be better.

Except the voice in his head, calling him a liar.

"That sounds very nice," Emile muttered as he plopped back down next to Remy and put his cup of tea on the table. "I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun. The Two Towers and Chicago are supposed to come out in December. And I promised my sister I'll go to see both of them with her."

A comfortable silence settled in. Remy tried to focus on anything but how nice it was to cuddle Emile, especially today that all his suitemates had other obligations. It was almost time to leave for thanksgiving - those who left for thanksgiving anyway - and… it meant he wouldn't see Emile for a week.

He didn't think he was a fan of the idea.

"Can we please watch Mulan? I haven't seen it in forever!"

Remy had to oblige.

——

"Hello?" The tiny voice that came through the phone made Remy so happy, and he had no idea why. "Who's that?"

"Leah, aren't you supposed to be doing your homework?"

"Remy oh oh oh Remy I have so many things to tell you so yesterday I went to the park and I found a shiny rock and—"

"Leah, I called to tell you and Linda that I'm coming over for thanksgiving." The high-pitched scream almost ruptured his eardrum. "But you have to be on your best behavior, okay? I know it's a very hard thing to do, babe, but it's for Linda."

"Okay! I can behave very good!"

"I know you can, sweets. I just need you to promise me that you will."

"I promise that I will! Pinky promise! When you get here it'll be a pinky promise, okay?"

All that was left was to hope that thanksgiving won't be such a disaster.

If it was, though, Remy would start considering smuggling Leah with him to Cambridge.

#kylo cant write #sanders sides #remy/sleep #emile picani #keep him safe #sleep is for the weak #the remy centric prequel #tw: period appropriate transphobia #tw: mentions of drug use #tw: mentions of alcohol

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im-a-meme-or-so-i-hope · 2 years

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Hear me out

First off, I’m doing this for a scout requirement. Second off, I’m sorry. My friends, my foes, my… Non binary bros. I am here to speak to you about a game I have been playing recently and I have started to enjoy. To begin I must first ask you a question, have you heard of the hit game Among Us? The Game is a 4-15 player game based on deception, trust, and most importantly, pure hatred for the people you once knew as your friends. Every game starts the same, your screen goes black and reveals your role. The original Among us had only 2 roles(Imposter and crewmate) while the most up to date among us has the previous two roles and four new optional roles(Scientist, Engineer, Shapeshifter, and Guardian Angel). A special rule is applied to every class other than Crewmate. Crewmates are Players with no significant ability. They are the main characters who must work together and complete tasks to win. Imposters can use vents to travel across the map without being noticed, sabotage vital components of the ship that have to be fixed lest the whole ship loses and the imposters win. The scientist is a crewmate that can see who is alive and who is dead for a limited time due to battery power, the way you can retrieve power is by completing tasks. Engineer can also use vents but is still a crewmate type character, they receive a cooldown after they leave the vent. After the cooldown finishes then they will be able to vent once more. The shapeshifter is an imposter player that can temporarily transform into a crewmate in the lobby of their choosing. The Guardian angel is a crewmate type player that will only know they are the guardian angel once they die. They can create a temporary shield around someone who is alive so they will be spared if an imposter attempts to kill them. The imposter team's goal is to eliminate all of the crewmates until there is a 1:1 ratio of imposters and crewmates. The Crewmate team's goal is to catch the imposters and vote them out in Meetings. Meetings are called if someone presses the button in the central area of the map or someone reports a body. Every person gets one vote during a meeting unless you are dead. If you successfully vote out all of the imposters as a crewmate. Though this is only the basics of the game. There are a few other features in the game such as, maps, Vanity, and Online multiplayer because how the heck else are you going to get 15 members of a game into a single lobby. Seriously, nobody has that many controllers. As for the maps, there are currently only 4 official maps which Include the Skeld, The Airship, Polus, and Mira HQ. The biggest of these maps is The Airship and that's all the info about the maps that are worth much. As for the vanity, the vanity is diverse from unicorn horns to plague doctor masks. Axes in the head to literally the generic female accountant outfit. There are many outfits to choose from and they are incredibly unique and different with few being just color changes of the originals. Now for online multiplayer. The only way to possibly describe that mess is McCarthyism. They follow no logic other than "You spoke first so you must be right" unless there is much stronger evidence from several sources saying otherwise but those are extremely far and few between. The people who play with Randoms will always confuse me and never let me rest peacefully. Now onto what it is actually like to play one of these games. Normally, you can characterize a round based on these three generalizations, The quick death, the slow win, the imposter of imposters. The Quick Death is as simple as the name suggests. You are the first victim of the imposter and are forced to watch as all of your friends miss who the real imposter is and get jebaited harder than a teen basketball player against LeBron James. The second generalization is The slow win. Essentially, the crewmates are slowly able to sus out who is the imposter by the end or they win through completing all of their tasks. It is a hard match to do this if the imposter is someone who is more aggressive with their killing tactics. Thankfully aggressive imposters are usually caught within the first 2-3 meetings. As for the final of the three stereotypes, that is an easy win for crew mates. It's when the imposters do not know how to properly play imposter. They have no idea what they are doing or how to do it, no skills on any term whether it be the time to kill, the time to vent, the time of transforming. They are all confused and practically dazed when it comes to even lying about them being the imposter. They'll stutter and probably give in at the end, probably ratting out their teammate too. It's truly a sad sight to see. In the meantime that's all I have for this discussion. If you need me or need to see me about anything then don’t be afraid to ask me at my ask me on tumblr. Love yall and I will see you around. :)

#sorry

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roidespd-blog · 5 years

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Chapter Twenty-Four : T as in TRANSGENDER

Let’s run down our Queer alphabet. I did the G for sure because patriarchy. I did the L. The L was an interesting journey. Obviously, I did the B, I may have overdid it at times. Okay, are we done ? What do you mean, no ? T ? Uh ?

WHAT’S THE T ?

Transgender : denoting or relating to a person whose of sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.

We previously talked about gender identity and how sometimes, it may differ from the sex you were assigned at birth. Well, still true but that’s just the basic info everyone is supposed to know about. The word transgender, coined by Psychiatrist John F. Oliven in his 1965 book Sexual Hygiene and Pathology, is actually as much an proper identity as it is an umbrella term to many variables in the Trans community. We’ll get to that in a minute.

4500 YEARS IN THE PAST (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ambitious Storytelling in a Amateurish Article)

In broad terms, the History of transgender people begins in ancient Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations, as texts from over 4500 years ago mention transgender priests and prostitutes (remember, oldest job in the world). Some reports suggest that the idea of a third gender came from prehistoric times. They were known Trans priests in Ancient Greece, Phrygia and Rome while an Roman Emperor called Elagabalus preferred the use of “lady” instead of “lord” when addressed to. Variables from the trans community umbrella comes from the fact that there is shared History between transgender people, intersex people and even Second Spirit individuals from the Navajo community. Hijras (India), Kathoeys (Thailand) and Khanith (Arabia) have importance and recognized identities when it comes to the question of gender around the world. They are reports of transitions from male to female and female to male as early as the 1800s, with musicians (Billy Tipton), soldiers (Albert Cashier) and painters (Lili Elbe) coming to terms with their identity reassignment.

Lili, in fact, is famous for becoming one of the first woman to go through vaginoplasty in 1931. She went to Germany to undergo four different operations over a period of two years. Her immune system rejected the final operation (construction of a vagina and implementation of a uterus), and her body developed an infection. She died on September 13, 1931. Her life was immortalized in 2000’s The Danish Girl written by David Ebershoff, followed by a movie adaption from Tom Hooper (2015).

To be honest, the History of Transgender people in the world is so vast and varied, I’m getting overwhelmed. The Tale of Two Brothers from Ancient Egypt. Tribes from West Africa who did not assigned gender to their children until the age of five (In Central Africa, one can be genderless until puberty). The great tradition of dan roles in China since at least the Mind and Qing dynasties. The story of Esther Brandeau/Jacques La Fargue from 18th century Canada. Frances Thompson, a formerly enslaved black trans woman, one of five to testify in front of a U.S. congressional committee in 1866. Zuni Ihamana We’wha who became a cultural ambassador of her/his people in 1896. Danica Roem… Oh Danica Roem. Remind me to talk about Danica Roem later.

And now, it sounds like we’re not defining Trans identity properly as I’ve just mentioned Intersex and Cross-Dressing performers. Well, History is messy. Although they officially differ from one another now, they were more obscure concepts back then (and before “then” was a “then”).

DO NOT CONFUSE (PRESENT EDITION)

The first notion that a ignorant could have, based on lack of informations and overbearing sense of historic confusion, is that Transsexual and Transgender are synonyms. In fact, yes, Transsexual is a term that was used for a long ass time to define transgender people. It has since been rejected by a big part of the trans community. For now, transsexual is a subset of the umbrella that is Transgender. For a transgender person, the notion that “sexual” is used at to refer to their gender identity is extremely reductive. If you are still confused and one day you meet a openly out trans man or woman, don’t put your fist in your mouth flipping a coin to figure out what term suits them best. Just ask. Politely. A Transgender individual is also not to be confused with Transvestites. Transvestite : Someone who derives pleasure from dressing in clothes primarily associated with the opposite sex. First of all, transvestite is kind of an outdated term that was used in such a negative way I almost find it insulting (although it shouldn’t). Know that transvestism has nothing to do with gender identity. It’s the pleasure to put on clothes that do not belong to your gender category. A transvestite gay man stays a gay man. In some cases (but not all), the act of transvestism is developed as a fetish and provokes sexual arousal.

One synonym of the term would be cross-dressing, which was coined after some members of the post-Stonewall Riots group Street Transvestite ActionRevolutionaries, founded by Sylvia Rivera (1971) complained about the use of the term Transvestite. One newly-named long-lost cousin derivative of this is the term Genderfuck (or GenderBender), in which an individual will dress regardless of the binary concepts of fashion and clothing.

Do not confuse Transgender with the Art of Drag. Yes, you’re straight but hyped, you kiki in front of RuPaul’s Drag Race from time to time because they’re so funny and flamboyant. Yes. Yes. Being a Drag Queen is basically being a Cross-Dresser, except that this is a vocation, a paid job if you are lucky. Drag Queens are performers, pretty damn good ones at that, and their gender and sexual identities have nothing to do with how they pay the rent. If you read the June 11th article on RuPaul, you’ll see the details on the scandal Ru created about transgender people. Know that some Drag Queens are transgender and they can keep on being fabulous Drag Queens. Oh, and Drag Kings are a thing too. They just don’t have an Emmy Award-winning show to popularize them.

I will talk about Intersex people and their ancestry and connections to the Trans community, but not today.

PROCCESS

As a Transgender person, you usually feel a disconnection at a very young age between who you are in your head and what body was given to you by a non-existent God Almighty. When a person starts to go into transition (Process of changing one’s gender presentation and/or sex characteristics to accord with one’s internal sense of gender identity — the “and/or” is crucially important) he/she/they makes a conscious personal decision. Careful, you cannot confuse Transitioning with Sex Reassignment Surgery (or SRS), which is only an option. Transitioning is a holistic process and includes many physical, psychological, social and emotional changes.

On the social side, the first step would be to come out. A gay man or woman does not simply go from one gender to another, he/she/they has to redo the entire terrible dance of announcing your gender identity. Through that process, a new name might be chosen by the individual, with the proper set of pronouns. Since it’s a process that can be years in the making, the person transitioning might start to wear different clothing and accessories, style their hair differently, ease themselves into his/her/their real self.

Whether of not he/she/they go through with SRS is totally up to the individual. In the times of Lili Elbe, you could not consider yourself a transgender person unless SRS was performed. You would have been a transvestite. Today, as the laws progressed (very slowly and very recently), only the decision and the social and psychological changes are factors into transitioning legally.

Also, if you ever wonder in a transperson went through surgery, just dont. IT’S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS, YOU DOUCHEFUCK.

On the medical side, the use of hormone therapy to create feminine or masculine characteristics is a major step into the transition (again, not an obligation). For trans women, surgeries can include breast implants, orchiectomy, laser hair removal, tracheal shave, facial feminization and penile inversion vaginoplasty. For trans men, male chest reconstruction, hysterectomy, phalloplasty and metoidioplasty are options to explore.

You also need a trustworthy doctor by your side to help you through your transition. Using hormones without medical guidance is dangerous and you may risk serious complications.

The point is, not all transgender people transition “completely” or even at all. The ways of some are not those of others. It may be a personal choice or a financial one, as those surgeries are very expansive and not always part of your insurance package (in the States, for example). Nevertheless, a person’s gender identity should always be respected no matter how they decide to transition socially or medically.

TRANS UNDER THE LAW

They are still a lot of places in the world where Transgender people are not protected under the law, where they cannot access the public bathroom of their gender based of bigotry ideas and religious fanaticism. There’s also discrimination in work places, many other public services, in health care.

In the United States, where you can be recognized as Trans, an Employment Non-Discrimination Act was stalled and failed several times over the last two decades. Each state now have choices of legislation in the matter. Mr. Orange is quickly taking back what was giving over the years to Trans people, such as the right to serve in the United States Armed Forces. Furthermore, Trans black women are still the most in danger population on record. As recently at early, the body of 26 year-old Chynal Lindsey was found. It’s the second unsolved murder of a trans black woman in the spam of a few weeks, fourth in three years in Dallas alone.

Did you know that until January of 2018, France was asking their transgender citizens to go through obligatory sterilization, a direct violation of human rights (decision made the European Court of Human Rights in April 2017) ? 20 countries in Europe were implementing that rule, while 36 still require mental health diagnosis in order to get legal gender recognition. Back to France. Laws to protect trans people started to be talked about as early as the late 70s. Twice, in 1981 and 1982, a law failed to pass. Meanwhile, transpeople were still considered psychiatric cases when in need of hospital care, and that until 2010. Since the 2016 case of a young trans woman who didn’t want to go through any surgery and still change her legal name, shit have moved around in the right direction. With the non-obligation to be sterilized came the possibility to change one’s name more easily, not based on any invasive medical procedures. You need to prove that that name represents your real identity, that’s it’s been used that others for quite some time and the change would harm your psychological well-being. New rules about minors who want to transition have also been add up to the law. They can change their names at age 12. The birth certificate can be modified at age 16. Transphobia is punishable through many updated laws when it comes to slurs, defamation, sexual harassment and discrimination.

And yet, trans people don’t feel safe. I wonder why.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY NOTHING

2017 and 2018 were the deadliest years for Transgender Americans, with over 50 deaths in 24 months. Cases of Transgender people being arrested for crimes that were not crimes are basically limitless at this point. The Transgender community is still the most rejected of them all. Have you ever wondered how you would react if Pierre was suddenly in the process of becoming Vanessa, her real self ? The answer is not relevant. Vanessa would not have the support of her family, her uneducated friends would try to ditch her faster than you can say vaginoplasty and her boss would find a way to make her feel unwelcome. People have not been properly educated. They get easily confused with pronouns, so to understand the difficult process of gender dysphoria ?

Gender Dysphoria : the distress a person feels due to their birth-assigned sex and gender not matching their gender identity. My mama once told me that the fact that I was gay took time for her to process but she never stopped loving me. When I asked her “what if I was transgender ?” she replied “Oh no Alex. Not that. I don’t think I would accept that”. My mama’s no bigot. She is just so uninformed that she automatically rejects any foreign ideas. That’s why representation is so fucking important, so.

WE CAN BE HEROES

Long gone are the days where the only trans people on television were played by cisgender actors and were called “transvestite hooker #2”. It started with a bang with Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry (1999), it slowly went to more recognition with Felicity Huffman in Transamerica (2005) to continue through Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (2013). All fine performances by three cisgender folks. I’m not even gonna mention prior appearances of trans characters, they are just so offensive.

The real revolution started in July of 2013, when the character of Sofia, played by Laverne Cox, was introduced to the world by Netflix. A transgender character played by a transgender actress. She went on to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Guest Actress. Twice. The consecration came a year later when Cox made the cover of Time magazine. It was called a “transgender tipping point”.

In 2014, Transparent debuted its first season on Amazon. Let’s not forget the Tambor scandal, yes, but it would be a shame to not celebrate the work of non-binary individual Jill Soloway, who gave trans people a platform — as except for Tambor and Whitford characters, all the trans characters were played by transgender people. in 2015, Caitlyn Jenner made the cover of Vanity Fair, officially announcing her transition. She’s a terrible person. I won’t say otherwise because she’s a trans women. A terrible person is a terrible person. In 2017, A Fantastic Woman won Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. First, it’s an incredible movie. Second, it served as a response from the government trying to erase the trans community from existence in the military. An incredibly realistic portrayal of a trans character in Shameless (played by the gorgeous Elliot Fletcher) in also to be noted.

In 2018, Pose premiered its first episode. I’ve already talked about Pose so much. I’m not getting into too much detail again. It’s major.

I’ll just say this : I went back to work on Friday. I work at an english bookstore, you see. In the press department. And There she was. Indya Moore. On the cover of Elle US. My jaw dropped on the floor. A trans woman on the cover of one of the most popular fashion magazine in the world. I’m sorry but MILESTONE.

Scarlett Johansson having to quit a movie where she was gonna play a transgender person because of the outpour of rage that followed ? PRICELESS MILESTONE. Janet Mock becoming the first transgender person to direct an episode of television ? MILESTONE TO INFINITY. Supergirl just introduced the TV’s first transgender superhero, played by Nicole Maines. I’ve said it before. Get the kids on board and then, jackpot. In France, activist-turned-actor Adrian de La Vega and actor Océan (who documentary feature is available for streaming right now!) are making incredible waves for the french trans community.

My god… DANICA ROEM ! This american journalist was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, becoming the first transgender person to both be elected and serve in any U.S. state legislature. She famously answered to a chance to attack her republican counterpart in the race (Bob Marshall, nicknamed the commonwealth’s “chief homophobe”) by these simple words : “I don’t attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now.”

GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT… WELL, TRANSGHT

Queer people, here’s my daily message on repeat : GIVE MORE TO THE TRANS COMMUNITY. Stop looking at yourselves in the gym mirrors and focus : Trans people be should OUR top priority. We are letting our siblings in the mud while we parade with pride. Enough. Each new Pride should be first of foremost about trans rights and how we can protect them. AS FAST AS WE CAN. Here we have brave men and women having the courage to live as their true selves, we are one of the same. No dancing on Robyn’s music until the entire crowd starts screaming “TRANS RIGHTS NOW ! TRANS RIGHTS NOW !” I’m not hearing you. LOUDER.

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skybugwitch · 4 years

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Skybug’s broken heart (trigger warning)

Hello My lovely witches, This is more of a posting vent rather then something witchy, I also want to thank the owner of tumbler for making this website/app it's basically my escape. So let’s start from the top girls and boys (and non-binary : ) I am a very young girl im not even 18 yet and i’ve seen wrath in person, Who is rath? Rath is my past my awful dark disfigured past. So when I barely hit my adolescent years domestic violence happened in my household better said ever since I took the breath of life, I was also bullied because I only spoke spanish and I didnt speak english. I always had privilege until everyone saw and heard me speak spanish then I was just pretty much despised. I spent my 2 years of elementary school without knowing how to read my dad beat me when he tried showing me and my teacher was racist and didn’t want to help me, My mom didn't speak English that's why she couldn't help me and when my mom told my dad to properly teach me without beating me he would also hit and beat her. After that my family hit debt and we had to move to a “bad neighborhood” and I ended up learning to write and read english (I also became fluent). But domestic violence was a big part of my life. Now this is where I say I meet wrath itself (remember wrath is genderless It comes from anyone/anything/anywhere/any God or Gods/daemon/spirit/Whatever carries it really) I moved right up the street from a witch, The house was foreclosed so it needed a lot of renovating and this witches partner (keeping their identities a secret that's why I am trying to go over certain words) Knew someone related to them who did construction for cheap, Overly cheap. To this day I don’t really know what the problem was but the person who helped the man who was my mom's husband had an extreme feud with this Ex-husband of my mother. My sibling who is autistic became awfully sick, throwing up, nose bleeds, diarrhea, you name it my sibling had. Everytime we went to the doctor my sibling was “apparently okay.” This caused me a huge fear of hospitals since we (my and my mom and my sibling, My mom’s Ex-husband was out having sex and partying with stippers) were always in the hospital and the doctors fucking response (sorry about the F bomb) everytime was “the kids is okay now go home” When my sibling wasn't clearly recovered. Once this whole hex or who knows what that awful thing was going on worn away after we went to a healing witch in new york (I thank that man so much from the bottom of my heart) My brother was cured and we were also out of debt. Another thing is that when my mom and her ex-husband got married there was a lot of hexes thrown towards them from his crazy ex-wifes (he has been married 3 times, and only told my mom he only got married once) And lets not forget my moms ex-friend who also threw a hex towards my mom, If you see this or get a hint fuck you (sorry once again for the F bomb) simply because she wanted that piece of shit (sorry for the S bomb) of a man who is also racist along with his family and forced us to be republican conservative. Now that I put that out there I’m happy my mom knew that witchcraft was real my sibling could of died. Fast forward first year of junior high school, Me and my family move to a middle class neighborhood and I went to a white school that was extremely racist I also was glad sometimes that I was white passing Because of my mom being half spaniard and german, They lynched kids who weren't white conservative that's why today I stand with black lives matter and an advocate for black minorities. My moms Ex-husband started talking to one of his crazy Ex’s and that bitch (sorry for the B bomb) threw another hex towards my barely toddler (at the time) sibling. My mom begged my dad to bring her to the man that cured my sibling in New York but my moms Ex-husband took pride towards my mom's pain so he refused to bring her (he didn’t want my sibling as his child either) My mom had no choice but to travel home and bring my brother to the village healing witch that saved him (Thank you if you see or hear this you are a wonderful man and I want nothing but the best for you always my dear) My mom’s Ex-husband tried removing her permanent residency to stop her from coming back because he fell in love with another fucking stripper. (sorry for the F bomb) Then when my mom came back mayhem started and then my mom started to look for help to move out of that piece of shit house (sorry for the S bomb) We ended up falling in the shelter system. The shelter system is a system for domestic violence survivors who are running away from their abusers to find affordable housing or an affordable apartment. I created so much trauma, bullying, and mental abuse and worst of all some random bitch ruined my relationship with my mom. I also was severely hated in school for being homeless, I had a girl help me but then shoved it in my face after a small misunderstanding, Which is why today I am absolutely terrified from help that come from non-professionals (therapist and social workers), all that adds up to today I have officially been out of an abusive home for 2 or 3 years it isnt alot but I am much better. Now all of this trauma adds up to today when I am looking for a new apartment that is much nicer after me being in hiding for so long (now remember my dark past) I didn't make the best choice of friends before this year where I became an high honor roll student and it came back to bite me in the butt, The only “luxury apartment near me that isn't 30,000 a month has one of my bad reputation bad memory bully “friend” living in it, I felt as if my world crashes it made me feel so sad. I will keep looking but I know that I probably won't find one. Now for a long story short all of these events made me feel lost today after finding out that one of my bullies lives in the only nice apartment that I can live in after 3 years of hiding and that's why it hurts me so much. Sorry if i wasted you time but this has been wrecking me lately,

Blessed be, Skybugwitch

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amberh-wgstproject-blog · 6 years

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Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post Two: Connection to Foundational Course Concepts

Amber Hanke

Gender & Sexuality

Nodulman

20 September 2018

Women in Prison Post Two

Within our class readings of Gender Stories and Threshold Concepts in Women’s Studies, we learned the important terms and concepts of the social construction of gender, agency, privilege, oppression, and intersexuality.These terms allow us to analyze and interpret various events within our everyday life throughout society. Regarding my topic, these terms help me explain why women in prison experience certain events the way they do as well as allowing me to study further in depth into my topic of the inequalities that women face being incarcerated within our society. Using these terms to explain women in prison and our prison system over all in general, has allowed me to see how much injustice there is towards people trapped in prison system and just how problematic our system is.

There are various social constructions that we have read and discussed in class. One construct that society has created within our society is gender. Gender Stories by Sonja K. Foss, Mary E. Domencio, and Karen A. Foss, describes how sex is biological while gender is your personal traits and behaviors that develop and change throughout various social interaction. Along with gender comes the gender binary creation within our social order, the gender binary being man and woman. The construction of gender and gender binary by society leads to many problematic issues such as stereotypes, roles, and certain norms that society believes someone should do. Within the prison system we can see that people are separated based on their sex. In regards to someone who is transgender, this can be really damaging and problematic for them.

For example, if someone was transgender and they went to prison, they would be put based on what sex they were assigned at birth. This is very problematic and damaging to a person when they are not housed by gender identity. It is problematic due to the fact that their identity is being ignored and they are being forced to go to an area that they do not identify with. A repercussion that can arise upon a transgender individual due to being in an area where they do not identify with is harassment from other inmates. According to Lambda Legal, a legal organization specializing in LGBTQ+ rights, “This policy makes transgender people more vulnerable to harassment or attack by staff or fellow incarcerated people: A California study found that transgender people were 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than non-transgender people in prison” (“Transgender Incarcerated People in Crisis”, 2018). In addition to being more likely to be assaulted, prison system officials will frequently block an incarcerated transgender person to their transition-related health care. They may block hormones or various treatment, even if it is prescribed by a doctor (“Transgender Incarcerated People in Crisis”, 2018). This example of what transgender individuals go through within our current prison structure shows how problematic it is, especially when people are being rejected the health care that they deserve and need. People are being dehumanized and put under extremely control by cruel individuals. They cannot control their life or make any decisions that they would like to make in their own life. All of these are being denied to them.

Agency are our own choices that we make throughout our life every single day. Gender Stories describes agency as the actions you take throughout your life and these decisions can impact your whole world whether it little or big or whether it would impact just you or others. However, some may have an easier time making decisions than others. Women in prison have limited amount of agency and do not have as much agency as women who are not incarcerated would have. There are barriers that keep incarcerated women from making decisions whether is be the rules in the current facility that they are in or the rules that the officers enforce. Women not being able to make certain decisions is hurtful and leaving them with little power in situations. Women need to be able to have more agency when it comes to their life in prison, luckily at least one prison, Bedford Hills, is allowing women to have more agency in their lives regarding their newly born children.

In the documentary, Babies Behind Bars, describes one prison that has opened up a separate wing that is specifically for mothers and their newborn baby. Usually what happens when a pregnant inmate gives birth, the baby is taken away “…48 to 72 is taken away and either given to a family member or sent to foster care” (Chuck, 2018). The ripping away of the child from the mother can potentially be very traumatic to the mother. In order to fight this traumatic experience, Bedford Hills prison has created a separate wing for mothers to keep and stay with their child ranging from 12 months to 18 months. The women within this program are using agency to decide what they do with their baby on a daily basis whether is be time to feed them, go to the play room, going to night classes, etc. These women are bettering themselves throughout the program and improving the future of their life when they get released. Another way that the women in the program use agency is exchanging parenting tips with other mothers in the program. Agency was also described within Gender Stories as influencing other peers around you, therefore the women are using agency when they are exchanging parenting tips such as how to help babies get to sleep at night. Programs such as these that allow pregnant women to keep their child with them, are extremely beneficial to the mother. This helps improve the mother physically, mentally, and emotionally. As well as cause her to continue to push herself to improve her life for the better until they get released.

Within class we have discussed various types of privilege like heterosexual privilege, white privilege, male privilege, cisgender privilege, etc. Privileges are automatically given to some people in our society just because of how someone may look or how they are. Our society upholds privileges towards certain people and oppresses others. Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies gives us an example of the mythical norm that contains all the privileges within our society which happens to be a “…white, straight, thin, young, Christian, financially stable, male” (Launius and Hassel, 2015). It is important to recognize privileges so that we may use that privilege to help people who do not have the same privileges as us, which can help fight towards equality. Especially fight towards equality for women who are incarcerated.

Some males in prison have more privileges than females do in prison. Within the article, “Nothing Less Than the Dignity of Man”: Women Prisoners, Reproductive Health, and Unequal Access to Justice Under the Eighth Amendment, describes the story of how a female inmate named Michelle Lea Martinez was denied medical care even though she was vaginally bleeding. In order to get seen by the doctor, she had to slam her thumb in the door. She had to do this because “…Martinez knew instinctively what was required to receive adequate healthcare as a female prisoner—an injury that looked like one a man could sustain” (Marquis 2018). The article later goes on to discuss than men’s health care in the prison system has overshadowed women’s health care within the system. Leaving women’s health care to be extremely lacking. This example shows male privilege within our society. Women’s health care is very lacking compared to men, especially when it comes to prison. The fact that a women had to go through and give her self an injury that a man would be able to get, shows how much male privilege there is. We need to acknowledge the fact that women’s health care is extremely lacking and needs to be improved drastically. Everyone needs to be able to get the health care they deserve.

Anyone who does not fit society’s mythical norm experiences oppression in some shape or form. Oppression leads to some many inequalities and people who are oppressed experience various inequalities on a daily basis whether it be through an individual or through a whole entire institution within society. Threshold Concepts in Women and Gender Studies describes how oppression is directed at specific groups of people through the use of ideologies and social institutions. It is important to see oppression within our society so that we may help try and change it so that people will no longer be oppressed. In this project’s case, we can see how black women are heavily oppressed in our society and within our prison and “justice” system.

According to the NAACP, “African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites…The imprisonment rate for African American women is twice that of white women” (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, 2015). This statistics show how our society targets African Americans are targeted by our society. They are being oppressed from society and being targeted more often. Prisons more so serve as a controlling people and the practices that it enforces onto its people currently in it is really damaging mentally, emotionally, and physically. A black women is pretty much the opposite of the mythical norm and facing a lot of oppression from others and society’s institutions, especially from prisons. The documentary 13th, shows how our prison systems came to be in our country. It shows how our country targets African Americans and how prisoners are exploited and used for work and to do various jobs that they make to do. These jobs can be damaging towards the person, but some people do not care about them as much because they are prisoners. Which is extremely wrong. They should care about every person and focus on improving their life and not making it worse or forcing them to do hard labored work that exploits them.

Intersectionality is all about how multiple factors play into effect when it comes to a person’s life. Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies explains intersectionality as how various forms of oppression and identity intermix with each other determining someone’s personal experience within society and their access to institutions and power. Using intersectional feminism is very important regarding this, due to the fact that two women of different races are not going to experience the same thing. Women with different identities will experience different things. Therefore showing how it is important to be using an intersectional feminist view.

Thinking back to two previous examples, transgender women and women of color, we can see how important a intersectional feminist view is. A transgender women of color will experience different events than other women. For one, transgender women are not able to get the proper treatment that they require. They are sometimes blocked from getting their hormones. In addition to this, as stated previously, they are also most likely to be assigned to the group to which they were assigned at birth. An intersectional view is important in this situation because it shows the various over lapping of different oppression and identities at work here regarding gender, race, etc. As well as showing how everyone has their own unique experiences.

The terms that we have discussed in class: social construction of gender, agency, privilege, oppression, and intersexuality all are very important to understand so that we may evaluate our daily lives and society. These words all lead us to see how people, more specifically women in prison, are affected due to various oppressions and inequalities within our society. It is important to understand that each women’s experience is different and that they all deserve the health care that they need. Transgender women should not be stopped from treatments and they should be assigned to the women section of the prison. They should not get assigned to the men’s section. Being in the wrong section is really harmfully to the person. It is ignoring their identity and who they are as a person. It is also important to see the various privileges and oppressions. So, we may keep fighting towards better prison systems and equality.

Work Cited (Was APA but formatting got messed up in pasting)

DuVernay, A. (Director). (2016, October 7). 13th [Video file].

Richardson, A. (Director). (2011, February 24). Babies Behind Bars [Video file].

Chuck, E. (2018, August 4). Prison nurseries give incarcerated mothers a chance to raise their babies - behind bars. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prison-nurseries-give-incarcerated-mothers-chance-raise-their-babies-behind-n894171

N. (n.d.). Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/

Foss, S. K., Foss, K. A., & Domenico, M. E. (2013). Gender stories: Negotiating Identity in a binary world. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Launius, C., & Hassel, H. (2015). Threshold concepts in womens and gender studies: Ways of seeing, thinking, and knowing. New York, NY: Routledge.

Marquis, E. (2018). “Nothing Less Than the Dignity of Man”: Women Prisoners, Reproductive Health, and Unequal Access to Justice Under the Eighth Amendment. 203-230. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

Transgender Incarcerated People in Crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lambdalegal.org/know-your-rights/article/trans-incarcerated-people

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