(Self)Representation of transgender and the conflict with the social sphere

Today’s society tends to differentiate objects, persons and concepts within a binary system of beliefs. We speak of race as white or nonwhite, and of gender as male or female, often without recognizing that we abandon those who are “in-between”. By creating these “natural” opposites, we don’t leave enough space for varieties and construct artificial boundaries. “As a collective artifact, gender has no essence, but is rather defined by difference – the space between masculine, feminine, and other- and is ‘culturally conceived, interpersonally negotiated, and intrapsychically experienced’ (Dimen 2002, cited in McBee). By stating that being feminine or masculine is “normal” or “natural”, we automatically stigmatize everyone who deviates from this alleged norm as “un-normal” or “un-natural” or in some cases marked with the prefix “trans-“ to mark a transcendence of gender.

In the first chapter of her book Transgender History, Susan Stryker gives an introduction to some gender related terms, gives short explanations, and illustrates how some of these terms have change not only in their expression, but also in meaning. Transgender is a term that aims to define people who don’t conform to the existing gender ideologies. Stryker defines transgender as those “who move away from the gender they were assigned at birth, people who cross over (trans-) the boundaries constructed by their culture to define and contain that gender” (1).  “Most people have difficulty recognizing the humanity of another person if they cannot recognize that person’s gender” (Stryker 2008, 6). In other words, we tend to dehumanize them, “because transgender issues touch on fundamental questions of human existence” (Stryker 2008, 7).

By assigning a gender to a person at birth, it takes away the right to choose and develop their own personality and sexual orientation. Doctors can, in most cases, identify the sex of a child, which is a biological term that defines the “reproductive capacity or potential”. However, society created the ideology that the sex of the person has to be in line with its associated gender (e.g. having a penis/testicles means being male, being male means being masculine, and being masculine means being “naturally” attracted to woman, and vice versa). There is no space for someone who identifies as neither or as either, as queers in some cases do.

McBee underlines in her paper that, some doctors consider that the “transgender self is a failure to separate, a defense, a false self or even a psychosis and never potentially a healthy part of the self”. Such stigmatization indicates a mental illness, which causes a vicious cycle, because it is viewed as a problem that needs to be healed. By making transgender a “problem” it becomes a taboo, which remains mostly invisible, but makes transgender people become a minority.

 A lack of understanding and ability to categorize a “gender-changing person can evoke in others a primordial fear of monstrosity, or loss of humanness. That gut-level fear can manifest itself as hatred, outrage, panic or disgust” (Stryker 2008, 6). Society fosters these fears by holding back abundant medical and psychological information, which prove that transgender people are normal but society chooses not to make them normal. The hatred and misunderstanding of people who do not conform to the social gender ideals can result in a transphobia, “an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against people whose gendered identities, appearances or behaviors deviate from social norms” (Serano, 12). Serano explains further that this transphobia “is first and foremost an expression of one’s own insecurity about having to live up to cultural gender ideals”. Due to a transphobia, some transgender feel forced to live in their expected gender roles and sometimes even despise other transgender people. Kate Bornstein comes up with a name for this phenomenon in her book Gender Outlaw. “Our mere presence is often enough to make people sick” (72).

Rather than destroying the transgender perception of themselves and others, society, particularly the medical and psychological field, should aim to find ways to properly represent transgender by moving away from the initial assigned gender position. Consequently, we need to break the social stereotypes created by our gender expectations to build a more inclusive society. This means not only to find better ways of education and clarification, but also to help those who have to face discrimination by helping them to find their place in society. It should be society’s responsibility to protect these alleged minorities, by helping them restore their self-perception and allowing them to perceive their self “as a process, shaped by interactive experience in relational life” (Borden 2009, cited in McBee) rather than making it a psychological problem.  

References:

Bornstein, Kate. Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us. New York: Routledge, 1994. Print.

McBee, Clare. "Contemporary Psychodynamic with Trans and Gender Non-conforming Individuals." University of Chicago. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Emeryville, CA: Seal, 2007. Print.

Stryker, Susan. Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008. Print.

Works cited in McBee:

Borden, William. 2009. Contemporary Psychodynamic Theory and Practice. Chicago: Lyceum Books, Inc.

Dimen, Muriel. “Deconstructing Difference: Gender, Splitting, and Transitional Space.” In Gender in Psychoanalytic Space: Between Clinic and Culture, edited by Muriel Dimen and Virginia Goldner, 41-61. New York: Other Press, 2002.