Transgender
Readings : “Transgendering: Blurring the Boundaries of Gender” McKenna and Kessler “Transgender Liberation” Feinberg “Be All that You Can Be” Bornstein from My Gender Workbook
All the text touch upon transgender, the way the word was first used, the ways it has changed it meaning and the topics which surround the word. Previously, the word “transgender”referred to male individuals who lives as women however they did not undergo any surgeries to their genitals. The topic of natural attitude is very important when speaking about transgender. Natural attitude is basically the idea that there are only two genders and they are male or female. In McKenna and Kessler’s text, they mention other aspects which the idea of natural attitude supports. The other beliefs were that “one gender is invariant”, genitals tell your gender, anything besides the two genders shouldn’t be taken seriously, there isn't a thing such as transferring from one gender to another, “everyone must be classified as a member of one gender or another”, this is natural, and being a member of a gender is natural. The history of society's opinion of transgender and its idea changed over time. In Feinberg’s reading, he explains how years back there would be royalty, in other words kings and queens, who would cross dress. However as more churches began to emerge, the idea became frowned upon and the idea of natural attitude became stronger. Many people still don’t believe that being transgender is ok and still follow the natural attitude however I believe that people should simply mind their own business and let others do what they want and feel they have to do with their bodies in order to satisfy themselves.
