I+am+'hir'+or+I+am+here?+Breaking+the+gender+binaries+to+reduce+Transgender+discrimination.

==I am 'hir' or I am here? Breaking the gender binaries to reduce Transgender discrimination. ==


 * Name: Holly Whitehead **
 * Student number: n8315655 **
 * Tutor: Mangalam Sankupellay, Thursday 3-4pm **

**PRESENT YOUR ARTEFACT**
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Alysia Harris and Aysha El Shamayleh’s slam poem “Hir” was aired on Brave New Voices. It is about the internal struggles that a transgender school boy is facing because he is different to the other school kids. The poem expresses the intense anguish created by a significant portion of their persona being ignored, and the thoughts within transgender individual's mind, purely because of the way others view them.

=== “Every moment of everyday feels trapped in the flesh of a stranger ... waiting for the day when Melissa can finally scrub off this made up genetic make up, when the teacher asked for James and he can say “I’m here.” ===

**NAME THE PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE CENTRAL TO YOUR ANALYSIS**
The artefact demonstrates an example of the discrimination that the transgender community faces on a daily basis. A transgender person is someone who does not follow traditional gender norms and often identifies as the opposite gender of that which they were assigned at birth. (Lombardi, Wilchins, Priesing & Malouf, 2008). The social stigma of being ‘different’ to most people often means that they are faced with barriers to education, employment, health care and housing. This marginalization exposes them to social and economic insecurity which results in poor health outcomes.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Gender is a simple concept; it’s no longer considered to be solely related to physical anatomy, but is more about what lies within an individual’s brain (Teich, 2012). However, society is slow to adapt to this extended gender concept, and people are often not able to publicly identify as transgender, as they fear rejection or discrimination. Kohler-Hausmann describes discrimination as an action or practise that differentiates between individuals or groups of individuals on the basis of some ascribed or perceived trait. It includes indirect discrimination, which occurs when access criteria disadvantage a group of people (Kohler-Hausmann, 2011). The discrimination that transgender individuals face is generally due to the way they express themselves, for example, the clothes they wear, their mannerisms, and the degree to which they are perceived as fitting into a masculine or feminine stereotype (Keisling, 2011).

A National Transgender Discrimination survey (Grant, Mottet & Tanis, 2011) states that the transgender community has much higher rates of HIV infection, smoking, drug and alcohol use and suicide attempts than the general population. But why are the statistics of transgender health significantly worse than the rest of the population? The TranZnation report shows that 87% of participants have experienced discrimination on the basis of gender (Couch, Pitts, Mulcare, Croy, Mitchell & Patel, 2007). The report indicates the connection between discrimination and detrimental health outcomes.

In 1993 a transgender women, Tyra Hunter was in a car accident and when she was discovered to be anatomically male, the emergency responders initially refused to help Hunter and joked about her situation. Sadly she later died from her injuries (Teich, 2012).

It is reported that transgender individuals do not receive equal health care opportunities which explains why their health is generally lower than the population. In the TranZnation report participants describe the hostility they often encounter when accessing health services. These range from discomfort, and disdain, to being laughed at, ridiculed, refused treatment and even displays of disgust (Couch, Pitts, Mulcare, Croy, Mitchell & Patel, 2007). As a result, transgender individuals avoid seeking health services, or do not disclose their transgender status with resulting health implications (Reich, 2012). Evidence shows, 50% of transgender survey respondents do not have health insurance (Grant, Mottet & Tanis, 2011). It is of concern that many insurers deny transgender coverage for non-transition related, medical conditions such as back pain, intestinal cysts and even cancer under the rationale that any medical care is an excludable transgender-related condition (Transequality, 2011). The main barriers to receiving appropriate treatment for transgender people are the lack of public funding, the cost of services and the scarcity of relevant health services including appropriate hormone therapy (Couch, Pitts, Mulcare, Croy, Mitchell & Patel, 2007). This results in risky health behaviours such as using hormones, bought off the street and sharing needles. This behaviour quadruples the risk contracting HIV, and also increases the threat of health complications (Lombardi, 2001).

Economic insecurity due to the vast discrimination that transgender individuals face is a critical health issue. 15% of participants in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey felt forced to leave school due to the severe harassment they experiences and an alarming 6% were expelled purely due to their expression of gender identity (Grant, Mottet & Tanis, 2011). Furthermore the transgender community are often denied the basic human right of employment and have twice the rate of unemployment than the general population (NCTE, 2009). 90% were harassed or mistreated on the job and 47% had been fired or denied a promotion due to their transgender status. This connection between the lack of education, and employment opportunities has adverse outcomes such as 15% reported living in dire poverty. Significant participants in the study had been denied accommodation, or evicted because they were transgender (Grant, Mottet & Tanis, 2011). This discrimination has a strong affect on health risk behaviours such as smoking, drug and alcohol abuse (Bradford, Reisner, Honnold & Xavier, 2013) and also leads to being forced to work in the underground economy, as sex works or drug dealers for income. Those that face discrimination were 50% more likely to be incarcerated.

Violence is a severe form of discrimination and in a study conducted by Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study, 27% of participants reported violence and 28% have been physically attacked or been forced into unwanted sex (Bradford, Reisner, Honnold & Xavier, 2013). A study proves that being transgendered has a stronger effect upon the probability of being a victim of a violent incident than any other demographic characteristic (Lombardi, Wilchins, Priesing & Malouf, 2008). Another daily issue for transgender people is the fear of using public gendered toilets, and presenting identification documents, as they can often be assaulted and thrown out because they do not pass on the outside as ‘clearly male or female’. (Teich, 2012).

All these negative experiences have an effect on the individual’s mental state, and the way they perceive themselves. It is not uncommon to find transgender individuals have low self esteem, and 60 % suffer from depression (Couch, Pitts, Mulcare, Croy, Mitchell & Patel, 2007). Of the respondents from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey who reported harassment at school, or employment, 64% admitted to attempting suicide (Grant, Mottet & Tanis, 2011).

Harry Benjamin, an endocrinologist known as the ‘founding father of contemporary western transsexualism,’ treated approximately 1,500 transgender patients from 1918 to the mid-1970’s. During that time transpeople were diagnosed as delusional or schizophrenics (Teich, 2012) which was at odds with Benjamin’s belief that it was a medical condition. More recently the philosopher, Judith Butler, has developed a new way of viewing gender as being culturally formed and performative. This view is controversial as she is saying that nobody is really a gender from the start (Butler, 2011). A limitation to this methodology is that if gender does not exist, then transgender is non existent and therefore not an issue. Nagoshi and Brzuzy discuss transgender theory as a theoretical orientation that explains the nature of gender identity in understanding the experiences they face. It provides a theoretical basis for merging feminism and queer theories with social work practise to deal with the issues of social oppression and group identity (Nagoshi & Brzuzy, 2010).

CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS
The theory of otherness is an appropriate lens to assist in understanding why transgender individuals experience discrimination. Otherness explains that the groups with greater political and social power are responsible for the representation of groups within any given society. In the Australian culture it is assumed that certain traits belong under ‘male’ or ‘female’ attributes and that gender is expected to correspond to the physiological sex assigned at birth. The theory of otherness focuses on social identities and highlights how societies create a sense of belonging by constructing social categories as binary opposites. Due to the otherness, society feels it is excusable to mistreat minority groups to enforce conventional gender boundaries (Teich, 2012).

The transgender community challenges social norms and therefore makes society feel uncomfortable. Individuals that fit the social construction of gender accept the binary system, and struggle to understand people that do not. This is the basis of the discrimination because when society cannot discern someone’s gender it causes confusion and they label something they don’t understand, as ‘other’ or even a ‘freak’ (Teich, 2012). Australian culture looks up to celebrities, the wealthy and powerful. As the issue of transgender is not discussed or revealed by celebrities, society in general fails to understand transgender people. People who have personal experience of a transgender person develop increased acceptance, however are often fearful for the way in which society will treat their friend.

However there is an increasing awareness of transgender people in Australian society today. It is the beginning of a new era for transgender people as acceptance of this group is slowly growing. Movies, news stories, documentaries, university courses and television shows are slowly starting to incorporate transgender people into their realm, and explain their perspectives. Sadly there is still a social stigma that we should fit the gender norms. Public health experts are beginning to focus on the issue of transgender individuals being accepted into society and breaking down the gender norms. This could be done by including transgender data in Australian surveys, multilevel interventions, and including policies that look at legal protections and training for health care provides. It is also important to educate the population about accepting transgender individuals.

ANALYSIS OF THE ARTEFACT AND YOUR OWN LEARNING REFLECTIONS
The poem has a greater meaning to me now that I have completed the assignment. I can comprehend the mental struggles that transgender people face on a daily basis. The theory of otherness helped me to build an understanding of why transgender people face discrimination. This is because I can now understand why society finds it difficult to accept the transgender community faces harsh. Especially when they have not been exposed to or experienced the feeling of being trapped in the wrong body. I believe the solution to this public health issue is to re-educate the population on gender and break down the social norms. However I understand that this will be a massive challenge and may even take a full generation until they are completely accepted into society.

I understand the transgender community’s strong desire to be accepted and believe they have the resilience to continue fighting for their rights. This artefact has encouraged me to question my perception of the problems faces by transgender people. Before writing this assignment, I was unaware of the significant impact that society has on individuals behaviours. This assignment will have an impact on my future learning as I now know to be extremely sensitive about gender and to approach everyone with kindness no matter how ‘different’ they may seem from myself or social norms. I will endeavour to help transgender people feel accepted into society by making sure that I use preferred names and pronouns and treat them no different to anyone else.

REFERENCE LIST
Bradford, J., Reisner, S., Honnold, J., & Xavier, J. (2013). Experiences of transgender-related discrimination and implications for health from the Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study. //American Journal of Public Health, 103//(10), 1820-1829.

Butler, J. (2011)//. Your Behaviour Creates Your Gender//. Retrieved October 21, 2013 from http://bigthink.com/videos/your-behavior-creates-your-gender.

Couch, M., Pitts, M., Mulcare, H., Croy, S., Mitchel, A., & Patel, S. (2008). //TranZnation – A report on the heath and wellbeing of transgendered people in Australia and New Zealand.// Retrieved from http://www.glhv.org.au/files/Tranznation_Report.pdf.

Grant, J. M., Mottet, L. A., & Tanis, J. (2011). //Injustice at every term: a report of the national transgender discrimination survey//. Retrieved from http://endtransdiscrimination.org/PDFs/NTDS_Report.pdf.

Keisling, M. (2011). //Injustice at every turn.// Retreived on 20th of October, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mara-keisling/post_1685_b_818961.html

Kohler-Hausmann, I. (2011). Discrimination. //Sociology//. DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756384-0013.

Lombardi, E. (2001). Enchancing Transgender Health Care. //American Journal of Public Health, 91//(6), 869-872.

Lombardi, E., Wilchins, R., Priesing, D., & Malouf, D. (2008). Gender Violence. //Journal of Homosexuality, 42//(1), 89-101.

Nagoshi, J. L., & Brzuzy, S. (2010). Transgender Theory: Embodying Research and Practice. //Affilia, 25(//4), 431-443.

National Center for Transgender Equality. (2009). National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Retrieved from http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/fact_sheets/transsurvey_prelim_findings.pdf

O’Brien, J. (2009). Teena, Brandon (1972-1993). //Encyclopedia of gender and society,// p 828.

Teich, N. M. (2012). //Transgender 101// [EBL version]. New York, USA: Columbia University Press.

Transequality. (2011). Health. Retrieved October 23, 2013 from http://transequality.org/Issues/health.html

REFLECTION
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