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Questions for Alex:

When did you realize that you identified with the male gender? Did you just know at a young age or did you make this discovery over time?

Do you feel that in the process of transitioning people have treated you differently? Are there different societal opportunities offered to the binary than to those who are in the middle?

What’s in a name? How do you feel that your name has affected your transition? How do you think gendered languages impact identification and association?

How has puberty and development of sexual orientation impacted your gender identification? 

Response to Alex’s Questions:

When I first learned about transgendered people, I assumed that they would alter their bodies in order to fit their gender. Now I have learned more, I do not feel that it is necessary to alter physical characteristics. If a person wants to change their physical traits it should be an option available to them, but in any situation I feel that it is a person’s individual choice to make. Society definitely creates pressure to fit in the binary through means of the constructed norms. When I was reading the My Right Self website, I achieved a greater realization of the difficulties faced by a transgendered person. If facing societal constructs of gender is not challenging enough, they must also face restrictions imposed by insurance companies.

Passing is very important to a person’s self confidence. Although I feel that passing can be applied to more than being accepted by society as male or female, it could be applied in terms of being able to have your gender identification mentally match your body physically and also to have this accumulated identity be accepted by a community.  In this way I think that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is missing a step between love and belonging and esteem, there should be an individual level before it is applied to a societal level. If a person can not make peace within themselves, can they be comfortable with their role/identification in society?

            I was wondering if anyone else looked at the My Right Self site and felt awkward about the photographs. On the one hand I felt it was great that there is openness about gender identification and sexual orientation, but I felt some of the symbolism in the photos served to attract attention to the aspects of physical appearance that people mentioned, given the opportunity, they would change.