Intersexuality and Transsexuality

Throughout the course of this semester we have learned about intersexuality and transexuality. Intersexuality as explained through my readings is when a person has a mixture of male and female characteristics such as ambiguous gentalia. Under this category of intersexuality there are the sub-categories of hermaphrodites and male and female pseudo hermaphrodites. When referring to ambiguous gentalia this abnormality happens because the SRY gene which is the gene which is needed for a fetus to turn the gonads in the fetus into what will later on be the testes, scrotum, etc. If the SRY gene is not present in the fetus it will not create male gentalia but instead it turns into the ovaries and other female reproductive organs. From a medical standpoint, a true hermaphrodite is one who is born with both gentalia completely produced. A transsexual is quite different. By definition a transsexual is a person who feels that they have the wrong body. For example, a man who surely believes that God gave him the wrong body and he were supposed to be a woman all along. These individuals so strongly believe these thoughts that a great amount of them will have surgeries to alter theirselves. To a heterosexual person this might seem dumb or flat out outrageous but these situations are real and they are going on everyday around them. Intersexuals and transsexuals are so stigmatized in our society that most of them feel scared, ashamed, or even afraid because they are viewed wrongly in our society. Most of the intersexed community tried to keep these things a secret because they do not feel comfortable talking about it, and do not want to be rejected by their loved ones or their community. They most times feel as if this difference brings shame to their families and loved ones, that’s why the majority of this community chooses to remain single and never marry in order to prevent embarrassment to their family. I believe that our society needs to be more tolerant of others.

Homosexuality

My personal believe about homosexuality is a learned behavior. I think that homosexuality is completely learned or a choice of the individual. There has not been evidence that shows that homosexuality as a cause of genetics. The genes of a heterosexual person are exactly the same as those of a homosexual one. Some homosexuals say that they believe they are born gay to get over the stipulations of having to change their behaviors in order to fit in with the norms of society. Even though, homosexuality is a learned behavior of the individual the causes of this behavior can a result of many different situations together. For example I think that a person can choose to become a homosexual as a result of an unloving family, being exposed of other homosexuals, and other hard circumstances like these. Before studying this topic throughout the course of this semester I had never put much thought into it. I honestly did believe that being homosexual was a mixture of both genetics and learned behaviors, but it turns out that I was wrong. Just because a person is homosexual does not mean they will actually do homosexual acts. Most of them are afraid of society and how people will feel or think about them differently due to their sexuality so most of them marry heterosexually, and never really expose their true feelings because of their fears of being teased and rejected by those who they care about and love. Many people who are in relationships with transsexuals or intersexed individuals when they become aware of this do not want to be involved with the person anymore because they feel unsure of their sexuality, not knowing if they are truly homosexual or heterosexual. I think that being homosexual is that person’s choice and right. I don’t opinionate or judge; to each their own. Many religious individuals feel that it’s a sin to be a homosexual because they believe the bible says so, I also think that’s just based on how you perceive things.

Required Assignment 2

After completing all eight of the assigned surveys for this assignment I feel enlightened. Enlightened in the sense that I can now put a lot more thought in things that before I just thought or did without actually thinking to myself: “why is it that I think, feel, or act this way?” The first survey that I completed was “Core Beliefs about Mind, Body, Spirit, and Reality Survey”. This survey basically talked about one’s beliefs about the mind and body and basically the world through our eyes. One of the questions in this survey that struck me was the question that asked are the mind and the body independent from each other, I answered strongly disagree. I think that the mind and the body are in many different ways interconnected and work either to help or hinder each other in certain situations. The mind can sometime trick the body into feeling certain things. For instance, let’s say that your friend tells you that the drink you’re drinking has a lot of alcohol in it. Your body might actually start feeling as if you’re drunk because your mind thinks that. So hence, this is why I say that the mind and the body do work strongly together with one another. This leads me to another question that is also asked in this survey: “The mind is superior to the body”. When it comes to this question I would have to say that I agree because of the previous question. The mind can overpower the body many times; the mind is a strong tool to our actions and/or behaviors. Another question in this survey that I put a lot of thought into is the question that says “Human nature is the same for all human beings, it does not change”. I also strongly disagree with this statement. I think human nature is different for each and every person and it can change. Human nature for me might not be the same that it is for my brother, mother, friend, or enemy. We might view things differently or think that one thing is good or another is bad. This is all left up to our self thought, and our perception of things. Just because we are all humans does not necessarily mean that we are all the same human, and think and act upon things in the same manner. When completing the next survey I saw that many of the questions, a lot more than the first survey intrigued me. The second survey I completed was the survey “Core Beliefs: What I Learned from My Parents”. The first question that made me flinch in my seat was “I learned from my parents or those who raised me that I shouldn't think; that they (or others) should do my thinking for me.” You can’t be serious!? My parents would flip if they heard this statement come out of my mouth. Maybe this is reality to some, who am I to judge? But for my family, this is insane. My parents always taught me to speak up for what I believe in, and to make my voice hurt. To clear up any misunderstanding, my parents along with this taught me to be respectful to other’s opinion’s thought, and beliefs especially my elders or any adults for that matter. I think it is important to be heard and to always have a voice of your own because if you don’t make your voice heard other’s can speak for you and make people believe that you said things that you didn’t, or that you believe and stand for things you don’t. This goes hand in hand with voting for president. It is important for you to vote for president because if you don’t your voice will not be heard and you can say oh I want such and such to be president but that person can only become president through your votes and the votes of others. I can truly relate to a lot of the questions asked throughout the core beliefs survey. Another question I want to discuss is the question in this survey that says “I learned from my parents or those who raised me to express my views openly, without fear of punishment.” Since my parents came from the communist country of Cuba where speaking your mind isn’t allowed my parents always instilled in me that it is essential for me to speak my mind because that is why they came to the United States because this is a free, democratic country which lets you speak what you want and allows you to express yourself out loud without the fear of punishment. I think it is important for all parents to instill this thought in their child’s mind because if you always repress a child into keeping shut and not speaking their mind they are unable to express and develop important thoughts which are important for all people. It is important for people to speak their mind and able to talk out loud because it might only help them express thoughts but this also inspires other people to be more outspoken and maybe even enlighten the mind of someone who can change the world for the better. The next survey I want to discuss in more detail is the survey titled “Core Beliefs: How I Was Raised”. This survey is interesting to me because many of the questions asked throughout this survey sparked something in me that made me think. For example, many of the customs that I might carry out because I am Hispanic another person from another race might find as disrespectful or incorrect. Let’s take looking at an adult in the eyes. My best friend is Haitian and I know that when she is talking to her grandmother it is disrespectful for her to look her grandmother in the eye. In my home or with my family if someone is speaking to me and I don’t look them in the eye, I am disrespecting them and whatever it is that they are trying to tell me. I am basically telling that person that I don’t care about what it is they have to say. Same thing goes for giving someone a hug or a kiss on the cheek. Hispanics have no problem giving a person a kiss on the cheek, to us we find that as a method of saying hello or just something you do to show love to friends and family members. It’s completely natural to us. To most blacks they don’t like that, even though obviously there are exceptions to the rule. In high school, many of my black friends got so used to the Hispanic custom of saying hi by giving a kiss on the cheek that they started doing it too! I remember thinking about this exact circumstance in high school and saying to myself wow exposure to something can really change your outlook on it. Most of those black girls never would greeted someone by giving them a kiss on the cheek but since they were exposed to this type of behavior and got a better understanding of why it is done they grew closer to that type of behavior and even used it. I thought that was really cool. Then I moved on to the quizzes about beliefs of men, women, and race. I really didn’t like these quizzes as much as I liked the other quizzes I took prior to them because I thought that these two quizzes were much too generalized. For example, in the quiz about men there was a question that said that men believe that women enjoy suffering. I think that this statement is very broad. Not all men think this. First of all, women don’t enjoy suffering, and plus not every man thinks that women enjoy suffering that’s why there are good men out there and there are women who love them. I think that these quizzes are answered through your own experiences and views on these topics. Let’s say that I had just got out of a nasty breakup with a man and then was assigned these quizzes. I think that I would have answered these questions a lot different than the way I am answering them because I am in a long term healthy relationship. I also think the same thing goes for the quiz about women and the one about race. If a man was going through a bad relationship or couldn’t find a girlfriend because every girl he likes always dates “assholes” then his answer to that question might be swayed in a completely different direction. Same thing applies again for the quiz that discusses race. If I had multiple bad encounters with a certain race I might tend to discriminate against that race and answer all the questions about that race just based on those encounters. I think this even applies somewhat to the quiz about sex and gender. A lot of the stereotypes we give to people are based on he say she say and not real concrete evidence. In the last survey I completed my political typology, I am said to be a liberal. I think that the survey is right because when defined a liberal is a person that has political or social views favoring for reform and progress. I think that exactly defines my point of view when it comes to my political standpoint. I respect the way things have been done in the past, but I am all for change for change means getting things done in a more efficient way. One of the most appealing questions in this survey that caught my eye was the question that said that rely too much on the military to fight off terrorism creates hatred which in turn only creates more terrorism. I think that our situation today much reflects what is being talked about in this question. Our government for too long has relied on the military as the only means for terrorism. That’s why I support our President Obama when he wants to be with the United Nations and others around the world to talk about problems and solution instead of just depending on the military.

Tale of Two Islands

In summarizing the “Tale of Two Islands” it’s a descriptive view into the world of a Cuban and Haitian refugee. I am pretty well aware of the situations and experiences that happened in Cuba in the 1940’s when Bautista was over thrown by the Fidel Castro’s government. My father at the time was only a child but he always reiterates this piece of our cultural and the history of this event time and time again, he always tell me that even though he was a only a little kid at the time that there was some events in history that will be clear in your mind forever more. Many Cubans decided to flee the country at this time because the government started to seize their properties, and their valuables. A lot of the immigrants that came at this time we middle class, and most were even well-educated individuals such as doctors, who wanted to flee this exile that was happening in Cuba even though many others prophesied that it wouldn’t last long and that Cuba would be a free country in no time. In the 1960’s, the U.S. was flying planes back and forth from Cuba bringing over many children and adults into the “Never-Never Land” until Castro seized these flights when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened. This was the second big wave of immigrants that brought along a group of people a lot different than the first wave which happened in the 1940’s. This group of immigrants was disillusioned and did not have their promises full-filled by the Cuban government; they were mostly middle to low class individuals who ran little businesses or were working individuals who were struggling to maintain now in the communist country of Cuba. When it came to the Haitian immigrants who were undergoing many of the same tyrannies the American government did not allow them to reside in the US the way did for the Cuban people. Even though both countries were experiencing the same types of communist governments overtaken them, the US reacted differently by allowing the Cubans to take refuge in the US a lot more easily than the Haitian people. I think race, skin color, and prejudice has all played a serious role in the reaction to the Haitian community. I think a case of institutional racism can definitely be made just by looking at the patterns of how the government acted towards the people who would help their economy (Cubans) and those who they think would hinder it (Haitians).

Race and Racism

Racism is still a current issue that many individuals have experienced or are currently in the midst of dealing with. Race defines where you come from. Many individuals are still deeply routed in the ethnocentric beliefs that if other people do not come from where they come from or have the same color skin they are inferior to them because their race, sex, skin color, ethnicity is superior to everyone else’s and being like them is the only right and correct way to live. Racial discrimination is when you treat someone different just based on their race. The example that pops into my head when I think of racial discrimination is a Hispanic or Black person not getting a job because they are not white because the boss of the company is white. Even though it seems like we are all passed the times of discrimination and racism we are not completely away from that. It isn’t as strong as it was before the Civil Rights movement and other political instances that have brought us to where we are today, but racism is still very much alive in the world. Many of us often times demonstrate racism in very little ways but might now even be aware of it. For example when an African American hears a person talking Spanish and they automatically assume that person is Cuban, that is using a stereotype and this is a type of racism. Not every single person that speaks Spanish or is Hispanic is necessarily Cuban. Another form of racism is extreme pride in one’s race. Sometimes we might take pride in our race and not realize that we are being offensive or inconsiderate of other’s this is another sign of racism. Most people who actually demonstrate extreme racism towards others are completely unaware of it. They are in denial when told by others that they are racist. They feel that the way they talk about their own race and the race of other’s is completely normal and they are not wrong in any way, shape, or form. Throughout the course of this semester I have learned about many different situations in which racism has definitely played a huge part. For example, the Holocaust is a huge example of racism and how one person thought that their race was superior so every other race in opposition should be completely annihilated. What I have learned about racism is that it is very alive, and in order to be able to identify it, we must be aware of it.

Emmett Till

In class this week we saw the video documentary of Emmett Till. Before this video, I had never been exposed to the story and reality of Emmett Till and the gruesome truth of what were done to him. The video begins with his mother reflecting on her son’s life. She stated how she always felt that Emmett was one of her brothers more than a son to her because her mother (Emmett’s grandmother) raised them all. Emmett was really good at anything that involved art or science. The turning point in Emmett’s life was when we headed to Money, Mississippi. At this time Mississippi was probably the worst state in the United States when it came to segregation and racism. Emmett’s mother remembered how her son was ready to leave and she called him back to her because he had forgotten to give her a kiss goodbye. Emmett simply replied back to his mother you know nothing will happen to me and I’ll be back. When they were in Mississippi they all went to Bryant’s store. The person who ran the store was Mr. Bryant’s wife Carol. Emmett Till whistled at her while they were inside the store. All of his cousin’s and people that were there with her in their commentaries in the video just keep mentioning the surprise they were in when Emmett did that. One of his brothers even said how no one there actually expected him to do that to the white lady. Later on that night Mr. Bryant and J.W. Milam came into the house with a pistol and took him away. Everyone left behind was completely frightened that this was actually happening to them. Those grown men took Emmett to the Sheridan Plantation and they murdered him. They found Emmett’s body in the river. He was tied to a cotton gin fan with barbed wire and his tongue and private area were both cut out. He was only 15 years old. This painted an ugly reality for blacks; they knew that if this situation happened to a 15 year old boy, it could happen to anyone. His mother insisted that they had an open casket funeral because she wanted everyone to see what these white men had done to 15 year old boy. Over 50,000 people attended his funeral and Jet Magazine in 1955 posted a three page spread on Emmett Till’s body. This event is what sparked the Civil Rights movement, before Rosa Parks, before Dr. Martin Luther King. It was an ugly scary reality that America was about to deal with.

Genocide & Ethnic Cleansing

Genocide and ethnic cleansing are two phrases that are commonly used interchangeably. This is not necessarily correct because they do differentiate somewhat. Genocide is when a group purposely destroys another group. Ethnic cleansing is when a group which is not liked is taken out of society through the means of genocide or by forcing them to migrate somewhere else. In one of the readings it is discussed how genocide once only brought thoughts of the Holocaust or other mass killings, but in today’s society we now think of the topic in a more in depth way. We not only think of certain situations in which there has been a killing of a group because of the race, religion, gender, etc. Now we also incorporate what we think might have caused it, who did it, what made them turn to genocide as a possible solution for their prejudice against another group. In Rwanda there was a premeditated killing of two million Cambodians. In Bosnia, not only was genocide carried out by also ethnic cleansing. In Bosnia two hundred thousand people were murdered as well as many women were viciously raped, and children and fathers were taken away to concentration camps. These vicious killings were most times carried out by the government and happened throughout the war. This ethnic cleansing that took place in Bosnia lasted many years. Many people were put in concentration camps, killed, or forced to flee their homes. Sarajevo, which is the capital of Bosnia was one of the only places that escaped the “cleansing”. In Bosnia there were a total 10,000 people killed in 1992 and almost 50,000 people injured. Later on in 1997, there were still roughly 21,000 people missing. In May of 2005, was the last update and there were still 14,444 people missing without any trace. Since these people were forced to migrate out of their homes and their country it has been extremely difficult for their family and friends to be able to contact them. I believe that what was done to all these people in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur is cruel and unfair in every humanly way. Genocide and ethnic cleansing should be illegal and those who carry it out should be persecuted. The most difficult thing about having it be illegal is that most times the government is the one who helps carry these actions out.