"Transgender Today"

Throughout the semester, we have been talking about and analyzing gender and what gender means. While popular culture is pretty dead set on there being only males and females, transgendered people have been becoming more well known. Take, for example, Chaz Bono, Cher's child who has had tons of support from Americans. While the subject of transgender is still sort of taboo, I think we are beginning to hear more and more about it, which will soothe the shock it may give some people.
I subscribe to a psychology magazine called, "Monitor on Psychology" which basically just gives the latest news on what is happening in this field. This month's issue arrived at the beginning of the week and one of the featured stories is "Transgender today."
While I know psychology to be a rather liberal field, I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of their main articles was on a topic we have been discussing in class. And a rather controversial topic at that.
The article basically goes on to say how we have moved beyond diagnosing transgender or gender confusion as needing treatment or being abnormal. According to lore m. dickey, PhD, "Now, being transgender is being acknowledged as part of the human condition."(38) I was thrilled when I read this line because it means that, as a society, we are maybe finally moving beyond looking at transgender as a problem and just accepting it. I think this is a common theme throughout history of topics that start off controversial (think: women voting, black and white people having equal rights, etc.) After that initial shock starts to wear off, and this usually takes years and years and years, we finally accept it.
Later on in the article, stigmas are discussed. So although transgender is moving in the direction of acceptance, individuals still have many obstacles to face. One of those obstacles is the stigma that accompanies the label of "transgender."
In a side box the topic of pronouns and the definition of what is meant when the word transgender is used is discussed. In the context of psychology, "'Transgender' is an umbrella term that covers a spectrum of people with nonconforming gender identities and expression."(39). This article proved to be very fascinating and seemed to be reiterating themes and topics that have been talked about in class. I was very excited to see this in a science magazine.