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 transgender 
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I have to say that the video we watched in class today was an eye-opener for me. I have only known a very conservative society where such topics are pretty much swept under the rug. I have a lot of questions about transgender - it really seems to be a lot bigger of an issue than I imagined. I was wondering today in class, since it is probable that I - or any of us - might have a student with such characteristics, what would/could a school do to distinguish gender? There are 'girls' and 'boys' bathrooms in a school, but which bathroom would a transgender student use? How could a school go about discerning such an issue without restricting the transgender student or offending his/her classmates and their parents?


Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:28 pm
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I also did not realize that transgenderism (is that a word?) was so widespread. Your questions are good ones. I want to be an elementary school teacher, and when watching this video, I was wondering how this could apply to an elementary school classroom. However, these years can be crucial to a child in developing a sense of self. There is no age too young that the question of gender can't arise. I know that at my daycare, we have had boys put on dresses and play with purses. My first instinct was to tell them that was silly because boys don't wear dresses, but we let them wear them. I know that I haven't answered any more of your questions, but I just thought I would share my thoughts on the video.

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Katie David


Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:29 pm
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Today we talked about transgender in class. I never realized there are people who are so truly unhappy with their gender. I always thought woman who dressed like men were tomboys or gay and men who dressed as women the male version of a tomboy. I never considered that people could actually feel so uncomfortable in their biological gender or be so unhappy about being a different gender. I definitly never guessed that the number of people who were unhappy with their gender were so numerous. Anyway I just wanted to share my thoughts about it because I never really thought about it before. I don't really know how I feel about it. I don't care if people want to change their gender, but I don't think I am as open minded about this as with other social "deviants," a word I use very loosely. I would like to know if other people felt confused or unsure of this subject as well. I would also like to know other peoples' views.

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Sarah Concra


Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:41 pm
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I'm not sure if it really bothers me that people want to change their gender - but like Sarah, I'm not as open minded as with other issues. I guess it kinda scares me to think that I might meet a person that I assume is a male and actually turns out to be a female, or vice versa. I can't really say that it is wrong for a person to change the way they are in order to feel good about themselves - I don't think anyone should suffer by disliking who they were made to be by nature. On the other hand, undergoing major surgery to create parts and pieces that were not naturally installed just kinda freaks me out, not just on a social level but on a scientific level as well. It's amazing what doctors can do to a person. It's just a difficult concept for me to be comfortable with.


Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:41 am
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The whole issue that I kept struggling with while watching that video is "how is this affecting me?" and really, it's not. I can't cast any kind of judgement on anyone else, regardless of how they choose to orient their gender and live their lives. As long as they're happy, I don't really mind seeing a "transgender bathroom" right between the "males" and "females" bathrooms. I couldn't believe that one clip of the woman in the car screaming at the people who were transgendered.... she was so angry at them, and didn't even know them. It makes no difference to me how people choose to live their lives, and if it makes them happy, I think they should be fee to do so without ridicule.

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-Allison Sawicki


Fri Apr 13, 2007 12:28 pm
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I agree with Sarah and Johnna, I'm not very open-minded and it was very uncomfortable for me to watch this video. I know that we have some people in the class who are not religious, but I am and I feel like God made each of us male and female for a reason. I hadn't really considered how unhappy some transgenders were being male or female, so that definitely opened my eyes to know why it was that they were so unhappy in their skin. I have my opinions on the subject, but I would not try to impose them on anyone or ridicule anyone for having a different opinion. It is their body and I think that they should be able to do what they want. As for having transgender bathrooms, I don't know that I'm ready for that.

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Katie David


Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:28 pm
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I agree with what Allison mentioned. It is really shocking to see how angry people get about things that they dont understand. We as a species really havent come that far since the dark ages in terms of hating what we fear. I just dont understand why people care so much about things that have no affect on them what so ever. If you are comfortable with you body and your sexualtiy than someone who is gay or transgendered is not going to hood wink you and make you question yourself.

As far as religion goes, I have been taught that every human deserves respect and that a transgendered or gay individual is just as much "my neighbor" as a leave it to beaver family. Therefore they will all recieve the same amount of tolerance and peace from me.

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Diana Zong


Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:45 pm
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I had never heard alot about transgender people. I think I was very sheltered as child. I was very surprised to see how many people are infact transgender.

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Katie Stephens


Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:06 pm
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I had heard a little about transgender people but this video opened my eyes to a lot more of it. I am a pretty open-minded person, so it doesn't really bother me. I can see this becoming a big issue a few years down the road. I think one of the bigger problems for teachers is, what if you have a transgender student in your class, or more specifically, one who is confused and doesn't know which gender they belong to. I remember one of the people from the video was born a male and was very athletic in high school. He would keep his desire to be a woman a secret and that would make him act "macho" around people at school. He (or rather she now) said she became a much nicer person after becoming open about being transgender. So what should a teacher do in this situation? If a student opens up to a teacher, saying that they feel like they should be a girl instead of a boy and it is making them miserable, what can a teacher do? I personally would be afraid to say anything, as it could offend the parents and probably lead me to lose my job, but I think this could certainly be an issue for some teachers.


Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:36 pm
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--like Katie and many others I had not heard alot of information on transgender people -- I really didn't know there was such a large population of transgender people -- the video really opened my eyes about this topic -- we will probably throughout our teaching careers have a student that is transgender. -- it will be difficult to give a transgender child what they need to succeed in school. -- all children diserve to succeed -- even ones that may be transgender.

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Rachel Sigmon


Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:09 pm
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I really hadn't heard much about transgendered individuals before this class. I don't know if i agree with anything in the video and i don't even know how i feel about the label "transgendered". Like many others, i am just going to not even think about the topic or stress over it until need be. The video made me very uncomfortable as well as very confused as to who was changing what and so on. I know that just forgetting about it is probably not the most professional thing to do but i simply choose not to worry about it at this point.

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Dustin Hull


Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:57 am
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