DeDora 1

Kaitlin DeDora
UWRT 1103-006
Blanford
10/07/15
Our world views as a country have recently been changing on many social aspects of
society and what is considered acceptable. Throughout the last decade, barriers have been
broken with gender identity. Through the media, we have seen another side to people that has
never had a chance to show itself before. We have begun to accept transgenders and their switch
from one gender to another. What is it that makes these children/young adults feel the way they
do? Is parenting having something to do with it? Are their brains wired differently than those
who know what gender they are for sure?
I have not had any personal experiences with a transgender before; what I know is
limited. However, with seeing it all over the media the past couple years, I have learned quite a
bit. I believe that they have a chemical imbalance with either estrogen or testosterone in their
bodies. This causes them to have the mind and soul of one gender, but the body of another. They
may choose to ignore this, but some decide to do something about it. There are surgeries people
can get to actually change their genitalia in order to truly become the gender they feel that they
are. They have been accepted a lot more lately in society and this may have caused more now
than ever to come out with it comfortably. There are even some celebrities who have made the
change from one gender to another, the major one being Bruce Jenner. He has changed to Caitlin
Jenner and is now living his life as a woman. I know that transgenders were highly frowned upon
not too long ago and before that they were treated like freaks. That is if they were open about it.
The world has become a much more understanding place for these people and they are finally

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feeling comfortable in their own skin. I know that there were high counts of suicide in the
transgender community, but it has gone down recently.
I chose this topic over others because with its popularity in the media in the past couple
of years being so high, I began to form my opinion about it. I found this to be something I
couldnt come to understand. I have always been understanding of homosexuals. Their sexual
preference is something that makes sense to me. I think that transgenders could possibly be
homosexuals, just in a bolder and more radical fashion due to the fact that they arent just with
the opposite sex, but also want to physically change themselves. I want to understand why they
do this and if it actually is what they want. I find this such an interesting topic with so much to
talk about because it doesnt end with just nature vs. nurture or biological reasons but also social
aspects and trends. I am particularly focusing on when children become transgender and where
they get these ideas from. I want to know if they naturally feel this way or if they are influenced.
I want to know why people have trouble bubbling in what gender they are. I have always thought
that it was pretty clear, with whatever genitalia you have, you know what gender you classify as.
I want to understand how they think and how they view gender roles. It will be easy to write
because I want to open my mind up to this, what seems to be, somewhat of a different world.
The transgender topic and community highly interests me with their passion and
boldness. I may not have the same feelings that they do, however, I find it inspiring how proud
they are even though they are so different than most people. It takes a lot to stick out of a crowd
and this is a major way they do it. Although not every transgender is as proud as others of who
they are, they all mostly accept this. I am intrigued to do research on this and find exactly what it
is that makes them feel this way. I want to learn everything I can to get a clear understanding. Is
it a choice or are they born this way? Does nature versus nurture play a role in this life change

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they make? I have so much research I can do and that was a major role in choosing this topic. I
am particularly interested in the younger age group of transgenders. I want to learn about how
they grow up and when they start believing/realizing that they are not meant to be the gender
they were born as. I want to see the way they go through everything as a child from things
ranging to what toys they pick out at the store to the friends they make and the way they act
towards stereotypical gender roles in school (i.e. boys playing sports at recess, girls braiding
each others hair, etc.).
The answers I am seeking I believe will be found through a variety of articles, blogs, and
research. I want to look into a fairly popular child transgender named Jazz. Jazz became a girl
around age 4 and has a television show on TLC. I am very interested in watching this and
reading anything Jazz has written or interviews she has had. I am also planning on looking into
hormone imbalances and the scientific part of why people feel this way. I will be looking into
government documents for data and research on transgenders in the past decade. Lastly, blogs
and interviews will be another main resource for my paper. Getting into the real lives of
transgenders may help me a lot with understanding how they work.
If the results of my initial research are so numerous that I need to narrow my subject, I
plan on narrowing it to the transgenders falling into the age group of somewhere around birth-20
and in the past decade. If it turns out that my research is not enough information, I will broaden
my research by adding in the past couple decades and including suicide rates within the
transgender community, how it has fluctuated in the past couple of years, what influences the
suicides, etc. I believe I will find a lot more in the scientific and social fields having more to do
with facts rather than if I was doing this from a religious standpoint. With religion, you tend to

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have a lot more interpretation due to the fact that everyone can interpret their religion slightly
different than the next.
I plan on learning and teaching a lot as I write this research paper. There are countless
things to learn about transgenderism and how they become who they are. Looking further into
the development of their DNA and hormones with help a lot with understanding their brain and
passions. Watching interviews and documentaries should help guide me through their lives and
how it may differ from mine and many others. By the end of this research paper I hope to have a
better understanding on the questions I have come up with; I hope to have a better understanding
on how this identity opposite of mine is truly geared.