Reflections on Transgender Essay

Before going to the transgender workshop, I have already had a mindset of gender stereotype and I have never thought of accepting the sexual minorities like trans and homosexual people. I was raised in a traditional and conservative family that my parents showed me that a man should be the head of the family because he is the breadwinner so all family members have to rely on him. On the other hand, a woman should always listen to her husband and stay at home to serve her husband and take care of the children. Family is the primary socializing agent that I learn how a family functions by observational learning. Moreover, I was taught in school that how girls and boys should behave without questioning the reason why I should behave like that. The formal, informal and hidden curriculum in school shaped my thought about gender. For instance, boys should be active and girls should be quiet in class. Socialized by family and school for a long time, I internalized the gender stereotype made by the culture of society so I admitted that I had a closed-mind before. I now understand why students are inculcated with this kind of gender stereotype. It is because capitalists want to maintain their power and heterosexual domination in a patriarchy society so they labeled the minority as abnormal. According to the conflict theory of Karl Marx, the education systems produce the ideology of gender stereotype so as to maintain and legitimate the base created by capitalists who control the means of production. I have learned to think in a critical manner because many of our mindsets are shaped by society. We have to question whether they are rational before accepting those thoughts. After attending the transgender workshop, I had a brief understanding about what transgender is. Transgender means that people identify themselves as another sex different from their biological sex. Their gender identity and gender expression are different from their biological sex and gender role constructed by society. For example, some of them are male at birth but they id entify themselves as female. We called them MtF (male to female) and another type is called FtM (female to male). Mainly, trans people are divided into two groups, the Crossdresser, who like to dress up as a different sex and the Transexual, who have undergone sex reassignment surgery. From the sharing of two trans people, Fei (a MtF) and Siu Keung(a  FtM), I know that being a trans person is tough because he or she has to face a lot of difficulty in daily life such as being questioned by family and friends as well as being discriminated against in society that make them have low self-esteem. Like Fei, he discovered that he liked a boy when he was in Form 3 or 4 and then his classmates humiliated him so he hated himself very much at that time and he even tried to commit suicide. I can see that peer is another socializing agent that affects our mindset of who we are and what we are supposed to behave. If we violate the expected behavior of society, we will be regarded as freak and abnormal. In order not to be isolated or labeled as abnormal, we follow the main stream and hide the side that what we actually are. Also, I can see that only the hegemonic masculinity is being accepted among people through Fei’s experience. He was once invited to a themed party a nd he wore a dress to go to the party. However, his friends asked him not to wear dress to come again. Feminine masculinity is not acceptable. Everything has its diversity but people tend to divide things into binary opposition. The one who owns power decides which character is the â€Å"right† and normal one and the other is regarded as â€Å"wrong† and abnormal. It is obviously a power struggle. Trans gender people are leading a difficult life. In Hong Kong, there are approximately 200-300 trans people (Leung, 2012). Many of them are like Fei that they have to behave â€Å"normal† in front of other people and they could only be the true self when they are alone. Trans people will also consider their behaviors as abnormal or even consider themselves as a psychopathy. As many of them are reluctant to find help, they are in lack of people to share their feelings that make them feel lonely and helpless. Some of them many even hurt their reproductive organs or commit suicide. Apart from the lacking in mental support, the institution in Hong Kong doesn’t provid e enough support for trans people. Until now, there is no law to protect trans people, as they are not included in the Sex Discrimination Ordinance. Only those who are judged to have Gender Identity Disorder can be protected under Disability Discrimination Ordinance. (Leung, 2012) Yet, in the mean time, trans people are labeled as disable as well as having mental disorder, which is another kind of discrimination. Also, health care system in Hong Kong is not comprehensive enough for trans people. At present, there are only two hospitals, which are Prince of Wales Hospital and the sex clinic in Castle  Peak Hospital, that provide transgender medical diagnostic services so trans people have to wait about seven weeks to see the doctor (Medical services provided for Gender Identity Disorders patients, 2013). Knowing what tough situation that the trans people are facing, I feel sympathy for them and I will now show my respect to trans people. I used to think that the Crossdresser was abnormal and disgusting. Now, I question why women can dress like men but men cannot dress like women. It is unfair to men that they will be criticized and discriminated against if they dress like women. Also, the media uses language to derogate the Crossdresser such as calling them ladyboy â€Å"ä º ºÃ¥ ¦â€"â€Å". Like Fei, he likes wearing dress since he was small but he has tried to throw away all his dresses as his mother and girlfriends did not accept that. It is hard for him not to be the one he wanted to be and he had spent years being the one he hated. I will consider crossdressing as a hobby of trans people because they just spend time on something they like to do. Also, we should not criticize their act because it does not do any harm on other people. In addition to the Crossdresser, transsexual people have to master up their courage to undergo sex reassignment surgery as it is not as easy as we think. In fact, it is a long process. They have to first get a referral letter from doctors, social workers or psychologists and they must pass the two-year mental and psychological evaluation process including living as another sex for one year. Next, they can be defined as gender identity disorder. After that, they are referred to public hospital to undergo surgery. In fact it is dangerous for them to undergo sex reassignment surgery, especially the FtM people. There is a high risk of injury in penile reconstructive surgery and the success rate is low. Also, they have to take hormones. According to some medical studies, there will be some long-term side effects of taking female hormones. For example, the risk of having breast cancer will be higher and the load of the liver will be increased (Transgender handbook, 2012). I appreciate their determination that they would rather sacrifice their health in order to be their true selves. As Goffman said, gender is something that an individual actively do, we can choose to be a man or a woman, as we like. In this post-modern age, queer theory suggested that gender is fluid. A picture of the genderbread person shows that there are more than eighty combinations that an individual can be. For example, she can be a female but identifying herself as a man  and she can express herself as androgynous and bei ng a bisexual. I know that when we do not understand an issue clearly, we have no right to criticize it. After knowing what transgender is, I choose to respect. We should be open-minded to accept the existence of diversity of gender in society or at least we should respect so that we all can live in a society with harmony. I have a friend who is a bisexual. I was once reluctant to befriend him. But now, I always show him my support and I am willing to listen to his difficulties in daily life to help him release stress. Also, I realized that I do not need to do something to fulfill what society expects me to do as a girl. For example, I do not need to be tender; I do not need to have long legs, big breasts or a slim body to impress men. I just have to be myself, which is unique. Work cited 1.Leung , J.(2012). Gossip boys and girls[Brochure]. Hong Kong: Transgender Resource Center. 2.Medical services provided for Gender Identity Disorders patients. (2013, October 9). Retrieved from http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201310/09/P201310090465.htm3.Rainbow of Hong Kong. (2012). Transgender handbook[Brochure]. Retrieved from http://rainbowhk.org/tg/handbook-p.html

An Evaluation of the Personalisation Agenda and the effect on Adults Literature review

An Evaluation of the Personalisation Agenda and the effect on Adults with Learning Disabilities - Literature review Example The author of the essay "An Evaluation of the Personalisation Agenda and the Effect on Adults with Learning Disabilities" begins with that in order to understand personalisation, it is important to understand that there are two different models of disability that we are currently recognizing. The medical model of disability concentrates on the idea that if an individual's body is 'fixed' that they will be able to better fit into society. The medical model does not benefit the individual because there are many conditions that an individual is born with that cannot be 'fixed' in this way. The social model of disability is a more accurate depiction of the person with disability because it is concerned with the barriers that are in place to prevent a person with disabilities to access society. These barriers can be due to the environment, which keeps people from being able to access buildings and services because of physical barriers. The barrier can be due to people's attitudes when the y stereotype certain abilities with people or discriminate against them. The barrier can also be due to organizations with inflexible policies, practices or procedures that exclude people with disabilities (Office for Disability Issues 2010). The Personalisation Agenda leans more towards the social model of disability because it emphasizes the challenges and/or barriers for people with disabilities. It was created in order to eliminate some of the barriers that individuals currently are exposed to when attempting to access services. 2. The Problem for Adults with Learning Disabilities According to the Learning Disability Coalition (2010) it is important for people with learning disabilities to have the same choices for care as other people have who do not have disabilities. This is one of the provisions that this new legislation has created. The challenge is that although this legislation has gone through and is attempting to be enforced, there are still challenges for some agencies in getting the resources needed for people with l

Employment training part 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employment training part 1 - Essay Example In this study the focus is on formal and informal training in the organization, their strengths and weaknesses and why are they required in an organization. Training Training is associated with the work related computing that comes in variety of forms staring from â€Å"formal, scheduled classroom instruction to spur-of-the-moment sessions with a co-worker to self-based trial and error efforts† (Danziger and Dunkle, 2005, p. 1). Both individuals as well as the organization have their own choices regarding the training method. The training can be characterized in several dimensions. The two most important dimensions that are considered while selecting a training method are the degree of interaction that takes place between one another during the training and the degree of formality involved in training. Based on this, there are two types of training formal and informal. Figure 1 Source: (Danziger and Dunkle, 2005) Formal Learning Formal learning is the learning that takes place in a structured and organised environment and is explicitly in terms of resources, time and objectives. From the learners’ point of view, it is intentional and leads to certification and validation. It aims towards achievement of competencies, skill and knowledge (Patrick, 2010). Formal training leads to formal learning amongst the individuals. Formal training is the professionally developed training program or session that has a fixed agenda to be offered or discussed either on or off site during the compensated working hours of the employees. Formal training includes professional conferences, seminars, employee skills and development programs, apprenticeship training, certification training and technical trainings (Crotty, 2004). The learning is evolved from certain organized program of instructions. Formal learning is achieved by the learners, when they undergo some well designed training programs in their workplace. Formal leaning displays certain specific essential feat ures that are: This have a specific curriculum The trainer is responsible for delivering its teaching strictly in accordance with the curriculum. There is a certain assessment system that assesses the achievement of leaning objectives of the learner and certifies it (Jarvis and Watts, 2012). Informal Learning Informal learning is signified as the learning process that takes place from the daily activities of an individual related to leisure, family and work. It is not structured or organised in terms of learning support, time and objectives. From the perspective of the learner, it is unintentional and is often referred to as â€Å"learning from experience† or simply experience. The main idea behind informal learning is that people by their virtue of existence are exposed to various learning situations continuously (Patrick, 2010). However, informal learning has gained increased attention as a significant part of management and leadership development. Some of the research scho lars have signified informal learning as lesson of experience that has helped many mangers in reaching to the top of the organization (Halliday-Wynnes and Beddie, 2009). Learning from the experience is a continuous process that often entails in dealing with failure or hardship. For instance, in cases where the business leaders learn from

Finances Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Finances - Assignment Example This is where the knowledge of budgeting and finances come in as one needs to be able to figure out the needs of the hospital and prioritize them in order starting with what is needed the most going down and use this knowledge together with the budget they have been given to spend to determine the best way to utilize the money that has been handed to them What Has Been Your Exposure to Your Organization’s financial statements? Who In Your Organization Might Provide You with Your Organization’s Financial Statements? What Is This Information Used For? The amount of exposure to the organization’s financial statements has mostly occurred from the budgeting and shopping activities that are done for medical supplies when the time for replenishing the available stock arises. During this period, the hospital present us (the nurses) with the amount of money that they are able to provide for these activities and using the size of the budget, one is able to determine whether the hospital’s financial status has improved, remained the same or even dwindled since the last time such an activity took place (Paul, 2008). If a hospital has done well then the size of the budget is more likely to increase while no change in the budget may mean there is no change in their finances either and so on. There are a number of individuals that present the nurses with the financial statements of the organization who include the Program administrators and ward managers during budgeting and the chief financers when a review of the annual expend iture takes place. These statements are used to show the gains and losses that have been incurred during the year as well as budget for the next batch of medical supplies that are needed. The accounting system affects the different parts of the organization as a whole as it deals with the organization’s entire financial flow. Firstly, it will affect the speed with which

Agile Port System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Agile Port System - Essay Example Older ports have to get into alliances and partnerships to coordinate their activities and decrease unnecessary competition. These alliances can lead to the creation of satellite terminals instead of the presence of several redundant old ports. This can help reduce congestion of containers at deep-sea ports and free up space for high-cost facilities in such locations. Through alliances, there can be the better exchange of information, which reduces dwell-time and improves movement (Konings, Priemus and Nijkamp, 2015). Exchange of valuable information helps in security checks and value added logistics, and this is only achievable through partnerships for the common good of making profits. In relation to technology, fast and real-time data processing and sharing are essential for the expansion of infrastructure and superstructure. This is essential to facilitate tracking and tracing of shipments. For example, the Electronic Data Interchange information system can help in recording and sharing of information across ports. Efficient coordination between terminals and inland transportation operations is applicable if older ports adopt modern web applications and systems to facilitate the dynamics of terminal handling operations. In addition, older ports should improve gate operations technology to improve processing time in gate lanes. Construction of dedicated lanes is also essential to save time and improve functionality. In conclusion, several areas mentioned above require improvement to adapt an agile port system.

Carl Ernsts, Mona Siddiquis and Quran book review Essay - 1

Carl Ernsts, Mona Siddiquis and Quran book review - Essay Example ority of the Muslims, for example, the Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan believe that it is mandatory to fight in the name of God and kill the disbelievers. In doing so, they believe they would enter the heaven once they perish from the world. This essay will investigate the ways some of the non-Muslims and Muslims misunderstand the Quran and act upon the Holy verses. The aim of the essay is to understand the meaning of the word ‘Jihad’ and to see how Islam has been defamed in the name of the ‘Holy War.’ There are two main reasons that Islam is considered a religion that promotes terrorism. Firstly, when non-Muslims read the verses of Quran they completely ignore the fact that Quran was not only a book of guidance for people living in the past or to the people it was revealed but it is a book belonging to the people who lived in the past, are living in the present and also for the future generation to come. Secondly, some people follow the Quran word by word in a very literal sense. The Quran uses metaphors, and though it is the word of God, not every word is to be taken literally. The word Jihad is babbling not only for the non-Muslims but also for some Muslims who use and follow it in the wrong sense. The Holy Quran says â€Å"Not equal are those believers who stay behind in their homes while the believers exert in the cause of God with their wealth and life. God has kept a higher rank for those who exert in the name of God† (Quran 4:95). The believers of the book hugely misunderstand this verse. There is a misconception between some groups of people what exertion refers to. Though it is believed that it refers to Jihad, the meaning of Jihad tends to vary greatly among believers. Some of the better-known scholars of Islam like Abdullah Yousuf and Muhammad Asaddefine Jihad as a struggle or fight made to achieve justice. Jihad is a struggle made against oppression even if it means to risk one’s life. While there is some extremist groups that define

Interview with an entrepreneur Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Interview with an entrepreneur - Term Paper Example In 2003, the company has grown into car design modifications and initiated as Project Kahn and Kahn Design. His company sells an average of 250 bespoke vehicles a year and moreover, he is developing a parallel property business under Kahn Landmark and has a buying capability of over ?75 million with properties worldwide. He has also moved into the world of watch design and is on the lookout for a talented fashion designer who can help launch the Project Kahn fashion-label. Also, he has recently purchased the UK's most expensive number plate, F1. During an Interview Afzal Kahn was asked several questions about his entrepreneurship and success. Following are the answers given by Afzal Kahn in response to the questions that were asked in an exclusive interview: How Kahn took Start-up of Entrepreneurship? (Entrepreneur Process and Opportunity Identification) Afzal Kahn studied architecture but he always had a strong passion for cars. At some initial age, he give up architecture and estab lished Auto Design Technics in Bradford and within five years he made sufficient money and went on to set up A Kahn Design. Afzal Kahn said that he strongly consider that everybody has given with a gift just like Armani has a gift for fashion design, he feels that he has borne with a gift for car designing. At his teenage, he got motivated from the plastic coffin making factory where he learned the skills of managing a factory. Kahn said that he was always passionate about cars and his dream was to set up a shop of car. Later on, implemented his skills into practice and then after few years he started making plastic parts which are used in cars and then he founded an Auto Design Technics in Bradford. Initially he did not start with direct supply to customer and as he earned money, he established his working staff and expanded his product ranges. In start, he was unaware of owning patents and its important and therefore, Kahn’s customers were using his deigns and works into th eir product ranges. Then he decided to expand his products range and selling them to the consumers directly. In the duration of just five years of hard work and devotion towards work, he made a sufficient amount of money and established A. Kahn Design. Thus direct business by selling directly to customers amplified his earning which enabled him to try out with a wider product range. By the time, A. Kahn Design became experts of designing different parts of car. His first remarkable creation was the design of a wheel rim (five- spoke) and for making it; he went to Italy to discover a factory where he can manage to start its production. About this creation, Kahn said that this invention was different to everything else out at that time. This invention was very less advertised but still his wheels sold in a very short time. In recent years, Kahn expanded his business. He then managed to buy a few Land Rovers and then he revealed their original design and then re-engineered them with hi s own style. Kahn’s work is different from others as Kahn has invested a lot in technology unlike other competitors he made the model of the car digital which looked like a real one when others were using clay models. What is the theme for