Intersectionality is a concept that many people of different race, gender, and class have to go through on a daily basis. Unfortunately, our world is filled with opinions and therefore, people tend to discriminate against others whose backgrounds differ from their own. In my own life, I have definitely had to deal with being treated differently because of my Indian background and for being a woman. As a two sport athlete for the majority of my life, I have had to deal with people comparing my skills to my brother’s and have had to listen to people constantly telling me that I will never be as good as him because I was a girl. While these comments were always thrown my way, I tried not to let them get to me because my challenges with intersectionality seemed insignificant compared to what some other people have had to go through for being themselves.
For my blog post this week, I decided to talk about Caitlyn Jenner’s journey as she transitioned from male to female to explore the idea of intersectionality. I chose this story because it was such a big deal in the media when it happened and I remember everyone at school was talking about her transition like it was some huge scandal. As an Olympic medalist, Bruce Jenner was supposed to be a symbol of masculinity for America so it was a shock to everyone when she decided to express her true self and become Caitlyn. Therefore, because of the stigma placed on him for being an exceptional athlete, it made it so difficult for him to come out to the world. Bruce was afraid of disappointing the world and his fans that he had accumulated overtime as a runner and his time with the Kardashians. Moreover, TMZ even robbed his chances of telling the people he loved who he really was by publishing a story on his medical consultation for a tracheal shave (Dooley et al., 2015). He even considered committing suicide after this story was released to the world (Dooley et al., 2015).
Intersectionality and the fear of how the public would react to Bruce’s transition into Caitlyn, kept her from being who she was for the majority of her life. According to her son, she used to wake up at 4:30 in the morning just so she would have a few moments to spend being herself (Dooley et al., 2015). It is truly a cruel and sad world if a person can only be themselves for a few hours each day. Moreover, it is sad to think about the fact that she was too scared to be herself for almost her entire life because of the fear of how she would be treated by the rest of society.
While I do support Caitlyn’s right to be a woman, I also agree with Burkett (2015) in that her ideals of what makes a woman are wrong. Her idea of a woman included wearing nail polish, having girls nights, and posing in tight outfits and corsets for a magazine. I am very happy for Caitlyn in that she is able to finally express herself the way she wants to, but these are not things that make me a woman at all. I am in agreement with Burkett’s argument in that my experiences have shaped me into a woman (Burkett, 2015). I am not a woman because of my emotions or the way I look or dress. I certainly hope that is not how we are defining men and women now because I rarely cry and most of the time I can be seen in soccer pants and a sweatshirt. I am a woman because of the challenging experiences I have faced in my life and the strength I gained because of them. I have had to deal with periods, walking the streets at night alone, and discrimination against my gender for my entire life just because I am a woman. Until Bruce, became Caitlyn, he had never had to go through any discrimination in his entire life. He was a white, privileged male and an Olympic athlete, which means he was respected and treated greatly by everyone. Therefore, I do respect her right to say that she has emotionally felt like a woman her entire life, but I am struggling to understand how Caitlyn emotionally defines a woman.
Works cited
Burkett, E. (2015). What Makes a Woman? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/what-makes-a-woman.html
Dooley, S., Dawson, M., Zak, L., Ng, C., Effron, L., & Keneally, M. (2015). Bruce Jenner: ‘I’m a Woman’. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bruce-jenner-im-woman/story?id=30570350
Hi Brooke, I greatly appreciated reading your blog post this week and I respect your views on Bruce Jenner becoming Caitlyn. As I did my own blog post on the other choice given to us this week, it was interesting to read your stance on a different journey. I also remember when this whole transition was plastered throughout the media. I do agree with your point about how Caitlyn views women should act. Do you think that it is because at one point she was a man? I feel that too often men associate the “feminine” acts of painting nails, wearing tight clothes, and having girls’ nights, as what women thrive for. That in order to be a proper woman, we have to act and behave a certain way. To me, it seems that maybe she is acting in a way that she perceives women should act. While Caitlyn will always face her own unique set of trials within life, do you think that she will ever know what it’s really like to be a woman? Or will she just live like she perceives women do?
I appreciate you sharing your own personal experiences on your post. It is always great when students can link their own experiences with the post.
Part of the issues that trans people have is trying to express and communicate their gender to others. Those that have just come out as trans or “baby trans” often struggle to do, and it takes them awhile to figure out who they are entirely. It can be especially hard for white male to female trans individuals, because they don’t often experience marginalization.