This blog post will cover the discussion we had in class on Thursday the 7th about the Yep reading and the various definitions that we as a class came up with. Recently Obama appointed a new cabinet member to work at the US commerce department, which deals with the export regulations on weapons technologies. This normally mundane affair has been colored and streamlined by the media because the appointee, Amanda Simpson being the first openly trans-gender cabinet member. Amanda told the media
"Being the first sucks," she told ABC News.com. "I'd rather not be the first but someone has to be first, or among the first." (http://abcnews.go.com)
This statement reflects two of the definitions we discussed in class, the first being normalization and the second othering.
The nomalization of sexuality, whether it be hetero or homo, or, male, female, or trans-gender, has told us that the latter in each case is not what is accepted into our culture. Amanda is worried that because the acceptance of a trans-gender person has not yet been examined in Washington, she may be labeled as a "token" or a political strategy, rather than a qualified hire.
In the case of othering, the societal norms have shown that because of her differences, she is not being looked at as an important decision in Obama's plan for our country, rather as a scheme in a popularity contest, or in another case, as described by David Letterman, a joke.
As you can see, although it is simply a joke on a TV show, these actions can damage a career or the self esteem of a person, as well as make it extremely hard for her to be taken seriously in the workplace.
Below are the links to the article I read and the video:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/amanda-simpson-transgender-presidential-appointee-begins-work-commerce/story?id=9477161
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpBclLivdUQ
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I had actually not heard about this until I read your article. It makes me sad that people like this have to hide their sexuality because it could harm their career and other aspects of their life. This is definitely a for of violence like we talked about with Yeps article. It really suck that our society has advanced so far in technology and other aspects but we cant seem to progress far enough to accept people for their sexual differences. Another example of this is Lady GaGa. Their had been a lot of talk about her possibly being a hermaphrodite. I don't know or care weather or not she is and I don't understand why it should even matter. She is a good successful artist and it should not matter.
ReplyDeleteIm with Rachel i have not heard of this until i read this post. I can see why Amanda would have to hide this, Washington has been just not starting to accept gay's to a certain extent. Its sad to say that if do come out of the closet or admit to being transgender in washington it might hurt you political career if not ruin it. I dont see this changing anytime soon but i do think Obama did this because he is suppose to bring change to America and appointing a transgender into office is bring about some change in the social aspect. I dont see people taking her seruously because there isnt social aceptance for people who are gay or transgender and can possibly lead to violence like Yep said.
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