Although she was not the first “celebrity” to come out loud and proud of being transgendered, Caitlyn Jenner certainly paved the way for acceptance and awareness. I applaud her for being incredibly brave and potentially allowing herself to be the subject of scrutiny in the name of empowerment and transgender rights. We all know generally speaking the world prefers people who are “normal” and conform to societies normalities, proving how difficult it must have been for her to show everyone her true self. A major difference in between Caitlyn Jenner and the majority of transgender women in the world is the fact that Caitlyn is rich, she can afford these surgeries, beautiful hair and make up styling, designer dresses to make her beautiful, while the average transgender women are slowly breaking the bank to make these small changes, hoping to conform to femininity and create the physical beauty they see in our consumerist world. As Lovelock (2016) points out these women, Caitlyn included are only recognized as women so long as they are adhering to prescriptions of traditional femininity and beauty. Overall I see Lovelocks article portraying the idea that no woman, cisgender or transgender is safe from the pressures of society to be made over into this feminine being depicting physical beauty. Again, Lovelock (2016) states that traditionally women are called upon to demonstrate their happiness, authenticity, and self-worth through the extent to which their physical appearances match up to hegemonic ideals of physical beauty. The second article by Katrina Roen (2002) also touches on the desires to conform, and the high price placed by some on the ability to “pass” as a woman or man. It seems there is an array of thoughts on who to identify with and if transgender men and women should identify with either of the binary groups. Roen (2002) makes a point through an interview that leaves me almost frustrated with society, saying that belonging to a gender is similar to belonging to a cult, and the pressures to conform to these groups is immense. Society has created these binary groups in which everything fits either or, leaving no space for those identifying as either man/woman or neither of the two. So in a sense, transgender women feel similar struggles to cisgender, but then again, none of the same.

 

Bibliography

Lovelock, Michael. “Call me Caitlyn: Making and Making Over the ‘Authentic’ Transgender Body in Anglo-American Popular Culture.” Journal of Gender Studies, 26, No. 6 (2016): 675-687

 

Roen, Katrina. “Either/Or and Both/Neither: Discursive Tensions in Transgender Politics.” Signs, 27, No. 2 (2002) : 501-522