Gender In Three Generations

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In the movie 3 Generations, main character, Ray, struggles to feel validated and accepted as he transitions from female to male. Due to gender roles and social construct, Ray is viewed as an outcast and “confused teenager” because he broke away from the typical gender binary. Society views gender as a binary with two fixed options: male or female, and anyone who strays outside of the norm is seen as confused. Despite society’s rigid outlook, gender is a more complicated and diverse spectrum. Three aspects can determine where an individual falls on the gender spectrum: body, identity, and expression. People assign gender based of an individual’s reproductive organs which usually fall into one of two classifications; however, this system fails…show more content…
Cisgender people identify with the gender that was assigned to them at birth. However, there are those who identify as the opposite gender or as neither gender. Transgender individuals “make up less than 1 percent of the population” (Lopez, par. 3), subjecting them to discrimination and prejudice because their understanding of who they are does not fit into society’s binary. Jackie Mautner, a gender nonconforming transgender woman, describes her identity as “In the binary, the boxes for woman and man are very small, and I think my relationship to that box is a constellation around it rather than within it. . .Our gender identities and the way we relate to gender is more of a constellation than an either-or.” There are also individuals who do not identify as either male or female; they could use the labels non-binary, genderqueer, or agender--among others--along with the pronouns they/them/their to easily convey their gender to others. “Individuals do not choose their gender, nor can they be made to change it, though the words someone uses to communicate their gender identity may change over time” (Gender Spectrum, par. 13). Numerous people that do not conform to the gender binary use unique terms and labels to describe their gender and how they interpret it, which further illustrates how complicated and diverse the gender spectrum is. Jesse, a twenty-six year old, was interviewed by German

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