After
beating a male-to-female transgender woman, a teenager in Florida
received a year’s probation.The
teenager and the woman planned on having sex on the beach until the teen
realized his partner had male sex anatomy.The
teen left the beach and returned to violently attack the m-t-f transgender
woman.Blanc, the judge for the
case, declined to classify the attack as a “hate crime,” saying that “…there
are two victims in the case.”
The
victim in this case had a different gender identity than sex identity,
and because of that, she became not just a victim but also a victimizer
in some people’s eyes due to the social construction of gender.The
judge considered the teen to be a victim because the transgender woman
did not tell teenager that she had male organs.In
American society, it is a common belief that a person with male sex organs
is a man, and a person with female sex organs is a woman, and if the “correct”
gender is not portrayed, there must be something wrong with that person.Dr.
Richard Fitzgibbons and Dr. Joseph Nicolosi explain in their article “When
Boys Won’t Be Boys: Childhood Gender Identity Disorder” in the Catholic
Education Resource Center that people displaying “gender identity problems,
including cross-dressing, exclusive cross-gender play, and a lack of same-sex
friends should be treated as a symptom that something may be wrong—very
wrong.”They go on to explain
these children are more likely to “be victimized by bullies…and to express
same-sex attraction in adolescence…[and] a small number of these boys will
eventually become transvestites or transsexuals.” They characterize being
transgender and homosexual as being “very wrong,” as if transgender individuals
should expect to be “bullied” because they do not follow gender rules that
society has created. PAT: You refer to and quote
a major reading (Fitzgibbons and Nicolosi) for this week, but you don't
hit the nail on the head by connecting it to the event. The authors
take the view that trans people are sick or pathological. Is there anyone
in the Florida incident who shares this view? (The judge? the teen assailant?)
PAT:
Try to summarize carefully into one paragraph. Only the most important
parts of the article should be in the summary.
American
society has a difficult time understanding the concept of transgender individuals.Suzanne
Kessler explains in The International Journal of Transgenderism,
in her article “Who put the ‘Trans’ in Transgender?Gender
Theory and Everyday Life” that “Transgender people…place themselves outside
the conventional female/male dichotomy, yet live in a social world that
recognizes only females and males.”The
judge, who was probably raised in this society, had this male/female dichotomy
bias, weather spelling!!! or
not it was conscious.Had this
crime taken place in a culture that not only accepts but gives great respect
to transgender individuals, such as many Native American cultures, the
judge probably would have given the teenager a much stricter punishment.PAT:
Nice connection to a major reading (Kessler) for this week. Excellent use
of quote from Kessler. If you were as specific about the reading about
Native American cultures, the connection would be much stronger.
Due
to social construction of gender and the rules that are placed on gender
by society, a person who violently attacked another human being has simply
been sentenced to probation, even though most violent offenders are usually
punished very strictly.
PAT:
The one thing you did not do was to offer your own informed opinion. Your
sentence here simply recaps the facts. What do you think? Do you
think the journalist understands the topic and presents the issues and
information in an educated way—consistent with the knowledge presented
in this week's readings? Otherwise,
very good. --Pat
CHECKLIST
YES?
substantive story (A little short,
and you did not copy the article into your paper)
YES
story is from one of the approved list of news media
NO
highlighted the main ideas and summarized them in 1 paragraph
NO
presented your informed opinion and commentary in 1 + paragraphs
YES
connected to topics and readings for this WEEK (Sex,
Queer Science, and Sexual Orientation)
YES
turn in e-copy
______________________________________________________
Transwoman's
attacker gets probation
published
Friday, August 31, 2007
A
teenager who severely beat a transwoman on a Florida
beach after learning she was biologically male has been sentenced to a
year's probation, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The
17-year-old had been charged with aggravated battery in the July 2006 incident.
Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Blanc on Thursday rejected
prosecutors' pleas that he be locked up and is
likely to reoffend.
Blanc,
while scoffing at the teen's contention that he had acted in self-defense,
also declined to consider the attack as a hate crime.
"In
many ways it appears from the testimony that was presented here that there
are two victims in the case," the Post quoted him as saying.
The
teen, whom authorities declined to identify
because he was a minor, had been drinking with a friend when he met up
with the 39-year-old transwoman and agreed to have sex on the beach. That
plan was aborted when he learned his companion had "male organs," the Post
reported.
The
teen left, but returned to the beach to beat the victim, a
fact prosecutors cited in seeking a tough sentence.
Palm
Beach Police Sgt. Jennifer Sandman testified at last month's trial that
he seemed arrogant and told her he beat the victim until his hand was sore,
the Post reported. Someone on the lifeguard tower at the beach that night
testified the teen slammed the victim's head into the lifeguard stand so
hard that he could feel it shake, the paper said.
The
victim did not appear in court or respond to several court requests to
make a statement that could be factored into the judge's consideration
at sentencing.
Meanwhile,
the Post said, the defendant's father was outraged that prosecutors did
not charge his victim for sexual contact with a 17-year-old, a second-degree
felony. The teen has been under house arrest since the incident. (Barbara
Wilcox, The
Advocate