BLOG # 1: A University Recognizes a Third Gender: Neutral

Gender is not looked at in the same context and light that it used to be. Beforehand, gender was identified with your anatomy. We are now just understanding that there is a difference and there is more than just two types of gender. Gieselman, was born a female and to the naked eye appears to be feminine according to the view of society in regards to what femininity is. This means she dresses like a woman and for the most part looks like one. The thing about gender identity is that it does not have to match what your anatomy is. You can be a woman and Identify as a man regardless of how you dress or you can be a man and identify as being a woman. For the most part universities and other places of establishments does not give you that freedom to decide what you identify with, but instead you are put in your category based off anatomy. But Gieselman self-identifies not as a gay woman but as transgender. Unlike men and women who experience a mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities and take steps to align them, Gieselman accepts having a womanly body, and uses the term — along with “genderqueer” — to mean something else: a distinct third gender. Transgender is denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender. What I have noticed is that school is one of the first and the most important places that we attend that affects the you and shapes you into the person you are today, but it is also conventional and expects you to play by certain rules and conform. It does not really allow children to really be who they are or even figure that out freely for that matter. She begin spending time a youth center for Trans and gender people. According to the article colleges across the country have been grappling with concerns related to students transitioning from one gender to another, but Vermont is at the forefront in recognizing the next step in identity politics: the validation of a third gender. The university allows students like Gieselman to select their own identity. This included a new first name to go by. It does not have to be legally changed and you also get to choose a pronoun and the teachers are aware so that they can use the correct terminology when referring to the students. I understand that this will not make up for the horrible things that trans and gender people may go through , but this definitely a start int he right dirrection.

By: Tabitha McLaughlin
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/a-university-recognizes-a-third-gender-neutral.html?_r=0