Essay Example on Transgender Identity: Understanding the Gender Continuum

People in the transgender community feel dissimilar to the sex that they were born demonstrated depending on how their genitals appear. They often feel indifferent, and they have a different perceived identity than the one that they were given at birth. Gender identity is referred to as the internal sense of gender that people have. This may either be female, male, none of those, or any kind in the gender continuum. Transgender persons sometimes choose to affirm their identity with their mode of life by having a transition socially. It is often done by expressing their perceived gender outside their homes, with family and friends, at school, and work. Often it is supplemented with medically transitioned and with gender-confirming surgery and cross-sex hormones (Arcelus et al., 2015). Over time several terms have been coined concerning the description of transgender individuals such as transgender male individual describes one who identifies as male but was assigned a female gender at birth with the alternative being a transgender female individual. On the other hand, cisgender describes people that did not experience any dissimilarity with their assigned gender.

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According to reports, the number of transgender people that attend gender and health care services in different nations has continually increased for a long time in several countries around the world (Arcelus et al., 2015). Additionally, the number of persons identifying as transgender and do not attend medical services are also on the rise. People who publicly identify as transgender have also increased in number. For instance, a former athlete Caitlin Jenner came out as a transgender person in an international television station (Aitken et al., 2015). This visibility has led to more people questioning the identities they want to be identified with.

Often, transgender people experience violence, discrimination, prejudice, transphobia, and stigma due to how they want to be identified. According to Ellis et al. (2014), transgender individuals tend to get out of and avoid situations where they are likely would be harassed or discriminated for being transgender such as in gyms, toilets, shop, and in clothing stores. Sport-related activities are most popular in gyms, and this means that this must be established as an inclusive environment for everyone to ensure that everyone benefits from the physical and mental health activity and sporting situations (Ellis et al., 2014). This is most important because transgender persons are seen to be among the majority of people that report increased cases of anxiety and depression, and this could be managed by physical activity. Further, sport and physical activity support the reduction of weight and maintenance to appropriate weight to allow for gender-confirming surgery (Ellis et al., 2014).

The main issue that surrounds sports is competition, and this leads to the perception that transgender people may be more enabled athletically. This brings several arguments among spectators, competitors, and sports organizations within the literature as to if the transgender persons should be left to compete despite their perceived identity, and this leads to increased discrimination in sports. It is common knowledge that androgen hormones such as testosterone confer advantages to competitive sports. It then means that transgender females often have a lot of testosterone, and this provides them with benefits in a competition if their testosterone levels have not been equalized to that of the cisgender level. Transgender men, on the other hand, are not perceived to have more advantages even if they are injected with testosterone when transitioning using hormones that ensure this transition. There are several kinds of research done to illustrate that androgenic hormones ensure success in athletics in both transgender and cisgender communities, such as in running time.

There has been a lot of effort to include transgender sportsmen and women in sports. For instance, in 2004, the IOC (International Olympic Committee. 2004) illustrated that transgender persons could be allowed to participate in certain Olympic games only if they have fully transitioned medically; through the prescription of hormones treatment that would enable transitions for about two years and they should also have gone through surgery to confirm gender. Even though this policy has needs that are mostly in line with perceived beliefs that are transgender people are more advantaged athletically, they have been criticized accordingly for their lack of a rationale that is based on scientific evidence (Tagg, 2012). The IOC brought up a new policy to ensure transgender people are included, but the strategies developed in 2004 by the IOC have greatly influenced policy development in several sporting organizations.

In an attempt to conclude on whether persons in gender transitions should be accommodated in competitions depending on how they identify, Reeser (2005) did literature research that pertains to competitive issues in sport. Reeser's focus was on whether the policies that guide competition among transgender people are fair and how gender verification has evolved over the years. He concluded that while there have been significant advances in gender verification, there is no physiological performance-related information for transgender people. This acted as an obstacle that prevented arriving at a consensus and whether the policies of transgender sports were fair or not. The review made by Reeser, even though necessary, had several other limitations. A systematic methodology was not used, and this means that there were several policies regarding transgender people in sports that were avoided. Moreover, Reese only considered factors of these strategies concerning sports, and he did not consider what the transgender persons went through in physical activities related to sport for fitness or leisure.

Transgender people that have gone through surgery to confirm their gender before adolescents are permitted to take part in sports in teams similar to their identities. This strategy has been taken up by several sports organizations in different nations. Even though the IOC has been credited for making significant moves in addressing transgender athlete's inclusion, many flaws have been identified in the system (Carroll, 2014). First, the policy does not include transgender people who avoid these surgeries because of the absence of genital distress, personal reasons, risks avoidance, and other medical factors (Tagg, 2012). Additionally, the policy does not include transgender people in the transition procedure. For example, some may have undergone transitioning hormone therapy but have not yet gone through surgery for the confirmation of gender. This means that the policies developed by the IOC have narrow definitions and have led to the exclusion of a considerable percentage of transgender people (Tagg, 2012). These policies are also seen to have developed with single focus pegged only on transgender females, mostly because trans-masculine persons are not seen to be more advantaged than their cisgender male counterparts are.

Additionally, the policy developed by the IOC did not take into consideration the differences in accessing gender-confirming differences and cross-sex hormone treatment among different regions and nations. Similarly, no evidence backs the time taken for the administration of the medication and the lack of addition of blood hormone levels as a factor. Testosterone blockers have also not been considered. Even though the rationale of the time taken is not backed by evidence, it could be similar to the time set up by the IOC in 2004, when athletes were barred from competing in sports and disciplining them for violations in doping. Evidence regarding surgeries to confirm gender is also not clear, and the presence of a penis or a vagina is not relevant because it will not affect body physiology advantages that a person has due gender (Carroll, 2014).

The IOC made public that there were changes made to their sports policies relating to transgender people before the start of the Rio Olympics. This approach allowed trans-masculine athletes to be involved in competitions with cisgender males freely. Trans-feminine athletes, on the other hand, could only be allowed in the sports, if they had announced their gender years before the competition. Also, if their levels of testosterone in the blood are below 10nmol/L, and this should be at least 12 months before any competition could take place (De Moor et al., 2006). The last requirement, however, is a general guideline to be reviewed per individual, and this is where the 12 months allowed will be checked as to whether it is sufficient to suppress the levels of testosterone. If the trans-feminine athletes do not meet these requirements, then they would be allowed to compete with males only (De Moor et al., 2006). This is an improvement in the sports policy where there has been a consideration given to birth-assigned genders and the individual hormonal difference among athletes, and it further moves from the need to have gender confirmation surgery. There is, however, no evidence that supports the need for low levels of testosterone beyond 10nmol/L (De Moor et al., 2006).

Historically, several programs relating to athletics in different areas have raised concerns among transgender individuals. Several studies illustrate that despite the presence of diversity in athletes, administrators, coaches, sexual orientation, geographic background, socio-economic status and ethnicity, athletes often show homophobic and heterosexist attitudes (Hepp et al., 2005). In a study that explored the response of athletic teams towards diversity, including sexual orientation, geographic region, socio-economic level, gender, and race, it was noticed that the questions asked about sexual orientations and transgender individuals often had highly charged responses (Hepp et al., 2005). There were denials that transgender people were team members, and they even expressed negativity towards having trans-gender persons in their rooms. This illustrated that there was increased malice towards transgender individuals in the majority of the groups demonstrating a social issue (De Moor et al., 2006).

In a research conducted to explore how people perceived and experienced transgender athletes with regards to climate, it was noted that institutional and individual characteristics directly influence how athletes experience climate with several educational outcomes being unique to student's athletes (De Moor et al., 2006). Similarly, the athletes that experience climate are also able to influence educational outcomes.

These findings demonstrated that the climate and the surrounding of the students significantly affect queer, transgender, bisexual, gay, and lesbian athletic outcomes. These groups of people generally experience a negative environment and climate as compared to their cisgender counterparts (Maltby, 2001). Societal pressure usually influences the identities of the individuals and thus their performances. Even though being transgender does not predict athletics' success, the way the athletes experience their surroundings dramatically affects how they perform.

Conclusion

Most studies illustrate the increased amounts of symptoms relating to depression, suicide ideas and attempts, and substance abuse among transgender youth. Harassment experiences among the transgender individuals who are already predisposed to drug and substance use ensure that there is continuous drinking more than their counterparts and that there is a relationship present between college students and their counterparts and this is because of the psychological stress (De Mo...