Newsweek Cover Story on Gender! We Have Finally Made the Mainstream!

[melissa90299]

I just saw the cover story of this week's Newsweek, it's called "The Mystery of Gender"

"Rethinking Gender
A growing number of Americans are taking their private struggles with their identities into the public realm. How those who believe they were born with the wrong bodies are forcing us to re-examine what it means to be male and female"

Wow!

[togetherwecan]

Excellent!

I was just thinking today that WE collectively should write an article....

[melissa90299]

I am fighting back tears of joy as I read this,

Today's transgender Americans go far beyond the old stereotypes (think "Rocky Horror Picture Show"). They are soccer moms, ministers, teachers, politicians, even young children. Their push for tolerance and acceptance is reshaping businesses, sports, schools and families. It's also raising new questions about just what makes us male or female.

What is gender anyway? It is certainly more than the physical details of what's between our legs. History and science suggest that gender is more subtle and more complicated than anatomy. (It's separate from sexual orientation, too, which determines which sex we're attracted to.) Gender helps us organize the world into two boxes, his and hers, and gives us a way of quickly sizing up every person we see on the street. "Gender is a way of making the world secure," says feminist scholar Judith Butler, a rhetoric professor at University of California, Berkeley. Though some scholars like Butler consider gender largely a social construct, others increasingly see it as a complex interplay of biology, genes, hormones and culture...

This is huge, a cover story on Newsweek devoted to us! I am ecstatic. This, on a difficult day for me, Mother's Day.

[Suzie]

 

I was very disappointed with the article. 

The journalist very much implied (in the first sentence) the assertion there was a "growing number" of people coming out publicly who are transgendered.  However they presented no statistics to back that up.  Read the article, there is one mention of a Mara Kiesling who states there is a growing number of SRS, but she herself doesn't divulge any sort of empirical data to back that up.  I guess we are to take Newsweek's word for it, after all, they did mention the bible several times in the article, so they must be trustworthy 

Thinking only happy thoughts from now on, I promise

Suzie

[cindianna_jones]

Oh no!  The growing threat of transsexuals!  Is that the underlying message?

[Suzie]

Oh no!  The growing threat of transsexuals!  Is that the underlying message?

I noticed the tg photos were primarily Latinas, African-American and other minorities.  Aren't there any Euro-American transsexuals anymore?  I feel so rare and underrepresented 

Another underlying message?  who knows.  Not sure there is an underlying message beyond how do we sell the most magazines to the most people.

[melissa90299]

Oh no!  The growing threat of transsexuals!  Is that the underlying message?

I noticed the tg photos were primarily Latinas, African-American and other minorities.  Aren't there any Euro-American transsexuals anymore?  I feel so rare and underrepresented 

Another underlying message?  who knows.  Not sure there is an underlying message beyond how do we sell the most magazines to the most people.

The photos were from a Transgendered Job Fair in El Lay. I thought the main article was excellent, as well as the supporting pieces, especially the Q and A with the Prudential Executive. There was a piece on Alexis Arquette, who, to me, comes off as a gay male moreso than a TS, she even accepts that people look at her as a she-male. I would like to know what others think.

I was very disappointed with the article. 

The journalist very much implied (in the first sentence) the assertion there was a "growing number" of people coming out publicly who are transgendered.  However they presented no statistics to back that up.  Read the article, there is one mention of a Mara Kiesling who states there is a growing number of SRS, but she herself doesn't divulge any sort of empirical data to back that up.  I guess we are to take Newsweek's word for it, after all, they did mention the bible several times in the article, so they must be trustworthy 

Thinking only happy thoughts from now on, I promise

Suzie

Transsexual statistics do not exist because so many of us go stealth and just live as ordinary women.

[Suzie]

Transsexual statistics do not exist because so many of us go stealth and just live as ordinary women.

I'm apparently outclassed by the scholars in the room.  I stand corrected, the Newsweek article is a fine piece of journalism and extremely accurate.  I'll go away now and not disturb anyone in susans.org again.

[ellen b]

I am sending this to everyone I know.

Thank you!

[gothique11]

I read it online today, and it was interesting.

[Jillieann Rose]

It's seem to be a good report.
My wife sent it to me after she read the article.
Now I hope to be able to talk more about my gender issues with her.
Jillieann

[togetherwecan]

May I play devils advocate a sec??? This is for those who are dissappointed or angry about the article...

Was the article enough? No. Will it make up for every article that wasn't written? No. Will it make up for every article that was written negatively? No. Is it a start? Yes.

Come on...things take time...let this be the seed that grows.

If my child comes home with a report card and got a D, and the next report he raised that D to a C-....I reward him and encourage that growth. This is what we need to do with Newsweek. We thank them. We applaud their effort, not knock it down. Then we contact their copmpetitor and we tell them what a fine job Newsweek did but we think *they* could do better with the right info...and offer our help.

Be reasonable. I understand these are lifelong issues for each of you, but this was only one issue for Newsweek.

[cindianna_jones]

TWC!  THANK YOU!

There is no such thing as bad publicity!  Even when it sucks it usually will help us in the end.  I've read some of the articles and scanned one or two others.  I believe that they are very good and will ultimately be extremely beneficial in helping to educate people.

When my sis heard that her older brother was TS she was very angry with me.  But some woman at work consoled her and gave her some explanation for my "condition" which helped my sister understand.  Now what she was told was completely off the mark.  But it opened her mind to the possibility that this was not my choosing.  And from there, she has learned more.

So I say YAY!  Way to go!  Let's get US News and World Report to do an article on how beneficial it is to provide health care coverage to their employers!  You know.... TS people are very smart or something and that full medical coverage will help their bottom line.

Chin up... and all that.

Cindi

[TheBattler]

I looked on the news stand today and it has not made it here yet. I will need to look at the article online again. Oh Well - I found a nice Bike magarzine instead  .

Alice