SOC 475 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Transgender Sexuality, Queer Theory, Gender Binary
Document Summary
Week 6 readings (trans theory, queer, weeks, rich: nagoshi and stephan (transgender theory: embodying research and practice) Transgender do not conform to traditional gender identity binaries. Although previous essentialist approaches viewed social identities as fixed within a person, feminist and queer theories locate social identities in the conflict between social and self-determinists. These approaches are incomplete for social work practice. If someone"s social identity is understood as being fixed/essential it can validate and justify sex, racial, class, and other differences as being natural which can ultimately reify multiple systems of oppression. At the same time, questioning and destabilizing all social identities disintegrates the individual"s sense of self within a socially oppressed group, even though such an identity can be the basis for empowerment and empowerment to oppose social oppression. Transgender theory is a step towards a complete and inclusive understanding of gender and sexual identity.
