All about Gender Identity

When we are born our gender is determined by our DNA. But for some, gender identity is skewed either by personal feelings or physical alterations at a young age. Some don't realize they have this issue until they are adults, while others deal with it their entire lives. This idea raises many questions. If a baby is genetically determined to be a boy does that really make him a boy? Does the way we raise children affect how they identify with their own gender later? These are just two of the many questions asked by transgenders today.

Gender identity is basically when a girl, who is genetically a female, has decided she is not a female and feels the need to be a male instead. Why she feels this way may remain unknown to her or to anyone else in her life. The same goes for boys who don't feel they are supposed to be boys. Some people struggle with this idea until they are older and then some of them undergo transgender surgery to "correct" the gender problem they face. Others opt purely for hormone therapy to create small changes in their outward appearance. Some parents indulge in their child's identity issue while others choose to ignore it; the problem can, and sometimes does, get worse.

After Identity: Rethinking Race, Sex, and Gender (Conte
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NEW Youth with Gender Issues: Seeking an Identity - ...
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All about Gender Identity While most people are born unmistakably as a girl or boy, there are instances when larger or smaller than usual genitalia raises a question of gender identity. The occurrence is rare and even more rare is the process used to "correct" the problem. This process includes small procedures and hormones to create the appearance of a female in a male and vice versa. These people have grown up as part of the transgender groups that exist today, usually with extreme identity issues, among other things, due to the fact that they had no control over what was done to them at an early age.

Support groups for transgenders are available to help this particular group of people discover the identity they feel they truly are. Support is needed for all whether they became transgendered due to physical alterations early in life or they have just never felt comfortable in their own skin. Gender identity issues are so much at the forefront of society today that some doctors boldly claim to be able to determine the presence of this issue in children as early as four years old. The recommendation is usually hormone therapy at the onset of puberty. Later, during adulthood, these same children may pursue transgender surgery.

The Sweet In Between: A Novel
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Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Review (rating: 5):
In Virginia seventeen year old Kendra "Kenny" Lugo fears the near future. Her mom died years ago of cancer and her dad is serving time. She lives with her dad's girlfriend "Aunt" Glo who has two kids of her own (tweener Quincy and teen Tim-Tim) and her seven years old granddaughter Daphne, dumped on her by her oldest child. Glo survives her responsibilities thanks in part to prescription pain killers.

Kenny fears Glo will kick her out of her home once she becomes an adult, which is soon. The teen also struggles with identity issues especially hiding her feminine body. When their alcoholic neighbor Jarvis Stanley accidentally kills a college girl, Kenny obsesses over the deceased as her morbidity makes her believe Glo will kick her to the curb soon. Her plan is to soon become responsible and dependable; Glo will beg her to stay.

Told by the frightened Kenny, THE SWEET IN BETWEEN is a fascinating family drama starring a frightened teen filled with anger, remorse and fear. The rest of Glo's extended family is fully developed characters who enhance the at times subtle and other moments in your face story line. However, this is Kenny' tale as she sadly expects the worse but hopes for the best, which in this case is not being kicked out of the only shelter, albeit a relatively poor one, she knows at a time she wonders why she feels different from girls her age.

Harriet Klausner

Middlesex: A Novel
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Review (rating: 1):
In case people think the comparison is meant as a compliment, it's not. This book had the same annoying way of coming up with coincidences that put people in the middle of "supposedly" historical occurrences. Just as I couldn't finish watching the movie, I couldn't finish reading this book. The characters and events were bland, and the magical realism didn't work.

I couldn't understand why this book is so popular until I started reading the reviews and found out that it's an Oprah's Book Club selection. The copy I have doesn't have her logo. The logo is for me is an automatic indication that a book is going to be cheesy and poorly written.

If you want to read excellent Greek tragedies about an incestuous relationship and its result, I suggest reading "Oedipus" and "Antigone" by Sophocles.

Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge Classics)
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Review (rating: 3):
Of course Butler's books on gender are breathtaking classics and receive 5 stars from me in their print editions. I assign them all the time in my Gender Studies class. But this Kindle edition is messy. This is the problem I keep finding with the Kindle editions. It's insulting of Amazon to assume that Kindle readers don't care about clean editing and formatting. As a PhD student in Literature I am looking for a better tool for amassing my huge reading list. Students in every field would be ecstatic with a Kindle that actually served our needs. I also think Kindle is underestimating the common reader who also appreciates careful editting and presentation. We need to know more information about the Kindle editions--i.e. who edits and Introduces the volumes and whether they are exact replicas of their print editions. We also need to be able to cite actual page numbers from known editions for quotes, essays, papers and dissertations. I hope Kindle fixes this in the next generation. At the moment I'm making due with the messiness because of the convenience of carrying 300 volumes in one light device. But I'd be out shouting Kindle's praises in the streets (and to the classrooms full of college undergrads I teach) if Kindle would just pay attention to these few details. The search tool can be so helpful as to be heavenly. The dictionary tool should be expanded to include philosophical and theoretical terms also! Come on Kindle!