#institutionalexample

Post 6: Institutional Example 

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/05/13/academy-award-winning-director-kathryn-bigelow-sounds-off-against-hollywood-gender-discrimination/

Everyday there are women who are fighting in the gender oppressed workplace to have their voice be heard and their work be known. An example of an institution that shows these ideals of discrimination with female leadership is Hollywood. The entertainment industry is very well know for being a man’s world and being a women in that industry trying to succeed can be very difficult. Take a look at Kathryn Biegelow, american director, producer, and writer. Bigelow was the first woman to win the Academy Award, BAFTA, and Critics Choice Movie Award for best directing. The Academy Awards has been around for 86 years and Biegelow didn’t win her Oscar until 2008; that was only 8 years ago. She has been active in the entertainment business since the early 80’s but didn’t start to get wide recognition until her movie The Hurt Locker came out, and even then the public mainly associated her with being married to famous movie director, James Cameron; director of Titanic and Avatar. As stated in an interview, she says “Real change is needed to address this entrenched and long-running problem of discrimination against women directors. External investigations and oversight by government entities tasked with enforcing civil rights laws is necessary to effectuate this change.”

Another institution that demonstrates this discrimination is Corporate America. The big businesses are continuously discriminating against women to expand to leadership roles that the percentages are barely anything at all. “Last year, female executives around the world landed a measly 3% of the new CEO positions that opened even though the chief executive turnover rate was nearly 17%, according to a PwC analysis. At companies in the U.S. and Canada, things were even worse: Women made up fewer than 1% of the new CEOs brought on last year (White).  

For the article on CEO percentage, click on the link below: 

There are two main forms of institutionalization I have come across so far in researching for my project. The main one I have also read about and seen in the news and other forms of media. There are some states that do refuse to pass legislation that protects the rights of transgender individuals and allows them to be fired for their gender identity. Since the government itself refuses to pass legislation it sends the message that they are viewed as less important and can become the target of discrimination at work since there are no repercussions to their actions. Everyone should be concerned about this because it says that the government is allowed to determine some people as being less valuable than others. The people behind these laws should also be worried because the Supreme Court has ruled that transgender are protected under the law nationwide and hence they can, and should, face fairly substantial punishments.

 Another place I have seen this discrimination is in teaching positions, though the cause of it differs between the actual school and parents. This discrimination happens in all levels of schooling, from elementary school to college. Some parents think the teachers gender shouldn’t be a distraction while others identity trans individuals as sex offenders. Sometimes the school also decides to remove a teacher from their position after they return, presenting as a different gender than before. The problem with this is it sends a message to kids that trans individuals are wrong and without having any experience or knowledge about them can cause kids be confused later on in life with gender binary non-conforming persons.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/the-k-12-binary/398060/

Discussion of an Intuitional Example

Post 6: Discussion of Power Structures

        Like most things, conversion therapy is something that was socially constructed. The idea of why there is the feeling that it needs to exist was not something we all had in us from birth but rather something that society and the structures of power have influenced. Some of the key power structures that somehow influence or play a role in conversion therapy are religious communities, medical field, education systems, and the media.

           Conversion therapy and treatments alike are known to have a large religious backing due to beliefs about homosexuality or any sexual variance that is different from heterosexuality. Due to changes in laws and policies that restrict certain people such as doctors and psychologists form partaking in certain types of treatments, people with religious affiliations have taken on some of these roles as administers of these treatments. Religion is known to be one of the hardest systems to regulate due to everybody having the freedom to practice religion in their own way according to their own or shared beliefs. This is why we often see these treatments happening form within a religious setting. People often use religion to justify conversion therapy because of how they interpret what the beliefs are regarding sexuality. It is somewhat taboo to for others to question people on how they practice their beliefs which can lead to why religion remains a power structure.

           The medical field is one of the biggest power structures involved for reasons mentioned in previous posts such as the imbalance of power between medical professionals such as people within the psychology field as well as doctors and the people they see as patients. Before the movements to get rid of conversion therapy started medical professionals had the power to carry out this therapy. Unfortunately I have found that certain medical institutions such as ones that are religiously founded and funded can still somehow find loopholes to giving these treatments to people. Although there are laws being passed to regulate and hopefully eventually rid society of conversion therapy as whole we cannot be in every doctor’s office to know who still provides these treatments.

Discussion of power structures

    One of the power structures that relate to the topic of sex education and the discrimination of LGBT is public education. Although public education is meant to teach the students important information they have set policies that create an environment within the schools that is primarily heterosexual. They do not try to include information in regards to gender identity that could benefit the students, especially those who identify as LGBT. The information in public schools is limited to some extent.

    Another power structure relating to the topic is the employers of places. Sometimes some employers are heterosexual and have just learned that there is a gender binary often times choose to hire people who also identify as heterosexual. They might have a close mind set or homophobia and might not want people who identify as LGBT working for them. They might reject these employees because of their gender identity more than based on if they have the required qualifications for the job.

This picture is symbolic of power structures that transgendered people of color face.

6th post—Discussion of power structures

People and power structures that have access to power in relation to the dissemination of and art by transgendered people of color would be public education, higher education, and the overall power structure of whiteness that exceeds these structures.

Moreover, public education is probably more problematic for its representations of diversity in art as I would guess art by sexual minorities isn’t in any curriculum. Higher education has power in disseminating art by sexual minorities as well, but is becoming more and more inclusive as the trans identity becomes more legitimized. To be more specific, most, if not all colleges have LGBTQ studies, which include art history classes. I’m guessing queer art history still outnumbers trans art history, though, another power structure that trans people may have to deal with.

POWER STRUCTURES

      There are several power structures that influence the perpetuation of violence against transgender women specifically within intersecting identities of class race and gender. One power structure that is at the forefront of the violence that is perpetuated against poor trans women of color would be law enforcement. While Law enforcement is currently facing more and more scrutiny in the face of racism, the face of that racism is most often a man. When in reality it is women of color who are increasingly becoming the largest growing group of prisoners. This in correlation with the violence that transgender individuals can regularly face from police, culminates to increase the likelihood of violence perpetrated against low-income transgender women of color by police.

     This is just one example of an all too common phenomenon “Jalea Lamot, a Latina woman sexually harassed by officers responding to a call for emergency medical assistance, who, along with her family, was beaten and pepper-sprayed once the officers realized she is transsexual.” This is a story representing the ways in which a Latina transgender woman faces sexual harassment and violence from officers who are suppose to be responding to a medical emergency, and helping her and her family. However under the guise of protection and with inflated senses of identity and power illuminated by societal norms and expectations, the officers became the perpetrators of violence. This inability for transgneder women of color to trust police force or state intervention implies a cycle of violence. If they face violence in public or private spheres they do not have access to the same type of care that other more privileged people may have access to from the police. Involving police, such as in Jalea Lamot’s case may just increase the amount of violence perpetrated against them. However if they do not have the means to call the police to attempt the react to and eliminate violence in their lives, without such resources, what options do they have to attempt to protect themselves for the initial violence most likely perpetrated in the name of a white supremacist classist transphobic society?     

1. Dean Hamer-Geneticist; He applies biology and genetics into account for sexual behavior. He believes there is some sort of genetic influence for homosexuality. From his studies, he found that there were more gay relatives on the mother’s side, and with this he concluded that homosexuality seemed to be passed on by the mother. Hamer is an American white man who has a lot of privilege considering his race and power structure. His “founding” was put up right away on the newspaper without there actually being an answer to the gay gene theories. 

2. Simon LeVay- Neuroscientist; He is applicable to the topic of gay gene because he is the director of the Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education in California. From his research, he has found that “...the interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus...” was smaller in homosexuals than in heterosexual men. However, although he believes that human sexual behavior can be accounted biologically, there is no assurance that the differences between the brains of heterosexual and homosexual men resulted in their preference. Taken into account that LeVay is English-American, he has white privilege, and that makes it more accessible for him to be able to publish his theories or ideas. This institution is implicated because he is a scientist which gives him higher access to power. For the most part, we should be scared because anything he says can be taken into account.

Both of these powerful “structures” have their limitations, however. Both have yet to find the proof needed in order to validate their  claims. Also, information on “gay genes” could’ve waited until more of the “holes” could’ve been filled up. “...supposes that a gene represents an irreducible and immutable unit of the human self...” represents Dean Hamer’s “findings” for a gay gene.