When Should Transgender Identification Begin - Youth or...

Research on Transgender Identification in Youth or Adulthood The question at hand is whether or not it is more beneficial for a person with gender dysphoria to be able to express the gender for which they identify with at a young age, or later, in adulthood. In regards to sociology, symbolic interactionism is ideal for examining the way in which sociological theory relates to transgender issues. This is because symbolic interactionism is the study of how people relate to one another and their environment, but specifically how the relations between each other have an effect on their environment. Blumer’s conceptualization of symbolic interactionism, known as the situational approach is the one most often used in sex research (Longmore,†¦show more content†¦Hopefully, by gaining insight into these interactions, it will help inform whether or not it is beneficial for a child to be able to express their gender identity at a young age or whether it is more beneficial for them to wait until adulthood. A theory that would give insight into the research question in relation to psychology would be identity theory. Stryker and Burke (2006) have the most relevant ideas on identity theory that would inform the research question. In identity theory, it is used to show how people identify with being a particular type of person; how they take on social roles and belong to social groups (Burke, 2006). Stryker claimed that the greater number of people one is committed to being a certain type of person around the more they identify with being that type of person (Burke, 2006). This poses interesting insight into the research question of whether or not it is beneficial for a child to express their gender identity at a young age and be â€Å"out† with everyone they know, or for an adult to have to slowly bring their identity into existence among people individually and how this may have an effect on the person. Stryker alsoShow MoreRelated Gender Stereotyping Of Children Essay2820 Wo rds   |  12 Pagespopular than ever. â€Å"Is this for a boy or girl?† was added to the list of questions you were asked when ordering. This was one of the beginnings of a new form of marketing that specifically gendered toys and stereotyped interests for each gender (Faust N. Pag.). Advertisements and marketing are not the only influences in perpetuating gender stereotypes. There are numerous influences on the youth of America that aid in the stereotyping of personalities and interests for boys and girls. TodayRead MoreMental Health For Children And Adolescents2684 Words   |  11 Pagesthrough adulthood. According to WHO (2015), the adolescence period will begin after childhood and right before adulthood. This phase is a critical transition in the growth span along with infancy. In this process a child is developing rapidly from a child to adolescence with the onset of puberty (WHO, 2015). Depending on the period this biological determinant are universal although it often determined by the cultures and socioeconomic situation the child is in would determine the point to when an adolescenceRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesappropriate page within text. Copyright  © 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieva l system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material

Is Routine Circumcision of Infants Ethical Free Essays

History of Circumcision: Reviewing the history of circumcision and the many misguided reasons for its practice will help form an understanding of the multifaceted issues concerning routine infant circumcision. Some of the earliest evidence of male circumcision comes from Egypt around the year 3000 BC. However, researchers studying this practice do not understand or agree on its purpose. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Routine Circumcision of Infants Ethical? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some researches believe that circumcision was a form of branding for slaves while others thought it to be from the priestly class as a form of religious ritual. But when is more pertinent to this argument is that the early Greeks and Romans outlawed male circumcision believing it to be a barbaric form of mutilation of male genitalia. The first documented purpose for circumcision is in the Old Testament Scriptures (Gen 17:10) concerning the covenant between Abraham and God, representative of the relationship between Israel and Yahweh. According to the governing doctrinal resource for Catholics worldwide, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the explanation for Old Testament circumcision is in section 1150. 1150 – †¦Among these liturgical signs from the Old Covenant are circumcision, anointing and consecration of kings and priests, laying on of hands, sacrifices, and above all the Passover. The Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of the sacraments of the New Covenant. † The circumcision of Jesus in the New Testament explains that when Jesus came, as the fulfillment of prophecy that the new covenant manifested through th e innocent blood of Jesus replaces once and for all the old covenant through Father Abraham. There is no longer a need for animal sacrifices and the early Christian community determined that baptism was to be the new sign of the covenant. â€Å"527- Jesus’ circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, is the sign of his incorporation into Abraham’s descendants, into the people of the covenant. It is the sign of his submission to the Law and his deputation to Israel’s worship, in which he will participate throughout his life. This sign prefigures that â€Å"circumcision of Christ† which is Baptism. Routine infant circumcision in the United States became prevalent in the Victorian age (1840) and reached its height during the Cold War (1940) when technology, hospitals, and modern medicine sought to institutionalize the birthing process. Including more than 90% of boys, infant circumcisions became so routine that doctors performed the procedure without actually receiving consent from the parents. Parents not desiring the process for their sons wer e considered negligent. Given the history and the misguided reasons for practicing routine circumcision, â€Å"Why would a parent authorize, a doctor perform, or an insurance company pay for, the routine circumcision of infants? † A. Health Reasons- certainly it would be ethical to surgically remove the penis foreskin of a male infant if in some way it presented a health risk; there is no real argument here. B. Tradition-for generations, infants have undergone various procedures under the reasoning of â€Å"tradition. From binding feet in Japan (which has been banned) to piercing ears, and stretching necks, tradition plays a large part in the decision for circumcision. Many men, who like their own fathers were circumcised as infants, think that their child in turn might as well be circumcised too. However, is there any real thinking going on here at all? I argue that just because everyone else jumps off a bridge, is that any reason for you to jump off as well. Religious Beliefs- I would have to say yes, it is ethical to have a child circumcised if you are following a true religious belief. The parent who has legal authority over their child may choose (and in fact is morally obligated to choose) to do what they believe is in the best interest of the child. Therefore, for the Jews who believe that the outward sign of circumcision establishes their child in a covenantal relationship with God; they are well within their ethical right and responsibility to have their sons circumcised. Freedom of religion is one of the building blocks of our free nation. Circumcision mentality: Today thanks in part to our mass media; modern society is ruled by prevailing mentalities. These pervasive mindsets allure us to what appears to be the benefits of circumcision, while completely obscuring any possible negative ramifications. The mentality is permeated into societal norms, which are almost impossible to resist, and are most difficult to correct. An accepted societal mentality is further driven by force of habit. Among other things, we live in a society that assumes that a male infant in the United States is routinely circumcised. Seldom are discussions of the pros and cons of the procedure brought to the attention of the parent, unless the parent specifically requests it. Even then, the doctor may say, â€Å"It is not medically necessary but if the boys father has been circumcised, then you should probably have your son circumcised as well†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦or â€Å"you wouldn’t want him to look different than his friends when he becomes a high school student in the locker room. † Medical Ethics: When looking into medical ethics, the Oath of Hippocrates standard for medical professionals since 400 BCE shed some additional light onto the situation. From the Oath: â€Å"I do solemnly swear by whatever I hold most sacred, that I will be loyal to the profession of medicine†¦that I will exercise my art, solely for the cure of my patients and the prevention of disease†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Therefore, considering the Hippocrates oath, a routine circumcision of an infant male does not fall into the category of â€Å"†¦curing a patient, and the preventing of disease†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Why then would doctors perform such an unnecessary procedure Catholic Theological Ethics: As a student of Theology, from a Roman Catholic perspective I have yet to hear a discussion concerning the morality of circumcision. However after researching the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) under the subtitle â€Å"Mutilation of body parts† section 2297 reads, â€Å"Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law. † VI. Personal Ethics: Each parent possesses the God given right to make certain decisions on behalf of their young children who cannot make these decisions themselves. A good example is immunizations; no infant has the capability to make this decision, so the parent, in the child’s best interest makes the decision to have the child immunized. I am a mother of four sons, born in the years 1983, 1985, 1991 and 1992. Although the father of the boys was circumcised however, none of our boys is circumcised. To this day, none of them has ever had trouble of any kind, nor has it been an issue in the locker room. The decision to leave the boys as they were born, uncircumcised, was based on the fact that it was not a medical necessity, that anesthetic was not used (they had just been traumatized in birth), and that there was a possibility of complications from the procedure. Parents need to take a more proactive stance in researching the pros and cons of the procedure, and should spend at least as much time and energy on this decision as they do in picking out a new car! VII. Objective – If the objective of the National Organization of Circumcision of Infants Resource Center is to reduce the number of routine circumcisions performed, I believe that to pursue this objective through legal channels alone would be fruitless. Big government has more than enough authority in dictating to families what they can and cannot do for their children. Your best bet would be to lobby the insurance companies. Perhaps you could demand coverage for an elective surgical procedure such as having your breasts enlarged and when they tell you no that it is just a cosmetic or optional procedure, sue them for discriminatory practices. The last thing an insurance company wants is a class action lawsuit. It would be simple for them to simply take routine infant circumcisions off their list of covered procedures. In addition, a non-covered expense for an unnecessary procedure may prompt parents to give this issue closer consideration. D. Moral Law: Next, one must consider which law is the governing authority in your life. The Moral Law operates under a set of religious beliefs. Found within the moral law are the Jewish Law, and the Christian Law (for the sake of brevity we will not mention other religious groups here). The Jewish Law of Circumcision establishes a covenant between God and Abraham (Gen 17:10), representative of Yahweh and Israel. The Christian Law comes into effect with the birth of Jesus. Jesus becomes the new sign of the covenant, with the Baptism of infants as the effective cause. Concerning Civil Law under which all persons are bound; it has little criteria for establishing ethical arguments. One may ask questions of the law: if allowing an un-anaesthetized circumcision is lawful, and what recourse would a child have if the procedure causes permanent damage to the male organ but these are considered civil, not ethical. Additionally, why would an insurance company pay for such an unnecessary procedure (when so many don’t pay for many true necessities)? Perhaps it should be regarded as â€Å"elective surgery† and therefore it would be a charge paid for entirely by the parent requesting the procedure, not as an â€Å"ordinary and customary† procedure paid for by the insurance companies. However, the Hebrew people alone practiced the circumcision of infants on the 8th day after birth. The child’s father, using a flint knife, preformed circumcision How to cite Is Routine Circumcision of Infants Ethical?, Papers

Batman The Great American Superhero Essay Example For Students

Batman The Great American Superhero Essay The concept of superhero has permeated American culture for more than a century. Graphic novels depicting heroes like Superman, Green Lantern, and The Flash grab the imagination, tapping into both the reader’s deep seated longing for the ideal and his fantasies of titanic power. The exception to the god-in-tights trope that otherwise defines the genre is The Batman. Unlike his iconic foil, Superman, Batman fights to the best of his ability without powers. Ironically, it’s this that makes him more powerful as a character. Readers of Batman comics, consciously or not, put themselves in the shoes of Batman. If Batman can do all this, the reader thinks, maybe I can conquer my problems too. Batman has become a potent pop-culture icon of self-actualization and ambition in the face of adversity, and the stories depicting him are a direct parable for the conflict against one’s own inner darkness. Batman’s saga begins with a smoking gun and a promise. Up until that fateful night, he was merely the young son of a wealthy family in the crime-ridden Gotham City. He was on his way home from a night at the cinema when mugger violently killed his parents. Young Bruce Wayne, orphan, channeled all the pain and hate he felt on that night into a promise to himself that was as simple as it was naive: to end crime in Gotham. As he sat alone in the rainy alleyway by the corpses of his parents and listened to wail of GCPD police sirens, he took the first steps of his journey of self-actualization that would last him his entire life. And so he grew into something greater. The story of his growth is rare within the superhero genre. Superman was born with extraordinary abilities, and the Green Lantern was given a magic alien ring. The Martian Manhunter is, well, a martian. Batman, on the other hand, studied and trained and traveled the world for his abilities. He learned from the masters of the martial arts, criminology, and detective work. For twelve years he paid sweat and blood for every inch of progress he made towards optimizing his being. The fact that Batman worked so hard to become himself is rare in the genre, and is a breath of fresh air from the zero-to-heroes one reads about in other superhero graphic novels. Frank Miller told the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman in â€Å"Batman: Year One. He had just returned home to Wayne Manor and didn’t yet know where to begin in the undertaking of his epic quest. â€Å"I’m not ready I have the means, the skill but not the method,† he mused. â€Å" No. That’s not true. I have hundreds of methods. But something’s missing. Something isn’t right. I have to wait. † Unfortunately, he was unwilling to restrain himself from carrying out what he promised he’d do more than a decade ago for long, and within a week Bruce Wayne, disguised by a fake scar on his face, walks out into the shady streets of Gotham for the first time as a vigilante. In the East End of town, Bruce is propositioned by a prostitute of no more than thirteen years. When he refuses, her hulking, angry pimp provokes him into a fight. Though Bruce would have won handily one-on-one, the fight is prolonged when a band of prostitutes complicate things. The police arrive, handcuff Bruce, and detain him in their squad car. Unwilling to let his one man crusade end before it begins, a lightheaded and bleeding Bruce Wayne breaks the handcuffs and causes the police car to swerve into a nearby building. He drags the police officers to a safe distance before he flees to Wayne Manor. The trope of the Hero’s unfamiliarity with a new situation is common, even ubiquitous, within works of fiction. In Campbell’s Monomyth model of story structure, this phase is called the Belly of the Whale. This is the twilight stage between the protagonist’s decision to undertake his quest and his inevitable emergence as a newer, stronger character. Bruce Wayne’s emergence occurred as he sat alone in Wayne Manor looking out into the night. The previous night’s incident had illuminated the quality that he knew was missing: intimidation. When he fights criminals as a man, he does so on their level. They have nothing to fear from another human. No, he knew that they needed a symbol, a legend that would strike terror into the hearts of those who would hurt the innocent. In order to fight something as pervasive as crime, he would need to do it in a way that transcends humanity. Suddenly, a bat crashes through his window, and he remembers an incident from before his parents’ death. He had been chasing a rabbit through the estate as a young boy when he tripped and fell into the subterranean depths beneath his house that would later become the batcave. Bats scurry away from the mysterious interloper of their domain. All that remains within the cave is Bruce and a solitary bat, who flies to attack the intruder: â€Å"Then something shuffles out of sight something sucks the stale air and hisses. Gliding with ancient grace. Eyes gleaming untouched by love or joy or sorrow. Breath hot with the taste of fallen foes, the stench of dead things, damned things. The Canterbury Tales: A View Of The Medieval Christian Church EssayFurthermore, the Batman would only â€Å"turn off the light† halfway, because the Joker refused to believe that the world had a place for him. The Batman and The Joker were simply two men linked by identities molded from loss and suffering. Batman’s belief that order and justice can be brought to the world grounded him and kept him sane. The Joker, without any such ideals, turned to violence and madness. The Joker represents what Batman could become if he lost hope for tomorrow, and their conflict is not only the struggle between two men linked by tragedy, but an unending battle between hope and despair. Even more prevalent than the theme of internal self-actualization is the theme of humanity transcending itself to do the impossible. The cast of fantastical characters with extravagant super powers in the DC Comics universe banded together to form the Justice League of America in 1960. The team sported one Jacob amongst the throng of Goliaths: The Batman. Not only was he the only member of the JLA without any powers, he’s one of the two iconic leaders of the group. In the biblical book of Genesis, Isaac bears two sons, Esau and Jacob. Like Superman, the elder brother Esau was brave and strong, a fierce hunter, the classic alpha-male; like Batman, the younger brother Jacob was weak and soft-spoken by comparison, but very quick-witted. God prophesied that each son would represent a nation, one more powerful than the other. Isaac’s blessing originally belonged to Esau. However, Jacob’s intelligent forethought and planning secures the blessing from his elder brother’s fingertips, despite Esau’s apparent might and superiority. The contrast between Batman and Superman is clear and obvious. The Esau to Batman’s Jacob, Superman also exists to be a symbol: A symbol of safety and protection. Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! It’s a bird, it’s a plane! No, it’s Superman! The citizens of the utopian Metropolis have nothing to fear from crime, because they lie safely under Superman’s jurisdiction. It’s not unreasonable to compare the semi-omnipotent and omnipresent Superman to a god. The concept of Batman vs. Superman has existed since their characters first interacted within the JLA. In Frank Miller’s magnum opus, The Dark Knight Returns, an elderly Batman defeats Superman through careful foreplanning. It just so happens that a movie inspired by The Dark Knight Returns is slated to premiere in the summer of 2015. The fact that such an idea is even explored illustrates just how much Batman is respected as an icon of the human spirit, and triumph over immense obstacles. With enough planning and thought, Batman can stand up to, and even defeat, the god in blue. Coincidentally, Jacob later goes on to be given the name Israel, or â€Å"He who struggles with God. † Bibliography: 1. Miller, Frank. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2002. Print. 1. Cates, Isaac. On The Literary Use Of Superheroes; Or, Batman And Superman Fistfight In Heaven. American Literature 83.4 (2011): 831-857. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. 2. Guerro, Tony. Off My Mind: Are Batmans Villains Reflections of his Personality?. Comic Vine. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.   3. .Heroes of History. ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.. 4. Miller, Frank. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2002. Print. 2. Miller, Frank; Mazzucchelli, David. Batman: Year One. 1986-87. New York: DC Comics, 2005. 3. Moore, Alan, Brian Bolland, and Richard Starkings. Batman: The Killing Joke. New York: DC Comics, 2008. Print. 4. The New Jerusalem Bible. Ed. Susan Jones. New York: Doubleday, 1985.