Transgender as a gender is currently a worldwide topical issue. There are raging debates between those who are pro-transgender, fighting for the rights of the transgender people and those who are anti-transgender; fighting for traditional culture conservation; arguing that only the traditional male and female categories of gender must be observed. Include to the debates, the conflict between the South African Constitution and on the other hand, Christianity and the traditional cultural customs and values, then the debates become intense. The heterosexuals; being in the majority; tend to muzzle the voices of the minority transgender. This has bred insurmountable challenges for the transgender community. This paper illuminates the challenges encountered by transgender learners in South African schools as found by a recent study. Guided by the otherness theory; applying a qualitative research design and using questionnaires, observations and interviews to gather data from the purposively sampled students and staff, the study found that transgender learners were abused, discriminated against and stereotyped. The study also made some worrisome finding: that the transgender learners feared for their lives. These findings underline the importance of shifting from traditional approaches which define gender as a social construct, and pursuing perspectives that view gender as a biological construct.
Published in | Social Sciences (Volume 12, Issue 5) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14 |
Page(s) | 253-259 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Gender, Othering, Otherness, Sexual Orientation, Transgender, Transgender Challenges
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APA Style
Madambi Sanction. (2023). Gender Versus Transgender: Transgender Communities at the Crosshairs. Social Sciences, 12(5), 253-259. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14
ACS Style
Madambi Sanction. Gender Versus Transgender: Transgender Communities at the Crosshairs. Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(5), 253-259. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14
AMA Style
Madambi Sanction. Gender Versus Transgender: Transgender Communities at the Crosshairs. Soc Sci. 2023;12(5):253-259. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14
@article{10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14, author = {Madambi Sanction}, title = {Gender Versus Transgender: Transgender Communities at the Crosshairs}, journal = {Social Sciences}, volume = {12}, number = {5}, pages = {253-259}, doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20231205.14}, abstract = {Transgender as a gender is currently a worldwide topical issue. There are raging debates between those who are pro-transgender, fighting for the rights of the transgender people and those who are anti-transgender; fighting for traditional culture conservation; arguing that only the traditional male and female categories of gender must be observed. Include to the debates, the conflict between the South African Constitution and on the other hand, Christianity and the traditional cultural customs and values, then the debates become intense. The heterosexuals; being in the majority; tend to muzzle the voices of the minority transgender. This has bred insurmountable challenges for the transgender community. This paper illuminates the challenges encountered by transgender learners in South African schools as found by a recent study. Guided by the otherness theory; applying a qualitative research design and using questionnaires, observations and interviews to gather data from the purposively sampled students and staff, the study found that transgender learners were abused, discriminated against and stereotyped. The study also made some worrisome finding: that the transgender learners feared for their lives. These findings underline the importance of shifting from traditional approaches which define gender as a social construct, and pursuing perspectives that view gender as a biological construct. }, year = {2023} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Gender Versus Transgender: Transgender Communities at the Crosshairs AU - Madambi Sanction Y1 - 2023/10/31 PY - 2023 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14 DO - 10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14 T2 - Social Sciences JF - Social Sciences JO - Social Sciences SP - 253 EP - 259 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2326-988X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231205.14 AB - Transgender as a gender is currently a worldwide topical issue. There are raging debates between those who are pro-transgender, fighting for the rights of the transgender people and those who are anti-transgender; fighting for traditional culture conservation; arguing that only the traditional male and female categories of gender must be observed. Include to the debates, the conflict between the South African Constitution and on the other hand, Christianity and the traditional cultural customs and values, then the debates become intense. The heterosexuals; being in the majority; tend to muzzle the voices of the minority transgender. This has bred insurmountable challenges for the transgender community. This paper illuminates the challenges encountered by transgender learners in South African schools as found by a recent study. Guided by the otherness theory; applying a qualitative research design and using questionnaires, observations and interviews to gather data from the purposively sampled students and staff, the study found that transgender learners were abused, discriminated against and stereotyped. The study also made some worrisome finding: that the transgender learners feared for their lives. These findings underline the importance of shifting from traditional approaches which define gender as a social construct, and pursuing perspectives that view gender as a biological construct. VL - 12 IS - 5 ER -