Intersex

When I was little, I used to watch this Taiwanese drama with my mother. It was a drama that composed episodes of short, real-life stories. I remember one of the episodes was about this little girl who was treated horribly by her parents due to their discovery of her intersex conditions (her ambiguous genitalia and etc.) She was called "monster" by her own family and the people from her village. She eventually left the village and moved into a temple and live a life of a nun. Many of the female Buddhists trusted her a lot because she was a nun (at least she appeared to be one). However, no one knows that she was actually a lesbian (I don't exactly know or remember how her sexual orientation was defined in the drama); therefore, the female Buddhists were willing to spend a night at the temple after a long day of worshipping. Then, the nun would used this opportunity to rape these female Buddhists. The drama ended with the conclusion that all intersex people are homosexuals and they are all suffering from serious mental illness. At that time I didn't think much about such conclusion and "accusations" about intersex people, but after this week's (week 8) lessons, I realized such statements are very harmful, unfair, and are just simply wrong.

In the reading "ISNA Materials," intersex is defined as "a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male." In other words, intersex people are the ones with "ambiguous genitalia" that makes it difficult for the doctors to assign a gender right after birth. However, it is also explained in the reading that surgeries are required to make the genitals look "more normal" (to look either like a female's genital or a male's genital). In the drama, the main intersex character was not given any surgical treatment to help her (him) with the ambiguous genitalia. Therefore, the main character should not have the ability to perform sexual intercourse using her (his) male genital as described in the drama. This would be another example (after countless examples) of media giving out misleading information to its audiences. People were being informed by this drama that intersex people are monsters and they are born with the ability to have sex both as a woman or a man, and even more ridiculous they can/will use this ability to rape both men and women. I am very shock to find myself living with such a misleading concept up until today.
I agree with many of the ideas from the Patient-Centered Model recommended by ISNA. I think it is essential to let the child choose for her or himself at a mature age whether she or he would prefer to have the surgical treatment to make the genital look more like one of a female or one of a male. It is the child's life; therefore it is totally reasonable to let the child make such decision. Furthermore, letting the child make the decision can avoid future conflicts, both internal or external. For example, if the parents of the intersex child made the decision to make the child completely a "girl," then what happens when what the child really wants is to be a boy? The child might not feel normal about him or herself, worse, what if other people around the child started to call her (him) a lesbian because she likes girls? Therefore, I think it is important that parents give the intersex child as much care as possible without further intervening with how the child should feel (whether more like a boy or more like a girl).

picture siting: blog by Desiree and Lars

I JUST WANNA HELP

After reading the assigned readings for week 7, I feel like I have changed my attitued towards disabled people. I think I will be more hesitated to help a disabled person when I encounter one. In the reading it states that disabled people are often perceived as in need of help or assistance, and they do not like that (OF COURSE NOT...). I do not even remember when it started, or who taught me such thing, but I always think disabled people are in need of help and that they are not capable of helping themselves. But what was said in the reading makes me feel like that is no longer a correct thing to do, because this offer of help might be perceived as looking down on the disabled people. However, something really struck my attention. One of the reading explains that if the disabled people (such as the blind and the deaf) are doing things normally like the abled people do, such as shopping, reading, watching TV, and etc, then why should they be considered and be labeled with the word "disabled?" Putting myself into their shoes, if I were a deaf person and I were just as capable at completing tasks as all the other people, I am sure I will be disliking the label "disabled" and will be thinking that I do not deserve to be called as such.
This is related to the idea of Social Model of Disability. The Social Model of Disability is "a way of thinking that understand disability as a function of the interaction between an individual and society." In other words, disability is not really definied by the physical conditions of an individual, but how "others" in the society perceive such physical conditions. As mentioned earlier, if a deaf person is capable of doing everything just like all the others, then why should this person be consiered as disabled? On the medias such as NEWS and some TV shows, the acivities of a group of disabled people that are being broadcasted are always titled "The something something of the disabled people" and their physical inadequate conditions are usually pointed out by the reporters. An example would be a group of people on wheelchairs in Taiwan performing the square dance. Their dance was almost the same as the dance performed by the abled people, however, their performance was not title "The Square Dance Show" or something, instead it was titled "The Wheelchair Activity ---Square Dance." I think this is really pointless and unfair to not only the people on the wheelchairs, but all the other "disabled" people with different physical conditions.

here is a title of a wheelchair dance performance video: Youtube- Wheelchair Dance Sport

sites:
AOF: page 359-362

Class and Education

I think class and education is always an interesting topic to discuss about. I remember reading this one article a while ago, the topic of it is "From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work," and it is written by Jean Anyon. This article clearly stated the four different types of school, which are the working-class schools, middle-class school, affluent professional school, and the executive elite school.
According to Anyon, students from working-class schools are "allowed to do nothing but to follow the instructions given by the teachers," which means there is literally no thinking or decision-making involved in their learnings. In other words, "work is following the steps of a procedure." Anyon demonstrated the situation by giving an example from a math class. Anyon stated that math learning for the students from working-class schools is simply just following unexplained fragmented procedures, and students are taught that there is no alternative way to solve the math problems, one of the teachers from the working-class school even said to her student "Do it this way or it's wrong." In the middle-class school, "work is getting the right answer." Some choice or decision-making are involved. Furthermore, the students also get the opportunity to practice what they have learned, and the teachers will talk about the topics/concepts learned in class with the students, but will not take the opinions of the students seriously. The third type of school is the affluent professional school. In affluent professional school, "work is creative activity carried out independently." Anyon explained that students from this type of school are often asked to "express and apply ideas concepts." Last but not least, is the executive elite school. For the students in executive elite school, learning is not about finding the right answer, but about learning the concepts, said Anyon. Students are motivated to learn more internally compared to the students from working-class or middle-class schools. Moreover, the students from executive elite school are also taught to learn through reasoning, and they are expected to come up with their own methods for problem solving.
The way of how the students in the working-class schools are being treated kind of reveals a sense of discrimination to me. The teachers show little or no respect to the students (the way they talk to the students, for example), and the reason seems to me is due to the social-class background of the students. I think this is really unfair, I can understand the differences in education style (I mean if the students can afford to buy materials or things needed for school, then the school has to come up with an alternative plan to assist the students, such as limiting the amount of materials provided and have the students share them), but I still believe the way students are treated should be equal. For example, it is okay not to give every student a textbook if it is not affordable, but at least every student's opinions should be taken seriously by the teachers, and positive feedback should be given to the students. I really dislike how the working-class schools are teaching students. The type of education I'd received when I was in Taiwan was exactly working-class school style. I think it will bring negative contribution to children's mental development, for example, students will not get the chance to practive their creative and free thinkings. On the other hand, I think the education of the executive elite schools really gives the children the adventage to success in the future, it also makes them higher or "better" than the kids from other schools such as working-class schools. They get to practice many things such as leadershups that other students don't. I believe it would be too late for the children from either working-class or middle-class schools to fight for their equality when they grow up, because they've already lost all the knowledge that would help them achieve their goals and become successful when they are young. Therefore, this article also gives me a sense that we are doomed, it is kind of saying if you were born in a working-class family, then you are mostly likely to be classified as such for your whole entire life.


souce: "College Knowledge," article- "From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" by Jean Anyon.

image: Jean Anyon, from e-Focus on Student Learning website