Sociology Essay: Examining Transgender Issues within Wellesley College

This sociology essay delves into the experiences of transgender individuals at Wellesley College, particularly focusing on Jesse, a trans student navigating gender identity and societal acceptance. The essay highlights the challenges faced by transgender students, including feelings of discrimination and exclusion despite the college's efforts to promote inclusivity. It discusses the complexities of gender equality, differentiating it from feminism, and emphasizes the importance of providing equal opportunities for all individuals regardless of gender. The essay also touches upon issues of racial discrimination within the transgender community and the concerns raised by cisgender female students regarding changes to traditional concepts like 'sisterhood.' Ultimately, the essay advocates for colleges to foster respect and understanding towards individuals of all gender identities, promoting human empowerment as a whole. Access this essay and more resources on Desklib, your go-to platform for academic assistance.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student:
Name of the University;
Author’s Note:

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This article talks about the concept of transgender individuals. There are many people
who lead their lives under confusion. Padawer (2014) is of the opinion that these people are
unsure about their sexual orientation. However, society does not always provide ample support
to people who want to transform their gender from male to female or vice versa. The article talks
about a college called Wellesley colleges that gave admission to the trans people.
Jesse is one such student who took admission in the Wellesley College hoping that this
place would give the right kind of support that he needed. However, she was initially born as a
girl. Her name was Sara. However, she did not feel it right to be called by the feminine name.
She always felt that she has different kinds of desires and feelings going on inside her. Thus she
always wanted to be a man. She met a gender therapist and started injecting testosterone so that
she could transform into a man.
Catalano (2015) has suggested that there is nothing wrong in being confused about one’s
feeling. It is the duty of the Government to promote equality and diversity within their and the
educational institution's ions. However, this must be noted that often the term gender equality is
misunderstood by people. Gender equality is never to be confused with feminism. Gender
equality means providing equal opportunity to all the individuals irrespective of their gender.
However as has been shown in the article though Wellesley College was doing a great job by
strengthening their worm folks, they were perhaps being ruse towards their other students.
This discrimination was felt by Jesses when he returned to his class after his holidays. He
felt that Wellesley was becoming more of a girls place than being a place for the transgender
students. He felt bad but at the same time, he wanted to stick to this place as it was a kind of
home to him. Wellesley was circulating these discriminations even in their dorms and their

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washrooms. They had used the tags as Wellesley and Non-Wellesley outside the washrooms
rather than mentioning women and men. In addition to this, Jesses had to face many problems
while he was in the dorms. He felt that everyone was suspecting him as a non-Wellesley student.
Women empowerment was taking the wrong direction in this aspect. Parents who went to meet
with their daughters in the dorms would not allow Jesse as he was not a woman. There was also a
large amount of discrimination between the white and the nonwhite trans people.
In contrary to this, the female students were also disliking the fact when the term
sisterhood was about to be changed to siblinghood. They felt that this would reduce their
position and power to a huge extent. It is the duty of the colleges is to make students respectful
towards people belonging from all the gender groups rather than just focusing on women
empowerment. They must empower human beings as a whole.

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References
Catalano, D. C. J. (2015). “Trans enough?” The pressures trans men negotiate in higher
education. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2(3), 411-430.
Padawer, R. (2014). When women become men at Wellesley. The New York Times
Magazine, 15. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/magazine/when-
women-become-men-at-wellesley-college.html