Call Me Caitlyn Informative Speech

Immediately following the release of “Call me Caitlyn”, in the June issue of Vanity Fair magazine, a media craze followed. The public interest in the transition of Bruce Jenner to a transgender known as Caitlyn became the topic of every article, every commentator, and created an internet frenzy. Most people agree that her coming out has created a spotlight on transgender issues, and will undoubtedly help people who are struggling with these problems, but Jenner’s meticulous media presentation does not represent the experience that most trangendered people endure. Janet Mock, a writer, activist, MSNBC host, and transgender wrote, “To make any trans person a symbol for an entire community is an unfair task. No one can speak about the varying

show- Keeping Up With The Kardashians). In addition, Jenner was a celebrated Olympic Gold Medalist who once covered the front of the Wheaties Box. He was a hero and a role model. In recent years, Jenner has been in the spotlight of media coverage as the father figure of the Kardashian clan, so many people have been skeptical about his motives to make his transition public. Was this decision merely to spin off another reality TV series? Was his motive for continued fame and wealth? Or is he truly sympathetic to the issues most transgendered individuals experience in the world today. In his interview with Diane Sawyer, he conveyed his struggle from his teen years with gender identity issues. He talked about how it was not socially accepted or even discussed for a man to have these feelings of gender confusion. Finally, at 60 years old, he decided to be truthful to his gender identity by making his transition public. Jenner hopes to bring awareness and social acceptance to transgendered people and the oppression they receive from society aiming to change societal

Being a white female, Jenner will benefit in many areas such as decreased pay discrimination compared to black or Hispanic females as well as social stature. Her race, privilege, and social class allow her to afford the best surgical procedures and provide her with unlimited resources that aid her ability to transition and pass as a beautiful woman. Her ability to pass as female and her image, focused on beauty, conforms to gender norms. Caitlyn’s transition was very expensive with many specific and intricate surgeries and procedures that are not available to all. Most transgendered people do not have the means, or privilege to meet society's expectations about gender appearance and gender standards. According to Mock, she describes Jenner’s high profile access in “Privilege enables her access to more conversations, more opportunities, more spaces which appears as if she’s eclipsed leaders of a movement that has been active for decades, fueled by a community that is ravaged by economic instability, lack of access to knowledgeable, affordable healthcare, over policing and incarceration, stigmatized, criminalize survival economies like sex work, high HIV infection rates, the ability to live safely and freely as their true selves and disproportionate violence against trans women of color”. Mock