Gender Expression Throughout History

Alex Meyer opened me up to a new perspective of gender especially in the topic of transgender. He first started his seminar by asking the simple question "What is Gender?" which opened up many different perspectives throughout the class. Alex described it as an umbrella with many different sections. He then went in to talk about his own life. In 1995 Alex Meyers was 17 years old, here he decided it was time to finally make the transition from a girl to a boy. He was brief about his upbringing but related his experience to those through history. I was astonished to hear how transgender was not the first term used to describe people that identify as transgender. Before it was transexual and transvestite and they have been used dating all the way back to Shakespeare time. The first example he used was Deborah Sampson in the late 1700s. Deborah was a female who ran away and disguised herself as a male to be able to participate and fight in the American Revolutionary War. What she did was under no circumstances normal which is why she is such a prominent figure today. After Deborah's secret was found out, she not only was considered a hero, but also earned a full military pension. This not only taught me about Deborah Sampson but also showed me that gender expression and transvestism has been around longer than I thought.

Another example Alex showed was from the front page of a Daily News article. I don't know the exact year but it looks like the newspaper is from the mid 1950s. In large, bold letters the article reads "EX-GI BECOMES BLOND BEAUTY," with "Operations Transform Bronx Youth" written below. There are two pictures on the page, the first is a picture of the GI with his uniform on showing lots of masculinity. The second picture next to it is almost twice the size of the first and it shows his transformation as a woman. The picture looks like it is straight out of a photoshoot with her distinguished facial features, loads of makeup, and neat hair, overall showing her femininity. At this time, going through the process of transitioning was not very accepted and normal, but somehow it made the front cover of a popular newspaper.

Deborah Sampson and the Daily News page were just two of the many examples Alex Meyer's talked about. Alex Meyer's opened up my understanding of gender expression and taught me many things I wasn't aware of before.