Much like everyone else who has replied to this post, I immediately thought back to our reading in the Intersections book, The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough; and I understand both sides of the argument. Mr. Devoureau grew up believing he was male, acting as all boys do- playing with toy trucks, climbing trees, playing football. He knew from an early age, that though physically he had been born a female, he wasn't meant to be a girl. So he took the necessary steps, such as hormone therapy and surgery to change that. Ultimatel,y he was able to change his birth certificate issued by the State of Georgia, his drivers license, and the Social Security Administration recognizes Deavoureau as male. Yet, because he was born female, he was fired from a gender specific job, which is also understandable- it's gender specific for obvious reasons. I think the main issue at hand here is that people aren't educated enough about transgendered people. We all go through health class learning about males and females and their differences, and that is that; but I have never heard of a health class learning about transgendered people. This is because they're different, and as a society we are conditioned to fear things that differ from the norm, or are considered “unknown”. Transgender is seen as a taboo, or stigma because we don't understand it. Many people are of the opinion that they're acting out, that since they're physically born as a female so they are and always will be female, and vice versa. It is my personal belief that people have the right to choose their sex, because not everything is so black and white, and not all people are born male and female. If a person is willing to go through the weeks and weeks of hormone therapy and surgery, I think it's more than just “acting out”. Then again, I'm not exactly qualified to speak on the matter, as I'm not as educated about transgendered people as I should be. The main point here is that people need to be educated and be more aware of what's going on around them.

I think this video is a great example of what Sam was talking about today in class- concurrence seeking in ambiguous social situations. The need not to rock the boat is so great that people don't dare question the group, which thinking about it really is a shame. There's no room for growth or development when nothing is questioned. Yet I see it all the time in myself- I've laughed when I didn't think something was funny, and I've done something I personally felt was wrong, all as long as the majority was doing the same.
I believe there are both positive and negative effects that accompany conformity. Conformity allows groups to organize and work harmoniously, it provides with social norms and conventions that can often be comforting. Though in juxtaposition, those things can have negative aspects to them as well- as seen in the Bush's administration's failure to speak their minds on the issue of invading Iraq. Though they worked together cohesively to execute the invasion, it was ultimately a detrimental outcome that they all later came to regret. Group think is a powerful aspect in the majority of people's lives, it drives the imaginary strings that control our actions. Our judgment and perception in the simplest of matters is clouded by the group- these are the times when we tend to lose ourselves, though we're convinced we're acting of our own accord because it's reassuring to think we have control of our lives. Clearly outside factors influence us much more than we think, or would like to think. A quote I heard once about conformity: "By conforming, we add to the statistic of groups we don't actually belong to". If that's true, then how many people genuinely believe in "their" opinions and actions?