The Stereotyping of Transgender Women Continues

There's still a lot wrong with our greater society when transgender women are viewed as having been "men".

Watch this video and then read on.

https://www.facebook.com/44blueproductions/videos/1131639380221311/?pnref=story

As friend of mine pointed out, the woman in the stripes was in disbelief of these beautiful women (as she stated), that they "were" at one time "guys". The problem here is that the general public still views trans women as having "changed" their identity.....that they were once guys and now they are women. Sorry, it doesn't work like that. Transgender women were always women but the ideology is lost because it's not "graspable" tangibly by the greater masses of our cis-gender population. Those who are not able to experience first hand what it is to be transgender can not understand the gravity of the error being made when they say that a transgender woman "was a guy". For most if not all, transition was just a changing of the outer packaging. The "guy" everyone saw was just an actor in a theatre of their own life.

Second point. Although a television show such as this has the capability to bring about yet another immersive experience into the lives of transgender individuals, it also could be utilizing media standards to promulgate stereotypes of transgender women who do not represent our mainstream population. Of course our mainstream population of transgender women would make for a very, very dull show because the majority of transgender women are NOT supermodels and do NOT vie for attention in any way more than any other cis-woman would. In other words, the average transgender woman is just a woman and being just ordinary is not fodder for a network television show.

To the credit of Whoopi Goldberg, and this is what I took from the segment, she did provide a heartfelt dialog to the audience to show that she really is a person that seems to be on our side, that is making a wonderful attempt at trying to understand us as an ally would!

In summation..... if it is the intent of the media to create television programming that is focused on the transgender community, they why not have programming that lauds transgender women who have contributed in their accomplishments to society?

Short segments focusing on the achievements of transgender women as professionals in our society could be an interesting premise to a series that would aim to relate accomplishments rather than exhibitionism. The viewers would see that we are scientists, engineers, writers, pilots, astronomers, physicists and a plethora of other occupations. They would see that we are achievers and see the contributions of our work in our modern society. Wouldn't that be a show to behold, and perhaps......just perhaps, it might inspire another generation of individuals, trans or not, to spark the same sort of fire in their own lives. Think about it.

Comments

  1. Ginger Dawn...A Spice Below The HorizonMay 26, 2016 at 11:01 PM

    Great post. I wish more like this was in the news. Your blog is a great resource to many
    Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJune 7, 2016 at 3:21 AM

    The whole "they're gorgeous, I never would have known" thing really rubbed me the wrong way, but I agree that Whoopi really sounds like an ally who wants to do right by our community. With all the current bathroom hysteria, I appreciate the positive impact that a thoughtful defense like hers can have on people.

    As for your suggestion: "Short segments focusing on the achievements of transgender women as professionals in our society could be an interesting premise to a series that would aim to relate accomplishments rather than exhibitionism. The viewers would see that we are scientists, engineers, writers, pilots, astronomers, physicists and a plethora of other occupations." -- it's mostly text and not video, but I'm part of a campaign with that exact goal that just launched a few days ago: transemploymentprogram.org/transatwork. We've gotten some pretty good press so far; hopefully it will encourage more efforts like this.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Penultimate Post

It has been a while since I have blogged on here.... a long while.  The gaps between my blog posts have slowly widened as I have begun to find myself, more and more, just simply living my life as a woman.  The dysphoria is all but gone.  This blog was a tool, as much for those who have read it, as it was for myself.  I was able to make sense of my life and this journey, as much as anyone might hope, through the self reflection engendered in the process of writing out my thoughts.  Often, I would re-read my own posts from months or years prior and see how different my perspectives have become and my thoughts have changed as I grew slowly into the person I have always been. I call this the penultimate post because it is the next to the last post I will write for this blog.  This blog is not going away, nor am I.  My transition is not ending, just as each and every one of us never end our own life's transitions, whether you be transgender or not.  ...
Read more

Connecting The Dots

Again, it has been a while since I have posted on here.  A lot has been happening around and within me.  Living now full time as a woman publicly has brought a sense of peace and contentment to me internally in ways I have never felt before internally. No matter what hardships I may incur as a result of this life change, it is a decision I could never regret.  To have such a personal sense of peace like no other is at once reaffirming and calming.  There is no way that anyone who is not transgender could understand the feeling of dysphoria in not being able to live authentically to their own sense of self.  Likewise, there was no way I could have known how comfortable it was for those born into a gender that fits from birth.....until now.  Now I understand what I was feeling before; the anxiety, the withdrawal from society, the angst and pensiveness.  The lack of comfortability in others who felt ill at ease with me as a person playing the male role ...
Read more

Dream Myself Awake

I don't usually wake up startled in the middle of the night, sit up in my bed in the stillness of a dark room and wonder why my heart is racing and my skin has broken out in a sweat.  I can't say that I could recall exactly it was that I had been dreaming of either.  I can say that it wasn't anything positive or uplifting.  Far from it.  This doesn't usually happen to me so what exactly happened? Yesterday started out like any other day in recent times.  I woke up, logged in to work and set out about my day.  At some point, I found myself with some free time and so began to pick up where I left off with items associated with my name and gender marker change.....  Another credit card company to call, another financial institution to correct some error on the new and present name I am proud owner of, another lawyer to contact about legalities that need to be synced up. Usual stuff.  Well, it seemed usual.  In all truthfulness, everything h...
Read more