Change of pace.

My post this week doesn't really have a supporting article. My topic this week is in the media.

All of it.

Well, not really. More LGBT related. Most media has covered LGBT issues, and most have seen both sides of the light. I'm normally very critical of trans interpretation in the media. I eat up books, and I've noticed one glaring fact. Most of the time, the stories regarding trans issues are told from the view point of a cis person, or in third person. I've never read a fiction book that was from the view point of the actual trans individual, and that includes my favorite, Almost Perfect. That book is told from the view point of a cis boy that falls in love, unknowingly, to a trans girl. It has a very interesting view point of the trans experience, since the author himself is cis. Though most trans-topic writers are cis, though normally a cis girl. I felt the view point was highly educated, yet very... macabre. Not really, but the story leads to very psychologically violent events. The trans character, Sage, gets assaulted at the end by another cis boy. She is later brought to a psych ward for suicidal tendencies, followed by announcing she's detransitioning (though she presumably doesn't).

It leaves a bad taste to cis and trans people alike, but it's done so beautifully and flowing that it captivates one with a life that some people could never imagine.

Now, from lyrical beauty to the plain representation.

I refuse to mention South Park in this section. They're South Park, there's really no arguing the inaccuracy.

So I move on to... hmmm, movies. Transamerica. Genius idea for a movie. Poorly executed. Sure, it's entertaining, but it really throws the "trannies are just big deceivers" stereotype in one's face. (Btw, never use the term tranny. Never. Ever.) With that said, Felicity Hoffman had a brilliant performance. She captivated the stereotypes, but for the movie, it worked. The biggest thing I noticed was the scarfs. I scoffed at that thinking, "Not all transgirls wear scarves to hide their adam's apple." I then looked down to notice, I too was wearing a scarf. Oops. There were some accurate sections. The relationship with Bree and her parents flew over very truthful to many people. In addition, the Harry Benjamin Standard's of Care was featured, and the struggle with many people's therapists was very close to home.

How about TV? I do want to say, what inspired this post was a review on Degrassi's trans character, Adam, and his current situations. (While this may not have most policy and law oriented focus, it does have a sense of public perception, the likes of which influence policy and profiling based on stereotyping.) Back to Degrassi, Adam, an FtM transsexual, was BEAUTIFULLY portrayed by Jordon Todosey, who I watched when she played the little sister in My Life With Derek. The episode "My Body is a Cage" was a very common depiction of transteens in high school and their struggles. Hell, I still deal with those issues in college. It was scarily accurate to me as well, besides the direction switch. The burning yourself, the attempt to detransition to make everyone happy only to find yourself suicidal.

What makes me happiest though, is when actual transpeople portray themselves. Seems pointless, no? Well, I'd have to say, one of my favorite TV shows is Transgeneration. A documentary series about 2 FtMs and 2 MtFs in college. The best way to get the right knowledge out there is to bring the true trans people in the camera's eye.

My goal as a public face for the trans community is to hope that everybody around us knows truth, and not just what they see on TV. And maybe the more noticed we are, the more help we get. We can't succeed in this world without the help of cis people. The social ramifications of the deceivers/trap/just a confused gay person/all want to have surgery/married men in their 40s and 50s/sex workers/Buffalo Bill-types/and easily clocked sterotype being the public perception makes laws like unnecessary gate-keeping, the need for people to have SRS to change their legal gender, and the discrimination in the process of name change seem needed and correct.

Fuck that. Life is to be lived by everyone, never to be constrained, or biased, or chained to a wall (...for the most part on that one). It's to be free for people have the options open, and the necessities never hid behind a gate in key. And that my friend, is the future.