What's a Little Trans Among Friends?

by Stacey Fearheiley

LGBTQ.  It's a mouthful.  It's the worst stack of letters you could have in a Scrabble game.  And it's everywhere!  What's it stand for?  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender and Queer.

I bring this up because 1.  it's the end of Pride Month. and B.  POPeration!  this week was about the representation of the "T" portion in movies and television.  Our guest, Allyson Robinson, herself a transwoman, discussed how it felt to see some of the portrayals of trans people in media.  It wasn't all good.  But it was informative.

As a white, straight, cisgender woman, I can get all uppity about how women are portrayed in movies and tv.  I'll get up in your grill about how "paternalistic" everything is and how there needs to be more women EVERYWHERE in film and tv.  

I'll whine about how sometimes male writers who write women's roles don't write them believably.  "A woman would NOT say that in that situation.  No girl wants that."  Stuff like that.  That is because I am as I described.  That is my experience.  

Unless it's brought to my attention, I don't see the other inequalities out there. Is it just me, or my generation, or being human?   Dunno.  Not gonna answer that question here. But, NOW, the trans person issues have been brought to my attention with this week's podcast.  And as they say..."once you wake that bear...."

We all have lists of good and bad representations of people like ourselves...and Allyson is no different.  She has some opinions!  We asked her to name some good and bad concepts of the trans community.  So she did.  And I was surprised by some.

Let's go over a few, shall we?

Liked:

Transparent.

Duh.  It's brilliant.  At least I thought so....now I don't feel guilty watching it.

OITNB

If you haven't found this one, you're not paying attention.

The OA.

Sense8.

So many people upset about the cancellation of this one.  UPDATE: Netflix will air a 2-hour finale. http://bit.ly/2sWdFhd

Boys Don't Cry.

Groundbreaking in that it was so highly visible.

TransAmerica

Honorable mention per Allyson:  All About My Mother and Penny Dreadful.

But it wouldn't be as much fun if we didn't have the DISLIKED list.  Here goes:

Crying Game

Was the audience supposed to feel sorry for the guy in love?

Dressed to Kill

Fun fact about this trailer...if you watch it, you've seen the whole plot. (the 80's were great.)

Dallas Buyers Club

Allyson purposely didn't watch this one.  It goes here on principle.

Hit and Miss

Post podcast research:  This was a 6 part British mini series.  They did try to air it in the U.S. but didn't get the traction, so only 1 episode appeared.  Probably for the best.

Honorable mention for those that don't make the "Pro Trans" cut: Danish Girl (Allyson didn't see this, but avoided it on purpose. yes, I was surprised too.) and Basic Instinct (not really surprised at all).

So, what's my point?  My point is actually pretty simple.  1.  Don't be afraid of the acronyms. LGBTQ is  just about inclusion (even though the vowels are probably feeling a bit dissed.) and B. Don't assume that because a show or movie or book or article or blog is ABOUT something that it is also TRUE to that something.  Want to know more?  Meet some people...talk to them...ask them questions.  Find the real answers.  Now I've brought it to YOUR attention.

Our society is ever changing and hopefully ever learning about differences, and about accepting and loving those differences.

To quote this guy I once saw in something, " Love is love is love is love...."*

Happy Pride!

*(Oh Hush...I know it's Lin-Manuel Miranda!)