My next article for the Hunter College Envoy is called "Transgender Media, Where Are You?" because I believe there is a lack of positive imagery for the transgender community. I interviewed a transgender Hunter student about their opinion of the media. Then I interviewed Kristen Lovell from the Trans in Action group of MCCNY. My research correlated with CUNY's academic Premier Search database concerning articles about transgender stigma, discrimination, and first person accounts. As Bell Hooks stated in "The Will to Change," patriarchy is a political system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence. We must envision alternatives to patriarchal masculinity. My research showed that men who have feminine characteristics face more discrimination than women who have masculine traits. This sexism is rampant in heteronormative situations as well as non-binary situations. Overall, the transgender studies field is growing steadily and there is a need for more awareness and societal change in the way we all view those who do not conform to the binary system.
Transgender Media, Where Are You?
A look at who we don't see on TV
by Bruce Le
The character, “Unique,” played by Alex Newell, is a recurring transgender character on the television show Glee. “Glee Introduces Its First Transgender Character” was the title of an article on GLAAD.org featuring Newell's portrayal of an African American teenager who was born biologically a boy but identifies as a girl. Unique has not been kicked off of the show yet, so it is safe to say that viewers and ratings are favorable when presented with the visible image of a transgender woman of color. But what about depictions of transgender men? And why don't viewers get to see more characters like “Unique” in the mainstream media?
Unique“Transgender men are a lot less visible, which means people joke about us less, but it also means we don't see ourselves portrayed much,” said Marty Avedon, a transgender male junior at Hunter majoring in media studies. “A lot of my friends are fans of the show Elementary because the cast is more representative of the world they live in than a lot of TV shows, and they were very excited when one of the new main characters was revealed to be a trans woman. But a lot of media is pretty exploitative, or trans women are treated as punchlines,” Avedon said. The Merriam Webster dictionary website defines the word 'transgender' to mean “a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth.” According to the gender justice website, “Ellipsesproject.org,” the way to refer to all non-cisgender (cisgender is a person who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth) gender identities would be to use the word “trans*” with an asterisk. Trans* would refer to all identities within the gender identity spectrum including transgender, transsexual, transvestite, genderqueer, genderfluid, non-binary, genderfuck, genderless, agender, non-gendered, third gender, two-spirit, bigender, and transgender men and transgender women.
Avedon is going through transitioning, which broadly means starting to live as the gender that you are rather than what you were assigned at birth. “Medical transition is what people usually think of as transitioning. That involves hormones or surgery, depending on how someone feels about their body and what they can do about it. Social transition is about changing your name, using different pronouns, and so on,” said Avedon. Avedon believes a lot can be done to help the representation of trans* people. “Men who are transgender are treated badly, but our society is even more harsh on trans women, because of misogyny. In terms of helping visibility for trans* people, hiring trans* actors when we are being portrayed would be very helpful, as well as having trans* writers writing scripts about us, and just listening to what we have to say, instead of a doctor or academic who is not trans* but has theories about us,” Avedon said.
One example of improving visibility in the way Avedon described is a documentary on Youtube called “Trans in Media.” It was made with the help of Kristen Lovell, the facilitator of the Trans in Action program at the Metropolitan Community Church of New York for six years. “There were stories of trans women being villains, tragic stories, or one of us being murdered and the secrets we harbored that led to the murder. There was also a skit on SNL that really infuriated me,” Lovell said in an interview with the Envoy. The skit she refers to is the parody commercial SNL produced for a product called “Estromaxx.” GLAAD issued this statement about it: “The attempted comedy of the skit hinges solely on degrading the lives and experiences of transgender women.” Lovell points to the daytime talk shows of Maury Povich and Jerry Springer who create a circus of outing a trans person's identity and how those are all examples of misrepresentation. A young trans girl in “Trans in Media” was faced toward the camera and talked about how there needs to be a space created for trans women to not have to feel like they need to act like fools on Springer.
Avedon had a space where he was able to not feel so alone. He spoke highly about the Hunter College queer community enabling him to feel comfortable about being trans*. “However, most of the out trans* people I know at Hunter are men. I think trans* women don't feel safe enough on campus to be out. People can be very harsh about others they see presenting as feminine, especially if that person is perceived to be a man,” Avedon said. The stereotypes of transgender women are something that Avedon's friends have to deal with whenever presenting themselves as their preferred gender in public. Avedon said, “I had one friend who was held by the police because they stopped and frisked her for condoms. They said she was 'working,' like a prostitute.”
Lovell hears similar stories when discussing issues at Trans in Action, which serves transgender runaway and homeless youth. She empowers young people by giving them a sense of knowledge and educating them about trans history, engaging them in issues that the trans community suffers from. Previous Trans In Action meetings have discussed issues such as “LGBT rights, activism, queer history, trans history, sex and relationships.”
Recent reports of transgender women show a trend of discrimination in America and across the Atlantic. On March 19, 2013, a transgender schoolteacher named Lucy Meadows was found dead in her apartment in Lancashire, United Kingdom, according to the Huffington Post. The Post said it was believed that Meadows committed suicide after a column had been written about her and the “negative effects a transgender teacher might have on students.” The director of TransMedia Watch told The Guardian, a British newspaper, “We know that Lucy suffered a huge amount of harassment by the press.” The result was a petition calling on the resignation of Richard Littlejohn, the writer of the article in question.
MeadowsIn April, another report came from Salmon, Idaho, when a transgender woman was banned from a grocery store for a year because she used the women's restroom. Lewiston Police Captain Roger Lanier told NBC news, “Society has yet to define exactly what makes a transgender. Far be it for a police department in Idaho to try to define that,” he said. The Merriam Webster dictionary website defines the word 'transgender' to mean “a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth.”
The homeless teens that come to Lovell know all too well the reality of not fitting into patriarchal standards of masculinity and femininity. “People do not accept the youth for who they are. Their families don't want to deal with them and toss them into the street,” Lovell said. At Trans in Action, there are continuing signs of hope to empower the youth. On May 9, Lovell will be presenting a gallery exhibition of transgender art at the second floor of MCCNY. The donations from this event will enable Trans in Action members to attend the next Trans Health Conference in Philadelphia. Lovell says she creates events like this so that Trans in Action can give youth “a sense of who they are and when they are older, they are prepared for the world.”
MCCNYRecently, there have been people speaking out on behalf of transwomen and transmen. “Feminine boys are seen as more disturbing to adults than are masculine girls,” said trans activist Julia Serano in an article on Masslive.com. Fans of Serano's work have pointed out how the gender binary and heterosexual double standards prevalent in American society extends deeper than most people realize. An Amazon review of her book, Whipping Boy, said that trans women give up male privilege for femininity and this can threaten patriarchy. “Masculine characteristics are superior to feminine characteristics in both genders. Many women buy into this concept as well,” wrote David Parker, a reviewer from Colfax. Not only do transwomen face transphobia, they also deal with this situation of discrimination for possessing female qualities which Serano describes as “transmisogyny.”
SeranoFor Avedon, taking classes at Hunter and interning with a queer media company that represents queer artists are steps toward a desirable career. “I like doing work that increases queer visibility and helps the community. I would love to work with youth at a nonprofit in the future,” Avedon said. Avedon is also going through a transition by doing things like changing the gender on his ID cards, but he doesn't expect to put the experience behind him any time soon. “What I've been through is a big part of who I am. I don't want to be the same as a cisgender man. I'm doing this to be me,” Avedon said. The people that are seen on television have not been reflecting the diverse range of gender identities and minorities that have been present from the beginning. Avedon, Lovell, and all of the trans* individuals in society continue with their lives despite this and the media world can only pretend to catch up.
Works Cited
Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl. Seal Press, 2009. Print.
Bockting W., Miner M., Romine R., Hamilton A., Coleman E. Stigma, Mental Health, and Resilience in an Online Sample of the US Transgender Population. American Journal of Public Health [serial online]. May 2013; 103 (5):31-e9. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 1, 2013.
Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change. New York: Atria. 2004. Print.
Slideshow of Transgender Figures in the Media :
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