In more recent times, however, transgender representation in film and television has reached new levels and strides. There is Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black, a trans-woman of color; There is Amazon’s Golden Globe winning and first original series titled Transparent, that revolves around the story of a transgender woman. Popular shows such as Glee explored and developed a new arch about one of its main characters transitioning from female to male. Even ABC Family premiered a show on its network documenting a young man’s experience as his one of his parents comes out as transgender, calling it Becoming Us. But with all of the seemingly positive examples of trans-characters that are being …show more content…
This story creates a very problematic and oppressive representation of trans-individuals, while also taking the whole trans movement four steps back in its journey of liberation. The dialogue between trans-culture and mainstream culture becomes broken because the narrative of trans lives is once again being negatively shaped.
ABC Family’s teen drama Pretty Little Liars follows the story of five young women being stalked and tormented by a hiding-in-plain-sight-all-along-villain known as “A” (whose real name was revealed to be Charles). On the other end of the spectrum, the show focuses on one character’s revenge against this small group of women. Many fans carefully analyzed the episodes and its characters, both main and reoccurring, to determine who could be this villainous individual. Finally, on August 11th this past summer, Game Over Charles aired, and the person behind the mask, behind the cryptic messages, behind the murders, and behind the terror was finally revealed to be a character known as CeCe Drake. CeCe Drake has been a reoccurring character on the show since its third season. She was portrayed as mysterious and even suspicious at times, with some fans even speculating that she could be the tormentor.
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The season finale was anticipated to be a beautifully heartbreaking episode, where the audience would be able to make sense of A’s horrendous actions and even feel sympathy for the character. It turned out to be an impressive episode to say the least because the writers and producers of the show managed to create a character that instantaneously exemplified all of the negative stereotypes that have prevented transgender people from receiving proper health care, finding housing, getting jobs, and being accepted for who they
The LGBTQ community is one that faces an ongoing storm of stereotyping and stigmas and the media is no relief from it. One major factor in this is the common trope of the violent and aggressive transgender woman, which is often shown through
What is afraid of change is society, which is bitter and conservative. Strong parental figures give children exploring their gender identity much needed hope and support. They also assist with the fight against society’s expectations by giving children the choice to be whoever or whatever they please. Many celebrities are coming out now as LGBTQIA+ because they now have support. This assistance has provided said celebrities with confidence and happiness in their treacherous journey of discovery.
In October 12, 2010, Joel Burns made a public message towards the GLBT teens by sharing a personal story. He delivered an amazing message by sharing also those who’ve been victims of being portrayed as gay, bullying, and suicides. Inspiring the young GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender) teens that life does not end by the words of others who have an oppose mentality. Life does get better once you graduate high school, adventure throughout your adult life, finding someone you may last a lifetime, and building a foundation just like those individuals who singled you out for having different interest. “...that the things would get easier, please stick around, society will change, please live long enough to see it…”
Even in my local community, I had the chance to participate in protests and events to show my support. I have attempted to actively work for these causes in the tradition of Ida B. Wells. In addition, I have focused my attention on the present issues in the Transgender community. To the best of my knowledge, I have attempted to educate myself about the injustices these individuals face, the laws that will affect their livelihoods, the statistics of homelessness in Trans communities, and other predominant issues that infiltrate their community. In the present day, Americans of many backgrounds face discrimination and injustices, and I feel that it is our job to educate ourselves on these problems and combat them in many ways, just like Ida B.
Steven Seidman’s Revolt Against Sexual Identity provides anecdotes that describe the liberation that comes with rejecting these norms, “...her identities as transgender, female,
Growing up Trans is a movie about kids growing up with gender identity. As they start growing up they realize they are not the gender they are born with. In the first example Liam who later change his name to lia the 9 yr old was born as a boy but identify as a girl. Liam transitioned from a boy to girl when she was about 6 and has been a girl ever since. Lia still need surgery and medicine to fully transition to a girl.
Considered to be one of the most important and prominent figures in trans history, Christine Jorgensen was a pioneer in her own right. Jorgensen first garnered major attention when she became the first American to bring attention to gender reassignment surgery in 1952, after travelling to Denmark for the procedure. Going on to become an actress and a writer, Jorgensen’s story was what brought trans issues to the forefront of America’s mind, and opened up a national conversation, framing many aspects of how future generations would come to think of the transgender community. Christine Jorgensen was born George Jorgensen Jr. in 1926, the child of a carpenter and his wife. After finishing high school, Jorgensen went on to get drafted into the
Greendale review talks about how the story helps “raise awareness about the unprecedented level of violence inflicted on transgender people.” This story is set to show the need for representation of the transgender people. The scene in which the reviewer uses to describe the mistreatment of the agender community was the scene in which Richard sees Sasha sitting on the bus.
Throughout the course of production, literature and media have served as a medium for capturing diverse experiences. When queer and trans identities have been concerned, the material has provided meaningful content. Specific selections in this genre have portrayed the experiences of queer and trans characters as they intersect with race and gender. Nella Larsen’s book Passing and Cheryl Dunye’s film The Watermelon Woman both maintained the theme of colorism, specifically emphasizing its impact on queer women.
It is well-known in modern culture that children begin developing gender identities from a very young age. As soon as children are able to comprehend media and the actions of those around them, they are bombarded with examples of gender roles. In fact, they are presented with these examples even before they can comprehend them. Parents may begin reading children books right from birth. The gender roles that are often present in these picture books aimed at young children become ingrained in the minds of the children, kickstarting the development of gender identity.
Many people have become biased towards a person’s sex or gender. Society finds it wrong to be a homosexual or transgender. People are judged on sexual preferences and appearances, for an example if a guy is homosexual and decides to wear his hair in extensions or a purse he will be looked at completely differently than others because it is abnormal to society. In the show Law and Order a guy has became a transgender, so his appearance is very feminine and he looks and dresses like a woman. A person wouldn’t be able to tell that she was once a man.
The film, Growing Up Trans, was a great medium for me to better understand and reflect on gender socialization, gender identities, and countless variations within the transgender communities. Each child and his/her stories give the audience an insight to both the personal troubles of living as transgenders and the systemic errors of the society that intensifies these troubles. Undoubtedly, the children in the film expressed their discomfort of being characterized as the deviants. Deviants are those who are perceived as outsiders and who violate what the society considers true and correct (Charon). In our society, heterosexuality and gender conformity – one’s gender identity matching one’s sexual identity – are considered the norm.
Transgender is the term used to describe an individual whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth. The documentary, “Growing up Trans”, is a sensitive clip to watch about young youths who attempt to navigate family, friends, gender, and the medical decisions they face at puberty. “Growing up Trans” focuses mainly on transitioned young youths. The transgender youth from the documentary links to many theories from chapter eight. Theories such as socialization, gender, sexuality, homophobia, transphobia, and microaggression are associated with “Growing up Trans”.
The term “transgender” is a label that was never used until the mid 1960s. According to history, “Psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University coined the term transgender in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology (“Transgender”)”. When a transgender person desires to be the opposite gender, they may get an invasive surgery to fully transition into their new identity. Multiple transgender people have started to announce the having of the surgery has destroyed their future (Bindel). People have the right to be whatever gender they aspire to be, but transgender people should do public activities and should stay grouped with their biologically assigned sex.
People are constantly discriminating against transgender people, believing that they are not true human beings and so on. Often, transgender people are even denied medical care, and in Kristen’s case with her many injuries, this could be detrimental. To try to end this bigotry, people could start to view transgender people just like they view the other people in their lives. People could start to look at the achievements and the positive things that transgender people have done in order to look over the fact that they are transgender. Online, people should say only nice things to everyone rather than saying mean things in order to avoid bigotry on the Internet.