Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Celebrating Female Game Devs of Yesteryear
As Women in Games International's Austin conference approaches, Next-Gen takes a moment to recognize the outstanding female developers who molded the industry during its early years. . . .
The business has also included its share of transgendered women. Dani Bunten Berry was without doubt one of the greatest game designers of all time, although much of her work was published under her original name, Dan Bunten. Berry created games that are considered industry milestones, most notably M.U.L.E. (which stood for Multi-Use Labor Element). It was a multiplayer trading and exploration game with a clever and innovative auction interface. Berry died of lung cancer in 1998 and is sorely missed. . . .The WIGI Conference will be held on September 8, 2007 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Visit www.womeningamesinternational.org for more details.
Transgender woman reflects on life changes
"After the genie was out of the bottle, I told myself that I would never live in denial ever again," said Cohn, who was born a man but has been living for 41/2 years as a transgender woman.
"I don't deny the fact that I'm transgender. By the same token, I don't wear a T-shirt that says, 'kiss me, I'm trans.' I don't have it tattooed on my forehead."
Confused, in denial and living a lie are the words to describe the emotions Cohn kept built up inside until she came out and began to live her life as a woman and not a man.
"I thought that somehow it would go away," said Cohn, recalling how uncomfortable she felt while living as a man. "(I thought) that there was a way to cure it, a way to stop it ... "
Cohn said these feelings dated back to when she was 3 or 4 years old, when her mom's friend was baby-sitting her. She and the baby-sitter's daughter played dress up. Cohn remembers very vividly, she said, putting on makeup and feeling like it was right and natural. . . .
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Monday, August 13, 2007
A Family Doctor's Journey From Man to Woman
And what it means for his family of patients.
On May 22, 2006,
Mike Foster was sitting on the padded exam table in his doctor’s office, undergoing his annual physical. It was a familiar place. For 14 years, he’d been coming to see the same doctor in the same Somerville office a few blocks from the same two-family home that had been in Foster’s family for four generations. And it was a comfortable place. Despite having to wear a hospital johnny that stretched to cover his 6-foot-7 frame, Foster felt at ease, because of the doctor sitting across from him. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton, a soft-spoken, bald, middle-aged family physician a foot shorter than Foster, always managed to convey competence and caring at the same time.
Foster, who managed truck sales for a local Chevy dealership, looked younger than his 52 years, with his full head of light-brown hair just beginning to admit some gray. But his body, which had served him well during his days playing basketball for Somerville High School, was definitely showing its miles. Bad knees, bone spurs in his heels, a blood clot in his leg, and a back so bad it required triple fusion spinal surgery. Throughout it all, Dr. Berkowitz-Shelton had been his source of stability, coordinating care with other specialists.
There was something else that made his doctor special. During visits, he always reserved ample time to talk about Foster’s personal life, about his children, his marriage, his work, his level of happiness. They found that despite their different backgrounds, they had a lot in common: Both were 52-year-old, hard-working men devoted to their wives of 25 years and their college-age kids.
"He was a friend, a confidant," Foster says. "I felt I could talk to him about anything."
But as this exam was winding down, it was the doctor who chose to do the confiding. Peering over the glasses resting on the tip of his nose, he told Foster there was going to be a major change in the practice in about a month. A letter would soon be going out to all his patients, but he wanted to give Foster advance notice.
From the seriousness in his doctor’s voice, Foster sensed he was about to tell him he was moving to California or retiring early or leaving medicine. He had built up so much trust in the guy that he dreaded the prospect of losing him.
"I’m going to be transitioning to live my life as a woman," the doctor said.
Foster was floored. He stared at Berkowitz-Shelton, and for the first time noticed that he was not just cleanshaven but now appeared to be devoid of facial hair. This was no joke. Foster struggled to come up with an appropriate response. But his first thought was how some of the tougher townies he grew up with in Somerville might have responded had they been sitting on the exam table, wearing the johnny. Would they have just punched him in the nose? Foster put that thought aside and said, "That’s interesting. How are your peers taking the news?"
Berkowitz-Shelton replied that they were generally very supportive.
"So, do you think this is going to affect your practice?"
Berkowitz-Shelton said he hoped it wouldn’t, but he knew he was going to lose some patients.
Foster regained his footing and cracked, "Well, you’re in the Bermuda Triangle here in Davis Square between Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville. Your business may actually go up!"
Berkowitz-Shelton chuckled. "I hope so."
Foster wished his doctor well and reminded him he would be back in a month for a follow-up.
But his mind was racing as he left the office. During his lifetime, he had seen a Davis Square once dominated by Italian and Irish families like his become transformed into one of the most diverse swaths of pavement in Greater Boston. No spot in the square captured this cross section as effortlessly as the pale-green waiting room in Berkowitz-Shelton’s Davis Square Family Practice. Conservative and liberal, rosary-bead-clutching and atheist, rich and poor, infant and octogenarian, black and white, gay and straight, townie and foreigner, veal-loving and vegan – they were all here. The other physician in the office would often marvel at the single day when she had seen patients from every inhabited continent on the globe.
Foster was a traditional guy, but he had come to view the changes around him with a sort of amused acceptance – and a sense of distance, as though he were watching it all unfold on film. But this change he’d just been asked to accept was hitting much closer to home. My trusted doctor is a transsexual? To him, even the term was off-putting, conjuring HBO shows airing at 2 in the morning and tabloid headlines screaming about a convicted murderer trying to get the state to pay for sex-change surgery. That stuff had nothing to do with him. So he’d never had to think seriously about this issue of people who felt they were born in the wrong bodies. . . .
More true stories. . .
Our Blogger
Christine Daniels is a veteran sportswriter who has worked at the Los Angeles Times for 23 years -- as Mike Penner -- before announcing in The Times on April 26, 2007 her decision to change gender. She will be blogging about her transition over the days to come.
I had dinner last week with my friend Rochelle, who has a sense of humor that ought to be outlawed, at least when I’m trying to drink a watermelon mojito without completely losing it and/or laughing so hard I need a napkin to sop up my tears.
She did it to me again by recounting a comedian’s stand-up routine (she couldn’t recall the guy’s name) about why there are no video games for women: “He said that’s because in a video game where you’re supposed to fight a dragon, men want to cut off the dragon’s head -- and women want to talk to the dragon for two hours about their feelings. Where’s the ‘Share Feelings’ button?! Where’s ‘Turbo-Cry’?! (Rochelle starts frantically punching an imaginary video-game control.) SHARE FEELINGS! SHARE FEELINGS!”
I need no Turbo-Cry button in my day-to-day life. Tears come pretty easily for me. They are often tears of happiness, sometimes tears of sadness, usually tears that overflow my emotional reservoir as I contemplate the events of a just-completed day.
This is a relatively new experience for me. Before 2005, when I began what therapists call “exploring my gender,” I went years without crying. I was emotionally locked up, dried up. Boys don’t cry, right? I fought hard to uphold that code, so hard that it nearly broke me. The floodgates opened after the first few times I stepped out in public in my female persona. I cried at the overwhelming exhilaration I immediately felt when presenting as Christine. I cried even more when those outings ended and I had to return home to de-construct and fade back into a male mode that quickly grew from awkward to uncomfortable to oppressive to unbearable.
This time last year, I was crying painfully, often uncontrollably, every day. Wadded-up Kleenex littered the floor around my bed. Psychologically and emotionally, I had reached rock bottom. I had to make a change, or I wasn’t going to last. My therapists virtually had to drag me out of that pit of despair to set me on the course that brought to where I am today -- happier and more fulfilled than I ever could have imagined. These days, I often think about that dire time in my life, only 12 months ago, and an intervention that seems nothing less than miraculous.
My transition still has its share of rocky moments, and I have had several in the last week. A few days ago, I joined my trans friend Lynn at Chapman University, where we spoke to and answered questions from a very bright group of cultural anthropology students. Lynn, rock-solid resilient with a self-deprecating sense of humor, hits it squarely when she says, “Transitioning is not for wimps.” My transition has required an inner strength and resolve I never knew I had 12 months ago. I have needed every ounce of support and acceptance I have received from so many -- my editors at The Times, my colleagues, my therapists, my church, readers (so generous with their emails) and a collection of friends who amaze me on a daily basis with their kindness, loyalty and love. I realize I am very, very lucky. . . .
See celeb sex swap viral
August 09, 2007
BLIMEY, Bruce Willis is really in touch with his feminine side.
The Die Hard tough guy is among the Hollywood hunks transformed into glam girls in a madcap viral email doing the rounds.
Computer wizards at Worth1000.com have given a whole host of stars sex-swap makeovers – and the results are hilarious!
Our gallery features the lady-likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Matt Damon and more.
Click the images. . .see for yourselves!
District of Columbia: Transgendered Career Day and Job Fair Announced
The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs (LGBT), in conjunction with Transgendered Health Empowerment, Transgendered Education Association and other community based organizations will be organizing some events to help the transgendered community find jobs in the fall of 2007.
The purpose of these events will be to bring together representatives of government agencies, corporations and private businesses with interests in the District together with members of the District’s transgendered community for the expressed purpose of finding jobs and job training opportunities for them.
The first event is a “Career Day” workshop that will take place on Saturday August 18, 2007, from 1 pm to 6 pm in the 2nd Floor Community Room of the Reeves Center at 2000 14th Street, NW. Highlights will include employment readiness workshops focused on resume writing, completing the DC 2000 application, interviewing 101, and tips on dressing for success. Additionally, there will be information on how to access employment services and vocational rehab. The event will conclude with a presentation by members of the community who have been successful and a general overview of jobs that are available.
The second event will be a “Job Fair” that will take place on Saturday September 29, 2007, from 1 pm to 5 pm at the ARC located at 1901 Mississippi Avenue, SE. The job fair will feature representatives from government, the nonprofit community and corporate employers. Further details about this job fair will be available in the future.
- Download a promotional flyer in English* for the Career Fair on August 18
- Download a promotional flyer in Spanish* for the Career Fair on August 18
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Transman Civil War Hero?
Jennie Irene Hodgers, but lived most of his adult life as Albert D.J. Cashier. Albert served in the 95th Illinois Infantry Regiment. The 95th was was part of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Ulysses S. Grant. The 95th engaged in many fierce battles including including the siege at Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign and the combat at Guntown, Mississippi.After the Civil War, Albert worked as a janitor, a lamplighter, and other odd jobs. It was not until a car accident that 1910, was revealed Albert was female bodied. His caretakers kept his secret, even when he was admitted into the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, Illinois. It wasn't until he was admitted to Watertown State Hospital for the Insane, that the secret became widely known.
You can read a wonderful biography of him here.
Even a cursory look at his life suggests that he was transgender. The evidence:
1. He volunteered on August 6, 1862 in Boone County. When his regiment was retired in 1865, they were in Belvidere, Illinois. He could have stayed in his home town of Bevidere, if he wished to return to life as a woman. Yet he moved 138 miles southeast of Boone County, to Saunemin, IL and continued to live as a man.
2. It might be argued that he did not live as a woman because he wanted the pension that came with service. But to receive the pension Albert would have been required to take a physical exam. He refused until later in life, when he was assured that his secret would not be made public.
3. At the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane, he had NOTHING to gain from living as a man. Yet even then when forced to wear a skirt he would bring the skirt in with pins to make the skirt into pants.
4. Albert secured his home with a number of locks, changing them frequently in case someone had somehow gotten a key. If he was going to be away from his house, he nailed the windows shut. Why? Being female bodied, there would be some evidence in his home of this.
Albert D.J. Cashier went to great lengths to protect his gender identity all his life. Even in death, he was gendered male. Those who knew and loved him went to great pains to keep his secret.
Rest in peace, my brother.
Japan: Weekend Beat: When you're the boss, you can be yourself
BY MAYUMI SAITO, STAFF WRITER
Nel Kisaragi smiled as she handed over her business card. Slender and fair-skinned, she is the president of Newgauge Inc., an IT marketing and system-consulting company with a dual mission: to make a profit and to improve the lives of members of the transgender community.
Kisaragi, a man until she adopted her female identity two years ago, is now in her late 20s. She started Newgauge in September 2005 with two other transgender executives. Among the company's 17-member staff, seven are male transsexuals.
The name Newgauge was chosen to convey the idea that new social standards or gauges are needed to enable society to better understand and accept differing sexual identities. Newgauge intends to establish itself, Kisaragi says, as a gender-free corporation competing in the computer and mobile-phone marketplace.
Workplace prejudice
The transgender community still encounters prejudice, especially in employment. "I've had many friends who say their only options were night jobs (bartending or working as hosts in transgender bars)," she says.
Gender-identity disorder (GID), a condition in which an individual has been assigned one gender, usually on the basis of their sex at birth, but identifies as belonging to another gender is now widely accepted.
In 2003, a law was enacted that allowed a change in gender registration, with certain restrictions, in family registries. However full acceptance in the workplace is still a long way off.
"In Japan, onee-man (literally sister-man) is in style, part of a fad in the fashion, beauty and entertainment industries. But you don't see them as bank tellers or stockbrokers," Kisaragi says.
Kisaragi explains that even if transgender individuals change their biological sex and gender in the family registry, many, by society's standards, don't look "right" for the target gender.
She says conservative employers are often concerned about how clients will react to transgender workers or fret about the use of restrooms.
"There are many bright people among the transgendered. They should be given more opportunities. Our company can demonstrate their potential in the IT field," Kisaragi says. Newgauge plans, designs and manages Web and mobile sites. It also does blog marketing, system consulting, production publicity and dispatches IT specialists to client firms.
She says a stereotype held by many young Japanese women--that transsexuals possess a heightened sense of beauty--works in her company's favor. Newgauge targets young women, she says, explaining that female consumers are big Internet shoppers, especially in the mobile-phone market. . . .
How Immigration Crackdown Policy Affects Transgender Community
By ILENE JONES, on Friday, 10 August 2007 |
These "No-Match" letters told the company that they had 60 days to fix this information or have the employee update their information. This previously caused transgender employees to be outted at their workplace. A new policy going into effect will require companies to fire employees if they do not fix the information within 90 days. If this policy goes into effect, there will be a lot of unemployed transgender individuals. I've actually received a notice from my employer a few months ago regarding one of these letters from the SSA. I'm definitely seeing this issue popping up again for me in the near future. . . .
Transcript, from CNN.com: Larry King Live. . .
Aired August 10, 2007 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, having surgery to change their sex. Men becoming women, women becoming men, a dad turned mom here with her sons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She took away our father, but in return she gave me another parent, a better parent. Our love is unconditional.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: An 18-year-old in transition from male to female aiming to be the first transgender Victoria's Secret model. A former city manager named Steve who was fired after announcing his plan to change genders. He's here now as Susan. They are all next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Good evening. Tonight's show takes on the topic of gender reassignment surgery and the people who have had it. They are born one gender but emotionally they feel more like the opposite sex, so at some point in their lives they embark on a long, tough journey to physically change themselves into the person they feel like most rather than the person they were born as.
We begin with the amazing story of Jessica Lam, born a man, went on to marry, father children, eventually underwent gender reassignment surgery. Let's take a look at part of her story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA LAM, FORMER MAN: When I was little, I used to wish that I could like get up and put on a skirt. Like I was this little boy who wanted to be a girl and now that I can get up, go grab me a skirt and wear it to work, guess what I'm wearing? A pair of jeans.
It's not what the world around me would say was normal, you know. I hate having to say that, normal, and I don't have to go around like telling people that, you know. I shouldn't have to. Just accept me. I'll take care of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technically pizza is healthy because it's got meat and if you want can you have fruits and vegetables.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm upset that she took away our father but in return she gave me another parent, a better parent for me. JESSICA LAM: Some in my family did not agree with my decision, you know. They were uncomfortable with it and some of them are still uncomfortable with it, but they are willing to accept me.
Chris, you want to say grace then.
And our love is unconditional. . . .
Saturday, August 11, 2007
A Family Doctor's Journey From Man to Woman
And what it means for his family of patients.
 In 1988, Dr. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton opened Davis Square Family Practice in Somerville and sent out this letter to attract patients. The practice grew quickly. (Globe Photo / Christopher Churchill) |
The following is an excerpt of a story coming in Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine.
On May 22, 2006, Mike Foster was sitting on the padded exam table in his doctor's office, undergoing his annual physical. It was a familiar place. For 14 years, he'd been coming to see the same doctor in the same Somerville office a few blocks from the same two-family home that had been in Foster's family for four generations. And it was a comfortable place. Despite having to wear a hospital johnny that stretched to cover his 6-foot-7 frame, Foster felt at ease, because of the doctor sitting across from him. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton, a soft-spoken, bald, middle-aged family physician a foot shorter than Foster, always managed to convey competence and caring at the same time.
Foster, who managed truck sales for a local Chevy dealership, looked younger than his 52 years, with his full head of light-brown hair just beginning to admit some gray. But his body, which had served him well during his days playing basketball for Somerville High School, was definitely showing its miles. Bad knees, bone spurs in his heels, a blood clot in his leg, and a back so bad it required triple fusion spinal surgery. Throughout it all, Dr. Berkowitz-Shelton had been his source of stability, coordinating care with other specialists.
There was something else that made his doctor special. During visits, he always reserved ample time to talk about Foster's personal life, about his children, his marriage, his work, his level of happiness. They found that despite their different backgrounds, they had a lot in common: Both were 52-year-old, hard-working men devoted to their wives of 25 years and their college-age kids.
"He was a friend, a confidant," Foster says. "I felt I could talk to him about anything."
But as this exam was winding down, it was the doctor who chose to do the confiding. Peering over the glasses resting on the tip of his nose, he told Foster there was going to be a major change in the practice in about a month. A letter would soon be going out to all his patients, but he wanted to give Foster advance notice.
From the seriousness in his doctor's voice, Foster sensed he was about to tell him he was moving to California or retiring early or leaving medicine. He had built up so much trust in the guy that he dreaded the prospect of losing him.
"I'm going to be transitioning to live my life as a woman," the doctor said.
Foster was floored. He stared at Berkowitz-Shelton, and for the first time noticed that he was not just cleanshaven but now appeared to be devoid of facial hair. This was no joke. Foster struggled to come up with an appropriate response. But his first thought was how some of the tougher townies he grew up with in Somerville might have responded had they been sitting on the exam table, wearing the johnny. Would they have just punched him in the nose? Foster put that thought aside and said, "That's interesting. How are your peers taking the news?" Continued...
India: Another eunuch undergoes sex change surgery
Hospital Dean Dr S Manivel told newspersons here yesterday that the surgery was performed on Bhanumathi successfully and her health condition was normal.
Simran was recovering well after the successful surgery, he added. The Tamil Nadu Government had announced that such surgeries would be performed on eunuchs free of cost to enable their entry into the mainstream of society and save them from social ostracisation.
The hospital had received as many as 12 applications for the surgery. Of them, eight were shortlisted as the remaining four tested positive for HIV. The others would come under the scalpel in phases.
You can't keep your cross-dressing in the closet
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
August 9, 2007 at 8:55 AM EDT
Group Therapy is a weekly relationship-based advice column that allows readers to contribute their wisdom. Each week, we'll offer up a problem for you to weigh in on, and then publish the most lively responses, with a final word on the matter delivered by our columnist, Claudia Dey.
The question
A reader writes: My wife and I have been married for a long time. Recently, I started acting on long-standing fantasies I've had about dressing as a woman. I keep it private. I'm not dating other people, nor have I gotten involved in a relationship with anyone while dressed as a woman. Regardless, I'm quite certain my wife would leave me in 10 seconds if she found out. But I hate keeping a secret from her. What's the best way to deal with a problem like this?
BE BRAVE, TALK IT OUT
This is a problem for you as an individual, because dressing as a woman seems to be important as an expression of your deep self. I applaud your courage in acting on your long-held desires. But it is also a problem for your marriage.
I believe you, but don't know why you think your wife would leave you "in 10 seconds" if she found out. Is it lack of tolerance on her part? That's something you could probably talk about with her, especially if you can talk it out over time. But that would mean keeping a secret from her for a long time, which would also not be good for your relationship.
I suggest you get some support from a counsellor who is familiar with transvestism. And if your wife's feelings are based on religious beliefs, see if you can find counselling that is knowledgeable about and sensitive to her religion.
You've already found your courage; now hold on to your patience, your compassion and your love for your wife. Good luck!
- Elise Moser, Montreal
KEEP THIS TO YOURSELF
Why do you hate keeping this a secret?
I can understand your guilt if your fantasy is not simply to dress as a woman, but to engage in a relationship while dressed as one. However, if your fantasy is simply to dress as a woman, I don't see what the issue is. You are being fulfilled, your wife isn't being hurt, and your relationship continues along its merry way. . . .
Friday, August 10, 2007
eFeminate Introduction
Compare Natalie's experience and process with that of a transgender person.
eFeminate is a blog about me, Natalie: 
Come with me on my journey as my body becomes feminine, and I face the challenges of female puberty in my adulthood. I’m completely candid and open about my experiences - there is simply not enough on the web about XY females for me to reserve myself. Let me be a force of learning in a world that doesn’t think people like me exist. There must be a place for the two-spirits of the world.
Where do you start? Try my Introduction. Alternatively, you can learn more about my condition here.
UK: Review of Cairn Hotel
“My weekend with the Transvestite/Transgender Congress”
By Joseph Smith
Okay, imagine this. You're in an area where there are many hotels and many more people who need hotel rooms.
It's the season for English holidays (vacations for those of you who haven't read or watched movies) and that equates to the season where lots of English hotels are full.
Here I am, on my own for the weekend to fend for myself in a foreign land. It's Thursday and I don't have a place to stay yet. I've called several places and no one seems to have any room at the Inn...
So imagine my surprise when a fairly nice hotel in Harrogate says that they can accommodate me for the weekend. Beautiful!
As with most hotels, the Cairn offers breakfast as part of the cost of the room. The breakfast buffet consists of scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms, stewed tomatoes, English bacon, fried eggs, baked beans, potato dumplings, toast, coffee or tea, sausage (herb and Leek or Cumberland), fruit juice (orange, apple, grapefruit).... They call it a "Full English Breakfast." Enough food even for a large, hungry American.
There I was, finishing up my breakfast when it starts to slowly register in my mind that most of the English ladies I'd seen walking in had been extraordinarily... Well, not nice looking. Once that goes from subconscious to conscious, I begin to notice that these ladies are also seriously tall for women. That's followed shortly by the fact that some of the ladies seem to be wearing wigs and still others seemed like they probably should have shaved a little more carefully.....
This is England. There are some cultural differences between our countries. Could be that this was some sort of strange men's club that required it's members to dress up as women and go to breakfast at a local restaurant. I mean, we have "The Hawgs," Washington Redskin fans who dress up as pigs in women's clothing and go to all the Redskin home games. Then they resume their normal lives the following day.
Okay, I'm very "live and let live." I'm very secure in my own sexuality and I figure everyone elses sexuality is their own affair. But wading through 60 or 70 extremely well-dressed (I'm talking pearls, silk dresses, furs, and some lovely perfumes...) "ladies" is a little odd. Following dinner, I felt like I needed to find out what was going on.
Me: "Um, can I ask you a question?"
Hotel Employee: "Certainly sir."
"The, um... Ladies in the other room...?"
"Yes?"
"Uhh... I don't want to be rude, but what's going on?"
That's when I found out that I was there during the Transvestite and Transgender Congress. Apparently an annual event hosted by the Cairn Hotel. . . .
A big year on the small screen
An Advocate.com exclusive posted August 8, 2007
|
Last year, for the first time, we saw transgender characters in recurring roles on popular television programs, as opposed to one-episode, single-season cameos. In prime time, viewers of the popular ABC sitcom Ugly Betty saw the return of Alex Meade as Alexis (played by actress Rebecca Romijn). And during the day, viewers of ABC’s long-running soap All My Children witnessed Zoe (played by actor Jeffrey Carlson) deal with her transition to female.
ABC was very careful to seek the guidance of media watchdog GLAAD about Zoe’s character and chose to cast a male actor for the role, resulting in a very realistic and perhaps even overly sensitive portrayal. And while Ugly Betty’s story line does not lend itself to educating the public about transgenderism, Alexis has managed to avoid many of the stereotypes and sensationalism that have characterized transgender roles in the past.
I suppose we can forgive the casting of the gorgeous Romijn as Hollywood’s idea of a trans woman, in much the same way we still watch The L Word in spite of its slick L.A. lesbian chic. And I have to admit I had fun imagining myself in Zoe’s place as she fell in love with the very cute Bianca (played by actress Eden Riegel), the lesbian character known for participating in the first romantic kiss between two women on a daytime soap opera (All My Children in 2003).
Previously, the closest we had come to a recurring transgender character was on the CBS show The Education of Max Bickford in 2001. Actress Helen Shaver (of Desert Hearts fame) played Erica Bettis, a 40-something professor at an all-female college who had just returned to work after her sex-reassignment surgery. While Shaver played the part very realistically and her character dealt sensitively with some real-life transgender issues, Erica quietly disappeared from the show after only a few episodes. Some say that was the beginning of the end for the series, which was canceled only a few weeks later.
Of course, all of these television transgender roles have been played by nontransgender actors and actresses. But here we have a milestone too. This season saw trans woman and actress Candis Cayne as a murder victim in the episode "The Lying Game" on the hit CBS series CSI: New York. Her role, too, was a step up for the whole CSI series, in which transgender characters central to the plot have previously appeared only as murderers—Paul Millander in 2002 and Dr. Lavalle in 2004—although it’s true that some transgender people did have ancillary noncriminal roles in that 2004 episode.
In spite of that progress, CSI still has a long way to go. Cayne’s character was a confusion of transgender types. She clearly presented as a woman and yet was shown using the men’s room, probably because the writers thought that’s what we do when we have not had sex-reassignment surgery. Even though there was nothing about her character that felt like a gay man in drag, the murderer responded with the “ick factor” over the thought that he kissed a “guy,” offending many LGBT viewers in the process. And when the victim’s body was discovered, the detective declared that “Jane Doe is actually a John,” as if all transgender people are involved in sex work. Even the episode’s title was a slur against trans people who have not had surgery.
On the serious side, there was a huge milestone achieved this past season thanks to the ABC newsmagazine 20/20. Barbara Walters devoted an entire program to an informed and sensitive look at the issues of transgender children. For many viewers, it was their first exposure to trans kids and—more significant—an introduction to amazing parents who understand and do not reject their child’s gender non-conformance. ABC further posted additional helpful information on its Web site, including a comprehensive list of resources for parents.
But as good as that 20/20 episode was, this past season also included one of the worst televised documentaries in recent memory. MSNBC’s Born in the Wrong Body set a new low for the portrayal of transgender women. Virtually every camera shot seemed to be of a trans woman putting on lipstick or pantyhose, as if that’s the overriding reason someone would transition to female. This is yet another example of the sexism we trans women are subjected to, as I wrote about in my last column.
It’s too bad, because that documentary also featured some very insightful and useful segments from an interview with Simon Aranoff, deputy director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Speaking of Simon, his Trans Media Watch blog highlights another problem we had last season—the f word. No, not the one you were thinking of. Transgender people have an additional f word—freak. Radio talk show host Michael Savage used it in reference to murder victim Ruby Ordenana, as if transgenderism justified her murder. OK, so Savage’s show is not on TV, but his rant did make nightly news broadcasts. . . .
