I think it helps put things in perspective. I think that the point that Richards is making is that the mass media can have the effect of reinforcing the idea that transwomen aren’t real women by having men play those roles. And if someone doesn’t know any transpeople in their day to day life, that’s their primary mode of understanding transpeople. Representation matters, I think, because it’s a powerful way to shape our perceptions of people we may not encounter in daily life.
Note too, the rate of violence against transwomen of color, which is particularly high.
Richards was not saying (as I understand) that gender being seen as either performative or a fixed identity was killing people. People don’t attack somebody because “that’s an identity, and identity sucks”, they do so typically because groups cultivate disrespect for certain kinds of people. Reactionaries have trouble defining themselves, so they look for groups to blame and define themselves against.
It is a deep problem, because violence against transgender people is based upon other already existing forms of oppression. Transwomen are confronted with bigotry against women and against homosexuals. The latter can go either way, because some will see them as gay if they like men, and others will see them as gay if they like women. Nevermind amplifying this effect my compounding it with other forms of bigotry they might encounter, such as based upon their race, age, class, politics, and other factors.
Wait, are you worried that she wants culture to change and is attempting to do so? Or are you worried that she may succeed?
I’m not implying you have a bias against her, that’s not it, I really am confused about this because, well, culture changes all the time, and it changes because people push it to change, what’s so special about this push? People will accept it or they won’t.
I mean, I don’t agree that casting the wrong person in a role = Death. No more than I grant that the butterfly effect is so predictable that we need chase all butterflies away from central park lest we be responsible for hurricanes in china.
That’s an excellent point about the separate “best actor/best actress” awards. Say you have two actors up for similar rolls portraying trans women. One is a man, and the other a trans women. Do they compete for the same award? Is one eligible for best supporting actor, and the other best supporting actress? Are they both lumped into best supporting actor based on some arbitrary test, like they are athletes, with all the problems that has? Does it matter if the character’s status as a trans woman is a ‘surprise’, like in ‘the crying game?’
I don’t really pretend the answer to know the answer to any of these questions, other than “ick, no” to the one about gender testing as for athletes.
I can see where you’re coming from, but I don’t read it that way, She makes an argument as to why, in this specific case, “Cis men playing trans women leads to death.”
I don’t agree with her reasoning so I remain unconvinced, however you seem to disagree with how impractical the suggestion is when, if you accept the argument, then the solution is valid no matter how impractical.
Mya Taylor should have been nominated for an Oscar for Tangerine last year (note that at the same time Eddie Redmayne got nominated for playing Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, a year after winning for playing Stephen Hawking).
I have no issue with any of that. Skin color is something you can see whereas sexuality is not so it seems like a qualitative difference.
Equality of opportunity is a distinct issue. Whether trans actors are cast in trans roles is only half of that question. They should also have equal opportunity for being cast in non-trans roles, assuming they are actors and not just movie stars. Looking only at the former is not really a measure of that.
I don’t even know what “fair representation” means let alone how to measure it. But I’m pretty sure griping about not getting a part is not what that means. A casting director is unlikely to turn you down solely because of your gender preference, especially for a role involving gender differences.
I only watched the first season so far, but at least the part I saw didn’t involve his character undergoing any surgical transition or major hormone treatments (though that might have happened later?). At least half of the main character’s scenes are flashbacks to time when she was living as a man.
“Imagine a trans woman playing a trans woman in a major film in the 1990s directed by that radical, Clint Eastwood. Couldn’t they have found a man to play her in the film? The Lady Chablis, RIP, you left us too soon but you made the world a better, more fun and classier place.” Gina Morvay
