There’s a high risk if you live in an area with protections and are trans.
There’s a high risk if you self report a disability.
Yet I’m out at work as trans - and many just don’t have the option of not being out.
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It’s been a while since we’ve seen @AndreaJames — their last post was 7mon ago.
Welcome back!
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As a fun side note, you should know that the CW superhero programming you dig - with televised LGBTQ representation shown among people who fight for truth, justice and the American way – now exists mostly to prop up Sinclair news stations with programming between their CEO-mandated, mandatory, mus-read right wing propaganda announcements masquerading as news. (http://sbgi.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Sinclair-CW-Affiliation.pdf) So, in other words, while you’re enjoying a trans fictional superhero who works at a fictional media conglomerate, you’re helping fill the pockets of a real media conglomerate that hates real trans people.
have fun reconciling the contradictions,
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We’re still on TV in a positive light, so fuck 'em.
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You’re still paying them money to watch fiction programming so they can put up news programming that doesn’t portray you in a positive light, so I don’t think that’s a win. But of course, we see what we want to and appreciate what we want to as well. But again, I can’t help but see a disconnect between the 8:00 programming showing me a trans superhero and the 11:00 news supporting excluding trans people from the military.
(Edit – Didn’t see you, Tamsin, are from the UK, so all apologies – you don’t have Sinclair broadcasting, but they are using CW stuff as air-filler between horribly biased Right-wing ‘news.’
Except every single positive portrayal is a step further to people realising that trans people are of worth and that the news portrayal of them is biased.
For example, a trans kid that grows up with a trans superhero on TV has a much better chance of being accepted by society as a whole if it becomes mainstream and normal to see that kind of portrayal.
It’s a long game, but if you see it as the network doing the work you don’t have to, it makes it easier; the bigots are undermining themselves.
We’re damn sure not going away, and we’ll claim and celebrate every little victory as they come.
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Some of us come at them via pirate internet, armed with a VPN, with the express purpose of not paying for the dross.
And in case there’s going to be a “what about the production crew’s livelihood?” caveat, productions that air have already been paid out, albeit in a skin-flinty, exploitative, overworked manner.
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And that’s incredibly important; positive representation helps us see the humanity in everyone, even people who are completely different from ourselves.
Speaking of, the new season of Pose is excellent so far:
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I’ve been heartened to see the increase in trans visibility in media lately, especially since there are more trans people portraying trans people on TV. It’s a huge positive step. I just hope that some people (not you, obvs) don’t see that, and think “well, that’s enough! they have a whole TV show, that’s enough, we don’t have to do more.” Considering that violence against trans folks is still such a problem, we absolutely need to not assume that it’s enough.
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There’s always more to be done.
Effecting real equality and societal progress is a continuous, ongoing struggle.
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Yep. That said, folks—even well-meaning folks—can fuck up representing transgender hardcore. Like the number of times I have seen:
Are you (pick one):
- Male
- Female
- Transgender
So fucked up. For the folks who aren’t savvy as to why (there’s actually layers of why, but let me set it down for you sharply) see if you can spot the hostility in the following:
Are you (pick one):
- Male
- Female
- Lesbian
Or perhaps this: Are you (pick one):
- Male
- Female
- Jewish
NEWSFLASH! Transgender folks are male and female (and intersex).
THIS JUST IN! Transgender folks are men/masculine, women/feminine, and various and sundry forms of fluid or non-binary. Just like cisgender folks!
If you have need of representing transgender/cisgender here’s what ya do:
Are you (pick one):
- Transgender
- Cisgender
That’s a separate question from gender (e.g. Man/Woman/Agender/Nonbinary).
And it’s a separate question from sex (Male, Female, Intersex).
Carry on!
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Not to mention the box that should say, “I really don’t understand how this is connected to the service you are offering me and while I do understand the value of people collecting statistics in some circumstances, could you please just let me sign up for my email account without worrying about how I identify my gender?”
I once took five minutes doing a phone survey (I love to answer phone surveys) and then at the end they were like, “I have some question for statistical purposes” and one was whether I was male or female. And I said I wasn’t really sure. After a little confusion they basically told me they couldn’t use my results if I didn’t answer and I said I guess they couldn’t use my results. I left feeling like, “I was doing you a favour and you’re making these demands?”
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I appreciate the sentiment, and there are times when it I personally feel it is appropriate.
At the same time you cannot successfully fight institutionalized discrimination without collecting data about the categories by which people are discriminated against. So, for example, collecting race/ethnicity data on individuals applying for housing loans, or purchasing housing is a critical component of fighting redlining. Institutionalized transphobia will be more successfully fought when we can justly and accurately account for who is excluding transgender folks.
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Yes, I don’t want to undercut the fact that we need information to combat bigotry. I just get frustrated because a lot of the time there just isn’t any reason for it. They don’t want to know whether I’m a man or a woman (and I can’t be anything else) because they want to root bias out of their system, they want to know to decide whether to send me ads for makeup or chainsaws.
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Seems like an untapped market to me.
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That kid seems to be saying chainsaws…
But lipstick chainsaws is a bad idea, OK? Both, cool, but not at once.
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Pink chainsaws. 
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Chainsaws that apply makeup? Not sure that’s a good idea.
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