Another week, another set of Media Trans Sensations. In the USA it's Bruce Jenner, over here it's more froth from the ever-self-publicising Paris Lees. Jenner has come out in a media frenzy to publicise the inevitable TV series about his (he has for the moment retained the male pronoun) transition, while Lees is further ensconsed in her role as the UK media's Pet Transgender Person.
The general public now knows all about transition y'see. It's a sanitised version in which there are no impediments on your way to any treatment, nobody suffers any consequences, nobody has depression, and of course you come out of it looking like a dolly-bird. It seems now that the media can no longer pick on us they are choosing to smother us in Human Interest.
A week ago an inquest was held into the death of a transgender person who had been hit by a train last November. You might have heard of her: the Scrabble champion Mikki Nicholson.
Mikki committed suicide after suffering much public harassment for being transgender. Her case is sadly nothing unusual, I am sure readers will be aware of many others.
So I'm afraid that Jenner, Lees, Maloney et al are tainted for me. The media who are patting themselves on the back for being so inclusive and sensitive have blood on their hands. They are the same scum who fomented an atmosphere in which it was acceptable to push people like Lucy Meadowes and Mikki Nicholson to suicide, and now they're acting as though none of that happened and they're the Transgender Person's Best friend.
Screw 'em I say, and screw anyone whose desire for self-publicity is so strong they're prepared to forget all that and get into bed with them. They don't speak for me, and never will.
True, true... all true.
ReplyDeletePlay devil's advocate Halle... go ahead you know you want to....
It is right for those of us who have lived with this, or even for those who have loved us and done their homework to know and be angry that the media have a job to do, and that is to pay for their existence, so they do all they can to make sure lots of people make that advertising pay off for their clients. If they inform the public, that is also tainted, for they have an agenda and it isn't always just to make their advertisers happy.
The worst part for me is not all this sordid business, it is the fact that most people who need to have some understanding (any understanding at all) of what being transsexual is will not get it any other way.
We need the media to start the process of ending the ignorance. Make people ask the questions of the people who actually know what is going on. That is us. It is our turn to answer the questions and be in the spotlight. It scares me. Yet, how else will that time arrive when you and I and all those millions of our brothers and sisters will be able to get on with their lives free from ridicule?
As I have just commented elsewhere, what we need is not an "icon" just a simple acceptance hat "we" are everywhere, we are not all media stars or dolly birds, we are gardeners, plumbers, IT workers, musicians, potters and parents. If a little more public exposure will allow more of us to simply get on with our lives in peace, then maybe it is a good thing. Unfortunately the media do not love a Good News Story, so expect the back lash.
ReplyDeleteIt was the juxtaposition of Jenner and Lees against the Mikki Nicholson story that made me see red.
ReplyDeleteIt is though very true that things have got a lot better. Due in no small part in the UK to the work of Trans Media Watch who have done a very effective job of closing down some avenues through which we were abused.