Cultural representations of transgenderists as seen through multiple media

The binary gender system of western industrial and post-industrial societies interprets the body as a predictor of who the person will be and therefore predicts what set of gender norms that person will enact during the course of their lifetime. For transgendered individuals, however, the body often announces a self that does not exist within the traditional and socially acceptable system of masculine males and feminine females (Gagne & Tewksbury, 1998, p. 99). “Transgender” is a term that encompasses the range of individuals who express gender in ways that deviate from the traditional male/female and masculine/feminine binaries (Gagne & Tewksbury, 1998, p.81). The term transgender includes pre-operative, post-operative, and non-operative transsexuals, cross-dressers and others who challenge the typical dyad of male/female.

Research on transgendered individuals has historically come from medical, psychiatric, or deviance perspectives with little cultural or academic attention to the social context in which these individuals exist. Also excluded from consideration have been transgender efforts to resist normative expectations and definitions of sex and gender and what that implies for the pre-existing gender binary at work in most western cultures today (Gagne & Tewksbury, 1998, p. 81). The fact that transgendered individuals face exclusion and alienation from not only the mainstream “straight” culture but also gay culture sets them apart from most other minorities. They are told on personal, organizational, and institutional levels that they do not belong anywhere, and are left to deal with this exclusion intellectually, emotionally, legally and economically. It is clear from personal narratives and from academic literature that it is necessary for anyone working in the social services to possess knowledge surrounding the issues facing transgendered people.

The influx of “controversial” films showcased during this year’s Academy Awards included “Transamerica,” which centered around a male to female transsexual’s budding relationship with her estranged son. Felicity Huffman, who starred in the film, won a Golden Globe for her representation of Bree, a pre-operative transsexual. Though in many ways this film was a groundbreaking portrayal of a group that is often marginalized and misrepresented, “Transamerica” still conformed to typical notions of the nuclear family and the masculine/feminine divide. For example, Bree embodies stereotypical characteristics of women such as gentility, kindness, and a nurturing personality. By the end of the film, after her son has come to terms with Bree’s past and identity, and has accepted that Bree is actually his biological father, it is clear that the two of them will carry their relationship out as mother and son. Some critics were disappointed in “Transamerica” for not putting more pressure on those pre-existing notions and for allowing their characters to fall into the same gender norms as the heteronormative majority. However, by doing so the director Duncan Tucker drew in an audience that may have felt alienated by a more norm-challenging film and thus brought a subversive topic into the mainstream. Now that transgenderism has more officially entered into the public realm, crowds who otherwise would have ignored the topic will consider more television programs, films and books that face it.

One television program that gathered a cult following recently was “Transgeneration,” a reality show that followed four transgendered college students through a year of school. Over the course of the season, viewers watched as the two male to female and two female to male transgenderists fought their way through institutionalized discrimination, feelings of shame and guilt, financial problems concerning their hormone treatments and/or sexual reassignment surgery (SRS), and all of the other problems facing students in universities today. Though the show, which aired on the independent channel Sundance, did not bring in large numbers of viewers, it has proven to be a vitally important part of the cultural zeitgeist surrounding this issue. Perhaps because the show focused on a younger set of people, and thus drew in a younger audience than “Transamerica,” it was braver and more honest in its subject matter than the film. One of the students, an Iranian female to male transgenderist, was forced by familial and cultural values to change back to her biological sex. Still, the over-arching tone of the show was one of hope and progress; T.J. was the only student who did not end the show having been accepted by their family and community.

In a different medium, a David La Chappelle advertisement for M.A.C. cosmetics showcased Amanda Lepore’s naked, dancing body. Lepore, a world famous transsexual who has become a cult pop figure, begins the ad by walking into a warmly lit room, wearing nothing but stiletto heels, and starts to slowly apply the bubblegum pink lipstick on her bulbous lips. Her body, which appears to be fashioned from Barbie doll plastic, is indistinguishable from the women who can be currently seen in men’s magazines: her breasts are solid and immobile; her waist is tucked in to create an hourglass; her skin has obviously been tanned by bulbs and is completely hairless. At first, the scene embodies the kind of sexuality found in pornography; Lepore moans as she circles her lips with the tip of the lipstick. Gradually, the circling becomes more and more furious as the tempo of the music increases and her face morphs into that of a clown. Soon she is smearing the lipstick all over her face frantically, almost angrily, and then all over her body. The contrast of these images with an open mouth full of sparkling diamonds and the faces of lingerie models drives La Chappelle’s point even further –the cultural conception of sexuality is a purchasable product. Lepore is being portrayed as the sum of her body parts, but when compared with the other commodities bought in order to become more beautiful, more sexual, no difference exists.

Obviously La Chappelle’s video, which was only passed around on websites such as YouTube and never aired commercially, appeals to a different audience than either “Transamerica” or “Transgeneration.” The fact that Lepore was born a man increases, if not wholly constitutes, her appeal. But though her flamboyant personality may increase her visibility (she hosts a weekly party at the New York club Happy Valley, had a now rare and very expensive line of Swatch watches designed with her image as the face, and has made recent appearances on talk shows such as “The Tyra Banks Show”), she rarely uses it to speak about transgenderism. It seems as though she is halfway conforming to a stereotype that used to apply only to what was deemed “drag queens” and could be seen in films such as “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.” In fact, her appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show” coincided with “Drag Queen Makeover” day. On the other hand however, Lepore is creating an entirely new stereotype that belongs to all transsexuals, not just “drag queens.”

Transgenderists are seemingly more able now than ever before to come public with their personal stories. Two such books that were recently released, Jennifer Finney Boylan’s She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders and Leslie Feinberg’s book Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman both detail their own experiences as transgenderists. This medium, unlike the very editorial works of Duncan Tucker and David La Chappelle, is the most straightforward way to convey the truth of being a transgendered person in America. While the other examples either sugar coat the experiences in order to gain more viewers or take one culturally relevant aspect of transgenderism and manipulate it artistically, these first-hand accounts are the most accurate and the most helpful in terms of grasping the multi-tiered discrimination that transgenderists face. However, neither one of those books is marketed toward a broad, public population and is thus incapable of changing the wider culture’s understanding of transgenderists.

The only piece of the portfolio that dealt directly with workplace discrimination as it affects transgenderists, which was the original focus of this semester’s research, is article from the New York Metro on Wednesday, March 1st. The article, “MTA’s gender bender: Transsexual Verizon worker says transit cops harassed her repeatedly,” states that Helena Stone, a male to female transsexual, fears using the public restroom near her office because of repeated harassment from policemen in the area. This type of harassment falls into what Ziva Kunda and Lisa Sinclair (1999) describe in their article “Motivated reasoning with stereotypes: Activation, application and inhibition.” They believe that most stereotyping and discrimination is motivated in order to maintain the desired hierarchy of the person belonging to the majority, or “in” group. Cleary, this is not an example of what Barbara Reskin (2000) defines as “automatic discrimination,” whereby the perpetrator of discrimination is acting merely on the innate human impulse to categorize objects into groups. She admits in her article “The proximate causes of employment discrimination” that though she sees automatic discrimination as the most prevalent form of discrimination because it is not overt or conscious, motivated discrimination still occurs. Ms. Stone’s experience is an example of calculated, motivated discrimination and should be dealt with legally. The article reports that Ms. Stone is in fact taking legal action against MTA through the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Though discrimination, misrepresentation and misrecognition are still inescapable facts of life for transgenderists living in America, there has been a recent influx of attention paid to this group of people. Through films, television shows, first-hand accounts, and artistic mediums, transgendered people are more culturally visible than ever before. Not only is the quantity of public representations of transgenderists increasing, the conceptualizations of their experiences is widely varying, allowing for many different sectors of the population to be exposed to their struggles. “Transamerica,” though disappointing on some levels, did generate interest and conversation in a topic that had previously been ignored by feature films and their audiences. “Transgeneration,” which appealed to a younger audience, did push the heteronormative boundaries more than “Transamerica,” which hopefully shows that progress is being made. The generation currently attending college begins their adult life with YouTube and Amanda Lepore advertisements, with Felicity Huffman’s poignant acceptance speech, with “Transgeneration” on cable, with Alexis Arquette on the popular reality show “The Surreal Life,” and with countless books and articles on the experiences of transgendered individuals. Though it is impossible to dictate how these influences will affect the next generation’s developmental life course perspective, one can only hope that with the passage of time and a broader understanding of this extremely marginalized group, their voices and experiences will be heard and considered in society.


References
Abrego, C. & Alvarez, L. (2006). The Surreal Life. Los Angeles: VH1.

Bastian, R. & Tucker, D. (2005). Transamerica. United States: IFC Films.

Boylan, J.F. (2003). She’s not there: A life in two genders. New York: Broadway Books.

Feinberg, L. (1996). Transgender warriors: Making history from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. Boston: Beacon Press.

Gagne, P. & Tewksbury, R. (1998). Conformity pressures and gender resistance among transgendered individuals. Social Problems, 45(1), 81-101.

Krieger, L. (1995). Content of our categories: A cognitive bias approach to discrimination and equal employment opportunities. Stanford Law Review, 47(6), 1161-1248.

Kunda, Z. & Sinclair, L. (1999). Motivated reasoning with stereotypes: Activation, application, and inhibition. Psychological Inquiry, 10(1), 12-22.

Leonardo, M. & Campell, B. (2006, March 17). Drag queen makeovers. In K. Applegate & T. Banks, The Tyra Banks Show. Los Angeles: Warner Brothers.

Miller, R.M. (2006, March 1). MTA’s gender bender: Transsexual Verizon worker says transit cops harassed her repeatedly. Metro.

Peter and the Pansexuals. Retrieved April 25, 2006 from www.pansexuals.com/

Reskin, B. (2000). The proximate causes of employment discrimination. Contemporary Sociology, 29 (2), 319-328.

Simmons, J. (2005). Transgeneration. Sundance Channel.

Visco, G. (2006, March 22). Man? Or Woman? You decide. New York Press, 19,
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Youtube. Retrieved April 24, 2006 from http://youtube.com/watch?v=2nzGhEGiTbA&search=amanda%20lepore%20/