Some really interesting stuff coming up in this topic o:
In regards to Max on the L word, it was horrendous I agree. And more frustrating to me, is the fact that the actor who played him, Daniela Sea, is very active in the community, in regards to genderqueer and transgender rights, and is pretty genderfluid herself (though she doesn't identify as any gender she still uses female pronouns, and has lived portions of her life as a man, and others as a woman). I don't know what kind of politics happened behind the scenes, and I know Daniela admitted to disappointment with the story arc regarding Max once the show was done, but to me that just says they had someone obviously somewhat more aware of this community right on set with them, so even though ignorance wasn't an excuse before, it's even moreso not an excuse with that information. Considering Daniela's activity, I would be hard pressed to think she didn't mention something about it. If she didn't then well that sucks of her, if she did and they ignored her then... wow. Wtf. Obviously I don't know what anything was like in that situation, but it still makes me wonder.
As for the whole stealth business, I've thought about that a lot myself. I can respect people's decisions to be stealth, but I remember on a thread posted on here somewhere, some of the epic amounts of hesitance I saw in people about posting anything online. I realize there are dangers doing this, to those who wish to be stealth especially, opening yourself up to such a widespread audience, but to me the internet is the swiftest way to reach tons of people. I have a pretty large following through my artwork, and the company I work for also has an even larger following in an intimate and separate community. Because of this I felt a responsibility to be open on the net about my transition. My boss (who's more like a coworker haha) and I use social networking as a means of advertisement, and feedback, and we both have been generous in sharing information about the nature of things, and I hope it reaches people who didn't understand. I know it reached him, and his peers, which is a great feeling.
It seems like... a pretty chicken thing to do not to use that opportunity the best way I can. Though even so the internet is full of anonymity, which often makes people crazy...
However there seems to be a good number of transgender people being fairly open on the web, because they can still retain anonymity and talk about these things. I see a lot of blogs and vlogs reaching people who didn't previously understand certain things, and that's pretty cool.
Understandably though, most people do NOT have jobs as open as mine, or peers as open as mine, and just can't even take the risk despite internet anonymity possibilities. And you know some people just don't feel it's anyone's business. So the fear and resistance to me is totally understandable, we are all different and we all have our preferences, which is even moreso why there is a sense of responsibility there for me being open, having an audience, and being that kind of person. But there is a lot at risk for some, and others just don't have the mindset for it.
Personally I'm hoping with this new generation, with proper use of anonymity on the web and just the ability to have an audience so easily at your fingertips, that people will start braving the internet more and using this tool to spread awareness.
