Blog # 67: YES, “Work It” Mocks REAL Transgender People!

[Shana A]

Blog # 67: YES, "Work It" Mocks REAL Transgender People!
Posted on December 21, 2011 by transmeditations

http://transmeditations.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/blog-67-yes-work-it-mocks-real-transgender-people/

For those who have not heard it, ABC is set to roll out a new sitcom in early January called "Work It" about two out-of-work straight men that don dresses and find employment as women.  And then, you guess it: hilarity ensues.  Except to women and transgender people, there is nothing funny about it.  And it should not be funny to any cisgender man with anything resembling a conscious.

One of the things that has really, really irked me about the internet and Blogosphere discourse that has emanated in the wake of "Work It" is all the people who have said some variation of the following: But, but, but... "Work It" does not even feature REAL transgender people.  Those characters are not transgender people.  So how can the show be mocking and defaming transgender people if the two main characters are just straight men throwing on a frock for laughs?

Sorry, but I am going to be brutally direct and blunt here.  If you believe the above argument, you fail at critical thinking.

[Bishounen]

Ah, the "Work it" stuff again. Well, no-one can say that it hasn't stirred the ->-bleeped-<--pot, atleast.

Anyway; People simply have different opinions, If some feels offended because they don't pass, then that is ofcourse very unfortunate and it is ofcourse fully understandable that they feel that way.
But the question remains; Are they right?

By the way, the debate reminds me of the Afro-Centrists that considers the missing nose on the Egyptian Sphinx to be proof of Black people being discriminated, as they see it as evidence that someone has obviously shot of the nose of it to hide that everyone in Ancient Egypt was black.


In addition I never stuttered "But but but", in my previous comments about it. 
Tsk tsk.

[Jamie D]

The sad fact of the matter is that everything offends somebody.  We cannot go through lifetaking offense and getting our noses out of joint.  How bland the world would be without humor, controversy, and satire.

The market will determine whether "Work It" works.

[tekla]

Sorry, but I am going to be brutally direct and blunt here.  If you believe the above argument, you fail at critical thinking.

Sorry, but I am going to be brutally direct and blunt here.  If you believe make the above argument, WITHOUT ACTUALLY HAVING SEEN THE SHOW, you fail at critical thinking hell, you fail at all thinking period - your merely reacting.  I mean, if you want to think critically about a movie or show, you have to see it first.

[Felix]

I haven't seen this show, but it certainly is riling people up.

[TheAetherealMeadow]

From the looks of the trailer, "Work It" is not only mocking trans people but women in general. They're depicted as a bunch of vapid, shallow, airheads. It's also an example of the easy sex change trope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasySexChange) and I think it pretty insulting that all these characters have to do is don a skirt and wig and they're hired just like that, without the need to do any legal stuff, whereas we have to go through all these legal hassles and discrimination to get a job.

That's just my impression from the trailer though. Trailers often don't really portray the whole gist of the show. I'd have to actually watch this show to form a full opinion on it.

[Jamie D]

From the looks of the trailer, "Work It" is not only mocking trans people but women in general. They're depicted as a bunch of vapid, shallow, airheads. It's also an example of the easy sex change trope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasySexChange) and I think it pretty insulting that all these characters have to do is don a skirt and wig and they're hired just like that, without the need to do any legal stuff, whereas we have to go through all these legal hassles and discrimination to get a job.

That's just my impression from the trailer though. Trailers often don't really portray the whole gist of the show. I'd have to actually watch this show to form a full opinion on it.

It is hard to think of a sitcom that does not have a character or two who is a "shallow, vapid, airhead."  Good thing these shows do not reflect any sort of reality.

[Mahsa Tezani]

What next? They gonna go after "RuPaul drag race"?

[Bishounen]

From the looks of the trailer, "Work It" is not only mocking trans people but women in general. They're depicted as a bunch of vapid, shallow, airheads. It's also an example of the easy sex change trope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasySexChange) and I think it pretty insulting that all these characters have to do is don a skirt and wig and they're hired just like that, without the need to do any legal stuff, whereas we have to go through all these legal hassles and discrimination to get a job.

That's just my impression from the trailer though. Trailers often don't really portray the whole gist of the show. I'd have to actually watch this show to form a full opinion on it.

TV-series and American Comedian TV-productions especially, practically always portrays people as airheads, whether they are women or men. Although, I must admit, that the latter have for some reasons historically been a more "accepted" strategy; to portray men as stupid and spineless door carpets, something that have also been considered fully "allowed" in commercials.

And regarding the putting on a wig stuff, well, there are many Trans-people that have done the very same in real life when seeking work, actually, although they have at that point technically been males in drag and haven't started their transition either medically or legally yet. Some, that I personally know of, have even done professionall modelling that way, and one of those wasn't "revealed" untill her "equipment" suddenly popped out from her knickers during a test-walking for a new boss.

In short; If Tootsie could then others can.

[TheAetherealMeadow]

Even though it comes off as pretty sexist to me, I do think this show is getting a disproportionate amount of attention. From what I took from the trailer, these men are trying to portray themselves as cis women, not trans. It's not a direct shot at the trans community and even though it may be kinda offensive for people who had to go through a lot to get recognized as their gender, it doesn't directly promote hate/violence against trans people like the "trans panic" plots do. I think it should be the "trans panic" plots that should receive the most attention.

[TheAetherealMeadow]

TV-series and American Comedian TV-productions especially, practically always portrays people as airheads, whether they are women or men. Although, I must admit, that the latter have for some reasons historically been a more "accepted" strategy; to portray men as stupid and spineless door carpets, something that have also been considered fully "allowed" in commercials.

And regarding the putting on a wig stuff, well, there are many Trans-people that have done the very same in real life when seeking work, actually, although they have at that point technically been males in drag and haven't started their transition either medically or legally yet. Some, that I personally know of, have even done professionall modelling that way, and one of those wasn't "revealed" untill her "equipment" suddenly popped out from her knickers during a test-walking for a new boss.

In short; If Tootsie could then others can.

Of course there are vapid, shallow men in Hollywood too but it's more common for women and still a sexist trope. And even though some trans people may be able to go into a job and remain stealthy, that privilege doesn't exist for everyone.