Heard the one about the ladyboy? Media jokes about trans people are not acceptable.
By Paris Lees
Thursday, 31 May 2012 at 4:00 am
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/31/heard-the-one-about-the-ladyboy-media-jokes-about-trans-people-are-not-acceptable/Impressionist Morgana Robinson claimed last week that: "you can tell a ->-bleeped-<- by their hands and their feet."
Does the star of Channel 4's Very Important People congratulate herself when she spies a woman with large shoes? Does she smile and think "Ah, look, it's one of those ->-bleeped-<-s", or is she humble; does she see it as an easy-peasy guessing game? I can only speculate.
I'm a trans woman and I hear these stupid comments daily. "Transsexual" has become shorthand for someone ridiculous, someone unnamed, someone that nice, middle-class people probably don't know. Transphobia has passed the dinner table test because those who mock trans people simply don't expect to see one of us at their dinner tables. I'd like to petition high profile trans newsreaders and politicians to raise awareness, but none exist. Trans people are today's Aunt Sallys – and comics throw pies at us with impunity.
