Max on the L Word...Your take on him...

[Stewie]

Back when I was watching this show, (Mind you I was 14-15) there was something exciting about the character. It was interesting. However, the show quickly got weird with him and then I wasn't able to see the later seasons online. Back then I was honestly confused about the whole having sex with a guy when you are transitioning. It bothered me that they did that. (Not saying that's the case now) And then he was getting T illegally I think. I think they just made trans guys seem crazy and stuff lol

[King Malachite]

I was about that same age when I was watching The L Word too.  At the time Max was a God send to me.  He was how I really got exposed to being transgender so sure enough I followed him hard to learn more about it.  A lot of the things he talked about were things that I have actually thought about before so I was shocked to learn that other people thought the same thing.  For example one of the things he said was that he thought about killing himself so he could be reborn into a male and that hit me because I had thought about doing that.  I knew he had a lot of T in him and he got a lot of roid rage which was one thing that scared me off from wanting to transition.  I was a little disappointed at the time when at the last minute he decided he didn't want bottom surgery.  Then I stopped following him after he got involved with Jodi's interpreter and had his child.  It did make me confused and I just had the "well you do what you do >.>" type attitude.  Aside from that I thought it was kind of hot when his friend of his gave him a bj.  Overall I felt for the guy as he has a sweet heart....tourmented of course but never the less sweet.

[Adam (birkin)]

I liked the scene where Grace gave him the BJ too. I was like "FINALLY, a woman who actually gets it!!" I thought that most of Max's romantic interactions were respectful in that way - like with Billie and Tom. Even Jenny was doing her best to be supportive even though she decided she could only be with a woman in the end. It was handled very well imo.


But I did have issues with how he got T. When I saw it the first time, it made it all seem very "underground" - it sort of worked to demonize transition in a way, even though he got on the proper, monitored dosage later on in the series. They should have introduced legal methods earlier on, because that sort of image sticks in people's minds and even after you correct it, they still envision that.


I can see why he was on The L Word, given that he was a lesbian pre-transition, but they could have used a lesbian MTF on there. That would have been even better, because they didn't even touch that at all. Well, there was Lisa, but don't get me started on that...

[wheat thins are delicious]

At first he was pretty much all the negative stereotypes of transitioning to male rolled into one.

[Padma]

It kind of pissed me off too, the way they portrayed him (oh, and that totally unconvincing facial hair...)

It felt to me that the show was very consciously orienting towards empowering women, so no-one male came out looking very good. Mind you, the women were all crazy too . I guess the writers were going for drama rather than reality, so it wouldn't have been as "exciting" if Max had just decided to transition and had a great time with it.

Oh, and I think Daniela Sea is stunning. When I saw her in Shortbus playing herself as Little Prince (which is her faerie name) I thought "That's who I want to be!"

[AdamMLP]

If it wasn't for Max on the L Word and my friend watching it all the time in the boarding house and making me watch it too so she could talk about it to me then I might still not have known about FTMs and realised that not all trans people are the like the bad stereotype MTFs  (I'm not really sure how to phrase that without it sounding a little offensive, so just to clarify, I don't have anything against MTFs just the only thing I'd heard about them before was totally negative and things like "my dad got chucked out the house for wearing a miniskirt").  I hardly even knew that FTMs existed other than a half remembered comment from when I was about 6 about someone's cousin who had always felt male and transitioned.

Until Max I'd never heard anything about T and I can't remember why but something on there made me look it up and I came across the Hudson's FTM guide and it just clicked.  Everything that I wanted from my body was what T would give me and then I tried binding and it was just totally definite in my head that it was what I wanted and worked through my memories and realised that a lot of stuff like my reaction to puberty all made sense.

[Arch]

I had to steel myself just to watch the first few episodes on DVD, and I got no farther. So I can only report what my trans friends have said about Max. They weren't too pleased that he was taking T illegally, and there was some talk about his sexual escapades that I never quite sorted out. They also seemed to think that he became a real ->-bleeped-<- on T and that the show portrayed T as making that happen? Does that sound right?

[Nygeel]

First my take on The L Word in general: poorly written with characters and actors that were under utilized. Of course it wasn't near true to life and the crappiness about a bunch of relatively wealthy older gender conforming lesbians was really super duper blah, uninteresting, and more blah.


ONWARD!


Max to me, could've been a game changer. He could've been a big impact on the show. He could've been an educational and big point on the show. He wasn't. He was a background character who never really had a prominent plot line. There are however, some key points in his character and plot like that bother the crap out of me. It's all in the writing.


1. He's low income and gets T illegally, taking a super high dose while having wealthy friends and being in an area where there is a trans health clinic.


2. He transitions overnight almost literally. His employer doesn't know he's trans, and somehow his name doesn't really come up on their background check (?). He has facial hair in places that facial hair tends to grow the slowest pretty quickly. He gets pregnant after being on T for 2-3 years.


3. Changes that we know happen didn't really happen to the character. There was zero change in voice (I know, actors can't exactly have a whole new manly voice but there could've been some vocal training to talk at a deeper register). Skin texture didn't really change which could've been done with make up.


4. He seemed to get an appointment for top surgery relatively quickly (and didn't seem to travel at all for surgery).


So my main complaints are on inaccuracies. The writers could've asked trans men about this info, or do some google searchin'.
Also, in one episode where he's talking to a bunch of trans guys DJ from DJKnowsDicks is featured.

[AdamMLP]

Inaccuracies like the time scales of things (how fast changes happened/waits for top surgery etc) were probably more simply due to the fact that it was a TV show and there was only limited time available to them, but I don't know how long it was shown over or whether it ran to the same time as real life (i.e. whether each episode was supposed to be a day or the next week or whatever).  I think most people realise that TV isn't the best place for reference, especially on things like these but it was quite an eye opener for me as I said earlier and probably some other people even if it wasn't that accurate so I don't think it was a total fail.

[Natkat]

I never came so far to watch max in the seire, the closest I got was to see a music video on youtube where it start with him being in the girls room and a girl say "this is a girls room get outa here!" and he says "im a girl"
I was alittle... wtf? because I wouldnt go to the girls room but even if I did I wouldnt really responce like that..
I dont think I would.. maybe as for fun?
whatever..


but there was another transgender person earlyer at the L word, not so famour.
you know theres this black woman who fall for someone who is like a dragking but also a trans as I know.
I dont remember the name? but must admit I didnt find it super realistic.

[Adam (birkin)]

the closest I got was to see a music video on youtube where it start with him being in the girls room and a girl say "this is a girls room get outa here!" and he says "im a girl"
I was alittle... wtf? because I wouldnt go to the girls room but even if I did I wouldnt really responce like that..

He wasn't out at the time. He was still living as a lesbian and was "mistaken" for a guy all the time.

[Nygeel]

Inaccuracies like the time scales of things (how fast changes happened/waits for top surgery etc) were probably more simply due to the fact that it was a TV show and there was only limited time available to them, but I don't know how long it was shown over or whether it ran to the same time as real life (i.e. whether each episode was supposed to be a day or the next week or whatever).  I think most people realise that TV isn't the best place for reference, especially on things like these but it was quite an eye opener for me as I said earlier and probably some other people even if it wasn't that accurate so I don't think it was a total fail.

Well, the reference would be Beth and Tina's baby to determine how much time it is between episodes and stuff. They reference how long things have been for the baby. Ex: the end of one season Beth and Tina break up, and the first episode of the next season Tina is very obviously pregnant and says she got IVF right before they broke up. Then I think the next season starts around their baby's 1st birthday.

[Nygeel]

but there was another transgender person earlyer at the L word, not so famour.
you know theres this black woman who fall for someone who is like a dragking but also a trans as I know.
I dont remember the name? but must admit I didnt find it super realistic.

Ivan Aycock is the drag persona. Not sure if that character identified strictly as a drag king or something else.

[Arch]

I like the new pic, Nygeel.

[Stewie]

I like the new pic, Nygeel.

I second that! You look AWESOME!!!! 210% PASS!

[Natkat]

He wasn't out at the time. He was still living as a lesbian and was "mistaken" for a guy all the time.

ah okay it makes sense..

[Nygeel]

LOL thanks, working on getting it centered in the forums. For some reason it's coming off centered in my posts while it's off centered in the other direction in my main pic at the top.

[wheat thins are delicious]

Ivan Aycock is the drag persona. Not sure if that character identified strictly as a drag king or something else.

I feel like that character did identify as trans to a degree.  They constantly dressed and kept up the persona.

[Adam (birkin)]

I feel like that character did identify as trans to a degree.  They constantly dressed and kept up the persona.

And the scene where Kit walks in on Ivan pretty much naked, seeing his packer and binder and such. Seemed almost to be a better representation of dysphoria in some ways than what Max went through.


I loved the mirror scene with Max, btw. It really captured how it feels sometimes.

[wheat thins are delicious]

Yeah that seen with Kit is what I was thinking of that pretty much nails it for me that I believe Ivan was a trans man.

I haven't watched the L word in probably 3 years.