Op-ed: Who Cares If Ann Coulter Looks Trans?
The National Center for Transgender Equality's director of communications tells us why he has Ann Coulter's back even if she doesn't have his.
BY Vincent Paolo Villano
October 30 2012 8:00 AM ET
http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2012/10/30/slam-ann-coulter-looks-trans-wrongNo, I'm not defending Ann Coulter's egregious use of the r word in a tweet about President Obama. As usual, she was wrong. But equally wrong was the slew of responses calling Ann Coulter a "->-bleeped-<-," "->-bleeped-<-," and "cross-dresser." Some even poked fun at her Adam's apple. My parents taught me that two wrongs don't make a right. And Ann Coulter has done a lot wrong. However, these reactions, aiming to silence Ann Coulter, only furthered the marginalization of women and transgender people.
Women have Adam's apples too. Saying that Ann Coulter's Adam's apple makes her transgender just doesn't make any sense. But the more sinister harm here is the thought that her appearance somehow makes her less worthy of respect. Images in advertising contort women's bodies in ways that render them unable to be seen or heard. And images like these support the idea that women should only speak when they're called on, a perspective that has had a real impact on women. A new study by the American Association of University Women found that full-time working women still earn only 82% of what male peers earn. And so when people aim to silence Ann Coulter because of how she looks, they only help drive women's inequality.
Judgments against Ann Coulter because of how she looks are also an attack on transgender people.
