How reality TV shocked the world

[LostInTime]

BBC News
By Kevin Young
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Six men were invited to spend several weeks wooing an attractive woman.

But they threatened to take legal action when they found out that the object of their desires was a transsexual.

[Judge Yourself]

Yeah i totally remember that... diabolical
Let's face it a show like that wasn't very credible to begin with...

[Kaitlyn]

While the show itself was hardly admirable with the usual sort of reality tv ratings boosting antics, the reaction is pretty much a showcase of trans- and homo- phobia.

The lawsuit included conspiracy to commit sexual assault. Because the fact that pretty young thing you've been actively chasing for money has a penis is akin to forcing actual sex on someone against their will? Psychological and emotional damage because she's such a gross, nasty thing, right?

Ugh.

[Judge Yourself]

People will never cease to aggravate me... from what i've seen there's been a fair few nasties on that show as is anyway...

[Keira]

I do think that this show crossed the line badly.
Almost all normal males I know would feel pretty bad about
the misrepresentation. If she was post-op, the situation
would be a bit more tolerable, but I'd still think the show
crossed the line because they are using her status
as a TS to  induce squeemishness and revulsion in the
TV public (its like a car crash or a freak show).

Sexuality is an inate thing and playing with that for fun is
plenty sick if you ask me; its pushing's these guy's button
pretty hard.

[Kaitlyn]

They didn't actually get anywhere. It's not as if they had any kind of sex, even, and I'm fairly certain they didn't expect to get any either.

It just really bothers me because this is basically the same kind of legal 'justification' we get for knee-jerk violent reactions against transwomen. =/

~k

[Judge Yourself]

Minorities becoming festishes/freakshows is the last thing needed, i think. Jerry Springer and his mob started all that off...

[Thundra]

Sexuality is an inate thing and playing with that for fun is
plenty sick if you ask me; its pushing's these guy's button
pretty hard.

That is one point of view Keira, but what I've noticed is that guys are not so much attracted to female genitalia as they are to the trappings of femininity. They are highly visual creatures after all. I think that often men react violently to a pre-op or a non-op woman negatively, when her past is revealed, not because of the underlying spectre of homoerotica in their own minds, but in reality, I think they are upset to find out that the sex of the person is not as important to them as the person's appearance.

Further, if there were no taboo attached to that type of sexuality, my bet is that lots of guys would be completely open to the prospect. Seriously. Because guys are tribal, and if the alpha wolf said it was OK, then it would be OK. That is my opinion based on a lifetime of observations.