Comic Con San Diego To Hold Panel On Transgender Issues

[Lara the Lover and the Fighter]

Comic Con San Diego To Hold Panel On Transgender Issues

The Huffington Post    | By James Nichols

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/23/comic-con-transgender_n_5614863.html

Well done, Comic Con!

At this year's popular comic book convention in San Diego, organizers have orchestrated a panel focusing specifically on transgender issues. Called "Breaking Barriers: Transgender Trends in Popular Culture," this panel is reportedly the first of its kind as it will consist solely of panelists that identify as transgender.

The panel is organized by Prism Comic's Tara Madison Avery and will reportedly analyze the appearances and representations of trans characters and include open discussion about the complexity and depth added by featuring the transgender experience in comic books.

"In recent years, Transgender creators have gained visibility in comics, movies, and television after long being consigned to the shadows," the Comic Con program reads. "From coming out and transition to navigating gender politics in a world still struggling to understand, cartoonists, writers, and filmmakers are investing their work with unique personal experiences as their characters learn to live and love in new and unexpected ways."

Comic Con is also slated to feature four additional panels on comics and issues affect the lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGBT) community.

"Breaking Barriers: Transgender Trends in Popular Culture" will take place at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday, July 24 at 5:00 p.m.

[skin]

Prism Comics recorded the panel and should have a video of it online eventually.  Unfortunately, from the look of the twitter stream of the event there was heavy use of the term "transface."

[Lara the Lover and the Fighter]

Interesting. I had to look up what transface was, then I found this on urban dictionary:

transface
When a transgender character in a movie or television show is portrayed by a non-transgender man or woman. Considered to be offensive by most transgender people, analogous to blackface portrayals of African-American people.
"I like that British mini-series "Hit & Miss," even though the main character was in transface."
"Really, that was a transgender woman?"
"No, it was a cisgender woman in transface."
by magickalsummer October 05, 2013

[skin]

analogous to blackface portrayals of African-American people

That's why it is a problem that they used the term so much in the panel.  While cis actors playing trans parts is certainly problematic, it is nothing like blackface and should not be connected to it.

[Lara the Lover and the Fighter]

Agreed.  It's completely different.