A Horrifying, Firsthand Look at the Death Threats Against Transgender Teen Jazz

[stephaniec]

A Horrifying, Firsthand Look at the Death Threats Against Transgender Teen Jazz Jennings

http://www.people.com/article/i-am-jazz-death-threats-sneak-peek

People/By Lydia Price
  @lydsprice 08/12/2015 AT 06:50 PM EDT


"Jazz Jennings is used to her life being an open book – especially on the Internet.

"I'm pretty sure everything there is to know about me has been written online," says the transgender teen on Wednesday's episode of I Am Jazz.

But for 14-year-old Jazz, the online world can be a very scary, even life-threatening, place."

[Serenation]

Can't take that too personally, just about every popular person on youtube gets a lot of death threats. Reading comments on any trans video though is awful

[suzifrommd]

In the article, Ms. Jennings asks herself whether making Jazz a celebrity was in her best interest. I wonder the same thing. Grown celebrities have trouble dealing with the ugly underside of fame. And even non-famous teens have trouble dealing with the stresses of everyday life, much less Internet death threats from strangers. And she's transitioning at the same time.

OTOH I don't know what I'd do in the same situation - if I discovered I had a daughter who was incredibly, unusually talented. I think I'd want to do all I could to develop her talents.

Can't take that too personally, just about every popular person on youtube gets a lot of death threats.

I'm not sure how one dismisses a threat on one's life. When do you start taking it personally? When the guy corners you in an alley?

[traci_k]

That is just so horrible. Unfortunately there are a lot of horrible people in the world.