Overused scenes in transgender movies and documentaries that irk you.

[tekla]

Well not to put too fine a point on it (never a fault in my writing) I see little difference between that and parents that would allow their kid to be in any kind of trans documentary.  The point is not about 'let's help this kid' the real point is 'God, I'm such a wonderful, caring, contemporary and liberal parent. Look at me, look at ME, LOOK AT ME!"  That's pretty much what I see from watching pageant parents (it's all about them, most of the 'mothers' are either fat and butt ugly, or more plastic than Barbie) and they are living through the kid, the kid is the spotlight that will shine on them and they will be wonderful at last.  I know that's damn true about stage parents. 

The worst part about the stock shots in TG stuff is that it (I'll duck again here) reinforces the absolute worst and most regressive notions of 'boys do this/girls do that' that is available from the most retro and repressed sources imaginable.  "Oh see, he must be a little girl, s/he wants a pink room.'  Hell, it's a color choice not a fricking lifestyle.^* 

It's all meant in a rather lame (everyone is seeing through it) to reinforce the binary and ignore the very real social revolution that the entire trans deal is just a part of.



* - I once painted my office in a awesome shade of lavender.  I got remarks ranging from 'gay pride' to 'Prince tribute?'  Reality is that we had two cans of lavender left over from a production, a color not used in the rest of the theater (so we would never have a need for it) and my budget was zero, so it was lavender or black.

[Padma]

Agreed - we live in such an either/or culture, there's so little room i people's comfort zones for anyone who wants to be mid-spectrum or all-spectrum.

[Lukas-H]

Every-time I watch a show, documentary or movie where someone talks about how a person who is MtF played with dolls when they were little.

Are like the sole deciding factor of gender? I loved dolls when I was little. I also played with action figures. What now!?

[regan]

The worst part about the stock shots in TG stuff is that it (I'll duck again here) reinforces the absolute worst and most regressive notions of 'boys do this/girls do that' that is available from the most retro and repressed sources imaginable.  "Oh see, he must be a little girl, s/he wants a pink room.'  Hell, it's a color choice not a fricking lifestyle

One documentary questioned the fact that the young Mtf (8 y/o) still liked to play with "boy toys".  It still goes back to my pretty pretty princess vs.  built ford tough analogy.  They seem to single out the two extremes and disregard the 80% of us that are middle of the road.  Anyone else get the feeling 20% of the population gets 80% of the media focus?

Maybe if people understand that transgender rights/acceptance will make it easier for boys to like being boys AND like easy bake ovens and girls to like being girls AND like toy guns.

[regan]

Every-time I watch a show, documentary or movie where someone talks about how a person who is MtF played with dolls when they were little.

Are like the sole deciding factor of gender? I loved dolls when I was little. I also played with action figures. What now!?

I watched a documentary recently, suprisingly no kids this time, in which an MtF said MtFs that pursue hypermasculine careers unnecessarily put themselves through a living hell, I about fell off the couch.  Why is there this overwhelming need for our self-appointed spokespeople to reject anything either hyper masculine or feminine?  I'm tired of, in this case, MtFs, that insist on repeating the mantra they "were just fooling themselves" in pursuing their career in public safety or the military, what about the rest of us that are quite happy in those pursuits, are we some how less of an MtF then they are?  Grr...

[VeryGnawty]

Every-time I watch a show, documentary or movie where someone talks about how a person who is MtF played with dolls when they were little.

I didn't like dolls (except for action figures)

I did have dozens of stuffed animals, though.  Otherwise, all of my interests were masculine.  Video games, construction toys (like Legos and similar items), guns, cars (I loved toy cars).  My favorite toy was the Tonka truck.  I would push it around the yard.  Unfortunately, I eventually destroyed the truck by repeatedly dropping it from the top of the playhouse.  Once dysphoria set in, I got really aggressive.  Crashing the toy vehicles and buildings was one of the ways I took out my rage.

But I bet you won't see any of that in an MtF documentary.

[regan]

I didn't like dolls (except for action figures)

I did have dozens of stuffed animals, though.  Otherwise, all of my interests were masculine.  Video games, construction toys (like Legos and similar items), guns, cars (I loved toy cars).  My favorite toy was the Tonka truck.  I would push it around the yard.  Unfortunately, I eventually destroyed the truck by repeatedly dropping it from the top of the playhouse.  Once dysphoria set in, I got really aggressive.  Crashing the toy vehicles and buildings was one of the ways I took out my rage.

But I bet you won't see any of that in an MtF documentary.

My childhood fell on both sides of the gender fence.  I played with action figures, all kinds of "army" like games AND my cousin (female) and I painted our nails, our moms nails, played with her easy bake oven, the snoopy icee machine, you name it.

Knowing how expensive transition is, would I say what the cameras wanted to hear for the right price?  I probably would... 

[tekla]

Anyone else get the feeling 20% of the population gets 80% of the media focus?

More like 2% getting 95%.  Ice Road Truckers and Dangerous Fishermen when most guys work in offices.

[regan]

Anyone else get the feeling 20% of the population gets 80% of the media focus?

More like 2% getting 95%.  Ice Road Truckers and Dangerous Fishermen when most guys work in offices.

Your stats are probably closer to the truth, I was thinking more about the freak show that is the human existance.  The very extremes of the gender spectrum, not the middle of the road that is most of us.  What's exciting about an average person experiencing an average transition with little to no social hardships when they can interview a six year old who's mother is battling with the school district to allow her child to "live authentically" (becuase they're struggling with allowing the child to use the bathroom appropriate to the gender they are presenting, but are happy to accomodate the child with a single toilet) or the Ice Road Trucker who is one week from GRS and still looks and acts very much like a man, but professes their absolute delight at being just seven days from "achieving womanhood".