Trans Framing, or why Chaz Bono doesn't speak for Me

[Shana A]

Sat May 14, 2011 at 04:18 PM PDT
Trans Framing, or why Chaz Bono doesn't speak for me

by kyril

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/14/976062/-Trans-Framing,-or-why-Chaz-Bono-doesnt-speak-for-me

I watched "Becoming Chaz" today, and I hated it.

I don't write this lightly. After all, it's not as though portrayals of trans men in the mass media are a dime a dozen. We have Brandon Teena being raped and murdered in Boys Don't Cry in the '90s, and now we have Becoming Chaz in 2011. That's basically it. So I suppose in some ways I should be grateful that there now exists a widely-viewed movie about a trans man who actually survives through the whole thing. I wanted to like it, if only for that reason.

But that's just not enough to counteract the fact that Becoming Chaz perpetuates some deeply problematic framing. It buys wholesale into the narrative that cis people impose on trans people. In a lot of ways, in fact, it's a step back from Boys Don't Cry, the survival of the protagonist notwithstanding.

[kyril]

Thanks for the link

[VeryGnawty]

That article was very well written.

[tekla]

Most of this coverage is really about mom not him in the first place.

[Shana A]

Thanks for the link

Kyril,

You're welcome, it's an excellent article!

Z

[JungianZoe]

I take deep offense to one thing in this article...

Going into detail here would make this diary even more unreadably long than it already is

In my opinion, it was so readable I would have enjoyed more.    Very good points!

I particularly enjoyed the last section, as it elucidated the differences between us as adults and us as children.  You can alter our bodies' chemistry, but we don't have to fall into those pubescent stereotypes because, as adults, we've established mental strategies for saner living that preteens don't have simply due to lack of experience and (if I may get biological) still-developing myelination of frontal lobe areas responsible for self-control and decision-making.

Nicely done, Kyril!

[Nero]

I haven't seen the movie and don't plan to. But I'm sick of all the testosterone stereotypes. I'm no more aggressive or angry than before (actually I'm a lot calmer and nicer a person), my sex drive is the same, and I actually get along a lot better with women than I ever did. T only makes you an ->-bleeped-<- if you want it too.

And the emphasis on childhood preferences is problematic. No matter how masculine a kid we were, there's always some cis tomboy who was moreso. That has nothing to do with being trans.

Good article, Kyril.

[Da Monkey]

I'm glad someone brought this up. I am sick of hearing about Chaz Bono.

Testosterone didn't make me a monster or more stereotypically masculine. I used to think that gender(male/female) and gender expression(masculine/feminine) were the same thing, even while transitioning but never thought testosterone and surgery made me into a man.

But while I believe that we do not become men, I do think in society we do. And that's where the misconception and problems comes from. We go from one name and pronouns (and possibly hair styles and clothes to help "pass") to the other. To other people that's why it looks like we are becoming a different person. Even though you felt like that your whole life you weren't living as one socially. I think society (and maybe some trans people) need to understand that those are two separate things and not the same.

I don't think he has a whole lot of choice since he is a celebrity. When I was transitioning in my last town I felt like people were watching me turn into a man while it was frustrating there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. Now that I live somewhere else it is nice because I just am a man to everybody and not some freak show.

[tekla]

I don't think he has a whole lot of choice since he is a celebrity.

That's kinda naive, that kind of money (remember old dad was a multi-millionaire long before he even met Cher) can buy you a lot of stuff, beginning with near total privacy.

[Da Monkey]

Yeah that's true. But he was famous (not really but had books and ->-bleeped-<- like that) before he came out and once people notice something different they are on them so fast. Like when Jessica Simpson lost all her fame then "gained weight", the media was all over her again.