My mom and I just watched a very old rerun of dr phil (she always watches him)
and we are both really disappointed/mad/annoyed at him for the way he treated a MTF transsexual on the show. the story was a MTF who transitioned later in life and her two daughters have completely rejected her, and they have all lost contact. One daughter uses the term "gross" which I found really revolting and terrible. And the daughter keeps sayign that she wants her dad back and that in order to have a relationship again, she has to de transition which I thought was the most selfish thing I have ever heard.
While both sides have their good and bad points, the MTF (forgot her name) didn't come out to her daughters the right way, she did it way too fast and stopped paying child support. But the daughters were so revolted with their parent that they didn't accept her at all, so the woman felt rejected just for being herself and seemed to completely dissociate from her emotions towards her daughters and get defensive.
well, all through out the shoe dr phil, used "he" and never took the parents side, all he did was blame, and take the daughters side. The whole show I just felt so bad for her because you could tell the audience hated her, the ex wives were shooting daggers with their eyes, the daughters had not even a budge of acceptance or selflessness. My mom and I felt like the whole show was just an attack.
Dr phil even asked her why she was being so defensive, which is when my mom and I both yelled at the tv.
has anyone else seen this episode?
That sounds like a bad situation but at the same time you go on TV and you should expect that kind of stuff. TV is not therapy, it is a business and it thrives on reactions. The kind of people who watch Dr. Phil are looking for someone to judge and you can bet whose side they will be on in this situation.
Part of me can't blame them. I find it really really irresponsible to build up a family life in the role of husband and father while pretending the trans situation doesn't exist and lying to all those people. At that point it becomes not just your personal problem, but it affects the happiness of other people that the MTF chose to be close to and owed honesty to much earlier on. Of course the daughters were upset. Their father suddenly changed and became someone they didn't know.
But... yeah. I see a lot of posts here angry at TV programs for things like this and I think it is a waste of mental energy. You watch those kinds of shows and you are going to get content that panders to the kind of people that watch those kinds of shows. And you agree to be on one of those shows, you are putting yourself in the line of fire. And in this case, also providing a bad example of MTFs for the public to roll into their stereotypes.
I don't watch him because of his transphobia. He practices the "Reparative Therapy" that hasn't been used in 20 years or more, and as I understand it, is not actually licenced to practice as a Psych in any US State. The only thing in his favour is that he is not as bad as Jerry Springer. >:(
Karen.
I prefer Jerry Springer, at least he has come out and said that his shows are crap and he would refuse to watch them. "Dr" Phil , does he have board clearance?
Cindy
I've never liked or trusted this guy. He seems more into the fame and ego-satiation (not to mention money) for me. Something about him isn't sincere.
I think I saw that show. I remember getting an email that it would be on but I don't think the sender had seen the show. I do know the show I saw was terrible transphobic.
But I have seen more current clips from Phil and he seems to have come to his senses. I'm not a fan and never watch him unless notified he is featuring something I may be interested in. So I don't know if the latest Phil attitudes I've seen define the new Phil or not.
I don't think I saw that episode, but I saw one of a FTM who wanted to transition and his family was urber religious and wouldn't accept it. Dr. Phil kept referring to him as "she" and "her" the whole time while basically saying the FTM (Forgot his name) shouldn't transition. I was pretty upset about that.
Jerry Springer is quite transphobic. I've seen some recent episodes of MTF's being called guys and any man in a relationship with a transwoman deemed as "gay".
Dr Phil has a PhD but is not a liscensed psychologist. I feel that on all or most talk shows with trans people there is constant misgendering, a lot of talk about how everybody else was impacted by the person being trans and that's it. The same points of transition might be brought up a lot.
I saw part of an episode where he was talking to a pre-E transsexual and her wife. He seemed nicer in it.
If it wasn't for Oprah, there wouldn't be a Dr. Phil show.
Joelene
I will sometimes watch the show. Recently I saw an episode about a boy who likes to dress up as a princess and stuff like that. The kid wsnt trans, but I don't remember him coming off as phobic or anything. Maybe his views have changed.
I just saw an episode of Jerry where people were leaving their wives to be with women they didn't know was MTF. Me and my hubby were watching and laughing saying, "Well that should send acceptance back about 10 more years."
As much as anyone with 1 working brain cell should know this stuff is exagerated but for some reason their are still people who believe it's all real.
Haven't seen that one, but the one's I have seen while at a client's house makes me want to be a little violent. The guy isn't trying to mend feelings or fix problems, he is there to be a sensationalist. Of course if I had the problem's these families were having, I wouldn't talk about them in front of cameras on a tv show.
I like tra banks, she'll pay for your transition. ;)
Tyra part 1 Transgender children and their parents speak out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAOFGSHGJlc#)
Tyra part 2 Transgender children and their parents speak out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LazMKLxePss&feature=related#)
Tyra part 3 Transgender children and their parents speak out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pezZk3LlxOM&feature=related#)
Tyra part 4 Transgender children and their parents speak out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIGFqNHL5kM&feature=related#)
I know this question might seem a bit silly but who the heck is Dr Phil and Jerry Springer? (I have heard of them but i do not know much about them)
Quote from: SarahM777 on November 12, 2011, 10:05:06 PM
I know this question might seem a bit silly but who the heck is Dr Phil and Jerry Springer? (I have heard of them but i do not know much about them)
They're talk show hosts, and when transgender issues came up they were extremely ignorant and insensitive.
That explains why i don't know much about them as i use to work 2nd and 3rd shifts. One job was 10 hour days with Fridays being overtime so it didn't really leave much time to watch TV other than maybe a show here and there which most often was either Masterpiece Theatre or Dr Who. Once in a while a mini series like Shogun but not much else.
Thanks
I remember watching this episode years ago and thinking that Phil was being a bit oversensitive to the two daughters and completely dismissive to the MTF parent. I thought the daughters, as developed young adults, were being treated as though they were 6 years old by Phil. Sure, the MTF parent could have handled her coming out differently, etc., but most transfolk can attest to the fact that even coming out in a wholly responsible and timely manner will still have little to do with how others react to the news. I found it interesting how everyone on that show railed the MTF parent for being "selfish" and yet no one seemed to think it was selfish for the two essentially grown "children" to throw such tantrums. I think Phil could have definitely handled it better.
If you think there is anything of psychological value in it, you'll be disappointed.
Dr. Phil will always choose the safe way to its largest group of viewers to please.
That is his income, this man is there for his show and money, not to make things be acceptable to a wider audience.
I think a large part of his audience is the bible belt.
A little bit of a psychologist had at least NOT misgendered his guests.
It's a bit clumsy, I mean the rules of politeness are at least asking....what do you want to be called, or wich pronouns should I use to you, not in public, but before the show starts.
So, forget about that DR thing.....it's the money what you hear talking.
god i hate dr. phil. I don't even know how my mom can watch that garbage. at least recently she stopped calling me to watch something she found interesting on dr. phil.
He's not just a sensationalist. What he does hurts people. He looks at the most apparent problem and just tells the person to stop doing that and then forces them to that by shaming them into it. He doesn't even consider the underlying causes for what has been happening. He just takes the side of the people who complain louder. aaaargh
I have seen this episode, and I did think it was horrible. I like Dr. Phil, especially when he is on somebody else's show, like Letterman. I usually agree with what he says. However, this episode sucked. My big problem is that he usually offers some kind of ongoing help after the show: rehab, counseling, referrals.... This episode just ended, leaving the transwoman sitting there going "Where do I go from here? My kids want me to detransition, and that is out of the question." The right solution should have been to gets the kids counseling to understand that what their father did was not a choice.
I think what we see in this episode is Phil responding to a greater priority. He's always saying, "You have to put your children first." In a different context, he might have been more supportive of the transwoman.