Why ABC's New Sitcom Work It Hurts the Transgender Community
Friday, December 16, 2011 - 5:46pm by Matt Kane, GLAAD's Associate Director of Entertainment Media
http://www.glaad.org/blog/why-abcs-new-sitcom-work-it-hurts-transgender-community (http://www.glaad.org/blog/why-abcs-new-sitcom-work-it-hurts-transgender-community)
On January 3, ABC is set to premiere the new comedy Work It, a sitcom about two men who dress as women to secure employment. During a period in which the transgender community now routinely finds itself in the cultural crosshairs, the timing couldn't be worse for a show based on the notion that men dressed as women is inherently funny. In fact, shows like this have the power to put the transgender community in an even more dangerous position.
GLAAD has seen the pilot and while the show's pilot does not explicitly address transgender people, many home viewers unfamiliar with the realities of being transgender will still make the connection. Work It invites the audience to laugh at images of men trying to adopt a feminine appearance, thereby also making it easier to mock people whose gender identity and expression are different than the one they were assigned at birth. Said GLAAD's Acting President Mike Thompson, "Transphobia is still all too prevalent in our society and this show will only contribute to it. It will reinforce the mistaken belief that transgender women are simply 'men pretending to be women,' and that their efforts to live their lives authentically as women are a form of lying or deception."
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Posted on Advocate.com December 16, 2011 08:08:44 PM ET
Is Sitcom Work It Insulting to Trans People?
By Jeremy Kinser
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/12/16/Is_Sitcom_Work_It_Insulting_to_Trans_People/ (http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/12/16/Is_Sitcom_Work_It_Insulting_to_Trans_People/)
Work It, an upcoming ABC sitcom about men forced to dress as women to get a job, has angered equality activists, who see the premise as trivializing the obstacles transgender people face daily in the workplace.
The show follows two men who come to the realization that women are more in demand for jobs than men, and so they dress as women to escape unemployment. Ads for the show sparked the uproar among activists.