OPINION: 'Work It' Is Not Anti-Transgender, It Is Just A Silly Cross-Dressing Sitcom
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday December 17, 2011 @ 10:37pm PST
http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/opinion-work-it-is-not-anti-transgender-it-is-just-a-silly-cross-dressing-sitcom/ (http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/opinion-work-it-is-not-anti-transgender-it-is-just-a-silly-cross-dressing-sitcom/)
Now, LGBT advocacy groups are up in arms over ABC's upcoming cross-dressing comedy Work It, urging the network not to air it because it "reinforces negative and damaging stereotypes about transgender people," according to the Human Rights Campaign. Like with Jersey Shore, the backlash is based mostly on promos (video below), which are chock-full of gags featuring the leads, played by Ben Koldyke and Amaury Nolasco, dressed as women, while the show itself is split evenly between the characters' normal lives as heterosexual men and their undercover jobs as female pharmaceutical reps. The outrage has zeroed in on a print ad for Work It featuring the two leads in drag, standing at urinals. An image like this will "make it more difficult for transgender people to gain full equality — including the important right to access public accommodations appropriate to their gender identity," Mark Snyder from the Transgender Law Center wrote. "We ask that ABC ... keep the show's bathroom advertisement out of circulation, and seriously consider whether airing this show is worth the damage it has the potential to do," GLAAD's Matt Kane wrote in a post titled "Why ABC's New Sitcom Work It Hurts The Transgender Community." (In addition to promos, GLAAD has also screened the pilot.) "The fact is ABC should not air this show at all, as it will contribute to a climate in which transgender people are something to be laughed at, rather than treated with the respect and dignity that everyone deserves."
While LGBT's advocates' point is valid, transgender people do deserve equality, the problem is that Work It does not feature transgender characters. The assumption of protesters is that the images of guys dressed in women's clothes would evoke associations with transgender people. And while the print ad with the urinals can be accused of being in poor taste, I don't think the offense rises to transgender discrimination. As for the laughing at part, this is a comedy series, comedies' purpose is to make people laugh, and no social group is immune, including nerds (The Big Bang Theory), overweight people (Mike & Molly), Asian Americans (2 Broke Girls) and just about anyone (Family Guy & South Park). But again, the characters in Work It are not transgender, they are out-of-work heterosexual car salesmen posing as women to get jobs as pharmaceutical reps.