On the radio
August 27, 2010
janefae
http://janefae.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/on-the-radio/ (http://janefae.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/on-the-radio/)
To Lincoln, where I have agreed to be interviewed on BBC Radio Lincoln about the Rachel Millington case. In the end, it turns out to be an interview about me. Ambush? Probably not.
Trans stuff is in the local news, and they can hardly be blamed for surfing the news wave. So I chat amiably enough with Melvyn Prior, the show's host.
Most of it is pretty easy stuff...until we get to what is probably a fair question, but actually hurts rather more than I expected. He asks me about reactions I get on the street, seeing as my look is still very much on the "manly" side. I am minded to kick him, but there is a large desk in the way.
Why do we opt for FFS? Why do we wish to be stealth? Answer: so we don't have to endure the effects of being so wrongly stigmatized. Just look at the media treatment given to masculine looking transwomen. They act like it's a freak show, a joke, a perversion.
Dehumanize. That's how you can do something cruel to someone and not feel bad about it.