Transphobia Ruins Weeds Finale

Filed By Jessica Max Stein | September 19, 2012 11:00 AM

http://www.bilerico.com/2012/09/transphobia_ruins_weeds_finale.php

So I forgave Weeds its moments of stomach-turning offensiveness, of which there have been plenty ("hole in her niqab," anyone?). But they ruined the finale for me with transphobia.

[...]

So my ears perked up during Sunday's finale when Isabelle's old friend Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould) stood talking to Isabelle's father, Dean Hodes (Doug Milder), who we hadn't seen since last season.

SHANE: How's Isabel?
DEAN: You mean Bruce?
SHANE: (nearly spits out his beer): Bruce?
DEAN: Yeah, sex change. Isabelle - is a boy.

The way Dean delivers the line, with such gleeful derision - about his own child, with whom he seemed to have a close relationship - just turns my stomach. What's more, the transition seems entirely out of character for Isabelle, who turned being a fat femme from a supposed "flaw" (mostly in her mother's eyes) to a profitable asset, modeling plus-sized clothes and visibly growing into her own power. More power to Isabelle/Bruce if that transition continues across the gender binary - but the show doesn't make me buy it. It's just a cheap punchline, throwaway exposition.