Oh God. This is a topic that I could rant about for hours, but I'll try and restrain myself.
But yes, I have
massive reservations with how trans* people are portrayed in mainstream media. In particular, shows like 'Little Britain' and 'South Park' filled my brain with internalised transphobia, which I've only recently begun to rid myself of. :/
What gets me is that trans men are almost never portrayed at all, whilst trans women are portrayed much more often, yet are almost always cast as deceivers, pathetic losers, mentally deranged etc. My theory is that this is rooted in sexism - because masculine qualities and men are seen as superior, and feminine qualities and women seen as inferior, trans men are seen as being more 'logical' than trans women. Society finds it unbelievable that anyone who has been designated male would 'choose' to embrace femaleness. (N.B. My use of the word 'choose' is because a disturbingly large proportion of the population does indeed assume that being transgender is a choice). This, I reckon, is the basis behind the 'deceiver' trope - women are viewed as sexual objects, and thus trans women are seen as transitioning so that they can receive the sexual attention of men. The idea that trans* people transition for their own self-fulfillment and comfort is never considered.
And on the off-chance that a trans* person is portrayed with a modicum of sympathy? They'll almost always be all or almost all of the following: binary-identified (non-binary trans* people are a complete non-entity in media...), heterosexual, white, middle-class, cis-passing and conventionally attractive, on hormones, have had or fully intend to have GRS etc. It's a very scripted path which downplays the massive variation that exists amongst trans* people (and from a personal perspective has made me think that I'm 'not really trans*' countless times...) The 'conventionally attractive' clause links back to the sexual objectification described in the previous paragraph. Obviously there's nothing wrong with being a trans* person who does fulfill all or most of those categories, but there should be much more representation outside of those categories...
Speaking of which, there's always the tendency to weigh in heavily on the physical aspects of transitioning. Obviously these are important, but the emotional aspects surely warrant coverage too? And the particularly unhealthy focus on GRS is especially bad. It outright stated that they aren't viewed as 'real' men/women until they've gotten that operation - before that, they merely 'want to become' men/women. Never mind that not all people want it, and many that do are unable to get it for various reasons (often monetary/health reasons) It's also always to the complete detriment of every other aspect of transitioning...
And this lack of diverse and sympathetic representation means that countless BS ideas about trans* people continue to permeate people's minds to this day, which is especially horrible when it's under the guise of 'helping' them (e.g. feminists who claim that trans men are women suffering from intense internalised misogyny).
I'll stop venting now, it's just... god damn it, it annoys me so much sometimes!
