I noticed today that Dr. Phil will be haveing a Gender Identity Crises show on Wed. Jan. 17, 2007. Gwen Araujo's mother will be on.
Sheila

I saw that as well.  Hopefully they will do the issue justice.  Lately I feel his show has sunk to the level of Maury.

Steph

Great... Im probably going to have to miss it...
Im going to be going to a psychology council meeting about TS issues in the borderland that afternoon,  Ive been asked to possably speak if theres enough time... and then my my final performance with my band that evening....  going to be a very busy day....

Im going to have to figure out how to record it cuz I dont want to miss Dr Phill makeing a morron out of himself... (Sorry, but I have little faith hes going to do our cause any justice)

I will miss it also. I did write an E-mail to him if they read it. I told him that I hope he didn't make a jackass out of himself like the last time he had a trans person on. I didn't say it in those words of course. Even in his discription of the show he says things like letting boys into the girl restroom. Boys in dresses and things like that. I hope for the best.
Sheila

"Boys in dresses"!  This doesn't sound good.

Steph

Oh boy!

Melissa

NEXT ON DR. PHIL!

"BOYS IN DRESSES!"

"AND THE WOMEN WHO LOVE THEM!!!"

Don't miss it!

gag me with a spoon Dr. Phil!

Better yet, gag yourself you self righteous moron!

-Sandy

I just read the blurb for the show over at DrPhil-dot-com.  The wording, to me, screams "FREAKSHOW!!!"  They get the pronouns wrong in almost every case, going on biological sex rather than true gender.  They also go for sensationalism with the AIS girl -- what do they mean by "Should the parents be forced to decide Kayleigh's gender?", anyway.  I'll be writing an e-mail.

Karen

=================

Okay, here's my e-mail:

QuoteRE: Gender Identity Crisis

I'm dismayed at the blurb you've written up for the Gender Identity show.  I write copy, and if I wanted to get the most lurid depiction of of Gender Dysphoria and Intersex conditions (the medical terms, mind you,) I would have chosen exactly the way your copywriter wrote it.  It cast those with GID and Intersex conditions as being freaks, and was exactly how NOT to respect the transgendered.  But, working in corporate video, I've learned about attracting and holding lots of valuable eyeballs.  That blurb will surely be an audience builder.

I hope you actually intend to use that audience to do some actual outreach -- to educate the public on just what the issues are for transgendered persons.  You might start here, with "How to respect a Transgendered Person":
http://www.trans-health.com/kara/respect.html
You might also advocate that the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome girl, Kaylena, be allowed to choose her gender, rather than inviting the audience to force her parents to do anything to her.  And you might educate the public on the difference between sex (the plumbing, what it does, and what you do with it,) and gender (everything else about the differences between male, and female, and those of us between male and female,) and ask your audience if they know what their GENDER organ is (Most people know what the sex organs are and where they're located -- few know the brain is the gender organ.)

In the TG community, the Jerry Springer and Maury Povich shows are bad jokes, because those shows so often titilate their audiences with transgendered portrayed as sick freaks.  The blurb for your upcoming show suggests you are about to enter that realm, stigmatizing, marginalizing and exploiting the transgendered.

Please, please, do the RIGHT thing...

Karen

Transgendered

[boys in dresses]

see, the problem is [with the way they run tv]. the executives exist in a very tight and [unreal bubble of self-promotion and advertising]. they're so caught up in ratings and profit that the art of shows suffers. i've stopped watching tv [kind of] because i'm absolutely sick of it. to be quite honest, i think i'd almost prefer that there be no media representation of transpeople, instead of these [unusual, awful representations]
but again how could the media give fair representation of transpeople? they wouldn't know how to even do it [properly], as we've seen with this dr. phil's talk show and [some others].
what [they] have to understand is that transpeople are [normal], everyday people trying to survive like everyone else, become comfortable in themselves and live a [regular life]. that's the plot i'd like to see someday [in my lifetime].

I make TV.  Katia, for the reasons you stated, and a few other reasons, I rarely ever watch it.  I don't like having my intelligence insulted.

If the topic turns to TV shows, I can't participate.  I've never seen an episode of Seinfeld, and didn't understand Buffy's recent allusion to some TV show named 'Sex and the City' (but gathered from context it didn't really have THAT much to do with sex...)

To me, it's all phony, from the moment the light enters the lens(es) and air vibrations rattle the diaphragm(s).  TVs AMAZING power, though, is that 99 and 44/100ths percent of the population believe...

Karen

Quote from: AnomieAssassin on January 15, 2007, 11:09:41 PM
Springer, not surprisingly, launches the worst offenses. On his show, transsexuals are always presented in a way to make them seem immoral, out of control, and unintelligent. When someone attacks them, they always are incapable of launching any sort of defense; the actors that he chooses must be coached to accept whatever he says.

But being that it's so far from the truth, it sure makes stealth a heck of a lot easier.

Melissa

I think hate is a very strong word and I do not using it often.

I hate Dr Phil.  A friend likes the show and I have watched it with him in the mornings from time to time.  Phil is a self righteous and self serving blow hard.  He is no better than Maury or Springer.  Blah, I am so glad that I do not have time to watch the television these days.

Hi All:

I tend to agree, Dr Phil has lost a lot of credibility (in my eyes anyway).  He has become nothing more than another Gerry Springer with a professional title.  It's all about shock and awe.  And the awe isn't for awesome....

But I will watch it and I truly hope he doesn't make a fool out of everyone from the TS to partners to children.

Gill

Dr Phil sold out. i feel sorry for him never the less.

Ok.

In the same vein as Dr Phil or perhaps like a train wreck and you are unable to look away.

I just sat through the WE channel "Secret Lives of Women: Transsexuals".

Oh dear.

Lets see, this poor lady, Chris/Christine, couldn't take the tried and true method.  About the only counseling we see is the, apparently, endo, saying "Just playing devils advocate here Chris: Are your reasonably sure you really want to go through this?"  And of course Chris nodding enthusiastically.

Next stop beautiful downtown (wait for it!)  THAILAND!  Where Chris over two days gets, not one, but FOUR major surgeries!  Day one, trache shave, breast augmentation, and genital surgery.  Day two, FFS consisting of brow shave, eye lid trim, rhinoplasty, and maybe some other stuff thrown in on the package deal!  For only $20K!  Quite a bit is made of Chris counting the greenbacks out for the administrator.  Excuse me, but hasn't Thailand gotten with the rest of the banking world and accept Cashiers Checks drawn on major banks?

Four weeks later we see the new Chris, now Christine, reunited with her mother to a teary greeting.  BUT SHE STILL WALKS LIKE A LINEBACKER IN HEELS!

No where was there any mention of HBSOC.  Other than a five second blurb in front of one of the segments about how "Unlike in America Thailand does not require counseling prior to surgery."  And of course the surgeon making sure that Chris understands that "It won't grow back!"

Please Please Please tell me that somewhere there is some poor indie documentary maker who is really trying to tell the complete bloody story!!!

I will trade my funds for my tache shave to fund the documentary, I promise!  Maybe my whole FFS funds!

I'm about to go to my corporate governance committee and explain that I'm a transsexual, and all they have to go by as any sort of background is this crap!  "Oh yeah, I saw a show on that once... You poor man!"  AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In order for them to come to any sort of understanding I'll have to give all of them a brain wipe and start from scratch!

Next on Maury!

See dancing drag queen transsexuals clowns!

I am really trying to keep from saying some very unlady  like things right now.  At least type them.  I sure as hell already shouted them at the bloody tv!

Please, understand, I am mad as hell at the documentary makers.  I personally can empathize with Christine's anguish.  I think we all can.  And we all would like things to move faster.  And I truly, deeply hope that she has found peace.   She went through hell barefoot in Thailand, so she really deserves to be really happy with the results.

Maybe I should just give up and become a goat herder.  At least the sheep wouldn't care what I wear to work.

*sigh*

-Sandy

I hope no one tries that "you poor man" line on me I'd tell them *AHEM* don't you get it, were I a man I would not be doing this in the first place, geez!

It's a good thing I'll be stuck at work; if this episode is going to be anything like what's predicted, I couldn't stand to watch it.

I don't really care much for Dr. Phil either, and I'm unfortunately going to have to miss todays show. Now I know that some of you may agree or disagree with me here, but I have found that the only good talk show host that has handled her show well with Transsexuals was Oprah. I saw a good show (even though it was a repeat) about transsexuals a few months ago, and she didn't down play them, which I thought was nice. I would have liked to have seen the show on the WE channel.

Gina

I want to blow Dr. Phil's ass to Jupiter for this show! Aigh!

Gwen Arujo was a male crossdresser?
A F2M needs to pray to Jesus?
Dr. Phil is going to tell him that he is not ready?

This show gets -2 spacekats out of 10. It could have been educational. Instead it is miseducational.

Bri

  I have to admit...any respect I had for Dr. Phil was lost during this show. 

  His schpeel when dealing with the FtM TS was a pathetic attempt to avoid angering the conservative religious faction.  It was painfully obvious that this TS individual was following the accepted guidelines and had suffered with this situation for most of his life.  Not one single time did Dr. Phil ever acknowledge the fact that this person had been thinking about this change for over 30 years.  In fact he repeatedly made allegations of the individual NOT taking enough time to consider what he was doing.  Dr. Phil made his 'professional' snap diagnosis that this person was not ready to transition fully because he had an "unrealistic" view of future intimate relationships.  I was amazed that the normally bold Dr. Phil cowered like a frightened puppy when faced with this TS mans irrational ultra conservative religious family.  You really dropped the ball on that one Phil......

  His misuse of pronouns and descriptions of the teenager who attended school 'en femme' was simply nauseating for a man in his position.   My jaw dropped when he described this person as a "crossdresser" because she hadn't had any surgeries to make her female yet.  Dr. Phil has built his reputation on "telling it like it is" but more and more he "tells it like conservative America likes to hear it".  He also skirted all the main issues involved in this case relating to gender identity despite the fact that his show was hyped as a "gender" show.  Dropped the ball again on that one Phil.....

  Now it comes to the young "girl" who was intersexed.  Suddenly Dr. Phil has no problem accepting the gender issue.  He finally "gets it" during this section but ONLY because the child is intersexed.  What happened to showing that same kind of interest and positive opinion when dealing with the first two people in the show?  Obviously Dr. Phil doesn't apply the same degree of validity to transgedered individuals who aren't intersexed.  While he never claims to be a specialist in gender he alludes to being qualified to make decisions on the matter due to his thirty years in the therapy business.  You couldn't be farther from the truth Dr. Phil. It brought to mind the saying "A little education is a dangerous thing", while Dr. Phil is a well educated man he has no real experience in these kinds of gender issues and therefore created a situation that very easily could have caused more damage than had existed before the show. 

 

Just finished watching the show.  Apart for a couple of glaring mistakes it was pretty innocuous as each segment was too short to be given justice.  There was a segment on a 36 year old FtM, one on a high school boy who cross-dressed, and a good segment on a little 4 year old girl with AIS.

Of all the segments I feel that Dr P gave the best advice to the parents of the little girl with AIS.  The parents want to intervene and surgically alter the little girl by removing the unformed male genitals but Dr P advised them that this was not the best way to go.

I think the best part of the show is the conversations in the shows web site forums, some very spirited arguments can be read.  It's interesting reading and reveals how many on the outside see us.

Steph