Opinion: Why Aren't There More MtF TV Characters?

[Carolyn Marie]

http://www.breezejmu.org/opinion/columns/article_c9315e3a-44e3-11e3-a447-001a4bcf6878.html

The author does seem to like to complain. Frankly, I can recall several prominent and guest characters on various shows who were transwomen. A couple were played by genetic women, but that's quibbling. Many portrayed evil characters or crime victims, which for me is a larger problem.

One can always complain about a lack of something on T.V. How many Native American characters can you recall recently.? How many African-American cast members? How many disabled characters? How many veterans who were not portrayed as mentally unbalanced? We're not the only ones poorly represented.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest AngelaA88]

I myself have only seen a few transgender characters in shows, and they were usually minor comedic roles that borderlined being in bad taste. For example, as much as I tend to adore watching How I Met Your Mother, they've made some VERY nasty comments & hurtful remarks over the years that are usually along the lines of "if I found out this girl was a man blah blah" - it really brings down my opinion of their writers.

I ~would~ like to give honorable mention though to one particular show - Whitney Cummings' sitcom (that got canceled not too long ago) had an episode titled "Lost in Transition" where Whitney's sister Danielle (played by Natasha Leggero) came for a visit and revealed to her that she was FtM ~AND~ going to start pursuing more drastic medical & physical changes soon. I remember it actually being a fairly serious episode, and I thought it was amazing how they handled it since it gave me a unique and startling perspective into what kind of reaction ~MY~ family had to my news about being MtF.

[Guest sydney]

"Orange Is The New Black" has a transgender actor (Laverne Cox) who plays a transgender character. (Her twin brother who is NOT transgender played her in a few scenes prior to transitioning in the story.) Anyway, it does show some of the realistic issues of being transgender and their significant others. Great show by the way.

[Guest mystiktiger]

Up until recently the show Glee had an MTF character on there by the name of Unique.