An interesting alternative look at Transparent.

[Guest Sarah Faith]

Pretty interesting article by a transwoman about how Transparent does not deserve the praise it is receiving from the media.

http://www.themarysue.com/transparent-trust/

[Guest]

Wel I certainly haven't been raving about the show. Or Orange is the new black for that matter. Both shows seem to me to be more about cis people getting to feel like their accepting and inclusive than actually caring about trans individuals and trying to describe their pain.

But Ive sort of let it go, because eventually I realized that thats never been the goal of transparent. The goal has been to capture the experience of cis perspective when someone close to you comes out (exactly what happened to the writer). And it does it pretty well. Though this still doesn't thrill me, because as far as I'm concerned it turns Maura into nothing more than a plot device. But, at least the show has a pro-trans message. Which in itself is progress-so there's that. Perhaps the world at large has to get to the point of just acknowledging trans people exist before it's ready to hear about how painful it is.

The only thing that perplexes me about that article is that it seems to be based on the assumption that most trans people don't like the show, which is odd, because I've heard almost nothing but positivity towards it in the community.

[Charlize]

I watched the first season on a day we were snowed in. There were amusing parts and some of it rang true but i have to agree that it was much more about the family and the sordid affairs the children seemed to be involved in than it was about the fathers transition and what she went through. I can't recommend it for trans people to watch but perhaps the cis community might find her sympathetic more than pathetic. She certainly isn't the only family member to have major problems except for the children it is more sex than gender.

Hugs,

Charlize

[Guest]

I guess my main problem with the show isn't that it it doesn't fully capture what it's like to be trans but that cis people seem to think it does.

[Guest RachelMichaels]

Thanks for posting that. I have no access to the show but read the article and commented there anyway because I feel there were too many that 'can't see the forest for the trees'. IMHO they aren't seeing the bigger picture but want to help paint it while still in the artist's hands. All the stories of people in the news 'coming out' and the scattered attempts at portraying people in the life are merely embryos still wriggling around in the womb of mass media. Mistakes are made in every great push forward. The trick is to learn from them, not repeat them or pour concrete around a flimsy base and start building up anyway, right? Positive change will happen in spite of the pioneers having to take a few pot-shots to help get us there, so I feel the aim should be only for an arm or leg and not the center of their heads.

[Guest Edu]

I haven't watched that show, so I don't have an opinion about it. OTOH, I have read the article, and it's the most pure and pristine piece of garbage I've seen in a long while.

Sorry if that sounded blunt, it's just a toned down (3 times!) version of what I actually wanted to say. Of course, I gotta back that up with some arguments. But I won't need much.

The author makes quite clear she hasn't watched the show, and essentially admits she didn't watch it because she was prejudiced against it. The rest of the article is little more than a bunch of rhetoric attempting to enshrine that prejudice. All her bashing against the show is based on what she claims to be the "trans opinion", yet the whole article fails to cite, quote, or refer to a single source of such opinion, besides a vague mention of the "Twitterverse".

Even if we were to take a leap of faith, and presume that the article author reliably knows what the trans community thinks about the show. Even then, that wouldn't cut it when one of the criticisms addressed at the show is it being based on "second-hand experience". At some points, the article is just attacking cis-people for being cis-people.

I've seen this garbage before. These structural and argumentative flaws actually happen quite often. These are the same fallacies and rhetoric bigots use each time they pick against us.

I can't say anything good about the show for the same reason I can't say anything bad about it: I haven't seen it. But I have read the article (twice, btw), and can't say anything good about it either.

If we ever want to end bigotry, we need to be able to recognize it, even when it comes "from our side".

Hugs,

Edu

[Guest Deanna]

I've watched the first season. It is ok. No, it is not the show I thought it would be. The story has a lot to do with the grown children that are a royal mess. Maura's story is not completely told. I do wish they would have a lot less sex scenes. But I guess that is the norm now a days on cable/pay channels. I sure couldn't let my kids watch it. That said, the story is from the cisgender point of view. Maura is not the center of the story. If it was , perhaps, it wouldn't be interesting to cisgender people. I think they need to learn about us a little at a time. To much and they might not of watched the show at all. Maura is not shown in a bad light. I think they will get better at representing us as the show matures. This is new territory and this is "a foot in the door".

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” -Confusius

Hugs,

Deanna

[Guest LizMarie]

Well stated, Edu. In fact, I regularly encounter anti-trans bigotry from persons who appear to have personal agendas against trans people generally, yet who when challenged on it, claim they are not transphobic because they are trans? I'm sorry, but there were plenty of blacks who were complicit in ongoing racism too at one point, both in playing to it and/or accepting it. That's where the term "Uncle Tom" came from. Likewise there are some transgender "Uncle Toms" out there as well.

Transparent appears to me to be a good faith attempt to present trans issues on television. Does it succeed every time? Obviously not. Does it succeed sometimes? Obviously it does. I know that Jill Soloway is trying. She did apologize for a bad lapse in judgement too, So are we supposed to forever condemn someone who makes a mistake but owns up to it and tries to correct for it? I'd rather focus on the full time bigots who refuse to treat us as human beings ever than obsess over an ally who made a mistake.

So in summary, I will agree with Edu and state that article is "the most pure and pristine piece of garbage I've seen in a long while".

[Drea]

I have not seen the show so can't comment about relevance to the show, but I found the article interesting in and of itself which brings to mind a number of issues relating to the "community".

I do not put much stock in shows involving trans characters or somehow trying to capture the trans experience. First they are bound to fail in their representation. It has nothing to do with the writing (done by a trans person or not), the commercial aspects, nor the positive or negative intentions of the producers.

The problem is rooted in the diversity of trans people. There is simply no one representation of a trans person that covers all trans people. One may capture the narrative of one person and those similar but in some very fundamental ways there are more differences between trans people than similarities and some of those differences are mutually exclusive.

In another topic recently I brought up the need to speak with more specifics when trying to understand a problem and find answers. This is because the language in the community has developed generalizations that are believed to convey great meaning but actually create a sense of similarity of experience while concealing the vast differences that are at play. Chief among these are the "I just want to be myself" sort of statement. Does "myself" mean transition to new gender role and quietly live in that new role with as little attention on oneself as possible? Or does "myself" mean expressing a flashy, showy, openly trans and wanting attention personality? Or maybe "myself" means presenting more androgynous?

So no matter who produces and writes a show, a trans character can only capture one narrative and other trans people will tend to think it is not very representative of what being trans is about because it doesn't capture those other people's narratives. There may be other trans characters that can capture some different narratives but inevitably, in not being central characters, it will not have the same depth.

Add in that the expectations within the community is that any trans character must be portrayed in a uniformly sympathetic fashion, and that the portrayal must be entirely positive with nothing negative and must be trans centric. The task is nary impossible not to mention unrealistic.

In reading the article I noticed the writers heavy use of "cis" rhetoric. Not the occasional use of cis, cisgender and the like, but more what I think of is the political sort getting into concepts such as "cis privlidge" and considers the world transphobic. This immediately tells me the writer is nothing like me and no doubt has an entirely different narrative than me. I am human first, parent second, woman third, and trans is somewhere down the list. The world does not revolve around me nor do I think my being trans puts me at odds with the world nor do I feel the world is transphobic place. People have their sensitives and maybe they aren't "oh great you are trans you are wonderful" sorts but by and large they are respectful and toleranant. But it seems that for many in the community anyone who doesn't tell trans people they are just normal, great and wonderful is intolerant and a transphobe.

I think if one approaches the world in a us verses them manner one is going to see conflict that really isn't there. This is why I see the "cis" labeling as quite poisonous.

So the writer of this article thinks the show is more about others dealing with someone in their life who is trans and those people's loss of "cis privledge" whatever that is. One subject that comes up often in the MTF meetings is understanding other people's perspectives as we go thru transition. Learning the little things we can do to address their comfort as well as our own. It seems to me that if this is a realistic representation of what a non-trans person experiences when someone in their life comes out, the difficulties and challenges, and it does so with sympathy, what is wrong with that? Why must the trans person be the central focus? And it is fair to show some flaws in the trans person too? Or are all trans people flawless and never make mistakes or act unreasonably towards others in their lives? Is it okay for there are some comedic events involving this character? Or is that exploitive?

It seems to me that such portrayals is far better than using a trans person as a purely comedic device. We as humans have our flaws, sometimes get unreasonable and we even see for ourselves humorous events. Wouldn't those things be part of a realistic portrayal? I am only speaking in concept here, and can't comment if this show actually reflects that.

From another perspective, since the prime audience is not trans people, is it possible that the producers of the show hit on the best way to convey real world trans issues into the non-trans world? Thru the eyes of those around someone transitioning? Might the general public connect better that way than thru the eyes of a trans character? Can the general public really understand being trans? I think the answer to this last question is no, they can't really understand.

At the same time, getting back to what comes up in the MTF meetings, might trans people benefit some from getting some insight into how the non-trans people around them may be feeling? Things the trans person may do that causes unnecessary anguish to others that might be of minor importance to the trans person and thus possibility avoided? Wouldn't it benefit us if we knew those hard points and with small unimportant changes in how we approach things to gain what we want with much less effort and cost?

Again, I am only speaking conceptually and have no idea of value of the show or not. I don't find the author's negative assertions to the show as intrinsically problematic.

I catch a great deal of flack for pointing out flaws in our own actions. To me it is part of being honest and I am all about finding practical solutions to problems. Recognizing it is easier for me to alter my actions than to change others, I always look at ways I contribute to a problem I am trying to solve because then I can do something about it. Trying to change others to conform to me is orders of magnitude harder. Perhaps it takes one to have a personality that can accept responsibility and not beat themselves up with blame to do this?

Lastly, when I transitioned, there were few media portrayals. Most were comedic (like in the show "Soap"). And stereotypes were pretty uniformly negative. On the other hand, since there weren't many documentaries, and the comedic portrayals were somewhat unrealistic, the stereotypes were weak. Few knew of any real trans people. As such, those stereotypes were paper thin and easy to break down people met me, a real in the flesh trans person.

Thus I had the privilege of setting the expectations about what a trans person was around my personal narrative. This made it so much easier to gain cooperation of those around me and ultimate acceptance. At the time there were trans people, like their are still today echoing the mantra of "there needs to be more awareness". Having recognized the privilege I had, and my desire to simply live in the new gender role post transition I tended to see the awareness push as more a threat than benefit for both for those transitioning and those post-transition. But I also recognized that much of that was angst of those in transition projecting their anxieties onto others. After all it is easy to try and change the world. It isn't very personal compared to confronting the specifics in ones life.

Alas we have come to a time where trans has become the new gay and awareness is incredibly high. Most of the old (paper thin) stereotypes have fallen by the wayside (not a bad thing) to be replaced by newer stereotypes. These newer ones tend to be much stronger and rarely do they align well, or complement one's personal narrative. Thus the privilege I had of setting the expectations of others around me is largely gone. I think this makes transitioning today a much harder thing than in the past.

As I said in the beginning I think it is an impossible task to come up with a portrayal that is reflective of all the different narratives trans people have. It seems so much of what some trans people have wanted is coming to fruition but at the same time they aren't liking the result because it isn't reflective of them personally and how can it with so many different narratives out there.

And for those who wish to transition to new gender role and just live that way rather than live openly as trans it gets harder and harder as awareness grows.

[VickySGV]

It is an opinion piece, and one person's at that. A girl in one of my first Trans* groups wrote and performed a song entitled "It's All About Me" which was pretty darned cute and right on to the thoughts I often get thrown at me in groups of Trans* people. Using the editorial "we" which I perceive in this article (thus really just a single person's opinion) instead of the second person "we" which would include an overall community opinion puts this as a device to give the author only a personal "feel good" moment. She thinks she is speaking for me when I have nothing at all to say about the show, and I do not care to even think of some thing to say about it. Now I have got that silly song stuck in my head.

[Guest Edu]

Well stated, Edu. In fact, I regularly encounter anti-trans bigotry from persons who appear to have personal agendas against trans people generally, yet who when challenged on it, claim they are not transphobic because they are trans?

I just want to clarify something here: my concern, at least on this article, was about "anti-cis" bigotry. There is a substantial amount of cis-bashing, and a good part of the article boils down to the claim "the show is bad because it's made by cis people".

I won't deny that transphobia from within the trans community is also a problem, but it's a different one.

Sorry if my original wording was a bit ambiguous. I admit I was a bit heated up.

Hugs,

Edu

[Guest Sarah Faith]

Interesting point's from everyone here. I especially like Drea's post she really covers a lot of ground from different angles.

Wel I certainly haven't been raving about the show. Or Orange is the new black for that matter. Both shows seem to me to be more about cis people getting to feel like their accepting and inclusive than actually caring about trans individuals and trying to describe their pain.

But Ive sort of let it go, because eventually I realized that thats never been the goal of transparent. The goal has been to capture the experience of cis perspective when someone close to you comes out (exactly what happened to the writer). And it does it pretty well. Though this still doesn't thrill me, because as far as I'm concerned it turns Maura into nothing more than a plot device. But, at least the show has a pro-trans message. Which in itself is progress-so there's that. Perhaps the world at large has to get to the point of just acknowledging trans people exist before it's ready to hear about how painful it is.

The only thing that perplexes me about that article is that it seems to be based on the assumption that most trans people don't like the show, which is odd, because I've heard almost nothing but positivity towards it in the community.

I guess my main problem with the show isn't that it it doesn't fully capture what it's like to be trans but that cis people seem to think it does.

Opinions on this show really depends on the circles in the community that one socializes. Some groups like it, some don't. On facebook I'm an assistant admin of a trans group for millennials only and the opinion for transparent is very very negative there for example. Like you and others have stated transparent is only one kind of life perspective and cis people may feel like its representative of us all, but we know it's not as there are many kinds of perspectives within the community.

Well stated, Edu. In fact, I regularly encounter anti-trans bigotry from persons who appear to have personal agendas against trans people generally, yet who when challenged on it, claim they are not transphobic because they are trans? I'm sorry, but there were plenty of blacks who were complicit in ongoing racism too at one point, both in playing to it and/or accepting it. That's where the term "Uncle Tom" came from. Likewise there are some transgender "Uncle Toms" out there as well.

Transparent appears to me to be a good faith attempt to present trans issues on television. Does it succeed every time? Obviously not. Does it succeed sometimes? Obviously it does. I know that Jill Soloway is trying. She did apologize for a bad lapse in judgement too, So are we supposed to forever condemn someone who makes a mistake but owns up to it and tries to correct for it? I'd rather focus on the full time bigots who refuse to treat us as human beings ever than obsess over an ally who made a mistake.

So in summary, I will agree with Edu and state that article is "the most pure and pristine piece of garbage I've seen in a long while".

That is certainly one perspective Liz, and you are entitled to it. However I would point out that just because someone is trans doesn't mean that we all have to share the same values and ideology, nor does it mean we all have to agree on well anything really or even like like one another. Now are there people out there who are trans, that not only hate them selves but in turn hate all trans people? Probably I mean 7 billion people on this planet the law of averages says sure. However.. if your looking at trans people who calmly express a different or unpopular (within the context of the community) opinion doesn't mean someone is transphobic. Like the author of that article stated, We're trans not the borg!

I mean personally I know I've had people claim that I'm transphobic just for voicing opinions they didn't like, or felt didn't work to further "the cause"... Which if that's what they want to think then fine, , but if I were actually transphobic I wouldn't be working in my own area to help transpeople at my university and the other near by university. If I were transphobic I wouldn't be interested in helping others.. nor would I in a relationship with another transwoman. However when it comes to activism or politics; I just personally don't stand in solidarity with anyone period. So as you can see it's easy to label someone as something just because you don't like what they are saying, but you may not know the full picture.

I found the article interesting, even if I may not agree with everything stated. I personally am generally not a fan of trans themed Shows, or storylines because as a friend of mine likes to say "I lived it, I don't need to relive it through TV." Like others have stated about the show I just also can't relate to it at all, completely different life circumstances.