Transparent
Transcript: TV: Family Guy (Fox) On one of the episodes, the storyline features a man who vomits onscreen for a lengthy period of time after discovering he had slept with a transgender character. The episode also contained anti-trans language and defamatory characterizations. TV: The Fosters (ABC) In this scene, it's revealed that Ava slept with her son and later denies it and says that he's adopted. Our Research Transparent Internet: Orange is the New Black (Netflix) Laverne Cox is a MTF transgender woman of color who plays the character of Sophia Burset, who is also a trans woman in prison for credit card fraud, in an attempt to pay for a sex change. -1st Transgender individual ever nominated for an Emmy. -1st Transgender ever to appear on the cover of Time magazine. These misrepresentations lead people to adopt values and beliefs that further the gender binary and normative hegmonic majority viewpoints. - Gender Confusion: By portraying characters that don't understand themselves, the media portrays gender confusion to an already strict gender binary society. - Racism: The very few transgender characters of color play roles that further the stereotypes of certain ethnicities. - Mental Illness: In order for the normative hegemonic society to relate to the transgender community, they automatically assume they are mentally ill because they do not fit within the social constructs as male or female. - Homophobia/ Transphobia: The predominant assumption of the transgender community is that individuals are homosexuals, when this is not necessarily the case. There is a difference between gender and sexual orientation. Ava Moore is a trangender character on the show Nip/Tuck and is portrayed as a pyschopathic, baby stealing, sexual predator who sleeps with her own son. They dedicated a whole season to her. Ava is shown here with a baby that she has stolen. The scars on the baby are from a plastic surgery procedure that she wanted done so he can be "perfect". When she found out that some of the scarring was permanent, she abandons the baby at the hospital because she believes being different leads to a road of pain. Sources After learning that he has slept with a transgender woman, Brian is seen vomiting for a very long period of time. Our Product ELLE Modeling Agency: A modeling Agency for Transgender Individuals specifically http://bellasue07.wix.com/bella-dona Our goal is to help the Trans community integrate with the world of media and help them to not only be represented but to also help provide a place of security for those looking to become models, actors/actresses, etc. We provide information and resources to health issues, employment laws, and protections against discrimination. TV: Nip/Tuck (FX) This show featured a storyline about a transgender woman who regretted her transition, a transgender sex worker being beaten, and an entire season about a psychopathic trans woman depicted as a baby-stealing sexual predator who sleeps with her own son. Research Continued Misrepresentation Explained - Transgender characters are cast in the "victim" role at least 40% of the time. - Transgender characters were cast as killers or villains at least 21% of the time in episodes and story lines. - The most common profession transgender characters were depicted as were sex workers (20%). - Anti- transgender slurs, language and dialogue was present in at least 61% of the episodes and story lines. **Statistics from GLAAD, an organization that investigates LGBT news to help build support for equality.** Tom Phelan is a 17 year old FTM Transgender teen who plays Cole, a trans teenager in an all female group home. Cole struggles with being displaced from his home for being perceived as a lesbian. He leaves home and is caught with hormonal drugs and sent to juvie. “I just really hope that people know that there are people like Cole out there, and there are people like me out there. We’re people like anyone else. We should be treated with the same respect and love as anyone else.” - Tom Phelan Since the amount of transgender individuals is so limited in the media, we decided to analyze as much of it as we could for our research. We looked at TV shows, magazines, high fashion runway shows, documentaries, movies, etc. Guided Questions during our research: - Who shows up? Do they have a form of privilege within the community? - What character/role do they play? - What is the status quo of the community and how does reality conflict with what is portrayed? - Is there an element of invisibility? Analysis RACISM http://www.glaad.org/publications/victims-or-villains-examining-ten-years-transgender-images-television http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Moore http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/03/20/make-room-on-the-runway-for-these-transgender-models/ http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a16419/trans-vs/ http://www.out.com/fashion/truman-says/2014/02/18/10-greatest-transgender-models#slide-6 http://www.oddee.com/item_98038.aspx