Are most transexual characters killers or

[lance]

their to cause problems between a guy and his wife? I can't think of any that don't fall into those two catagories

[Thanas]

WTF?

You better explain yourself real fast.

[Flagg]

I think he's talking about 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'The Crying Game'.

[Serafina]

Depends on what type of show you are watching.

Most portrayals are pretty shitty tough, you could almost apply Sturgeons Law to it (90% of everything is shit). They either potray the transwoman in question (because you almost never see transmen) as men in womens clothes and female mannerism, over-the-top-feminine stereotypes or some other stereotype. They often get the whole procedure wrong - many don't mention the mandatory therapist visits at all, giving the impression that you can just decide "hey, i'm a woman", go to a surgeon and that's it. If they don't do that, it's almost always "oh i knew since childhood", which is not always the case - despite that, you almost never see transsexual people who transitioned early in their life. They also ignore hormone therapy and all the other stuff necessary. Many works also get the genital surgery fundamentally wrong, it's not just "chop off the penis" and much more intricate.
Oh - and you almost never see a good-looking transwoman in the media. Yes, with a bit of luck and/or some surgery, a transwoman can look just like every other woman.

I could go on like this for a looong time. What i don't really observe is what you are describing, i mostly see transwomen portrayed either as "OMG she was a man"-jokes or in clumsy transition stories.

[Thanas]

I think *shudder* Ally McBeal had some convincing portrayals of transwomen. Or so my TVGuide article told me.

[Flagg]

I think *shudder* Ally McBeal had some convincing portrayals of transwomen. Or so my TVGuide article told me.

NAY! THE WORD OF CURSE HAS BEEN SPOKEN! FOUL BEASTS FROM THE SEA SHALL RISE TO CONSUME THE NATIONS OF MAN! FOR IT HAS BEEN PROPHESIED!

[Thanas]

Do you mean Ally McBeal or TvGuide? Because both qualify.

[Flagg]

McBeal. I like Cheers and Jeers.

[Serafina]

I think *shudder* Ally McBeal had some convincing portrayals of transwomen. Or so my TVGuide article told me.

According to what i can gather (never watched that show), the character was just there for the whole "guy dates transwoman, has to deal with the whole "was a man"-thing" plot. In other words, hardly a character and mostly there for a plot reason.

Which is, sadly, almost always the case. Heck, in most cases the transwoman (again, you almost never see transmen) is there for shock-value or comedy. Very rarely is there any focus on the drama that that transwoman had to go true, and even less often is her life portrayed as an everyday life with just a few complications here and there.

It's kinda like racism or sexism and it's development over time. You have reached a good level of tolerance and acceptance if you can switch a characters race or gender without changing the character much. Perhaps you can display a few additional problems due to doing so, but your character remains the same. Well, in the case of gender it's mostly that the role of the character remains the same - instead of a male action hero, you have a female action hero with few if any changes. "Salt" is a good recent example - originally planned for as a male role, it was re-casted for a female role with little changes (husband instead of wife etc.)
You don't have that with transsexual characters. Being transsexual will almost ALWAYS define a character in the media - if there is a character to begin with and not just shock value/a short joke. That's just as offensive as if being black or female would completely define a character on a show.

Bottom line:
A transwoman (again, almos never transman) is either there for shock value or a short joke and therefore a very minor character, or her character will be defined by the fact that she is transsexual. This is just as bad as if a character is defined by being black, and has little character beyond stereotypes assosciated with being black.

[Serafina]

I would like to add that that attitude might be changing somewhat now. I don't watch much TV or many movies, but from a bit of searching and the few i saw, transsexual characters are beginning to be portrayed as "character X who happens to has quirk Y" - like "intelligent professor who happens to be black" or "police officer who happens to be female" or action hero who happens to be gay". Let's hope we are moving towards "character type X who happens to be transsexual".

[Mr. Coffee]

transwoman

Ok, seriously. Quit adding trans to everything or "normative" at the end of everything. I honestly believe this is half the problem for trans community has to me. Pick a single common mode of speaking for your sexes. It's like with Marina I don't bother with the trans shit. She's a girl, even if she was technically born with eh wrong bits (some people just get settled with shit luck on some things), she's still get counted among the skirt wearing girls in my book (and once she got her hormones firing on the right cylinders she's one of the more rational folk on the board to boot). Just pick a common naming system so we're all not flabbergasted and confused when one of you gets pissed because someone said the wrong "trans" combo.

[Flagg]

After my surgery I'll be post operative trans-fat.

[Serafina]

transwoman

Ok, seriously. Quit adding trans to everything or "normative" at the end of everything. I honestly believe this is half the problem for trans community has to me. Pick a single common mode of speaking for your sexes. It's like with Marina I don't bother with the trans shit. She's a girl, even if she was technically born with eh wrong bits (some people just get settled with shit luck on some things), she's still get counted among the skirt wearing girls in my book (and once she got her hormones firing on the right cylinders she's one of the more rational folk on the board to boot). Just pick a common naming system so we're all not flabbergasted and confused when one of you gets pissed because someone said the wrong "trans" combo.

Uh - what?
Look, if i say "transwoman" i mean "woman who happens to be transsexual". It's just shorter, and i only use it when the fact that the person in question is trans matters. In this case, it does, because it's the topic. Nor do i get pissed off about naming conventions, as long as you don't adress a transwoman as male or a transman as female. Nor i i ever adress myself as a transwoman unless i am in a discussion about it.

Your complaint is like, when talking about the portrayal of black people or gay people in the media, complaining that i always say "gay" or "black" when talking about their portrayal. Duh, it's necessary to make the distinction if the distinction is relevant. In almost all cases, it isn't - in this topic, it is, because the media ALWAYS portray a transwoman different from a non-transsexual woman. Just like the fact that some dude is black or gay doesn't matter unless you are discussing the rigts of black or gay people, their specific problems with society or somesuch.


Now shush, i want to finish reading my lesbian fanfiction before i go to bed.

[Mr. Coffee]

No, really, pick a fucking naming convention and stick with it.

Just sayin'...

[Thanas]

Coffee, just STFU.

[Serafina]

No, really, pick a fucking naming convention and stick with it.

Just sayin'...

Who? Me? I have been using mine very consistently. So has the LGBT... community i am interacting with in real life. It's also (IIRC) the same terminology Marina is using, and quite widespread - IIRC even used in scientific literature.
So yes, what Thanas said.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I thought that Nip/Tuck had some interesting plotlines involving the transgendered, however since everyone on that show is fucked up, milage may vary by lightspeed.

[FaxModem1]

I was about to comment on that, with the season 2 plot line, it came across to me that the villain of season 2 was crazy because she was a transsexual. I didn't really think well of that one.

[Zaune]

I haven't read it in a while, but Silence Of The Lambs handled the subject quite well as I recall. Treatment only being offered after extensive psychological evaluation to diagnose gender identity disorder was actually a plot point.

[Lonestar]

I think the episode of The Lone Gunmen with Carol the Transwoman worked out fine. Her brother is the one that turned out to be a dick.

[Broomstick]

Oh - and you almost never see a good-looking transwoman in the media. Yes, with a bit of luck and/or some surgery, a transwoman can look just like every other woman.

Actually, the transwomen from here whose pictures I've seen aren't bad looking at all. Quite presentable.

Yeah, different than the media stereotypes.

[Shroom Man 777]

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT

[Shroom Man 777]

also the bestest portrayal is in that great work where the person's efforts allowed us to open a portal to blow up Satan Merkatrig with a cruise missile

[Darth Fanboy]

Famke Janssen played that role in NipTuck and she's smokin hot.

[Vehrec]

Hmmm. I'm not sure if Naoto Shirogane counts as a Trans-man, since it's only the Shadow that wants to go through with the operation. Then again, this is hir Jungian Shadow, so she's literally trying to force hir own self into a sex change operation. A lot of the rest of the game then goes to a lot of trouble to downplay this. Actual case of transexuality, or just a teenager with no strong female role model trying to destroy her feminine traits in order to fit into a male dominated profession?