With Sarah Silverman’s help, transgender people have been made into a punch line once again. Last Wednesday, The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) released a video for their new campaign, the Equal Payback Project, which seeks to raise awareness about the persistent gender pay gap between men and women in the U.S. The viral video, entitled “Sarah Silverman Closes The Gap,” features the comedienne jokingly proposing to “become a dude” through sex reassignment surgery in order to avoid the financial consequences of being a woman.
Several online media outlets lauded the video’s unique way of addressing the wage gap. E! Online called it video “humorous” and “thought provoking.” Bustle described the video as “hilarious,” including only a token disclaimer that “the financial struggles of transgender people are certainly no laughing matter.” Adweek described it as an “amusing video” and a “brilliant campaign.”
However, transgender people—who actually experience the social oppression and unemployment that often accompanies a gender transition — had drastically different reactions to the campaign ad. LGBT activists quickly took to Twitter to call out the ad for being transphobic:
.@nwlc @SarahKSilverman Sex reassignment doesn't help one advance in workplace. Ask one of the most underemployed populations: trans people.
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 8, 2014
how dare you propagate such blatant transphobia in the name of feminism. garbage. not that i expected any better from you. @SarahKSilverman
— JumpScare Thinkpiece (@Camera_Angel) October 8, 2014
@SarahKSilverman Wow, that's funny. Because I got one in order to save my fucking life. Good thing we're both laffin'! Ha! Ha!
— Jenny B. (@JennyBoylan) October 8, 2014
Thx @SarahKSilverman for addressing wage gap but “sex change” won’t do it. You can be fired in 32 states just for being trans* #equalpayback
— Out & Equal (@OutandEqual) October 9, 2014
http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/sarah-silverman-comedy-spokesperson/
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