Transphobia in this week's "Entertainment Weekly".

[JackBeck]

This week's "EW" has a review of The L Word's current season. Written by Benjamin Svetkey, an avowed "incidental metrosexual", his review concludes by sharing this lovely observation:

"...and waffling transsexual Max (Daniela Sea) really should make up his/her mind about what gender he/she should be.(In one recent episode, there was talk that the character was actually a gay man trapped in a pre-op body.)

:wtf:

So, let me see if I understand this...Since Max and Jodi's interpretor found each other attractive means that Max really wants to be a woman, not a man?

Max has made it perfectly clear that he identifies as a man. And he then discovered that he might be attracted to another guy. So?

I just emailed Mr. Svetkey a little schooling in the differences between gender and sexuality. If you have some time this weekend, I encourage you to email the magazine with your thoughts:

[e-mail]

[MADem]

1. I am not sure I am clear what you are annoyed about.

I don't watch the show, BTW.

Are you annoyed because the reviewer is being stupid, or the plot line/writing sucks and is unrepresentative? Or both?

[JackBeck]

2. Well, to begin with:

It is offensive to refer to any transgendered person as "he/she".

And secondly, how does being attracted to a gay man make the character of Max a "waffling transsexual"?

[MADem]

3. I am really not trying to be dense. HONEST!!!

Are you saying that the fault lies in both places? The reviewer for using he/she in the review, and the story WRITERS for putting in that "waffling transsexual" story line?

From what you provided, it seemed as though the storyline, not the reviewer, made that 'waffling' suggestion.

I'm not an expert on this topic at all. Do we have any transsexuals in the house who can elucidate? My understanding, limited though it is, is that before anyone goes under the knife, there's a big long psychological assessment to make sure there's no "waffling" going on.

[JackBeck]

4. The reviewer referred to Max as "waffling", not the writers.

Gender and sexuality are completely separate entities.

Max is female-to-male transgendered and may be attracted to another guy. That doesn't make him a "waffling transsexual". That makes his character possibly gay or bi and transgendered. And this is completely within the realm of things that can occur.

[MADem]

7. AH, thank you--that is what confused me. I thought the reviewer was

using an offensive description on the one hand....AND describing the plotline!

[hulklogan]

5. I think the problem is the reviewer who doesn't understand that

gender identity and sexual orientation are two different things. Some transgendered people transitioning from female to male are attracted to men, some are attracted to women, some are attracted to both. And so forth. And some people identify as both genders, or one now then the other later. Gender identity and sexual orientation are wide spectrums, something that the reviewer in his meterosexual experience doesn't understand.

I stopped reading Entertainment Weekly when I graduated from high school, and I'm sorry to see that it's still just as clueless as it was back then.

[JackBeck]

6. Here's my email, if it helps:

'Someone needs to school not only Mr. Svetkey, but the editor's of EW on the differences between gender and sexuality. My Svetkey's review of The L Word concluded with some disturbing observations about the transgendered. First, it is extremely offensive to refer to anyone who is transgendered as "he/she", regardless if they have transitioned or not, but especially more so when they are, as Mr. Svetkey puts it, "pre-op". Secondly, just because Max may be attracted to Jodi's interpretor, doesn't make him a "waffling transsexual". His own personal revelation and journey may be that he's a female-male transgendered man who may be attracted to other men, which was The L Word's point, and which Mr. Svetkey entirely missed in his rush to be offensive and bigoted.'

[MuseRider]

8. Is there some reason

the character is not just simply referred to by name? Why does there have to be a name for this persons sexuality? I have never understood the need for identifying people by something other than their name. Let everyone discover the precious differences on their own. Really, this just boggles my mind. My friends do not introduce me as Muserider who is straight or a she/she. I would think they were crazy if they did that and so would the rest of society yet here we are with the he/she crap again. Ooh, you see, they are not like me, oooohhhhh. It takes this country so long to grow up.

I have never seen the show but have suffered through endless hours in cars going across the state with this show being the main discussion. I probably should watch it at least sometimes so I know what they are talking about. :)

[NMMNG]

9. It's just another way to demean them

Reduce them to little more than the function of their genitals or their gender identity and you've dehumanized them that much more. It's one of the many tricks the RRRW loves to use against us.