The Pop Culture Fetishization of Trans Women 

7:10 gonna be honest the ace venture movie I was a bit lost on the trans sub-plot upon first viewing. for instance when venture turns the suspect around revealing the genitals. my ape brain just thought she shat herself after getting smacked around. I did not catch on to the trans element til after I was older and had a 2nd viewing of the film.

Boys don't cry was the first time I'd ever seen a trans man portrayed onscreen,that's when I first figured I was a trans man and not a "butch lesbian"

Oh God, that's horrible! Just... noooo, DON'T do that! :( And yeah, a cis woman playing a trans guy would lead to that: the woman would be nominated for a best _actress_ award; the role would be listed in a cis woman's film & tv credits... Those things wouldn't have registered with me as a cis woman, but "strongest _female_ character" did, & it made me think further.

This reminds me of how angry I was when I saw a cis man casted to lead The Danish Girl.

Yeah...but then again, trans people make up such a small percentage of the population. Unfortunately, if cis people can't play trans roles, that will result in even LESS representation.

@@PIB2000 Lol who told you that? There are way more of us out there than you think, but a cisnormative society will lie and miscount to make appear like we don't exist.

@@Ivytheherbert I'd say it's acceptable if the character is supposed to be pre-transition or the setting is such that medical transition is not feasible.

I'm not 100% sure about your conclusion: I mean, if we only allow "actors" to portray their lived experiences, don;t we turn everything that is not overtly fantastical into a pseudo-documentary? Your "transgender vision" arguments definitely have merit, but I am more concerned to see trans narratives presented by trans *directors*, so we don;t get the cringey framing of _The Danish Girl_ or the ...I have no words for the horror... tacky tuck reveal in _Ace Ventura_.

On one level I get what you are saying. On another level, who do you think they are more likely to cast? I was a few episodes into Dispatches From Elsewhere before I found out the Simone character is trans, played by Eve Lindley. I think I must have missed that reveal in an earlier episode because it didn't come up in a way that made it seem like it was new information and the main character didn't act like it was new information to him.

I'd say it's like accents: it's hard for a non-native to render one do that it sounds natural even for the natives. Yet, some actors manage to do that. I think it should be less about who gets to play whom, and mode about who gets to judge whether the performance was realistic and not a caricature. But at present minority groups such as trans people don't have a voice audible enough for such judgement to gry through. So having 'native' actors perform those roles and taking responsibility for representing their own is the next jest thing.

But in that same idea will that typecast them into only trans roles.

Thanks!

Khadija omg, hiii auntie!! 🤗

Hi aunty.

My favourite creators! In the same comments section! Asdfghjkl

I feel like I still have no idea what the cis gaze is but I’m willing to learn and I know it exists!

Oh fun! Feel better ❤️‍🩹

Amazing crossover, I love.

@@JessieGender1 you too!!

They give out the good stuff for that

I didn't need any painkillers for my extraction 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Also just found your channel and SUBBED

i had the opposite reaction, i felt sorry for her and then i thought there was something wrong with my reaction because i knew it clearly wasn't how the movie wanted me to feel, like why do they keep harassing that poor woman and calling her a man? (and this was kinda before i really thought about transgender people at all) that bit where he pulls her pants down is kinda heartbreaking

@@austinfernando8406 are you a trans woman too? =)

I also reacted how I was "meant" to at the time, but now, I'm just deeply disappointed in Jim Carey.

Ace Ventura was made in the EARLY 2000's of course it's gonna have some outdated ideals that are offensive. You can't expect old media like that or even older to align with your "new modern ideals".

Same

Glad I'm not the only one.

Same, I'm actually a little ashamed at myself finding those scenes funny at the time. Now even just seeing them in video essays like this make me uncomfortable. I doubt I'd ever rewatch that movie again, or shows like The IT Crowd.

Yeah I'm glad I never liked that type of humor at all, as a kid I always frowned at the adults that somehow liked it

Defintley we must end transphopia

It depends on how one is fetishized. Being called slurs such as "tr***y," "s**-m***e," or "s***y," etc., stereotyped in movies or porn, or murdered is unacceptable. Receiving fellatio, spanking, shibari, femdom requests, or foot worship from cis men, instead of vomiting is the right kind of fetishism. So is being told 3 times daily that I'm beautiful, having an Englishman in a tuxedo kiss my hand. I like being called "ma'am" and treated like a lady--especially by handsome men in uniform, such as cops, firefighters and paramedics! Being hit on by rock musicians is very flattering, too! Having cis and trans women freak dance me and make out with me on the dance floor in nightclubs is awesome!! I get more dates that way!

@@darlalathan6143 I do not know if this comment was meant ironically or not, but if it was sincere, then thank you, from a horny cis bisexual male

Yeah, given the reactionary beliefs of his mother (she allegedly died from a stroke after seeing a woman wearing pants), if there's any movie monster Ed Gein shares similarity with, it's Jason Vorhees

The press made up Gein's "wanted to be a woman" for shock value??? Like killing and butchering women wasn't shocking enough for a 1950s audience?? The Freudian psychologist was wrong about his mother, too?! Dammmmmmn. Fifties journalism and psychiatry sucked!!

No doubt, 'man wants to be a woman' was a much easier sell than 'man is sexually aroused by wearing the skin of dead women' in the papers of that time.

@@UnfortunatelyTheHunger That’s the thing though, there is absolutely zero proof that she was an abusive, controlling, or religiously fanatical mother. The majority of it was either grossly exaggerated or straight up lies told after her death to make her into a Freudian caricature. (Including the idea that she died when she saw a woman wearing pants). There is, however, plenty of evidence of Ed Gein’s father abusing her and his sons. But it rarely gets mentioned unless it’s to demonize her. (Ie she was a domineering woman for being the breadwinner because he refused to work, and he only beat her to “defend” himself from her nagging.)

Yes, but also all bigotry is actually based on lies. No variety of phobe has research or evidence to substantiate their batshit beliefs.

Psycho is one of my favorite horrors but Silence of the Lambs was painful to watch other than Anthony's acting and set design imao

Kinda of topic but I hate how horror villains are psychopaths it makes a disability look evil

Norman Bates wasn’t a transgender character I think. Though it did take inspiration from Ed Gein where I’m pretty sure some false reporting took place in terms of Gein’s motivations

My favorite movie!!!

John Cameron Mitchell said that Hedwig isn't a trans narrative. Remember that Hedwig chose to go through with the procedure out of desperation and not because of a sense of identity.

Out of curiosity, is Bernadette from the adventures Priscilla, Queen of the desert good or nah?

Orlando (1992) is a positive portrayal of transition, albeit the transition itself is more of a fantastical/magical one-off event.

@@annodomini2012 it has been ages since I read Orlando, but the term non-binary applies there so strongly.

It is probably better to be othered as non-binary rather than pushed into one of the binary categories. Still at this point the idea of being seen as just considered a part of everyone else might seem a bit off.

That likely speaks more to your strength of character than anything else, really.

Yeah it's hortible how transgender woman get treated

@@kaiyodei WARNING: MUCHO TEXT INBOUND coming from a trans woman deep and vocal within her community, they dont exist, but i do see where youre coming from when more "extreme" members of our community lash out (understandably) at the existence of potential bigotry in the form of exclusionary relationships. that harmful stereotype of fellow trans people forcing everyone to date us exists to villainize trans women as being manipulative and vile women. we call superstraights "bigots" because, half the time, superstraights lean towards the anti-lgbtq stance (others lean more heavily on the lgb cult status of "lets exclude trans people from everything and lets be terfs" rhetoric, which is all but helpful to trans people). its all about respect however. if a superstraight rejects a trans woman without ending up being an asshole about the rejection, that assholish feeling usually wont be reciprocated-- understandably, most people take offense to someone trying to tell them their bodies are essentially too "ugly" to love, which is sorta what SSs are implying. that being said, t4ts are not much better. while trans people restricting their dating circles to other trans people makes sense on paper, in actuality its just reverse-ss. the truth is, everyone's dating pools should be inclusive to all genders of one's sexuality. trans women are women, and if you decide not to date one then just tell that woman that shes not your type. making a huge parade about how her genitalia isnt really a woman's and making her feel bad about HERSELF and HER body very much drives ordinary people to lash out and decry these people as bigoted or crude people. what im trying to say is this-- i will respect people carrying out superstraight tendencies without hesitation (same as ill do for t4t people) if those acting under superstraight/t4t relationships arent complete assholes about what is essentially a preference and getting defensive about it to the point of essentially shaming someone for not being part of that preference. doesnt that make sense?

@@kaiyodei you say that as if that's a majority of trans women.

I just came down to the comments to also reccomended that essay, it goes more in-depth in regards to cinema history and is excellent for anyone that wants to further explore the stuff in this video. I'm glad to see Jessie making a vid on the same subject though. :)

I think it could specifically be linked to Bugs being influenced by trickster gods like Loki.

I mean, as a genderfluid person, I never really identified with Bugs Bunny growing up. Like, it always came across to me as a trick, a deception, and playing up the other character's lack of awareness of his real gender for laughs. Like, don't get me wrong, he's probably the best portrayal of that sort. But I feel like the fluidity of the gender of the character is more in how he's perceived, not how he *is.* And given that it was usually played for deception, I never really found him relatable. No matter what gender I feel, I feel it authentically. I don't really have a choice, my brain won't let me ignore it. I've spent much of my life not being believed when I'm telling the truth as I know it (especially in my childhood), and that was *before* I figured out my gender identity. The last thing I want is people not believing me when I say what my gender is, or dismissing me when I tell them it's shifted. I just want people accepting me for me.

To be fair, that was back in 2015, right when trans visibility for the vast majority of people was just beginning (that was the same year Caitlyn Jenner came out), so I would at least hope that cis audiences have evolved beyond that in the last 6 years, but perhaps not

@@andreadamon2197 Whut? Trans people have been visible for *much* longer than that! The transition of Christine Jorgensen in the 1950s was international news, both Lou Reed and David Bowie at the height of their fame in the 1960s/70s openly dated trans women, Wendy Carlos was literally world-famous in the 1970s and 80s, the 1980s began with "Dressed to Kill" and ended with "The Silence of the Lambs". Trans people have been *visible* for a damned long time, it's just that it took the world so effing long to treat us like human beings...

@@gozerthegozarian9500 But the thing was that either those were stories that either flew under people’s radars or were quickly forgotten with time or people just saw those people as flukes/tabloid sensationalism. It wasn’t until Caitlyn Jenner that the subject of trans people and their rights came and stuck to the minds of most people (at least in the U.S). The average person didn’t think about or talk about trans people for an extensive period of time until then. I don’t know why it didn’t stick with people in those earlier events, but it didn’t

@@andreadamon2197 The average person *still* doesn't think or talk about trans issues, that's why transphobes like Abigail Shrier and JKR and their ilk have such an easy time peddling their lies, which can be traced back to Janice Raymond's "The Transsexual Empire", published in 1979 and considered something of a "classic". And now Raymond's spiritual descendants claim that trans ness was invented in 2014 on tumblr or something along those lines. The problem is that the whole "trans issue" has been talked about virtually exclusively from a cis perspective and that trans people have been denied a voice in the conversation about our own damned lives and rights. What has changed is that now we've started making our own voices heard, that's why there is so much violent pushback against us now: We are no longer reduced to being objects of the cis gaze, but autonomous subjects with agency and voices of our own.

@@gozerthegozarian9500 Doesn’t the fact that a lot of people think that being transgender was invented in 2014 show that a lot of people (mostly older people) are just now grappling with the concept of trans people? I agree with you that there is a backlash about the fact that we’re (yes, I’m trans) not taking being disregarded and oppressed 2nd-class citizens anymore. The fact that trans people are finally getting rights is making people angry, just like with gay, poc, and women’s rights

I think beyond its poor representation, it is an excellent film, and that the two things are not at all mutually exclusive. :)

@@sapphichazard yeah, ambivalence :o

I can't recommend Council of Geek's perspective on this as a supplement to Jessie's work here... they really nail the "an instance isn't the problem, the pattern is" when it comes to beloved films like Psycho (I think the video's title is literally "The Problem is the Pattern"). Also, as someone else said, great film / bad representation aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

we can enjoy media and simultaneously acknowledge it's problematic aspects, doesn't have to be one or the other

@@whysocurious7366 I'm not ambivalent at all, though. I think that the technical quality of the film and the social importance of the film are two very different topics, which while they are closely related, are not directly related. Being socially poor doesn't make a film bad. It just makes it unwise to watch uncritically.

I think "none of the above" is the safest choice.

You know where you stand with haters. Folks with fetishes...maybe not so much.

That sounds awesome, I wish you the best with your writing! ^ - ^

Hello fellow Slasher fan! Any ideas on who The Gentleman is??

That's amazing. I've always looked up to Straczynski, and knowing he's an ally is just so reassuring.

At least he stayed with her.

Weirdly enough there's a scene in Penny Dreadful which riffs on that scene where Dil reveals her genitalia. The man whose sleeping with her doesn't mind. I'm not saying it's positive representation, it still has fetish issues, but it's better. That being said I'd love trans narratives to have different problems that have nothing to do with being trans, love, money etc. Sense8 is a good one, probably because the actor and the director were both trans.

I think this is the reason why, for me, characters like Mrs. Doubtfire, Bugs Bunny, or the protagonists from Some Like It Hot always read better than other characters. They all had good (or semi-good) reasons for crossdressing, so it came across as non-malicious (at least to my young, egg self). But then you remember all the other representations and the villain light gets easier to explain. The former is wholesome crossdressing. The latter is mental sickness. Not a great light to be cast in, and those impressions die hard. Not to mention, you have to choose between "they're not actually trans" or "trans people are dangerous and disturbed" as takeaways from these villainous characters, and those aren't great choices. One invalidates us, the other demonizes us.

I saw the movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I think that it was very artful of the movie makers to drop the seed into the public's minds that most trans people are ordinary non-violent people who just want to get on with their lives. Nowadays it would be like "duh" but the movie was released at a time where the public attitude towards trans people was about them "being monsters". I think it was pretty clever of them to hook a big audience in with a seemingly mainstream plot and then slip them some new ideas to chew on.

Can second this, definitely the first thing that came to my mind too, being from fancy, fancy Europe. Yes, it does mean that you are pretending to have a moustache, it just tends to be one specific moustache. One moustache to rule them all, you could say.

@@orsolyafekete7485 Thanks, I'm from one of the less fancy bits of Europe, glad it wasn't just me losing my senses.

I, too, thought, where is Jessie going with this Hitler Bit? 😂

@@edspace. Oh, I was just parroting Jessie with that one, I'm also DEFINITELY from the less fancy part (read: the transphobic part) (wait, that doesn't really narrow it down, does it?) (now I'm sad)

@@orsolyafekete7485 Its okay, I read a study that said most people in the UK are in favour of trans rights, progress is being made, slowly but surely.

🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈

You and me both.

I'd watch such a video if Jessie made one. She and ContraPoints both put in that GOAT work.

I agree, I've worked with them before, they were a distinct pleasure to work with. Just check in with them from time to time, they tend to spend a lot of time with their head in the clouds.

* checks timestamp * "Grammer" Oh no.

I just love the idea of the sign-off "live long and prosper" being presented to students who have never even heard of Jessie before, much less that she's a humongous Star Trek nerd.

Oh, and speaking of fetishization, that whole "alpha" thing as a thing for werewolves...I am sick to death of it. I mean, the idea of an alpha wolf was debunked *by the researcher who discovered it,* but that book didn't sell as well, so we are stuck with alphas as a cultural concept. One often used to dismiss toxic behaviour, or even glorify it. But yeah, there were a lot of toxic traits to the werewolves in [series unmentioned]. Someone should do a video about that. I'd definitely watch it.

Oof, yeah, that sucks. Sorry to hear about that. Though I'm genderfluid, I can relate. Also, I gotta wonder how many lesbians watched that show and thought that's what trans men are like. Then again, his story arc kinda reads like it was written by a TERF.

How no ones gender identity charges they ain’t someone changing from male to female or vice versa it’s more like genetic memory

Why not both?

I'd lean more towards the latter, given Clarissa's statement that "transsexuals tend to be very passive" and her explanation that Buffalo Bill doesn't fit that psychological model. The book makes it more explicit (and unmissable), but many who watched the movie never remember that line (I seem to be the only one). And Buffalo Bill fits so neatly into the pre-existing transphobic tropes (especially given the framing around the character and shot choice) that it can't seem to help being transphobic. I'm not saying it can't be intentional, but if it was, why mention the whole "passive" thing? It's not like they lifted that line from the book verbatim. Someone intentionally adapted that point (covered by an entire scene in the book) into a line of dialogue. Possibly to try and mitigate any backlash against the trans community, but if so, it frickin' failed. Outweighed by the framing in the rest of the film, really. So, the script-writer probably didn't intend it to work out that way, and the director at best didn't highlight it enough for the line to land. Really, the director's the big unknown here. If there's intentionality in this portrayal, it's likely there.