The Transgendered Spotlight
Well it had to have been sweeps month for network television last month. Many of the prime time shows were having their season finale plus the local PBS channel began its annual fund raising campaign. It is a time when the mediocre becomes a little bit better. It is the time where the rating wars heat up because it will be those weeks that will make or break some shows and will set the pricing that the networks can sell there time to the sponsors. But what drew my attention to this month of non status quo viewing was that there were two programs on the major networks with TG subjects in the same week. A friend of mine said that “we” i.e., transpeople, are the “in” topic. So I guess if you want to boost your rating you put a T person on the screen. How else can you explain why Springer is still on the air? It certainly can not be for the intellectual content or stimulating dialogue, at least the words that actually get through the bleeps of the censors.So here we are in the spotlight because it is good for ratings. From the network’s point of view, there is a buck to made off of us. So does being in front of the television camera progress the “cause” of the transgendered movement? By being brought into the living rooms of America will we end discrimination? By being put in a glass case for all to look and stare at make us equal with the Average Joe or Jane? Or are we simply being exploited for cheap ratings and the all might dollar? Is television just the carnival sideshow of today only in a smaller package but still filled with all the oddities for the world to gawk at?
I know that these shows do give us wide exposure. You have to admire those that are willing to be out'ed that way. It is a way for us to get our message out there and to educate the general populous. But does it promote understanding and acceptance? I hear all the time that people are okay with this or any controversial issue but that is only as long as it does not affect them directly. How would we feel if our spouse or sibling or child or parent wanted to change their gender? Does a visit to the zoo really help protect endangered species? Does a documentary on AIDS in Africa really change the thinking of our nation to help fight the disease? Does exploiting ourselves help others or only us?
As you can see, I have a lot of questions and no answers. I want to think that by putting ourselves in front of a camera or a class room or even a stranger or the Internet, we do it for the noble cause of helping people understand about being TG and not for some personal self gratifying fulfillment. I know that such work does have positive results. I noticed on the South Comfort website after the airing of the documentary about Robert Eades that their guest book was filled with hundreds of people who were moved by Robert’s story and came to the site seek information and expressing their support. I am sure that the network shows reached even more viewers and also had positive results.
We might just be the new trend in television until one day a new group of oppressed individuals will seek acceptance and they will become a marketable item and we will have become a more normal and accepted group. I guess I just question the motives of the producers and as well as participants. Maybe I am just being cynical because I see everyone out to make a buck off of us. Heck I even question why I write these articles. Sure I get some self-gratification knowing that you are reading this (you are still here aren’t you) but I have yet to see any of the green stuff flowing my way for my efforts (okay, I so I work cheap – free even). And maybe that is the price we have to pay in order to get our message out to the world. We need to exploit ourselves in an attempt to get the world to see us, to know us, and to understand us. Someone once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Maybe we need to ask Justin and Janet if that is true.
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