Decent portrayal of transsexuality? ANYWHERE?
Is there anywhere on TV or film which can manage a decent portrayal of transsexuality? The ones I've seen have ranged from mediocre to downright awful. I suppose they do have a serious problem in that most people don't know much about it, and the little they know is likely to be horribly wrong, but the attempts at audience education always seem to be so crude, and usually involve intelligent, sympathetic characters, the sort you'd expect to know better, saying dreadful things and being clumsily (and often poorly) re-educated. Having just winced my way through a CSI episode (Season 5) on the subject, which amongst other problems showed a madly complex reason for the murder without mentioning once that transsexuals are at very high risk of murder through simple hate crimes, along with confusing "trans" with "drag done tackily", I'd really like to know there's something more hopeful out there.
In case anyone is wondering, I probably wouldn't classify transsexuality as a disability, but gender dysphoria is a medical condition which causes acute suffering and social difficulties, and there is quite hefty medical treatment for it. So as these TV shows so often focus on the before-and-after stuff, I think it qualifies for discussion here.
In case anyone is wondering, I probably wouldn't classify transsexuality as a disability, but gender dysphoria is a medical condition which causes acute suffering and social difficulties, and there is quite hefty medical treatment for it. So as these TV shows so often focus on the before-and-after stuff, I think it qualifies for discussion here.