Whoa ...
I just watched an episode of "The Jeffersons" called, "Once a Friend" and it kind of blew my mind a little bit and offended me, all in half an hour.
It aired in 1977, so this was the first shock.
Secondly, George's Navy friend, Eddie, from the Korean War came to New York to say hello and when George went to meet Eddie, he met Edie. Now I know Norman Lear founded PFAW and was a pretty Liberal hippicrat, but having a trans character in the 70s is a little amazing. Of course, I'm young and my view of most things LGBT is measured by what I see on the Internet and television, current television programming anyway.
Of course, it was a sitcom, so they had to play it up for laughs. The word "it," used interchangeably with proper gender pronouns, was used once, so I grit my teeth a little bit. Also, the phrase, "REAL woman" was used to, so then I started gnashing. Not to mention that a biologically-born woman was used to play Edie.
It bothers me that while the concept of transwomen has become a generally-accepted idea in the media, "safe" portrayals are used. When the likes of Felicity Huffman and Rebecca Romijn are used to portray transwomen, actresses, directors and producers like Calpernia Addams and Andrea James are overlooked.
Then again, we do run the risk of pidgin-holing women like Addams and James because they are "TRANSwomen" and not because they are good actresses and writers who happen to have made their transition already.
Oh well, catch as catch can, I guess.
It aired in 1977, so this was the first shock.
Secondly, George's Navy friend, Eddie, from the Korean War came to New York to say hello and when George went to meet Eddie, he met Edie. Now I know Norman Lear founded PFAW and was a pretty Liberal hippicrat, but having a trans character in the 70s is a little amazing. Of course, I'm young and my view of most things LGBT is measured by what I see on the Internet and television, current television programming anyway.
Of course, it was a sitcom, so they had to play it up for laughs. The word "it," used interchangeably with proper gender pronouns, was used once, so I grit my teeth a little bit. Also, the phrase, "REAL woman" was used to, so then I started gnashing. Not to mention that a biologically-born woman was used to play Edie.
It bothers me that while the concept of transwomen has become a generally-accepted idea in the media, "safe" portrayals are used. When the likes of Felicity Huffman and Rebecca Romijn are used to portray transwomen, actresses, directors and producers like Calpernia Addams and Andrea James are overlooked.
Then again, we do run the risk of pidgin-holing women like Addams and James because they are "TRANSwomen" and not because they are good actresses and writers who happen to have made their transition already.
Oh well, catch as catch can, I guess.