Within the first 10 minutes of last night’s Jersey Shore reunion show, MTV revisited Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino’s club flirtations in Miami with a lady his roommates believed was been born a man. Cue everyone laughing at the disgusting freak of nature!
[flv:http://media.queerty.net/jerseyshoretranny.mp4 https://queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com/wp/docs-null/2010/10/jerseyshoretra.jpg 650 400]
In the series’ second season, the gang’s regular nights out continued. Except down in Miami, Mike encountered a possibly trans woman without realizing it. And, ew, gross! The thought of sticking your tongue into a human being’s mouth!
Pauly D was the first to call him out on it when it happened (“We think The Situation might’ve got himself into a situation with a tranny out here”). And on last night’s reunion show, the trans bashing continued, with the catch phrase (“If you have to think about it, it’s a tranny, stay away”) resurfacing.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Oh, you didn’t know what a “tra-nade” is? That would be a trans grenade, the cast’s friendly term for an ugly girl. And that’s exactly what Ronnie, Mike, and Pauly D are all calling this unidentified woman.
The problem with these comments? They play into the fear of the weird and different without acknowledging — and jesus, I know this sounds corny — trans men and women are people too. To know how terrible the cast’s comments are, replace “trans” with “black” or “disabled.” Then we have Mike trying to avoid “bla-nades” and making fun of paraplegics. ROFL, right?
Guys like Mike Sorrentino don’t need to be attracted to trans women. Guys like Mike Sorrentino do not have to insult their entire existence based on their gender identity, either.
Meanwhile, how does a network like MTV recognize its glorification of trans-bashing while also supposedly acting as an advocate for queer equality? You can make the argument that MTV is just the messenger here, and the transphobic statements are coming from the show’s cast. Except the reunion’s host Julissa Bermudez, a MTV employee, also engages in the laughter and slurs: “Who was that tranny? Was that your girl? What was up with that?” You’re right, Julissa. Why would a perfectly straight, pussy-conquering man ever be attracted to a MTF? (A MTF, I might add, who does not look terribly different than you did on the reunion show.)
And there is no mention, not even a five-second slide filled with text, to counter this sort of phobic messaging. And yet MTV goes ahead and releases an iPhone app that lets young people report instances of bullying — talk about corporate synergy — as if that’s enough to maintain the media giant’s image of being a friend to our community. We encountered similar problems with The Real World: New Orleans, where a cast member threw around the word “faggot” — but at least he got called out on it during the reunion show. And yet this is the same network that (positively) featured trans cast member Katelynn on the previous Real World season, a first for the series, and by all accounts a progressive step. Does that mean MTV is representing “all sides” to the debate about whether queer people deserve to be celebrated or humiliated?
GLAAD just recognized MTV as the network with the most queer characters. Perhaps it’s time for an additional superlative: bully.
UPDATE: After we notified GLAAD about the program, the org says it “reached out to MTV to voice our serious concerns with this segment and to demand action. MTV replied that they will respond Monday and chart a course of action.”
Darien
It wasn’t that long ago that they had a transgendered woman on an MTV program, Katelynn in “The Real World”.
Jack
Well it’s a good thing the only people who watch the Jersey Shore are already douchebags
DR
It’s reality tv. Like it or not, this is their reality. MTV has always been very friendly to the GLBT community. But the Jersey shore isn’t even close to dealing with the issues of The Real World…not even on the same planet, let alone the same level.
Cam
I have seen many Trans women that are much more femininie than the women on Jersey Shore.
josue
How is this trans bashing? NOBODY is saying anything bad about the tranny themselves. They’re joking on Mike for hooking up with one without knowing. I love my trans sisters, but I would wholeheartedly laugh at any one of my macho straight friends who ended up making out with one without knowing. The laughing here seems to be aimed at Mike for making moves on a Tranny, not on the Tranny for responding to Mike’s moves.
Also, there is nothing wrong with a straight guy being weary about hooking up with a trans woman. I’d rather they be vigilant and stay away from a trans woman than not be vigilant and feel embarrassed/tricked and resort to violence in order to make things right in their mind.
Why do I still visit this website when everything they write is so off the mark and ultra sensitive. It’s called a preference, he doesn’t want to sleep with a man, or a man dressed as a woman, and he has a right to do so. Just like I might have a preference for a certain race and not another. It doesn’t make me racist.
Jeez.
Kev C
Is the color of the video messed up? What color are those people?
Alex
@josue: fuck you! trans women are not men dressed as women, they’re women. man dressed as a woman is more like you when you get all dolled up and mouth the words to ABBA on stage.
Roger Rabbit
LOL< It's Jersey Shore Stereotypes! The Real World producers have learned how to mix casts to create conflict and through them expose inner intents. The Jersey Shore producers are soo busy kissing butts that they have no time to set these kids up.
They should do a show called Living with Jerseys and put non Jerseys on a different floor, then let the sparks fly!
josue
@Alex: My apologies, I thought I had written out a second comment fixing that error. It should’ve read “he doesn’t want to sleep with a man, or a man dressed as a woman, a woman with the body of a man, or a woman who at one point in her life had the body of a man, etc and he has a right to do so.”
Sorry if I came across as an ass. I still feel the same way, though. It’s definitely up to him what his preferences are, he didn’t bash the lady or anything like that. All the “bullying” was directed at Mike and not the supposedly trans woman he was with.
ousslander
oh please. How many gay guys would say the same thing about a ftm or a biological woman?
IO would laugh too someone who hooked with say buck angel and didn’t know until they got home and got their pants off.
chan
I’d really have to agree with @josue and @ousslander here. This is some queer column reporting on any and everything trans even if it isn’t really news. Are you serious? He likes women born and women. Whats to wrong with that? Did he harm that woman? Did he make her feel like shit for being trans? And really, how do we even know she is trans? Maybe s/he identifies as a male for all we know.
It’s TV people and producers show you what they want the story to be. Let’s just loosen up and stop being so whiny. I know tons of gay boys who ditch potential prospects the minute they realize its a lesbian/ftm. And you know what? It’s flattery that they pass.
So MTV thanks for keeping it real-er than the Jersey Shore cast’s tan. And Queerty, let’s get back to the actual news and stop instigating BS.
kpnrtoayj
Mike Sorrentino is hateful on SOOOO many levels.
If he wants to go by looks – he looks like a caveman tranny (sorry, i mean no offense to our sisterfriends who don’t like that word).
He’s ugly both outside and in.
HATEFUL to women, and uses them as pieces of meat always.
WHY do these women let that man use them?
I just don’t get it.
He’s not handsome.
He’s not hot (sorry, those cheesegrater abs are waaay unattractive to many, many people), he’s not handsome, he looks waaaay older than he CLAIMS to be, he does cheesy shit with what’s left of his hair, he has a grating accent, his use of the English language is substandard, his dancing skills are subpar, etc. etc. etc.
jason
MTV is a fake gay advocate. You have to wonder if MTV’s Van Toffler is partly responsible for this. He has presided over an organization that has constantly promoted homophobic rappers and hip-hop artists. It’s a constant anti-gay subtext right throughout MTV.
As for the few gay representations on MTV, they’ve largely been of a token nature. Gay and bisexual men in particular have been treated appallingly by MTV. If there’s a gay or bi guy in an MTV show, he’s usually there to test the reactions of others rather than to have his sexuality celebrated.
Keep in mind the bisexual dating show that MTV showed about 2 years ago. It was horribly exploitative and sleazy, pandering to the base girl-girl fetishes of sleazy straight guys. No gay or bisexual men were permitted on the show. Yet MTV’s publicity department had the gall to portray this show as being liberating and progressive. Yeah, right.
MTV = fake gay advocates.
jason
Italian women are man-pleasing doormats. Maybe that’s why they put up with these men.
Jeffree
@Jason:
Thanks for the tongue-in-cheek rants today. They always make me giggle. Everytime I see your name, I think the remarks can’t get any more satirical, but you always outdo yourself!
This new system of no thumbs up/down sure works for you because it means that we don’t have to spend time clicking on “HIDDEN” to read the 85% of your posts that get voted down.
It’s sad that not everyone understands your wry style of writing—or appreciates the subtle art of irony!
John
“If there’s a gay or bi guy in an MTV show, he’s usually there to test the reactions of others rather than to have his sexuality celebrated.”
Why the hell should a gay man’s sexuality be celebrated? Let’s celebrate my blond hair, how about celebrating my desire to dress in drag. What a silly thing to say. IMO
Read more: http://www.queerty.com/mtv-plays-along-while-jersey-shore-bashes-trans-women-one-more-time-20101029/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29#ixzz13mnp7tq3
Jeffree
@Jason:
Thanks for the tongue-in-cheek rants today. They always make me giggle. Everytime I see your name, I think the remarks can’t get any more satirical, but you always outdo yourself!
This new system of no thumbs up/down sure works for you because it means that we don’t have to spend time clicking on “HIDDEN” to read the 85% of your posts that get voted down.
It’s sad that not everyone understands your wry style of writing—or appreciates the subtle art of irony!
Jackson
A straight man thinks he is hitting on a straight biologocial woman. Instead, the straight man is hitting on a
straight transgender woman. Everyone involved in this situation is straight, and all of the dude’s friends commenting on the situation are straight.
So WTF does this circus have to do with gay people? Stop your deceitful campaign to link gay people with transsexuality and transgenderism.
Missanthrope
Know Jason, he’s 100% serious on the Italian woman thing.
Anyway, again we see the usual transphobic tropes and regular cast of transphobic come out of the woodwork here, promoting attitudes that can end up in the murder of trans woman. You guys suck shit, just hope you know.
Zoe Brain
Here Joshue, I’ll re-write it for you.
“How is this nigger bashing? NOBODY is saying anything bad about the coon themselves. They’re joking on Mike for hooking up with one without knowing. I love my jungle bunny sisters, but I would wholeheartedly laugh at any one of my macho white friends who ended up making out with one without knowing. The laughing here seems to be aimed at Mike for making moves on a nigger, not on the nigger for responding to Mike’s moves.
Also, there is nothing wrong with a white guy being weary about hooking up with a woman passing for white. I’d rather they be vigilant and stay away from a high-yella gal than not be vigilant and feel embarrassed/tricked and resort to violence in order to make things right in their mind.”
Read more: http://www.queerty.com/mtv-plays-along-while-jersey-shore-bashes-trans-women-one-more-time-20101029/#ixzz13n6TWIat
Get the point?
Chan
@Zoe Brain:
Since when did the word trans become equal to nigger, jungle bunny, ect ? You need a lesson in vocabulary and respect. Trans is not a derogatory term and merely a descriptor.
Tori
@Chan: When he decide to call her a tranny.
chan
@Tori: if “tranny” is derogatory then so is dyke. Its all a matter of opinion and preference. Sorry we can’t make everyone use the same umbrella terms so that almost everyone is happy because it makes us all the same.
John
@Jeffree: You think Jason is tongue and cheek? I don’t think his reply to celebrate someone’s sexuality was tongue and cheek. I seemed he really want’s people to celebrate it.
Doe
I only found this site because of the peekabootranny app. I cant stand censorship and I feel that this political correctness is getting out of hand.
I remember that episode of Jersey Shore and I cant fathom why the OP cant see why any straight guy would not want to kiss any man whether he dresses as a woman or not.
As for the black or disabled comment I notice that gay right activist often compare race/disability to sex which they have nothing to do with each other.A person race/disability isn’t a predestination to like something it’s just the way they look.
If he did reject a black woman because he’s not into them..so what..i only date Asian women. Thats everyones right to choose. Isnt that what gays are fighting for?
Yes they were joking about the situation with the transgender..but it wasn’t like they were screaming for all trans-genders to die like that Arkansas guy
Lastly it could be argued that what the transperson did could be considered a form of assault
Nicole H
@Zoe Brain: Bravo!
DR
@Zoe Brain:
Not every perceived anti-trans comment (emphasis on the perceived) can be equally compared to every other perceived “ism”. These comparisons are tiresome and becoming more and more meaningless the more the GLBT community uses them every chance they get.
The guy is straight and doesn’t want to date a guy who uses surgery and drugs to become a woman. Deal with it. He likes to date women who were born women, not men. If you don’t like his views, don’t watch the show, don’t watch the clips, and go back overt o Bilerico and its culture of victimhood.
You’re not going to force anyone to date transgendered folks no matter how small you try and make them feel or how much you attempt to bully them into believing that a man who has surgery to become a woman = a woman.
Kev C
@Doe: “Lastly it could be argued that what the transperson did could be considered a form of assault”
Mike approached her, so you’re wrong. If it was an innocent mistake, Mike should’ve apologized and excused himself. Instead, MTV made it into a freak show bit for laughs.
Tori
@chan: What about calling her an “it” is that ok?Making her into a joke.
Tori
@DR: How is anybody trying to bully him into dating her/Their talking about the derogatory way which they refer to her and if you cant see that your no better than those anti-gay bigots.
Tori
@DR: You sir are an asshole.
Jai
You can tell, even though her face is blurred up, that the transgendered woman is probably 1000X better looking and has more class than all those 3 Jersey Shore skanks combined.
Gina K
I’m a transsexual woman and have a very thick skin. One has to be to get through things. Even so, this made me a bit sick to my stomach. I’m so tired of hearing transwomen refered to as “it” as in “it’s a man”. Why, in meeting someone new should I be required to address my gender status to that person? I identify as a woman, always have identified as a woman. The rest is my business! People still seem to think it’s ok to demand that we present ourselves differently, as somehow not completely deserving of the same status that women born women or men born men have.
DR
@Tori:
Zoe’s post was all about being a bully. Trying to bully people into thinking that since a hetero guy doesn’t want to date/sleep with/kiss a man who had surgical procedures to look like a woman he is a “bigot”, and at the end of the day, Zoe’s use of “nigger” for “trans” was totally only off the point. I’m getting fed up with the retort of “well, if you substitute some other group…”. It’s not always appropriate, especially in this case.
Tori
@DR: I’m getting fed up of you calling a trans woman a man.I could care less if a guy doesn’t want to date me because I’m trans,but these people were incredibly disrespectful and if you can’t see that like I said before your no better than the homophobes.
random gay
Tori, ignore them. Its the same anti-trans trolls (Hi CAM and DR!!!!) who show up anytime Queerty has an article on how trans people are considered jokes and inhuman. They need the attention because they don’t get it in real life. Cowards.
Scott
I didn’t see any contempt for trans women in this segment. Can you be serious? Mike didn’t refer to her as disgusting or anything of the sorts. He doesn’t want to hook up with a man transformed into a woman, so what’s wrong with that?
DR
@Tori:
Get fed up all you want. Gay men are allowed to say they don’t want to date someone born a woman but surgically altered to look like a man and straight men have every right to say they don’t want to date someone born a man but surgically altered to look like a woman.
And actually, nothing the cast said in that shot was terribly disrespectful. Immature maybe, but MTV made it worse with the shots.
BjBien1010
This is stupid.
My gay friends don’t know all my brothers and as such when we went out to a bar I found a lot of them hitting on my bro.
I choose NOT to tell them this was my bro or that he was straight and when I finally did it was a similar moment to the one here on JERSEY SHORE.
Same thing has happened to me when I was hitting on a guy and turns out he was straight; my friends ridiculed me.
At no point in this clip or in that scenario is anyone actually making fun of someone for being different but just for making a mistake.
KBKBKB
I couldn’t care less about the “antics” of these idiots, but this particular topic is a non-issue. It didn’t sound to me like they were disgusted by trannies, nor were they making fun of them.
Nothing to see here, move along…
Tori
@DR: I just said I don’t give a fuck whether you would date someone trans.How are you going to tell me whether it was disrespectful or not your not trans so it’s easy for you not to care.
Tori
@KBKBKB: How could you not see the way they were belittling her?
Kev C
We don’t even know if the woman was transgendered. Pauly D put the fear of trannies into Mike’s mind and they all accepted it. “If you have to think about it, it is”. Now what was the definition of homophobia? Oh, that’s right .. fear of homosexuals.
DR
@Tori:
It’s a blog, we all have our opinions on what is and is not offensive.
Anyway….
The solution is really simple. Don’t watch the “Jersey Shore” if you are so easily offended by immaturity.
random gay
@DR: yeah, the solution is so simple. Might as well stop watching all TV, stop reading gay blogs, stop looking for a date, stop expecting respect from people, etc. Trans women might as well crawl under a rock and never dare try to score a date with a straight man. Oh, and according to you, they might as well stop calling themselves woman because they are “surgically constructed”. This may be your innocent opinion, but the fact that you can’t see how harmful the constant joking and inhumane treatment trans women get makes you look like the asshole here.
Come on, don’t get shy. Tell us all of your thoughts. Tell us how much you would throw up if you slept with a trans man. I can’t wait to hear the food chunks looked like so you can prove that they aren’t “real” to you either.
Pieta
@Tori and DR. DR has a point, if you don’t enjoy watching people objectifying other people as things they would or wouldn’t stick their tongue or any other part of their anatomy in, as Shag or Don’t Shag objects. Then why are you watching programs like this.
Its sad there are a large number of people in the world whose brains can not cope with any concepts more complex than just Shag vs Don’t Shag, but its nice to see that MTV is catering for their entertainment. Its unfair to expect these people to cope with complex concepts like human dignity let a long transgenderism.
Pieta
Oh rats I forgot they expect they can’t cope with irony either!
natacha
@Chan. “Tranny” is a derogatory term just like N****r. Just like Asshole.
gary
In a perfect world, a trans individual wouldn’t have to tell a date about their trans status. The fact of the matter is that we don’t live in a perfect world, much less a perfect society. The predominant male ego isn’t comfortable with being presented a trans individual. To them, a man is a man and a woman is a woman. It’s not to devalue or in any way revoke the trans individual’s point of view, it’s just the way it currently is. We’re working towards perfection, but we still have a long ways to go.
In every trans “coming out” story I’ve heard, there is a fair amount of fear and insecurity about opening up to the other person for fear of them leaving, physical violence, etc. This is proof that even though someone’s original biology SHOULDN’T matter, it does in this society. A virtuous person won’t care that someone was born one gender or another, but then again, those people are few and far between. When you find one, you keep him or her.
I still don’t see how she was being ridiculed. I’ve also heard my trans friend use the term tranny with each other. I’ve heard it was a derogative term but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used that way so I didn’t get that from it. A lot of times I think it’s just the first thing that people think of, and use it to describe another person or people without thinking so much as to what it actually means or how it’s viewed. I mean, I don’t think these kids have taken gender studies classes or really read up on their history of trans culture.
At the end of the day, the article is incorrect. Thought they may not be treating the supposedly trans woman with the utmost respect, they’re also not demonizing or bullying her as this post makes it seem. There’s a difference between active hate and passive ignorance. Neither of which are great, but I’d rather have ignorance that can be cured through knowledge than hate that can’t be cured at all.
Tori
@Pieta: I don’t watch the show.The clip is right there.
Tori
@DR: Your a huge asshole.I don’t watch the show.You as a gay man can’t tell me how to feel as a trans woman.I think you would have a different reaction had they been homophobic comments.Do you realize how dehumanizing it is to be called it and to have people especially gay people belittle you and turn you into a joke?You probably don’t care, it doesn’t matter like you said this is a blog and I have my opinion.
Tackle
Thank you Queerty for bringing back the thumbs up/down icon.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Tackle: It still seems to be gone……..
As to this whole saga. What did you expect from those clowns on JS? MTV does plenty of good for Gays, always has, always will……….
Best bitchslap of the JS season: The girl you see the shituation jetting from the house two minutes after he came. He had already called a cab for her……….She went out and did interviews and said he was the worst fcuk she ever had. And proclaimed this great line: “As soon as his underwear came off I was faced with a what can best described as a very little situation to deal with”………….
TLM
I generally support GLAAD and I have always been LGBTQ-positive, but I think GLAAD has put words in the mouths of JS cast members here. I agree with BjBien1010 — they were mocking SORRENTINO, not the woman in question, because he has his super-macho persona and a transsexual is not what he was looking for. Isn’t that the first question of gay men to other gay men they are cruising – “What are you into?”. Mike was not interested in her. He never said “Ew, gross”, nor did he call her “a digusting freak of nature” or said “how could you put a tongue in her mouth”. That was all GLAAD’s editorializing. He did not say, let’s mock this girl or hurt her. He said he was walking away because that wasn’t his preference. And GLAAD, you pointed out that the hostess of the reunion had the look of a transsexual, which I myself thought, pointing out that those observations are real and valid. You can be uncomfortable with it, but you don’t have a right to hurt that person verbally or physically. Sorrentino did neither here. He just left. MTV blurred the face of the woman in question.
Let me be clear…I can’t stand Sorrentino. I think he routinely degrades women (gg women) and has an attitude generally that he is perfect and is free to judge women for being overweight or not having the looks he wants. But I did not see the same thing happening here. It was humorous because the joke was on Sorrentino, not on the woman. And I think it is perhaps political correctness toward LGBTQ people that made Sorrentino NOT feel free to let loose with criticism here as he so freely does with other GG girls.
I think GLAAD is showing its hypocrisy over the use of the word “tranny.” I read PGN, listen to Dan Savage, and am friends with many gay men, and never have I understood this to be a pejorative. “Tranny” is merely a shortened form of transsexual. PGN has used it in cartoons it has run. Did GLAAD ask for an apology from PGN? Did GLAAD ask Christian Siriano for using the term “hot tranny mess” 1,000 times on Project Runway, which WAS a pejorative? No. I suspect had the people doing the commentary in the above segment all been gay men, GLAAD would have been fine with it. All they said is if you have to question it, the woman is probably a transsexual. These people are pointing out secondary sex characteristics that we all as human beings recognize. If that isn’t ok to talk about, then I guess being gay shouldn’t be ok to talk about. I think it’s great that there can be an open discussion and that there was NOT revulsion that this woman was in that club which is majority-straight, nor any comments she did not have a right to be there, etc. I thought GLAAD was going for coexistence and open discourse, not silence.
Brooke
I am transsexual woman and I found this clip to be extremely offensive. I don’t care to watch “Jersey Shore” and never did. Unfortunately millions of young impressionable viewers do.
This is not about censorship of a word, it is about treating another human being with the respect we all deserve.
By glorifying and giving these assholes a voice, MTV perpetuates the myths and sterotypes that many in the straight (and gay community evidently) have about transgendered individuals. People seem to assume that transsexuals somehow get off on deceiving people–that we are somehow playing dress up to attract heterosexual men.
News FLASH! Some of us don’t even like men–much less the douchebag type like those on JS. The MTV clip only perpetuates that myth.
Second, did you hear the entire cast refer to this woman as an “it?” “…IT’S a tranny—stay away.” I don’t know how much more dehumanizing you can get.
By the way, didn’t Vinny do some sort of PSA on Facebook recently saying the cast would never poke fun of someone for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or TRANSGENDER? What a bunch of bullshit!
Shame on all you gays who think GLAAD is overstepping their bounds. Do you actually think this massive social shift towards gay acceptance in the past few years magically happened on it’s own?
GLAAD keeps these idiots in check by discouraging negative images while encouraging positive images of GLBT individuals in the media.
Do you think someone like Ellen as a out of the closet gay woman would even be able to have her own show? No you just take it all for granted that things have always been and will continue to be this easy.
Just remember next time you’re sashaying down Santa Monica Blvd. or the Casto that just a few years ago, you’d have bottles thrown at you by people who didn’t understand what being gay was because all they saw on TV was negative images of our community.
Yes GLAAD you are doing a great job.
friedrich eversol
I’m just not getting what is so offensive here. Not all trannies even like guys. Some M2F chicks like other chicks. So is it such a big deal that he doesn’t go for trannies? I don’t know. Seems like making a lot of nothing to me.
Scott Herman
Brooke,
I agree with you 100% and fully stand behind you on everything you said. My best friend Katelynn (Castmate of Real World: Brooklyn) is a transgendered woman and I have heard the horror stories first hand. This Jersey Shore trash needs to end. These people have a voice and shame on MTV for giving it to them and encouraging them and you are right in that someone like Ellen would NEVER have been able to have her own show if it weren’t for all those fighting for LGBT rights.
But on a side note, WHY is Ellen bringing Mike Sorrentino on her show?! Yeah I am sure the producers have something to do with it; but I am also pretty sure she has a say about who goes on too and should have known better. If I remember correctly the cast was VERY upset because they were “tricked” into shooting the cover for “The Village Voice” NYC. I wonder why…
There is a SERIOUS problem in this country and not just because YOUNG LGBT members are committing suicide. I am sure the number of LGBT members who are harassed on a daily basis who have learned to just “deal with it” DWARFS the number of those who are on the edge and ready to kill themselves. We need to eliminate this issue on both ends.
MTV, learn some class.
Brooke
@Scott Herman:
Hi Scott,
Thank you for your thoughtful response and for your words of support.
I did watch the RW Brooklyn with much interest–mostly because of Katelynn. It was the first time I’d ever gotten into the show so much since The RW 3 with Pedro in San Francisco back in the 90s. It’s refreshing to know you’re still friends and that you’re an advocate for equality.
If you see Katelynn, tell her she did a great job. MTV got it so right with her by casting an intelligent young lady who just so happened to be transgendered. Unfortunately, they’ve got it so wrong with Jersey Shore.
The worst part of it all is there is a lot of internet-chatter on the blogs that GLAAD is totally overreacting–that everyone needs to chill out and not be so PC. It’s especially disappointing to hear this come from members within our own community.
As I said before, it’s not about the word. Everyone knows that gays and TG individuals use tranny amongst themselves as slang or even a term of endearment towards their friends. If you look at the Jersey Shore segment, there was nothing endearing about it. It was not a lighthearted joke–it was the dehumanizing of an (assumed) transsexual for cheap laughs, that’s all.
Anyway thanks again for backing me up on this issue. I wish you all the success in the world in all your endeavors.
jilli
It can be useful to get the idea of trans people out in the mass media, because it acts as a social mediator. But there comes a time when it needs to be tactful. I’m sure the same characters say nigger and lots of other stuff, so trannie is being used to provoke. But just as they qualify other behaviors of the actors by careful editing, they should edit the trans references so the meanings go beyond provocation.
Delphine
I’m going to preface my comments with the explanation that this is my first time posting on Queerty. While my words are fierce, I don’t believe I’m disregarding Queerty’s rules for posting. If I’m crossing any line, I’m adult enough to accept correction. Hopefully, the intent behind my post is acceptable to all.
This is NO laughing matter!!! Jersey Shore spawn are missing the brain matter necessary to form intelligent thoughts. Getting tans, building muscles, and coiffing hair must take so much focus that they can’t be bothered to think before they speak. Their immature behavior shouldn’t be condoned by MTV (or anyone, for that matter), but acting like jackasses should warrant the humiliation that they’re willing to heap upon other human beings. There’s a song by Cee Lo Green that I’d like to dedicate to the Jersey Shore Assholes and their MTV counterparts. You know the tune … FUCK YOU!
It’s way past time that this shit is found UNACCEPTABLE!!! In case you don’t understand … THIS is “RIGHTEOUS ANGER”!!!
STOP THE HATE and BIG HUGS — Dean