There were so many comments this week that we don’t even know where to begin with this week’s Queerty ReBUTTal. So, rather than offending someone by not picking their comment – they were really all lovely, thank you – we’re using this space to feature an electronic exchange between ourselves and a reader.
The topic? Alexis Arquette. We won’t give away the details, but we will say the reader blows up Arquette’s spot, if you know what we mean…
Note: You should probably read “Alexis Taking Trans Struggle To Silver Screen”. It’ll help.
Reader: I just saw [Alexis Arquette] last night and if you know a few trannies, like i do, you can tell she has not done one thing except cross dress. Poorly. She is only a transvestite, not a transsexual. I know she originally shopped this [movie] as a reality show and it didn’t work. The whole thing is a pr stunt. She has had no surgery or hormones. I have heard it from three people who know her…
Queerty: Ooo, girl, this is a scandal!
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Reader: Why do you think she doesn’t want to talk about what she has done (not). Yes, she may want to do good by putting the trannie cause out there, but she is also taking away from the real trannies that have gone through the full surgeries and hormones, that have gone through pain and will probably die from cancer of years of hormones. In some countries now, I forgot which ones, if you live as an opposite sex, you can
get the same rights to change your sex on documents as people who had the surgery. Living in drag can be painful – (look at Sherry Vine) – hard on your life. I have a personal friend [who] had full surgery and it’s not easy. My friend had family support and $ to do all the surgery quickly at one time and she is still a little mentally fucked up. Anyway, back to Alexis: great for her, but let’s see [her] naked and not some airbrushed picture…
Queerty: You’re thinking of Spain. Also, Arquette addressed the reality show question at yesterday’s press conference. Huffington Post’s Katherine Thomson writes:
[Arquette] was self-deprecating about her now defunct friendship with Us Weekly reporter Ian Drew, who at one point wanted to produce a reality show about her transformation. “Eventually I started to realize his work as a tabloid reporter might have SOMETHING to do with our friendship.”
Hmmm, we really have nothing more to say on this subject. We must, however, share this reader provided link to a picture of an eye-popping pre-transition Arquette.
That should hold you over until Monday…
xoxo,
Queerty
Pierre
I’ve wondered the same thing about Alexis. Her facial features and body would look completely different if she were on hormones. She doesn’t even have tits – she would have grown tits if she were on hormones. They might not be huge but they would have given her extra flesh. I ain’t seein’ it.
LittleBigChris
I have been saying this since SURREAL LIFE, and damn I thought I was the only one who thought so. Although she talks the talk — spoke very well while on the show about the differences between being a man in a dress and being a woman stuck in a man’s body — Alexis has yet to walk the walk. Pre-op trannies tend to be (or feel) out of sync with their penis, they’re generally turned off by it, especially after years on hormones. A true woman transitioning would be focused on her surgery and building the life she wants, often laying low until she can present her true complete self to the world… Alexis seems more excited at having an audience to toss zingers at.
Drag queen.
Chaq
I think the generalisations about trannies and the judgements about Alexis’ sexual/gender identity suck big time.
Who the hell are any of us to say she isn’t a REAL tranny or a REAL woman. She is what she identifies as.
Gender and sexuality are different for everyone and are dynamic and fluid. Therefore, stick your labels up your arse.
Miss Understood
“Living in drag can be painful – (look at Sherry Vine) ”
What planet do you live on? Sherry Vine does not live in drag nor is her life, as far as I can see, painful…except for the time I put Ben Gay in her KY!
AJ
Being a “real trannie” has nothing to do with taking hormones or having extremely expensive surgeries done. Not all trannies want surgery and not all trannies can afford surgery. Gender identity has nothing to do with the way you eventually transition. Transition does not mean Surgery. Drag is not a gender identity! No one should be forced to conform to the current standard of what is considered to be female or male in current society, as gay people you’d think we could at least understand that. You have no right to judge anyones gender expression.
keri
Maybe she isn’t a transexual and just a transvestite. Not everyone who wears girls clothes wants to change sex. And whats wrong with that?
Ash
I agree, labels be damned, she should do whatever makes her happy. But it seems she is pretending to have surgery when she isn’t, which is just stupid. Why pretend? Why not educate transphobic idiots about why she chooses not to transition physically but is still 100% woman?
Rich
I had a crush on her when she was a boy… and the old picture shows why… amazing body and boy parts too.
Pierre
I don’t think anyone is judging her right to express her gender any way she pleases. What is being judged is whether or not she is telling the truth.
Alex
Oh my, Alexis is beyond fabulous whatever she does, says or films. . . What more is there to debate?
For serious. . .
Oh, and to the person who said that being trans has nothing to do with hormones and surgery, right on! No matter what parts Alexis has or what she chooses to do with them, she’s an amazing WOMAN. And if she chose to be a man, she’d be an amazing man. Who are you to decide what gender she “really” is?
(Oh, and the “you” in that was NOT directed at queerty. Oh my, Alexis is beyond fabulous whatever she does, says or films. . . What more is there to debate?
For serious. . .
Oh, and to the person who said that being trans has nothing to do with hormones and surgery, right on! No matter what parts Alexis has or what she chooses to do with them, she’s an amazing WOMAN. And if she chose to be a man, she’d be an amazing man. Who are you to decide what gender she “really” is?
(Oh, and the “you” in that was NOT directed at queerty. <3)