“I just knew I wanted to be a boy,” says Chaz Bono in Becoming Chaz, which premiered last night at Sundance (with stepmom Rep. Mary Bono in attendance) and will air on OWN. So is the documentary just going to be an expose on gender identity in the celebrity spotlight? Of course — and more. Cameras followed Chaz during his breast removal surgery, relays Marc Malkin, and during discusses of below-the-waist procedures and hormone therapy. “Definitely being born as a woman was a lot harder than being famous,” Chaz told an audience member during a Q&A. “You can figure out how to work that one, but if you’re a guy in a woman’s body you’re just screwed pretty much.” Well, unless you’re willing to undergo surgery and have cameras follow you: Chaz is already working on a sequel with producer-directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Perhaps it’ll be titled Becoming Michael Chiklis, after the actor whose body type Chaz would love to have.
jak
Poor Cher having to deal with this.
GayGOP
@jak: Poor Cher?! I feel worse for Chaz. I am not trans, but I remember my own struggle to come out as gay, and I have a very liberal, and completely non-judgmental family, and I went to college in a very accepting place. Any sort of coming out is difficult, but to have to do so in the public eye has to be far worse.
I wish Chaz all the best, and am glad to see that he has been comfortable enough to be so active in making the Trans community more visible, and more palatable to people.
missanthrope
“Poor Cher having to deal with this.”
Because it’s always about cisgender people’s feelings? Fuck Chaz right?
I don’t know how useful these documentaries are anymore in doing “trans 101” with people unfamiliar with our lifes. There’s been a plethora of these on TV in the last 10 years and they usually do a pretty ugly job of re-enforcing stereotypes, focousing on the sensation (surgery,surgery, surgery!!!) or staying close to a formulaic “standard narrative”. End the end, the person being highlighted has no control over the editing and they can be easily misrepresented if the directors do a bad job.
Jeffree
@Missanthrope: How about “poor Chaz” having to watch his Mom having her face and body rebuilt every few years!
You’re right about the documentaries. I’ve seen the similar “editorial” lens take a complex subject (e.g. Transgender people transitioning, same-sex couples adopting, the realities of foster care) and boil it down to a theme which represents only a small portion of those people’s lives. My guess is that the director/editor don’t necessaily have direct experience in the subjects at hand.
Vivian
The whole story of Chaz illustrates how deceptive
it is to lump gays and lesbians into a common group
with transgendereds. Initially, Chastity came out
as a lesbian and people accepted her as such. But
that was all wrong. In fact, Chastity was not
a lesbian, but a heterosexual male. These are two
entirely different things, and fortunately Chaz has
now set it all right. But “LGBT” takes these two
different things and calls them one.
It is an insult to trans men to equate them with
lesbians and it is an insult to lesbians to equate
them with people who identify as male. The entire
LGBT concept is a lie.
missanthrope
“It is an insult to trans men to equate them with
lesbians and it is an insult to lesbians to equate
them with people who identify as male. The entire
LGBT concept is a lie.”
Really, are you a trans man?
protip: if you’re not a trans man, you shouldn’t speak for trans men.
And somewhere in there you also seemed to forget that there are gay trans men.
GeriHew
@missanthrope: There are also bisexual and asexual transmen.
@Vivian: LGBT is not a “lie”. LGBT = anyone who is not heteronormative. Add a Q for queer and/or questioning to make sure you include everyone (or nearly everyone ) who is not heteronormative.
NB: Anyone who does not accept and respect Chaz Bono’s gender identity will still regard him as a lesbian regardless of the fact that he now identifies as a heterosexual male.
The one thing all LGBTQ people have in common is that none of us are heteronormative – not even the Qs who are heterosexual.
Transgender is an umbrella term, not all transgender people are transsexual. But the T in LGBT is not intended to imply that all LGBs are transgender in some way.
Cam
@Vivian: said..
”
Initially, Chastity came out
as a lesbian and people accepted her as such. But
that was all wrong. In fact, Chastity was not
a lesbian, but a heterosexual male. ”
_______________________________________
This actually goes a long way to explaining some of the conflicts between Caz and other gays. remember, she attacked Ellen’s show for being “Too Gay” publiclly. Not as surprising from somebody that really didn’t see themselves as gay.
Tori
@Cam: Why are you using female pronouns.
Angela
Good for you Chaz, happy for you. You look great:)