Posted: 8/8/19 at 8:53am
DoTheDood said: "SouthernCakes said: "I don’t see people threatening to shut down every production of Twelfth Night? So why does this strike a chord so much?"
Trans issues are very complicated, but Twelfth Night is slightly different as it's a woman pretending to be a man. Trans-men usually aren't victimized in the same way trans-women are, as (for the most part) transphobes joke about a "man-in-a-dress". As transphobes just see trans-men as "not men", it's no threat to them, but a"man-in-a-dress" for them is, which then becomes a joke. That then becomes a trope of not seeing trans-women who they are, women. They still don't see trans-men as men either, but it's not a harmful trope, so woman can joke about dressing as men and trans-men (as far as I'm aware) don't find it offensive."
i agree that trans women are being murdered at an alarming rate (not that there’s an acceptable rate other than 0%), but I’d also say that in regard to trans men having it easier, Brandon Teena (Boy’s Don’t Cry) might disagree with you if he was still with us. Of course, he was murdered before transgender was widely used as an identity term so I don’t want to claim an identify for him that he might reject, but based on the movie, he was biologically born with a woman’s body, but identified as a man. I think the Twelfth Night comparison is apt as is Shakespeare in Love and Yentl. I just don’t see them as problematic. They are not the problem I have tickets to see Tootsie on October 4th if it stays open that long so I can see it for myself.
And can I just say that things can be slightly problematic and still not be worthy of being boycotted or lamented endlessly about? Surely we have bigger fish to fry. I mean as a gay man I love David Letterman despite the fact that when he had his talk show, as I recall he would use the “stereotypical gay” voice when it was clear he was portraying an effeminate gay man. Not to mention the way he treated Richard Simmons even though Simmons seemed to be willing to go along with it. It was a chink in the armor of someone I otherwise admire(d). Tootsie is closing sooner rather than later based on its box office receipts. It doesn’t seem to make sense to spend a lot of time lamenting its existence when there are more pressing issues from people/groups that actively mean the LGBT community harm. But Who knows? Maybe I’ll see it on October 4th and be horribly offended by it.