Transgenders have always been discriminated upon by our society because they are obvious deviations from the common gender norms. When bringing up the subject of transgenders, my friends always feel awkward or disgusted as if hearing the mere word itself brings them out of their comfort zone. Truth is, many people probably adopt this aloofness or transphobia because of their unfamiliarity with the subject and the people. For this reason, I was really excited when I discovered that America's Top Model, hosted by Tyra Banks, featured a Transgender competitor! Her name is Isis and she's the first Transgender (male to female) model to ever air on the show. Thanks Tyra!

After reading Whipping Girl by Julie Serano, my respect for transgenders increased immensely. In her book, Serano discusses the portrayal of transgenders as deceivers and the question I want to ask is "who is deceiving who?" Clearly, despite scrutiny, derision, and even danger, transgenders, like Isis and Serano, are revealing their life changing transformation to the world. Could we be deeming transgenders as deceivers because we're afraid of threatening our own "gender binary" system---that is, the assumption that there are only two legitimate genders: feminine women and masculine men? At the end of the day, a trans woman is just as real as any other woman I know. Although biology tells us a lot of things, it's important that we acknowledge and respect the life a person chose to live out.

Point is I think that it is time we become more accepting of the differences among each other. The Trans Murder Monitoring Project 2009 updated recently that over 160 people transgenders died because of people's reaction over the tran's identity. Although our media may fail to accurately portray and recognize trans people's identities and even their very existence, as feminists and people alike, we can do our parts by supporting their movement towards acceptance. After all, isn't the third wave all about refocusing our campaigns onto the social and inequalities that still exist? Tyra's daring inclusion of a transgender on America's Next Top Model is perhaps only a baby step towards gaining societal approval, but a step nonetheless. Isis is now famous all around the world and even engaged! :) Now that transgenders have one foot in the door, hopefully baby steps will evolve into smooth strides towards change.





watch the show! I liked it :)

xoxo,
Rachel Wang