Last season the hit CBS sitcom Mike and Molly went astray with two jokes about transgender women, specifically using the slur "shemale." That very same weekend a movie starring Melissa McCarthy used another slur, "tranny." Blogger Trish Mifflin provided some brilliant insight into exactly why these terms are slurs and not fodder for humor, especially on CBS sitcoms.
CBS officials met with GLAAD, and I had hoped that things would get better. GLAAD was also concerned about the depiction of transgender characters on the various procedural shows.
So I was literally stunned into silence the other night when we tuned in to the second episode of the season. I had heard that the writers were planning to turn Molly into something more like the assorted hard-ass women characters McCarthy plays in her successful movies, so I expected the show to be a bit more coarse.
Ha. In the first 15 minutes I counted:
•A lesbian-prison-bitch joke
•A lesbian-prison-rape joke
•A straight-men-perceived-as-gay joke
•A soap-on-a-rope-in-the-locker-room joke
•A Carl-kissed-a-trans-woman-ha-ha-ha joke
•Misgendering said trans woman, who is sitting right there, multiple times (her character is named Lousette, which has also been spelled "Lucette")
•Asking said trans woman how she manages her genitals, followed by a joke
That's when I turned off the television.
None of this was relevant to the actual plot; it was all filler and jokes. So I assume the writers are basically telling the LGBTQ community to fuck off and assuming that we'll laugh at what they want us to laugh about. No one, LGBTQ or otherwise, tells Billy and Melissa how to be funny. They are stars. She's a movie star! He's from Pittsburgh! They also mock fat people, old people, drug users, lonely people and so forth -- all those things that are just like being gay or transgender. Right? Oh, wait...
Here's the thing, CBS. This happens to be Transgender Awareness Week, leading up to the Trans Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. A few facts to note:
•In 2012, 53 percent of LGBTQ victims of murder were transgender women.
•In 2013, Cemia (CeCe) Acoff of Cleveland and Diamond Williams of Philadelphia were both brutally murdered and then further harassed in death by the media coverage of their identities. They are just two among many, but they're the two closest to Pittsburgh.
•Seventy-three percent of victims of anti-LGBTQ homicides were people of color.
•Another fun fact about Pittsburgh: MC Hammer teamed up with Clear Channel and iHeart Radio for the annual "Trannies and Grannies" event.
Rest of the article at source. Do you guys think its appropriate to use words like SheMale and Tranny for comedic value?
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