It appears poised to become the biggest trend in television in 2015, but I’m not even sure what to call it.
I’m tempted to go with “transgenderism,”
but technically, that’s not a word -- at least not a word that appears in the dictionary here on my shelf that I use for reference (it's not a brand-new dictionary, but it was published fairly
recently).
GLAAD.org, the Web site for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, provides a pretty good roadmap through the thicket of this
confusing subject. “Be aware of the differences between transgender women, cross-dressers, and drag queens,” GLAAD advises. “Use the term preferred by the individual. Do not use the
word ‘transvestite’ at all, unless someone specifically self-identifies that way.”
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So much for clever wordplay where the use of “TV” is concerned in this TV blog
post. Oh well -- that’s okay with me, because the last thing I wish to do is defame or otherwise hurt anybody’s feelings in this summary of the ways in which TV is about to shine the
spotlight on men who have become, or are becoming, women.
My research has turned up three reality shows in the works -- not counting a possible show centered around Bruce Jenner’s
“gender expression journey” that has not yet been officially announced. Speculation about a Jenner reality show has heated up in recent weeks, and even more so since the news broke last
weekend that he finally came clean and admitted that he’s “transitioning” to female in an interview with People magazine. He’s on the cover this week.
Some might trace
television’s acceptance (or exploitation) of transgender lifestyles back to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” -- the drag-competition show on the gay cable channel known as Logo that first
premiered back in 2009. More recently, critics have gushed over the Amazon series called “Transparent,” starring Jeffrey Tambor as a transgender dad.
That show has apparently set
the stage for this year’s raft of unscripted transgender shows, only one of which seems to have a premiere date. They are:
“New Girls on the Block” on Discovery Life
Channel: Set to premiere April 2, this show focuses on a group of transgender women (men who now “identify” as women) in Kansas City, Mo. Six episodes have been made.
“My Transparent Life” on ABC Family: From producer Ryan Seacrest, this is a docu-series that is drawing comparisons to “Transparent” because it is about an apparently
real family in which the dad is becoming a woman. In the process, he is divorcing his wife. The show reportedly focuses on their teenage son, Ben, and his reactions to these upheavals in his
family.
“TransAmerica” on VH1: Announced last May, this one is another “docu-series” -- reportedly consisting of eight episodes -- about another group of
transgender women. Neither the show’s location nor its air date were announced. The producer was announced, though: Tyra Banks.
Yesterday, “Inside Edition” announced that it
had hired a transgender woman as a correspondent -- Zoey Tur. Zoey was formerly Bob Tur, a swashbuckling helicopter pilot who achieved considerable renown in the TV news business in Los Angeles for
his derring-do capturing dramatic video from the air (including the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase in 1994).
The announcement said Tur is “America’s first transgender television
reporter,” although that claim could not be independently confirmed (at least by me). If she is the first, then it is legitimate to consider her as some sort of pioneer. In that regard, Bruce
Jenner is also a pioneer -- the first Olympic decathlon champion to embark on the process known as “gender reassignment," that we know of.
“Avoid the phrase ‘sex
change’,” advises GLAAD on its Web site.
Okay, GLAAD, I will try and abide by this one. But I’m not making any promises.