Hollywood is always reminding us of its rosy vision of the future where there are absolutely no limits to sexual adventurism and gender confusion. Seldom is heard a discouraging word about the next new frontier of tolerance. "If it feels good, do it" isn’t merely a T-shirt slogan. In California, it should become the state motto, and might soon sound like a new pledge of allegiance – one utopia, c
asting aside any moral compass, finding liberty and justice in applauding every perversion.
On television, it’s become almost blase to place a reality show in the fashion world that merely features gay men with pink hair and cross-dressing judges. The CW network show "America’s Next Top Model" has now gone through ten seasons of "top models." So to freshen up the concept, hostess Tyra Banks announced that for the fall season, one of the girls will be a man – or, to use the politically correct term, a "transgender."
The contestant’s name will be "Isis," even though websites whisper "her" real name is…Darrell. "Her" preferred terminology is "a woman born physically male." This met with applause from the political correctness police. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation hailed the move as "an unprecedented opportunity for a community that is underrepresented on television." The entertainment media followed along, like little pooches in GLAAD’s purse.
Us Magazine is treating "Isis" like some sort of courageous pioneer for civil rights, as if she was the Martin Luther King of cross-dressing, or perhaps the new Rosa Parks of castration. (The "girl" still has male genitalia.) They asked, "Will she be a role model?" The contestant would only promise: "I like to help people, but I'm here to follow my dreams."
When one news channel started to giggle at the Isis gambit, GLAAD broke out its ruler and slapped them on the knuckles for "using dehumanizing terminology, inaccurate and inappropriate pronouns and offensive references to her anatomy." That means you’re not allowed to use "inaccurate" male pronouns (reality be damned), and you’re not allowed to note "she" still is all man under there. Some facts are "defamation," apparently.
Fox News interviewed Us Magazine editor Ian Drew – a gay man – to discuss the show. Drew cattily proclaimed, "We call it ‘America's Next Top Tranny’ a lot of the time anyway…. She doesn't look a lot different than any of the other contestants that have been on there. I mean, they’re not exactly like the most high-class group of women usually." Fox anchor Gregg Jarrett laughed and said "You’re gonna get a phone call." Exactly.
It doesn’t matter if this "high-class" CW show thrives on misbehaving models who screech at each other or even wear diapers and announce they’ve wet themselves. It doesn’t matter if CW dreams up "challenges" like forcing the models to do a photo shoot wearing a bikini made of meat. No one is allowed to speak in disparaging tones about the new frontier. Fox News and Us Magazine both knuckled under and apologized.
Overcoming "transphobia" is breaking out all over television. VH-1 has a new reality show called "I Want to Work for Diddy," the latest absurd series to massage the immense ego of hip-hop mogul Sean Combs. One of the contestants aspiring to be a Diddy servant is cross-dressing black man "Laverne," who was placed on the show so that other desperate contestants (including a slovenly white guy named Boris) can be mocked for their "transprejudice."
ABC has not one, but two dramas that celebrate sexual "reassignment" surgery. "Ugly Betty," another show set in the fashion industry, features the character "Alexis," who used to be Alex, implausibly played by the gorgeous supermodel Rebecca Romijn. On the show "Dirty, Sexy Money," a New York state attorney general played by Billy Baldwin sleeps with what ABC calls a "super sultry transgender mistress," played by a real-life transsexual who goes by the stage name Candis Cayne. "Her" real name was Brendan McDaniel, in case you’re wondering.
When Cayne was interviewed on "Good Morning America" last fall, co-host Robin Roberts repeatedly praised the new role model: "You’re extremely talented. You're well known here in New York with your cabaret act. I know you're hearing from a lot of young people who are just very appreciative that you've come forward." Only celebration of the revolution is allowed.
What’s next? The San Francisco Chronicle reported the local "gender illusionist" club Asia SF is pitching its own reality show, "a series documenting the lives of 22 male-to-female transgender people as they master complex choreography, learn to move like biologically born women, and fight through often painful transitions."
In California, no one in television dares say "stop the merry-go-round, I want to get off."





















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Comments Policy
I think this transgender
August 20, 2008 - 07:01 ET by muh-oonI think this transgender thing is going to fall apart when it comes down to bathroom access. Are women really going to feel comfortable when they find out they are required to let men share their bathrooms? Will transgenders accept having seperate bathrooms that point out they are "different"?
This post has been up for
August 20, 2008 - 07:32 ET by motherbeltThis post has been up for an hour, and only one comment.
I think a lot of people are like me...I simply do not even know what to say.
Yet one more reason why our TV viewing is Food Network, Speed Channel, Myth Busters and Junkyard Wars.
Maybe some things
August 20, 2008 - 07:47 ET by sarcasmoLike the coming fiscal mess, are more interesting or should take up more conservative brain-time relative to sex in the media topics? And I happen to like Myth Busters.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
I'm with you sarc
August 20, 2008 - 07:57 ET by Cool ArrowWe kept hearing about the wonderful Stock Market before March 2000, but anybody with a bit of sense knew Dot Coms were mostly servers in backrooms without much real assets at all.
We're back there now with the powers that be swearing credit is troubled but not "in trouble".
I've seen this guy pretty regularly on Glenn Beck, and he doesn't seem like a whacko conspiracy theorist to me.
Don't quite know whether to charge to the limit or bring the cows in. That's a joke. I'm staying out of debt as long as I can hold out.
I ♣ my seal
I'm not knocking Myth
August 21, 2008 - 09:26 ET by motherbeltI'm not knocking Myth Busters, sarc; I'm saying it is a whole lot better than all this other "reality" crap on TV. And hubby and I both LOVE Junkyard Wars!
I just got to meet Adam Savage a few weeks ago
August 22, 2008 - 04:09 ET by sarcasmo(I was providing security, long story...) Anyway, he personally informed me they'd revisited the Carlos Hathcock "myth" of shooting an opposing sniper down his rifle scope as "confirmed," which was cool because I know it's true. What I like about MythBusters is the emphasis on science and history in getting to the right answers, but the humor's a draw, too.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
Agreed.
August 20, 2008 - 07:51 ET by HeavyChevyI would change from Speed Channel only to watch Bill O'rielly, Glenn Beck, Cops, or if Unique Whips is on (no disrespect to any who likes that show but I can't stand it.) everything else is just trash.
That's right Chevy
August 20, 2008 - 08:02 ET by Cool ArrowI don't think the trannies on "Top Model" are the kind that would bolt onto the power end of a 454 anyway.
I ♣ my seal
HA!
August 20, 2008 - 09:23 ET by HeavyChevyAll we have to tell them is that you will be driving a car with a big "rat" under the hood and watch the reaction on thier faces!
Sorry for all you non-car folks Rats are any large displacement motor (366, 396 454, 455) mice are just the opposite (289, 302, 350 .)
"9 out of 10 doctors agree that flag burning is the number one killer of liberals."
And don't forget 502 and
August 20, 2008 - 15:19 ET by MassConservAnd don't forget 502 and 572. [drool]
Sorry, I hate when I do that.
455 W30
August 20, 2008 - 15:25 ET by SemperrightI crammed a 455 into a 73 Olds Omega. Not a lot of traction but a lot of fun.
It would pass everything but a gas station
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The MARINES don't have that problem."
President Ronald Reagan - 1985
There was a shop in
August 20, 2008 - 15:29 ET by bassndudeThere was a shop in California, in the 70's that was putting in 454's in Vega's. Knew a guy at Ft. Carson had one..screaming machine, it was.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
My cousin
August 20, 2008 - 20:58 ET by HeavyChevydropped...no shoehorned a 455 into a chevette it was scary as hell.
"9 out of 10 doctors agree that flag burning is the number one killer of liberals."
You probably had your local
August 20, 2008 - 15:34 ET by MassConservYou probably had your local tire dealer on retainer too. ;-)
If I ever hit the lottery I'll drop a 572 into my Nova. Until then it'll have to do with the mousey 350. :-)
Mass, Actually in my,
August 20, 2008 - 15:41 ET by SemperrightMass,
Actually in my, let's just say "not so glorious youth", I would rent a Truck from the U-Haul place with good tires and spend the day swapping them on the Omega supreme. $29 bucks for a new set of tires plus $5 bucks to mount.
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The MARINES don't have that problem."
President Ronald Reagan - 1985
Semper, I'll take my cue
August 20, 2008 - 15:47 ET by MassConservSemper,
I'll take my cue from Sgt. Shultz: "I see NOTHING! I know NOTHING!"
Oh man...
August 20, 2008 - 20:50 ET by HeavyChevyHow could I have forgetten the 502-572 and lord have mercy on you if you decided to stroke the motor!
"9 out of 10 doctors agree that flag burning is the number one killer of liberals."
HeavyChevy...in my day we
August 20, 2008 - 15:27 ET by bassndudeHeavyChevy...in my day we called Rats the hopped up big blocks. Headers, intake carb and cam's. Then you had a Rat.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
and now we live in the era of...
August 20, 2008 - 21:17 ET by HeavyChevywatching people get excited because their minivan makes 190 horses...sad.
"9 out of 10 doctors agree that flag burning is the number one killer of liberals."
The countdown is on
August 20, 2008 - 10:33 ET by UnsaneCounting down 'til shawn228, et al, come in here crying that Mr. Bozell and other should shut up, and just turn off their TVs, and say absolutely nothing critical about things like this (because THAT is exactly like calling for censorship).
Setting my watch...now...
The Olympics are now under way in Beijing. May the people of Beijing gte thoroughly sick of hearing The Star Spangled Banner. May the Beijing Olympic Committee run out of U.S. flags for the medal ceremonies! USA! USA!! USA!!!
Assuming that I may be one
August 20, 2008 - 15:44 ET by JasonCAssuming that I may be one of the posters implicated in 'et al', let me reiterate that, as far as Bozell's culture columns go, I would never even suggest that he shouldn't have an opinion on a given matter or offer critique and analysis. The discussion to which I believe you are referring was not, at least from my end, about whether a person should be offended or not, but about whether the FCC - a bloated, hypocritical, big-government organ - ought to be in the business of leveling fines and penalties against those who do the offending.
That said, there is little to comment upon in the article at hand since Bozell does not seem to offer any sort of commentary beyond "A transsexual TV show host? What is the world coming to?"
My personal feelings on this show, by the way, are decidedly skewed. I actually find it a bit offensive, or indicative of an offensive trend, though for wildly different reasons from most posters thus far. Transsexual people do exist; they're not something made up to shock middle America. I seem them in public fairly often, actually (of course, I am an east coast urbanite, but still). Therefore, I see no problem with them having media exposure. I have a problem with the way that this is used as the hook for the whole show; it's clearly this one element that the producers are hoping will attract curious viewers. It suggests, in other words, that transsexual individuals are, at best, useful as a sort of media sideshow, and furthermore, that they are generally as stereotypically sexualized as this Isis person. It is, basically, the same sort of token, purely-for-signification treatment that used to be reserved for gay individuals (think, for instance, of how the show Will and Grace, only a decade ago, was marketed). Perhaps this is simply a first step, but transsexuals will not get anything resembling mainstream acceptance (which Bozell seems to fear is the case already because of this show) until they can be portrayed in media without that same media basically placing a big bright arrow over their head reading "Hey, check out the tranny!"
"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."
Assuming
August 21, 2008 - 01:02 ET by UnsaneSensitive, are we?
I can't remember you crying about Mr. Bozell's critiques in the fashion I described. Hence you were NOT, as far as I knew, in "et al".
Any cliche about "assuming" will do. :-)
The Olympics are now under way in Beijing. May the people of Beijing gt thoroughly sick of hearing The Star Spangled Banner. May the Beijing Olympic Committee run out of U.S. flags for themedal ceremonies! USA! USA!! USA!!!
Oh. Well, I was all over
August 21, 2008 - 09:08 ET by JasonCOh. Well, I was all over that board a few weeks ago, but it's good to know you didn't perceive me as calling for censorship or exclusively invoking the "just-change-the-channel" defense.
"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."
Acually Unsane
August 20, 2008 - 22:42 ET by shawn228I was thinking to myself how good looking Isis was and that I could not tell she was transgendered from that picture. I'm glad i'm married because doctors do too good of a job nowadays and if I found out after I had intimate encounter that she was once a male, I would probably spend lots of time curled up in a ball hugging my pillow.
Real life video games are cool
Transgender? Not likely
August 20, 2008 - 10:56 ET by CobraManI’ve always had trouble with the term "Transgender." Transgender implies that someone is in the process of changing his or her gender, but this is impossible, as gender is genetic in nature. Unless they’re undergoing DNA modifications, they can’t actually change their gender. Instead of changing their gender, they are HIDING it by modifying their appearance, which make them Pseudogender and not Transgender.
Yet another reason not to watch.
August 20, 2008 - 11:40 ET by NBFSo now the show will have a weird-looking man trying to look like a weird-looking woman. Yeah, it was getting boring just having weird-looking women and homosexual advisors.
the shark has been jumped
August 20, 2008 - 15:11 ET by wizardjrhow many more than 4 viewers has this show got now? this sounds like its last season
I Will Say This About This Isis Model...
August 21, 2008 - 00:03 ET by The7Sticks... He looks gorgeous.
If I hadn't know he was a trans-sexual dude, I would think he was the hottest woman in the fashion industry.
I don't really think this whole transexual thing is going to take off though, but if men want to look like gorgeous models and they have the money to do it... Hey, more power to them. This is a capitalist society after all, and if they don't try to impose their views on us, then go ahead. Mutilate yourselves if you think that's going to bring you happiness.