no doubt you’ve seen the media coverage on isis, the transgender woman who has been cast in the upcoming americia’s next top model 11th season. according to this article:
According to America’s Next Top Model executive producer Ken Mok, the decision to cast a transgender contestant in the show’s upcoming eleventh season was done to help further one of Tyra Banks’ initial reasons for launching the long-running reality series.
“We want to redefine what beauty is,” Mok told ABCNews.com in a Friday report. “You can be tall, you can be short, you can be plus size, you can be transgender; you don’t have to be what the modeling industry says you have to be. That was one of Tyra’s original missions.”
that’s right ken, because a mere trans woman can’t fit into the regular old definition of beauty. you must “redefine” beauty in order to include the likes of us.
jerk.
And if it boosts ratings, well that’s just gravy yeh?
Mainstream Media makes me sad
Comment by Nisi — August 23, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
Given that most transwomen are not as fortunate as Isis, and bear only a passing resemblance to natal women (that was a joke… did you see what I did there?), I should think that a little redefinition is called for. I know quite a few transwomen who I might consider beautiful, who by no means conform to the broader conventions of the term.
And after all, isn’t that what an acknowledgment of trans-ness is all about? The redefinition of sex and gender to include transpeople in their self-perceived categories?
Comment by Val — August 24, 2008 @ 6:16 am
while i understand your point, and, in fact, agree, i don’t believe that’s what mr. mok is suggesting. isis totally conforms to current beauty standards. if i didn’t know she is trans, i’d probably not even notice her, simply because she’s just yet another beautiful face on yet another set of toothpicks.
further, if you look at the advertisements from, say, avenue, the plus-size models they use also totally conform to current beauty standards. they’re ususally “just barely” plus size, in that they probably wear the smallest size avenue offers, and other than the fact that they are slightly larger than every other model one sees, they are as beautiful in the exact same way.
so while mr. mok “says” he’s redefining beauty, what he’s really doing is giving the modeling industry “permission” to feature a token trans model (who definitely already is beautiful under the current standards) so the rest of us can gawk at the freak and wonder what the world is coming to, while mr. mok and his ilk can claim tolerance and diversity.
at least that’s my take on this.
Comment by nexy — August 25, 2008 @ 7:52 am
oh, and yes, i saw what you did there. very clever - i love subtlety of language. i even chuckled a bit
Comment by nexy — August 25, 2008 @ 7:54 am
Bah.
As someone on the CW forums for ANTM said:
“Is Tyra choosing this person for ratings and controversy? Is this a physical anatomied female or a chick with a stick? I guess I will have to wait til the show starts to make any judgement.”
My response, of course was:
Chick with a stick, and of course she was chosen for ratings and controversy.
What, you think people actually pick Transfolk on merit alone these days?
(Its a dream, where people are judged on their merits, not the medical conditions they have. I’m *such* a dreamer )
Comment by Dyssonance — August 25, 2008 @ 7:55 am