UK Television Transgender Monthly Round up Oct 2015

Every month we list UK programmes the feature transgender issues good and bad. If you work in the media this is a must see monthly list.
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Ice Maiden
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UK Television Transgender Monthly Round up Oct 2015

Postby Ice Maiden » Sun Nov 22, 2015 11:45 am

So here we go again!

What is broadcast in the UK reflects on you as a transperson. Every month it is a case of spot the positives. Almost all television featuring anything remotely associated with transpeople is negative, comical or are negative stereotypes. So if we do not list them they go unchallenged as evidence is needed to effect change! Or even give awards.

It is a thankless and time-consuming task - as you can imagine especially when a trans character is introduced ... Nevertheless rest assured someone is watching even if you can't.

High Points
My Transgender Summer Camp
The Sex Change Spitfire Ace
Sean Miley Moore - who appeared on the X Factor finals. Every week. So not listed other than here - Google him.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Sean+Miley+Moore

Low points
Germaine Greer on Newsnight

=========================================

Boy Meets Girl
01/10
BBC TWO

5/6. Comedy series. Geoff has promised to give Leo a try-out as a salesman. Tony is ill, but Pam is unsympathetic. Contains adult humour. Also in HD. [AD,S]

(Repeated on the 03/10)

Comment

This was a very ropey and rather dated situation whereby it allowed a number of transphobic instances to take place that were totally unnecessary and demonstrated quite a distant and rather Jerry Springer-esque view of transgender people. The world has moved on - well that is what many activists keep telling me - well not on BBC2 it hasn't. This would have been relevant in 1995. But in 2015 - it was just unwise and showed the weakness in not having a transgender writer, info from third parties is simply not the same. And this shows. Only rescued by the brother of Leo saying that he had 'experimented' by sticking a brush up his a*se. This was the first time I laughed in 5 episodes. Probably because it was not a transphobic scenario and totally detached from trans*. Leo said he said he loved Judy. So that was something. But it is just not quite believable. I do not feel any chemistry between them. So in the script it may read better, but in 'reality' I am not feeling it. Sorry.

---

Newsnight
08/10
BBC2

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, leave EU campaign launches, Alistair Darling and Nigel Lawson talk budgets, prisoners v Harvard and transgendered and elderly.

Comment

The BBC in the listing on their website state 'Transgendered' (above) a common mistake. I wonder if they will feature 'Gayed' and 'Lesbianed' people too?

The Challenges of being Transgender and over 60. Promoted in the closing credits of 'Boy Meets Girl' aired directly before this. This is an important topic, not least because in 2000 I undertook research in this area which led to large older people charities taking the reigns. Before that they all had almost no policy in this area. I wrote a pamphlet entitled 'the Community Prison' Residential and Community Care of Older People. This was 15 years ago. I contacted 100 Charities with funding from the Beaumont Society and educated them all individually. This was a massive undertaking. So 15 years on it is disappointing to see that the momentum we had as activists back then has not been rolled forward with the next generation. This demonstrated that challenges remain and were it not for support groups such as those featured showing Jenny-Anne Bishop OBE and her friend Dawn who is about to have her surgery at last (last seen in embarrassing Bodies having her leg prosthetic rebuilt - she gets around ;)) there is still a lot of
educating to be done in this area.

Funny moment I guess was Mr James Bellringer's (Who is a Surgeon who undertakes GRS surgeries in Urology) lower third title (that they flash up under his name to mention who he is) that stated he was a "Neurologist" :) Someone is gonna get fired :). Unless of course he has a degree in that too ;).

---

Jerry Springer
01/10
Pick

Entitled 'Gay Shockers', "Jerry says to an attractive, well spoken, educated and passable trans*woman (she looked like Michelle Obama actually! - "He doesn't know you were born a guy?!"

Comment

For once she wasn't beaten and the guy stepped away gracefully - this is shocking for "Jerry!" "Jerry!" - but in a nice way!

---

Family Guy
01/10
BBC Three

Entitled Thanksgiving, Quagmire transgender parent is invited over to the Griffins, "We are having Chicken Wings!", She retorts, "I hope they asre the ones with the bone removed?!" Cut to Peter with a big smile on his face.

---

The Change
02/10
BBC Radio 4 Ex

4 Extra Debut. Convinced his wife is having an affair with transvestite George, Ken targets Carol. Stars Lynda Bellingham. From November 2004. Episode 1 of 6.

Comment

This was a well researched radio drama that featured the late Lynda Bellingham as a frustrated yet sympathetic wife given the runaround by her trans* husband. It features and was supported by WOBS - A Beaumont Society Wives and partners group. So it is remains one of the few well made and research fun radio plays - with an excellent cast - that included Chris Ellinson who usually plays hardman tough guy rolls. So long before Sean Bean gave it a go!

---

New: Snapped: Killer Couples
02/10
YourTV

Jennifer Henderson and Skylar Deleon: A devout evangelical housewife and a former child star devise a murder plot that ends with a bizarre attempt at a sex change operation.

Comment

This was repeated at least 4 times in October.

---

Benidorm
02/10
ITV4+1

A freak storm batters Benidorm and Les/Lesley has to arrange some bingo entertainment with rather unusual prizes. Reformed alcoholic Pauline discovers that her flight has been cancelled and decides that a drink might help ease her frustration. When a handsome stranger from Janice's past arrives at the Solana, she fails to notice that Michael is having his first taste of holiday romance. Meanwhile, poor Natalie is still having man trouble and Donald has some bad news.

Comment

Transvestite Lesley played by Tim Healy hams it ups again.

---

Secrets of Sex- Aravani Girl
03/10
Community

Documentary. Two teenagers dream of becoming ladyboys. Loved as performers but hated as homosexuals, their stories echo the conflicts of India's gender culture.[SIC]

Comment

Apart from every month saying it is repeated, not a lot more to add other than - something new maybe please? Those two must be pensioners by now :)

---

Family Guy
04/10
BBC Three

Entitled 'Lethal Weapons', Quagmire tries to pick up a girl in a bar, she turns around and she is a TV from New York who has visited to see the leaves fall (they call them 'Leafers' in the US).

Quagmire - "WOW, Transvestite back off (to himself). Wait a minute, Pre-op or post-op?" Transvestite (Deep Voice with protruding Adam's Apple and taller than him as she was sat on a stool) - "Pre!"
Quagmire - "WOW, Transvestite back off!!!

---

Benidorm
05/10
ITV4+1

The sun is shining in Benidorm again and although Pauline is now more or less permanently drunk, everyone is looking forward to Eighties Night with special guests Bananarama.

Comment

Les Lesley...

What more is there to say?

---

My Transgender Kid
06/10
Channel 4

Documentary following two ordinary British families as they attempt to navigate the extraordinary challenges of having a seven-year-old child who was born in the wrong gender. The parents are faced with decisions few others could comprehend, from whether to use 'he' or 'she' pronouns, to whether to let their kids go to school with their new identity, and risk bullying and judgment.

Comment

This was well received and I wish her and her family well, worth watching - check it out on demand on Channel 4.

(Repeated on the 8th/12th and 13th October)

---

Boy Meets Girl
08/10
BBC TWO

6/6. It is Judy's fortieth birthday and the day of the not very surprise party. Contains some strong language. Also in HD. [AD,S]

Comment

I think they would call this a slow burn. This was by far the best episode of the lot. Apart from them driving off into the sunset with no money and no job? Homeless? Odd! However, the birthday and the dialogue between Judy and Leo's mum was well delivered, and quite meaningful. It is a shame I had to wait until now to see it as something relevant. This to me is where it should have began - not ended.

Still 'the difficult second album' or series two that is currently in production, at least can start with a clean slate, and hopefully avoid stereotyping Judy any longer. But I doubt they can resist it! In fact it should no longer be mentioned at all that she is trans*.

Ratings halved after the very first episode by 1 million!, 'Cradle to Grave' on directly before it written by Danny Baker growing up in London, trumped BMG by double the viewers and remained so, a million viewers then then suddenly switched sides when 'Boy Meets Girl' came on. We can only glean that the low ratings suggest it is being recommissioned purely on the fact the BBC have a duty to make minority interest programming, otherwise I think this would have been done and dusted. I think programmes ABOUT transgender people should be replaced by regular people in programmes that just happen to be trans. 10 years ago (it is on the record) I said stick a transperson in Eastenders (to challenge the then Haley in Corrie who was not trans (in reality) it kinda fell on deaf ears, until now of course they are going to do that. But if they milk the transgender element of this actor too much it will be a fail! So far transgender actors on the telly have played stereotypes and been fed stereotypical trans*specific issues as dialogue. They must make it matter-of-fact else this is a retrograde step. In other words. More or less ignore trans*issues and treat the part as any regular actor, once the initial revelations are out. But I fear 'Eastenders' will just exploit trans*currency for freakin' years. Listen to what I am saying, I am always 5 years ahead in this, and in 5 years I will be stating what I said now. There is no need to wait, do it now. It all depends if they want a transgender person or a man with a trans* history. As it stands transgender people are under threat of not being seen as actual men and women, rather as something in between they simply do not recognise but have to tolerate - this has to move on. You have been warned.

---

Benidorm
09/10
ITV4+1

Some of Donald's clothes are found on the nudist beach - and he has left Jacqueline a note. The Garveys gear up for Madge's bar opening. Pauline hits the bottle.

Comment

Tim Healy plays Les/Lesley the Staff Transvestite.

---

Lorraine
12/10
ITV1

Morning show with a topical mix of entertainment, discussion and showbiz glamour, as well as featuring the latest fashion, food and celebrity gossip.

Comment

Lorriane chats with Conchita Wurst.

Some may say, boy that got old quick - the whole Eurovision thing. Especially when you have Sean Miley Moore who has already out camped Conchita ;)

And that leads me to the frock, heels and skirt and make-up wearing Sean Miley Moore

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Sean+Miley+Moore who appeared on the X Factor finals. Sadly kicked out on the 8th November.

---

CSI- Crime Scene Investigation
15/10
5 USA

The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp: Crime drama series. The CSI team works to solve the death of a transgender teenager. (S8 Ep

4) [AD,S]

Comment

As previously stated upon its many many repeats, The water had estrogen in the supply - so not CD at all so a misleading trans*currency headline sell for a title.

---

This Morning
16/10
ITV1

Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford take a look at the day's news and headlines.

Comment

Conchita Wurst is back, this time laughing with Rylan, who looks a lot like her (sorta TM in-Joke). OK, all very amicable. I just feel that Sean Miley Moore (The X FACTOR) is far more interesting now and relevant than Drag Queen Conchita - sorry just Old Fashioned. Well go to Youtube and decide for yourself.

---

Sex Diaries - TransLovers
18/10
4seven

Sex Diaries meets the men who describe themselves as 100% heterosexual and are declaring their love - and lust - for transgender women who still have male genitalia. [AD,S]

Comment

A bit of the same we have witnessed for decades. Nothing new or fresh. It showed a trans*woman to be a bit of a 'user', others to be cashing in. And a few men some which just seemed to be a bit lost and one broke up with his wife for a trans*performer who then dumped him. Leaving him a bit high and dry.

I think the concept was, "Hey look, 'normal men' date transgender women with penises!!!"

However, very few men came forward in any numbers to really celebrate this as progress. I feel the vast majority still see trans*women as their 'dirty little secret' this term was told to me by a trans woman and friend who was dating a straight guy. It was fine as long as she would not be seen in public with him.

All in all a bit of a retrograde step and should not have been aired, or more research and funding to heighten the numbers of men (and trans*women who were in regular jobs - not exotic cabaret) to appear. But the fact they wouldn't shows that little has changed.

---

My Transgender Summer Camp
22/10
4seven

Exclusive access to a controversial American camp for transgender adolescents, where between the summer fun, the teens face huge dilemmas, including whether to take hormone pills. [S]

Comment

I think the title is trying to trade on 'My Transsexual Summer' but this was more about how young transgender kids are seeking early intervention so they do not have to face male puberty, as it concentrated more on a couple of girls designated male at birth.

This is very much of this time. As the last generation simply did not have access to this service, whilst the Doctor twiddled their thumbs and ruined a generation of lives who could have had this opportunity too. That said they still faced considerable discrimination, for those featured their parents were understanding, but I suspect many parents are not - especially in less tolerant countries. This was based in the USA. And many of the issues although universal, to, me were approached very much as a western issue. I would have been more interested had the documentary been set in Nigeria, or the middle east or in China. As we have kinda already seen this. In 2008 (Ish) we had 'Aged 8 and wanting a sex change', and since then many clones of it.

Television needs to move this on a bit. So it just felt like covering old ground. For the majority watching, I suspect it is like watching Embarrassing Bodies, very judgmental and even for some creepy and odd. The whole argument about how do you 'normalise' something that hits at the very
core of what it is to be human, has and still is debated at some length. But when you have Germaine Greer stating that these young grils are not really and never will be real women, and stating it on national television to millions of people, and from someone who is a respected professor, one
asks if this debate will ever be settled?

That said, it was uplifting, and for some who did not have these opportunities to block their puberty, it could actually be very distressing and triggering. After all jealousy can be a sick feeling, the same feeling that they experienced watching the female friends not face growing up, to only

have to witness it again here. So this is a trigger warning for those who struggle to pass as their preferred gender!

---

Gay & Under Attack- Reggie Yates ...Extreme

Russia.
23/10
BBC THREE

Reggie Yates finds out what life is like for young people in what has been described as the hardest place in Europe to be gay.

Contains some strong language. Also in HD.

[S]

Comment

Repeat of this rather troubling view of the intolerance in a what seems to be a bleak and grey world of abuse, anti-gay gangs,

blackmail, and violence. This is what the world is really like, and it so easily can leak into western thinking. Watch it doesn't like a hawk! Of course transgender people who struggle to mask their identity as easily as some gay people can, simply because gender expression is so obvious in public compared with sexuality. The gangs immediately seize the issue that all trans*people are 'pedos' and should be removed from society!

Not so long ago (in our lifetime) this was commonly thought (and still is by some) in the UK! So do not easily dismiss this as it would not take a lot to return to our shores!

---

Newsnight
23/10
BBC TWO

The latest on the TalkTalk hack and Hurricane Patricia; Germaine Greer discusses transgender hate; an interview with dancer Carlos Acosta. With Kirsty Wark. Also in HD.

[S]

"Because I think that post-operative transgender men, i.e mtf transgender people are women, I am not allowed to talk. I am not saying that they should not be allowed to go through that procedure, just that it doesn't make them a woman!"

Comment

OK part of the problem here is she has a rather narrow view of what a woman is. To her it appears that she must act and behave like some stereotype from a 1950 Doris Day Film, be fertile and not rely on steroids to exist. The problem is that most of this is incorrect, women were oppressed into behaving in this stereotypical way by men and still are (as she well knows), HRT was not invented for transgender people, it was created for women disgnated female at birth - in actual fact her very own peer group I suspect some will be taking HRT right now.

Women hit the menopause at young ages, some have hysterectomies, and therefore are infertile or have no reproductive organs at all. Are they men? As the only thing that states they have a different biology at this point is their brain and chromosomes neither of which to this very day are properly
understood by science. The moment we reach this point were are into transgender issues.

Germaine was fortunate, her brain matches her gender expression. Good for her! But this is very much like stating, that disabled people born without limbs should not be allowed to walk and be treated as equal citizens who can walk from birth - it makes no sense and is actually cruel.

This was like watching a Luddite kicking a computer. Germaine Greer is now irrelevant, and as such ironically needs the transgender community to exist to get any sort of headline, It is similar to a racial tirade by a far right politician, a small number will agree, but fortunately the majority just shake their heads in shame, she is on the telly cos she dares to be non-pc (like Katie Hopkins), that is kinda sad really. The truth is nobody cares what she thinks anymore, and is a figure of fun. She looked tired, out of touch and antiquated, age is not the issue as she has always had these
views. Young people need not worry, for obvious reasons that we all age and pass on. But for now, this was actually embarrassing, I kinda felt sorry for her. I remember her saying far worse on Talk Radio UK in the 90s (yes I have the recordings) about transgender people, and very little has changed her views. There is simply no getting through to her. So young people can just 'wait it out' and move on. She is of course entitled to her opinion, and no-platforming should be avoided. There is a good reason the term "hoisted by their own petard" came into play, or "give them enough rope..." She is a prime example of that so let her speak. I had a similar view when Peter Tatchell stood against no-platforming recently. They can speak and should be allowed to. Else the transgender community become oppressive and we all know what that feels like.

I refer you (and her) to this poem and this is how much she will be missed.

http://www.mick-armitage.staff.shef.ac. ... em-im.html

Image
BBC Unhappy - Germaine Greer rebuffs Kirsty Wark's trans*positive questions on why she is so hostile to transgender people.

---

The Sex Change Spitfire Ace
24/10

Documentary which tells the extraordinary story of the relationship between two of the most remarkable pioneers of the 20th century: Michael Dillon - the world's first woman to transition to a man, and Roberta Cowell - Britain's first man to become a woman. The sex changes caused a press sensation in 1950s Britain when the story

broke, but ultimately ended in tragedy.

Comment

Our Library has celebrated these two Pioneers since the Site began. Search transgenderzone for them 'Roberta Cowell' and 'Michael Dillon', you can even read Roberta's Biography there.

This was nothing new (to me) but a fascinating look at the lives of two people who let's face it were fortunate enough to be in a position to take advantage of Dr Harold Gillies (who developed the plastic surgery during the second world war. And as such all that practice meant that Roberta and Michael had a better chance of success than those like Lili Elbe decades earlier. It is worth watching as a historical programme and important we do not forget that those today, by contrast who may wave and shout about life being tough should stop and take stock that, it is a walk in the park compared to back then!

Worth watching on catch up.

(Repeated on the 26/10 on 4Seven).

---

Snapped- Killer Couples
26/10
YourTV

Jennifer Henderson and Skylar Deleon: A devout evangelical housewife and a former child star devise a murder plot that ends with a bizarre attempt at a sex change operation. [SIC]


---

The Wright Stuff
30/10
Channel 5

Matthew Wright Hosts the topical debate show.

Phone in on 'Should you be able to choose your own Gender?'.

Comment

Interesting, but cautious as this has been debated before on other programmes. On the plus side, why not? But on the other, open to abuse if not carefully regulated.

The consensus was despite the risks of abuse by people, 'doing it for a laugh' or to gain access to women only spaces etc.... (AKA'Transpanic').

They seemed to think it was woith the risks to allow this but with some caveats and controls. It is not easy to get right, but in practice, it should be as easy as changing your name. People do scr*w up even with that, but most don't and that's the whole point. The majority would take it seriously!

---

Don't have nightmares - see you next time with more of the same I guess?
Disclaimer!!!! Please Read! http://media.transgenderzone.com/?page_id=2

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Ice Maiden
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Re: UK Television Transgender Monthly Round up Oct 2015

Postby Ice Maiden » Sun Nov 22, 2015 12:19 pm

#Replies
Disclaimer!!!! Please Read! http://media.transgenderzone.com/?page_id=2

"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have." M.Mead

Man [...] must count no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." - J.P.Sartre.

Who am I?
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30


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