Review
One-off film that charts the ups and downs of one of Britain's youngest transsexuals.
(image: Popkorn/Channel 4)
Ria - Diary of a Teen Transsexual
Channel 4
12/06
Gritty, urban, young, boys, sex, prostitution, poverty, gender dysphoria, stress, unemployment, Ria does it all in 2 years as we follow here life on a tough estate. How she deals with boy's attention, her scraps with other girls, her ever masculinising body is at odds with her gender needs.
This is by far the most important flow of the documentary, and a tag the producers seems to have hung the show on, to be 'the youngest surgically altered TS on the NHS'. I think when they started this in 2009 (when she was 15) this looked far more clear-cut (no pun intended) than it ended up as. I felt that this was a bit of a disappointment for the general feel of the programme.
In other words, its initial goals as far as a documentary went failed and left the programme in the air, now 18 and nothing has moved on. Even with the best efforts of the Tavistock clinic (for younger transpeople) prepared to prescribe her 'blockers', that she didn't take, a caring mother and step father who seemed perfectly fine about her having surgery, and felt she needed it to be like the other girls and girl friends who truly seemed to accept Ria as one of their own, even scrapping in a tent on holiday. Her increasing power as a male soon overwhelmed her more diminutive friends leading to some in street confrontations and at one point she was 'read' by some lads and this turned nasty - no longer able to pass as well as she once did. They even sent her for a photoshoot with Paris Lees, who suggested she start her hormones.
But she is seen in the final scenes on holiday in Spain with her friends and seems more or less in the same position she was when it all started.
Maybe this is where she needs to be(?), there are plenty of transpeople who remain 'pre-op' and are quite happy.
The only sad thing was the term 'tranny' was used by one of her friends about her, 'not looking like one', exactly who is this poor benchmark who is so abused? And the term 'Ladyboy' is raised, but in the context of advertising Ria as a 'Ladyboy' for a brothel.
Both times they were said they were not her words rather words and terms used by others about her.
Its 'in context' but a real shame.
This is often the case now, the negative labels, she-male, tranny and ladyboy, are terms others use about the transgender community. You can say no to this here.
http://saynototranny.transgenderzone.com/
The 7 hour coach trip - cos she could not afford the train says it all about child services in the UK in regard to transpeople! And I suspect in no small part why she hasn't been back! NHS patients should have free train fare subsidised by the government (especially minors!), that would save them the cost of local services - and stop this daft situation where people are too sick to get the care they need. People phone for ambulances as they cannot afford a taxi. That's absurd. Its like calling the Fire Brigade to fill up a paddling pool.
Conclusion
An engaging look at the coming of age of a transgender teen, it did feel the desire for others to push her forwards which muddied the waters somewhat. I never really heard what Ria actually felt, everyone else seems to have known more about who she was than she did - which was odd. Her mother seemed to be a great support here and no matter what path Ria took she was there steadfast behind her defending her honour - she was great!
"Despite being the only Transsexual on the estate, Ria's friends have always accepted her as one of the girls."
Despite Ria's somewhat diva'ish antics in scenes that seemed straight out of '
Shameless' her friends were strong and tolerated it. They could so easily have closed ranks and shut her out. I thought a young lad about 10 - her neighbour was funny when he said, "sometimes she gets boys and she doesn't tell them that she's a boy, and they actually think she's a girl, she talked like a girl, but she's really a boy, they don't find out really so they just get on with it!"
Worth watching.
