Post by Ayla on Mar 25, 2016 9:15:16 GMT 8
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/19/caitlyn-jenner-donald-trump-car-crash-hadley-freeman
It’s been almost a year since Caitlyn Jenner came out as a trans woman in a TV interview, so let’s keep up with this former Kardashian clan member and see how things have been going since. Just last week it was announced that she is to be the model for H&M Sport, the store’s athletic-wear line. As is the modern way, Jenner announced the news on her Instagram account, praising the campaign as “amazing and inspiring”. This follows an announcement last month that Jenner has partnered up with MAC cosmetics, for a charity lipstick to raise money for trans communities.
“Well done, everyone!” announced one website. Truly, the emoji of hands clapping could be the symbol for all coverage pertaining to Jenner. Sure, it’s terrific to see a sixtysomething woman get modelling gigs. It’s wonderful that a trans woman is being lauded as a beauty icon. It’s flat out fantastic that a fashion brand is making such an effort to support trans people. But. BUT.
The steep curve rise of trans rights has been thrilling to witness as an outsider and, I can only imagine, extremely heartening to those in the trans community, who have for so long suffered outright abuse. Jenner has become the cipher through which media outlets prove how modern they are, lauding everything she does as “inspirational”, “amazing”, and all the other buzzwords of the BuzzFeed generation.
It could be argued that this rush to hyperbole is the due corrective for centuries of transphobia, which still very much exists. Yet not a single other trans person on this planet has enjoyed the privilege and public goodwill that Jenner has received since she came out. Moreover, true equality comes from being treated not as a special case, but as an equal. While the biggest issue for most trans people remains achieving acceptance, Jenner has long since sailed over that hurdle. So let’s treat her as the equal she has said she desires to be.
Last February, Jenner was driving her SUV in Malibu and collided with two cars, killing 69-year-old Kim Howe. You probably haven’t heard much about this sad mess, because it doesn’t fit in with the media’s nervy narrative about inspirational Caitlyn. If you have, it was likely through the joke Ricky Gervais cracked at the Golden Globes about Jenner “not doing a lot for women drivers”. He was widely criticised for that, because apparently making a joke is worse than being involved in the death of a woman. After the accident Jenner said she was “praying” for Howe’s family. Of more comfort to them might have been the financial settlement she agreed to pay Howe’s stepchildren.
Although investigators determined that Jenner had been travelling at an unsafe speed for road conditions, prosecutors ultimately declined to bring charges against her, deciding there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction. But I’m curious to know how many other women who had been in an accident that left another woman dead are, nine months later, named one of Glamour magazine’s Women Of The Year, as Jenner was.
Hadley Freeman: so the privately educated are the new underclass? Spare me the sob story
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But accidents happen. So let’s get to know Jenner as a person, as opposed to deifying her as a plaster saint. On her reality TV show last week, I Am Cait, Jenner, a lifelong Republican, claimed that Donald Trump “would be very good for women’s rights”. This would be the Trump who is anti-abortion, calls women “fat pigs”, describes breastfeeding as “disgusting”, opposes marriage equality and once mocked a trans beauty contestant on TV. As a brand strongly associated with gay rights and equality, I’d love to know how many other Trump fans MAC hires for its advertisements.
No one should demand perfection of anyone. But one of the best things about the breathtakingly brilliant TV series Transparent was how the trans character, Maura, was depicted with all her human flaws: her prejudices, privileges and pettiness. By contrast, Jenner is treated like a cute trans pet, with the media patting her on the head and not listening to a word she’s saying. They can’t even hear her words over the applause they’re giving themselves for being so open-minded. There are millions of trans people out there who don’t endorse politicians actively oppressive to women, gay and trans people. But, dazzled by Jenner’s proximity to the Kardashians, the broadcasters and the big brands keep staring at her above all, without actually seeing her.
“I’m not a spokesperson for [the trans] community – I am not. The media puts me in that position. I am only a spokesperson for me,” Jenner has said, with commendable self-awareness. It’s not often I can say that anyone could learn from a Kardashian, but some people could take a lesson here.
It’s been almost a year since Caitlyn Jenner came out as a trans woman in a TV interview, so let’s keep up with this former Kardashian clan member and see how things have been going since. Just last week it was announced that she is to be the model for H&M Sport, the store’s athletic-wear line. As is the modern way, Jenner announced the news on her Instagram account, praising the campaign as “amazing and inspiring”. This follows an announcement last month that Jenner has partnered up with MAC cosmetics, for a charity lipstick to raise money for trans communities.
“Well done, everyone!” announced one website. Truly, the emoji of hands clapping could be the symbol for all coverage pertaining to Jenner. Sure, it’s terrific to see a sixtysomething woman get modelling gigs. It’s wonderful that a trans woman is being lauded as a beauty icon. It’s flat out fantastic that a fashion brand is making such an effort to support trans people. But. BUT.
The steep curve rise of trans rights has been thrilling to witness as an outsider and, I can only imagine, extremely heartening to those in the trans community, who have for so long suffered outright abuse. Jenner has become the cipher through which media outlets prove how modern they are, lauding everything she does as “inspirational”, “amazing”, and all the other buzzwords of the BuzzFeed generation.
It could be argued that this rush to hyperbole is the due corrective for centuries of transphobia, which still very much exists. Yet not a single other trans person on this planet has enjoyed the privilege and public goodwill that Jenner has received since she came out. Moreover, true equality comes from being treated not as a special case, but as an equal. While the biggest issue for most trans people remains achieving acceptance, Jenner has long since sailed over that hurdle. So let’s treat her as the equal she has said she desires to be.
Last February, Jenner was driving her SUV in Malibu and collided with two cars, killing 69-year-old Kim Howe. You probably haven’t heard much about this sad mess, because it doesn’t fit in with the media’s nervy narrative about inspirational Caitlyn. If you have, it was likely through the joke Ricky Gervais cracked at the Golden Globes about Jenner “not doing a lot for women drivers”. He was widely criticised for that, because apparently making a joke is worse than being involved in the death of a woman. After the accident Jenner said she was “praying” for Howe’s family. Of more comfort to them might have been the financial settlement she agreed to pay Howe’s stepchildren.
Although investigators determined that Jenner had been travelling at an unsafe speed for road conditions, prosecutors ultimately declined to bring charges against her, deciding there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction. But I’m curious to know how many other women who had been in an accident that left another woman dead are, nine months later, named one of Glamour magazine’s Women Of The Year, as Jenner was.
Hadley Freeman: so the privately educated are the new underclass? Spare me the sob story
Read more
But accidents happen. So let’s get to know Jenner as a person, as opposed to deifying her as a plaster saint. On her reality TV show last week, I Am Cait, Jenner, a lifelong Republican, claimed that Donald Trump “would be very good for women’s rights”. This would be the Trump who is anti-abortion, calls women “fat pigs”, describes breastfeeding as “disgusting”, opposes marriage equality and once mocked a trans beauty contestant on TV. As a brand strongly associated with gay rights and equality, I’d love to know how many other Trump fans MAC hires for its advertisements.
No one should demand perfection of anyone. But one of the best things about the breathtakingly brilliant TV series Transparent was how the trans character, Maura, was depicted with all her human flaws: her prejudices, privileges and pettiness. By contrast, Jenner is treated like a cute trans pet, with the media patting her on the head and not listening to a word she’s saying. They can’t even hear her words over the applause they’re giving themselves for being so open-minded. There are millions of trans people out there who don’t endorse politicians actively oppressive to women, gay and trans people. But, dazzled by Jenner’s proximity to the Kardashians, the broadcasters and the big brands keep staring at her above all, without actually seeing her.
“I’m not a spokesperson for [the trans] community – I am not. The media puts me in that position. I am only a spokesperson for me,” Jenner has said, with commendable self-awareness. It’s not often I can say that anyone could learn from a Kardashian, but some people could take a lesson here.