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i generally enjoy gawker, but i have to say that when i saw the headline: “Barak Obama’s Indonesian Tranny Nanny” i was highly offended. yes, yes you’re witty, you can rhyme while using a demeaning slur! what’s even more disheartening is that gawker has not responded to comments pointing out that “tranny” is offensive, inappropriate, and a slur. of course the responses of other gawker commenters is all in the attitude of “oh shut up you stupid politically correct liberals. why do you have to ruin it for everyone? it’s FUNNY.”
i’m sure that gawker would never use the “N word” in a story, and i’d venture a guess that they’re probably not going to use the word “fag”, yet they throw around “tranny” as though it is not a derogatory term. an attitude of nonchalance regarding verbal harassment of trans people is simply not acceptable although it is common-place even within the lgbtq community. labels like “tranny” allow us to designate someone different as “other” and if we do not see them as a person it is very easy to not only verbally attack them but to physically attack them as well.
Kaveney writes… prejudice “starts with name-calling, but it doesn’t always end there.” Violence begins with words, starting with hate-speech and slurs. Furthermore, the words we use are always important, even within a community.
Please take a moment to let gawker know that using the word “tranny” is not funny, it is insensitive to a marginalized group of individuals who experience discrimination and violence on a daily basis. 90% of transgender youth reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression; and 55% have experienced physical violence according to GLSEN. acceptance of hate speech and slurs does nothing but make it even that much harder for trans individuals and youth.
You can email gawker’s editor in chief Remy Stern <remy@gawker.com> and contact him via twitter @remystern please take a moment to speak out and let gawker know that using words like “tranny” is not ok!
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i had not heard about this before but it’s really disgusting that it made it through the really difficult process of becoming an iphone app! great commentary on this blog:
Gender in this case was used as a weapon and this app specifically implied that trans people are falsifying who they are thus making it appropriate to mock them for the sake of entertainment. The genesis of this idea is cissupremacy. Lisa Harney, defines cissexism as “the assumption that your sex, your gender are superior and more valid than trans people’s sex and gender.” Inserting a cisgender woman into the average picture would not give rise to amusement or give cause for derision because cis bodies are not only normalized, they are expected and respected. Gender is only considered comical when it involves trans people because their identities are not considered real rather trans identities are seen as an artificial and self constructed.
i freely admit i’m not a big fan of the HRC, but this article was well done. those of us in the lgbt community in mississippi have been well aware of juin and his situation since the news broke, but sadly he did not receive much national media attention. that angered a lot of people in the local transgender community. i’m glad that he is finally able to tell his story.
