"My Penis is the Curiosity That You've Been Told will Kill Your Cat"

"We are often told that we are living in a mans world, and in this culture no image represents power more than the phallic symbol and if the penis equals power then I am illegally armed."- Julia Serano

Julia Serano is one of many transsexual and transgender individuals living each day against societal gender norms associated with their physical sex. Which, as she bravely addresses above in her spoken word performance “Cocky,” comes with more daily fears and confusions than most cisgender people, or people living out their gender in accordance with their sex and heterosexual norms, can even begin to understand. Why is it so hard for most people to understand? As Julia puts it, “when a man is defined as that which is not female, and a woman is defined as that which is not male, then I am the loose thread that unravels the gender of everyone around me.”

Julia and other transgender individuals are often seen as threats to long-standing societal gender norms and culture. They are seen as biological impossibilities that go against traditions of science and sexuality, which puts them in a vulnerable position of being ridiculed and shamed. There have been multiple studies done on transgender depression, suicide, gender victimization, and violence such as rape and forced sex in the past. Researcher Kristen Clements-Nolle and her colleagues studied some of these life-threatening characteristics and situations in their 2006 study, “Attempted Suicide Among Transgender Persons,” and found that 32% of their 515 participants had attempted to commit suicide at least once. Contemplating suicide did not count in this category, the participants had to have taken steps to end their lives. How worrisome is that? More than 50% had been incarcerated at least once. Which speaks to the fact that transgender individuals are targeted by police more often than cisgender individuals. While there are so many more terrifying statistics available, the last one I will say here is that 59% of the participants had been victims of forced rape or sex. If that does not make you aware of the societal consequences associated with being transgender and the urgent need for awareness and understanding of transgender individuals, I’m not sure what will.

What I want to demonstrate with these statistics and video is that there needs to be a societal movement to normalize being transgender and transsexual. And as a good Communication Studies major, I argue that a great place to start is in the media. I have not once in my collegiate career been shown statistics on trans- representation in the media. Which is fine, because I can draw some conclusions from studies about gender in the media that I have been shown. For example, Janna Kim and her colleagues, did a study on the heterosexual script on primetime network television and found that “heterosexual relationships are the only sanctioned social arrangements that constitutes ‘appropriate’ or ‘normal’ relational and sexual behavior for boys/men and girls/women” (2007). At first glance, this appears to indicate that transgender individuals would not fit this ‘appropriate’ or ‘normal’ sexual behavior because it is unclear sometimes whether transgender individuals are feminine/female or masculine/male. But something that complicates things further is that most transgender individuals do consider themselves heterosexual. Referring back to Clements-Nolle et al’s study, 61% of the participants identified as heterosexual (2006). This means that gender is separate from sexual orientation. So, when Kim et al found that the heterosexual script was “enacted most frequently by depictions of sexuality being a defining component of men’s masculinity” it is unclear whether this would encompass transgender individuals (2007). Transgender individuals have a sense of sexuality but that cannot be a defining component of their gender, which is something Julia Serano addressed in her performance. She said about her penis, “it makes people dizzy because most people are not secure enough in their own masculinity or femininity to survive a night in the sack with me.” This, taken with Kim et al’s study, illustrates that portrayals of heterosexuality, masculinity, and femininity in the media are completely neglecting most transgender individuals. 

Adrienne Holz Ivory and colleagues did a different study on gendered relationship portrayals on television within same-sex and heterosexual couples and found that even within homosexual couples, there tends to be a feminine and masculine partner who performs traditional gender roles (2009). This speaks even further to the notion that transgender individuals, who experience masculinity and femininity differently than cisgender individuals, have very few opportunities to identify with current portrayals of homosexual couples, as well as heterosexual couples, because television shows are portraying gender in a dichotomous, masculine to feminine, form. 

Example of a television show that has both homosexual and heterosexual relationships

Current research on sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender portrayals in the media has certainly seemed to neglect transgender individuals in my own personal experience, evidenced by the fact I have yet to read a study about transgender representation for a class. However, this is almost certainly due to the lack of transgender individuals on television today, which is contributing to the widespread misunderstanding and fear of transsexuals that Julia talks about in "Cocky." There are many negative consequences like suicide, rape, and depression associated with being transgender, that illustrate we urgently need positive portrayals of transgender individuals in media today. This would allow for more identification and more normalization of being transgender and hopefully decrease the amount of discrimination and increase the amount of acceptance they receive.  

I do not want to take away from the fact that understanding transgender and transsexual identities is somewhat hard to grasp for a number of reasons. Being transgender is against gender norms that we have been taught since birth and transgender discussion is often a taboo subject for conversation. However, this does not excuse any hateful, discriminatory behavior or unwillingness to educate oneself about being transgender. So to make things a little easier to understand, think of what Julia said in her performance, “some women have a penis, some men don’t. And the rest of the world is just going to have to get the f**k over it.”

References: 

Clements-Nolle, K., Marx, R., & Katz, M. (2006). Attempted suicide among transgender persons. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(3), 53-69.

Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: Portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12(2), 170-192. doi: 10.1080/1520543080216907

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157. doi: 10.1080/00223390701263660