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Original poster

Casting a woman as a transwoman

206 replies

Hazchem · 06/06/2014 10:33

So there is a show about to air on the Australian ABC about Carlotta who is an incredibly well known and important entertainer in Australia. She Les Girls, was the first transexual in an Australian soap opera. An icon, someone whose very being has made changes to the Australian cultural landscape. She was original born male and very early on had surgery

So the person they have picked to play her is a ciswomen. Surely there was a trans actor who could have taken the role. My feeling is that a women has been cast because she can be sexy in the Les Girls numbers without making people feel uncomfortable about seeing her as sexy.

Am I over thinking this? Is it gender equality to have a ciswomen plan a transwomen?

OP posts:
SuperLoudPoppingAction · 08/06/2014 10:25

I agree, calmet, and also when it comes to looking at women who are more feminine, I don't think they have privilege over me.
I think straight women and feminine women have increased status in patriarchy but I don't think that does them any favours in terms of freedom from oppression.
Relationships with men are a huge risk factor for male violence.
Being feminine marks women as targets for sexualised male violence too.

arf @ tumblr. I would self-flagellate for my non-furry privilege but due to my vanilla privilege I couldn't possibly

kim147 · 08/06/2014 10:13

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calmet · 08/06/2014 10:11

No, Het women do not have privilege over lesbians. I am a lesbian, I am well aware of how lesbians are and have been treated in this country. I know lesbians who were committed to mental hospitals, simply because they were a lesbian. Lots of lesbians who have been sacked from a job for being a lesbian, who have been sexually assaulted, attacked, had homes and cars vandalised, etc. You really don't have to explain lesbophobia to me.

But you misunderstand what privilge means. You are straying into the realsm of Tumblr with its list of bizarre privileges.

Original poster
Hazchem · 08/06/2014 10:08

Het women have the right to marry who they love which isn't the case in most countries. Het women don't have a fear of prosecution for being with a person they want. That feels like a privilege. I don;t think hetro women have to oppress gay women to get those privileges I think it comes from our current system.

Maybe the way I used privilege is wrong in saying I might not understand another experience because I sit in position of prividlge but I;m not sure what other term would work.

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Original poster
Hazchem · 08/06/2014 10:02

I don't know if I agree with all of the things on list It's the sort of thing I was thinking of when I talked about prividlge before.

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:58

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calmet · 08/06/2014 09:56

No Het women do not get privilege over lesbians. It is not a privilege for example, to live with a man who abuses you.

kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:48

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:47

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:46

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calmet · 08/06/2014 09:40

Nobody is saying Trans people don't experience discrimination. That is very different from saying non Trans women gain privilege.

Kim if I am honest your comment makes me quite angry filled as it is with assumptiosn about me. I was harassed out of a job as lesbian working with kids, at a time when there was no legal protection. Many lesbians have experienced what you describe, and much much worse.

Original poster
Hazchem · 08/06/2014 09:37

I'm not sure if you need to oppress others to gain advantage of your prividlge. For example I can easily obtain a passport. That is not as easy if your biological sex doesn't match your gender. It is advantageous to remain the sex you are born for lots of things.

I'm naively surprised that feminism doesn't recognize that.

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:27

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FloraFox · 08/06/2014 09:24

Of course, as I said, there is class privilege, white privilege, straight privilege and able privilege. There is no non trans privilege just as I believe there is no thin or femme privilege. Those are aspects of reward for conforming with your expected subordinated role, just like so-called cis-privilege.

kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:18

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:18

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calmet · 08/06/2014 09:14

In some places, the Trans person.

kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:13

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 09:09

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calmet · 08/06/2014 09:06

Oppression is about systematic systems of oppression. It is not about individuals being mean to each other, it is about structural oppression. So area where the law, culture, media, and institutions, discriminate against you.

Even then, privilege is not about an absence of this happening to you. Privilege is where you gain some clear advantage from the oppression of others.

Women do not gain clear addvantage because Trans people are sometimes treated badly or discriminated against. So they do not have non Trans privilege.

kim147 · 08/06/2014 08:42

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kim147 · 08/06/2014 08:41

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calmet · 08/06/2014 08:41

Being non trans is not a privilege. Privilege is a way over used word. It does not mean, "something bad didn't happen to me that happened to someone else".

kim147 · 08/06/2014 08:40

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FloraFox · 08/06/2014 08:38

No I don't think there is non-trans privilege because that means there is female privilege and I don't accept that. Absent all other factors of class, race etc, there is no privilege from being a woman. The reports of horrific violence against low caste women in India are indicative of the fact that in any hierarchy, women are at the bottom of every stratum. Upper class women are lower than upper class men, working class women are lower than working class men, white women are lower than white men etc.

The fact that there are men in a low or the lowest stratum of male privilege does not mean that women have privilege by virtue of being women.