Transwimen actors call for trans quota quota for female roles

In the Monster High film Frankenstein's monster (aka Frankie Stein) introduces themselves as having they/them pronouns, which I thought was meant to be a witty joke

Yes, that would have been quite a neat joke.

@SydneyCarton

Rebecca Root was in The Rising (which I really enjoyed) playing a very deep-voiced policewoman, but it wasn't clear whether the character was supposed to be trans, or a biological female. To be fair it wasn't essential to the plot either way.

There was a bit of a theme in The Rising about society's outsiders. At one point Root is talking about this to another 'outsider' (a young offender) and its only then I realised she's trans. So it was appropriate casting.

Interesting that the Variety article describes the other characters’ use of Taylor’s preferred pronouns as “religious” 🙄

They don't even cast Jewish actors in Jewish roles. Bradley Cooper wore a prosthetic nose to play Leonard Bernstein, for example. No other group gets so overlooked. But those fake women want even more validation to play a different sex to them. Give over. Can you hear my eyes rolling from wherever you are right now?

Apparently the Taylor character (Billions) is not an unrealistic portrayal of what would really happen in that industry, but is instead, a "teaching tool".

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/asia-kate-dillon-billions-gender-identity-1203246709/amp/

It always grates on me in Billions that Ax and his finance bros always obligingly refer to Taylor as "they/them" even in their absence

Indeed.

Especially when you know that is is a fecking off-the-scale culture of misogyny in that industry, and Taylor would have been an object of

a) ridicule, and
b) "she just needs a good f*cking"

-type conversations, no matter how clever "they/them" was and how much money they/them had made for the business.

Yes - but they'll all want to be the Principal Boy.

Because it looks ridiculous. We already have panto.

It looked ridiculous shoe horned into the Mayfair Witches.

It's obvious and clumsy no matter how much they try to bully and gas light us into pretending we can't see they're men they'll never 'pass' and that's not being mean it's a fact.

The very idea that she might have been hiding in fear, behind sunglasses and a hat would be ridiculous to anyone who ever met her.

Kim Tatum has been a drag artist for many years. This whole "take me seriously as a real woman" is simply another act.

The problem in 'identifying' non-binary characters to the audience is that 'they' is not solely used to refer to a NB person - in fact, the vast majority of usages of 'they' have nothing to do with NB people.

It's also used in the plural, or for a general person of unknown sex (e.g. 'each customer must show their ticket') and also - increasingly, especially amongst younger people - to refer to anybody who is very clearly male or female and doesn't claim to be anything else but 'just because'.

Even if you manage to catch another character saying 'they', it isn't always obvious that they are referring to a single person who identifies as NB. In general, it will detract from the quality or watchability of a film or play when things have to be deliberately spelled out rather than communicated and understood subtly.

It reminds me of those old-fashioned newspaper cartoons where the whole gag hangs on you knowing that one of the pictured people is, say, a magician; and the only way the cartoonist can easily communicate this to you is by giving the person an unnecessary suitcase improbably labelled 'The Great Marvo - Magician'.

I would just like to point out that demographically there are lots of middle aged actresses, far far more than there are transwomen actors, so when are writers going to start writing roles for them and casting directors casting them, because middle aged actresses have a) got more audience members rooting for them b) need to earn money too and c) judging by the examples upthread are far better at acting than the trans actors featured.

Me too. It became unwatchable.

It always grates on me in Billions that Ax and his finance bros always obligingly refer to Taylor as "they/them" even in their absence

The introduction of Taylor put me off watching any more Billions. Is Taylor in it beyond the second series? It was just so infuriating the way Ax and others hung on her every word like she wasn’t talking reductive shite like pretty much every non-binary person ever.

I didn't pick up on it initially - obviously the character was a woman pretending to be a man for some time! But after noting a few "theys" from other characters I did a Google on it.

Ah I didn't realise that she was supposed to be non binary. It's so stupid and ruins the point of the character as you say.

There's a female non binary actor playing a female non binary character in the otherwise brilliant Our Flag Means Death.

The way you realise the character is non binary is the use of the "they" pronoun by other characters. It's fucking depressing because the character is written as a fantastic gender non conforming woman. Her biological sex and non conforming personality are absolutely integral to the story. Making her non binary totally undermines this and consolidates the narrative that the character is fighting against: that women have to behave a certain way.

It is such a funny, clever and well written show, I struggle to believe the character was originally written as non binary. I wonder if the actor demanded or suggested it? She's good in the role, by the way. I'm not suggesting she was miscast, only that making the character non binary is extremely sexist and illogical to the plot.

In the Monster High film Frankenstein's monster (aka Frankie Stein) introduces themselves as having they/them pronouns, which I thought was meant to be a witty joke, but apparently the character is actually supposed to be non-binary. Confusingly the actor playing Frankie is a transman, but the character presents very much as typically feminine

Rebecca Root was in The Rising (which I really enjoyed) playing a very deep-voiced policewoman, but it wasn't clear whether the character was supposed to be trans, or a biological female. To be fair it wasn't essential to the plot either way.

It always grates on me in Billions that Ax and his finance bros always obligingly refer to Taylor as "they/them" even in their absence 🙄

I always wondered about the conversations they have in the writing room. Surely, even mentioning this person is trans eg was male now female is transphobic, as they're supposed to pass and have all the issues an actual woman faces, including sexism, periods, childbirth...

There was a trans "woman" in that Netflix drama about Anna Delvey/Sorokin and he stood out a mile. He was fucking huge compared to the girls.

Yes, in episode 1. Another guy used the pronoun "they" instead of "she" or "he".

The thing is, i just felt sorry for her. She's obviously a women pretending to be a man (moustache and boob surgery(?)). When everyone can clearly see she's a woman. Albeit a tall one.

I rewatched SOA recently and he has a heavy 5 o'clock shadow, I don't think he was meant to pass. They wanted someone to make the blackmail photos extra "depraved." Great character though, I love the line "I'm the southern belle who don't tell"

I think it is like the question “How do you know if someone is vegan?” “Don’t worry, they will tell you in the first three minutes.”

This is a bit of a Schrödinger’s cat question I suppose, but here goes. Would a monopedal trans actor applying for the role of Tarzan even make it to the casting room?

RIP Pete and Dud.