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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Trans actors complaining about casting

88 replies

TimeForDebate · 14/09/2018 00:07

Trans actors are complaining that cisgender actors are playing trans characters, and that this shouldn't be allowed.

But ...

If 'trans women are women, and trans men are men ...' surely ... under their own logic, it's completely irrelevant? It shouldn't matter a bit whether actors are trans or women etc. Aren't they getting all muddled up, suggesting trans men and trans women ... aren't?

Or is that only when it suits them?

www.glamour.com/story/should-cisgender-actors-be-allowed-to-play-transgender-characters

Trans actors complaining about casting
OP posts:
Mrskeats · 14/09/2018 00:13

So presumably if you make a vampire film you have to cast a real vampire?
What a load of bollocks, acting is about playing someone else.
And cis can fuck off.

Original poster
TimeForDebate · 14/09/2018 00:47

Yep. #peaktrans

OP posts:
Lazypoolday · 14/09/2018 00:53

Chaz bono who is a trans man has played "cis" male characters in American horror story. Is that not allowed then if we follow their logic?

Didactylos · 14/09/2018 06:32

Do you think it would be possible to T shirts printed that say - Trans women are trans - get over it? and 'Some people are non-believers*. Get over it'
*eg do not subscribe to the cult of gender identity

GulagMilkMonitor · 14/09/2018 06:33

Actors are actors!

GulagMilkMonitor · 14/09/2018 06:33

Actors are actors!

CountFosco · 14/09/2018 06:35

Wonder where we'd find an alien to play Dr Who?

BettyDuMonde · 14/09/2018 06:40

‘Some People Know
Gender
Is
Oppressive

Get
Over
It’

deepwatersolo · 14/09/2018 06:50

Bollocks. If anything, they should complain about not being casted enough for roles in general.
In the 90‘s there was a Shakespearean movie with a Black Prince - that type of unconventional casting makes way more sense than ‚everyone can only play their own lived identity‘. But it has to be done in a smart way - the 50‘s Hollywood flicks about Asia where pretty much all characters are whites in yellowface are insufferable.

deepwatersolo · 14/09/2018 06:54

Man, ‚some people are nonbelievers, get over it‘ sounds like a Slogan I‘d like to wear. You can protest the gender cult, the neoliberal cult - Heck, it would even make sense as a Graffiti in isis territory!

ICJump · 14/09/2018 06:55

It was trans casting that peaked me. I was initially concerned that a trans women was being played by a woman and raised it here. It was an enlightening conversation and almondcakes sent me several videos. Now I’m gender critical!

ICJump · 14/09/2018 06:56

Althought if someone wanted to launch a campaign to stop non Australian doing Australian accents I’d be totally up for that

BettyDuMonde · 14/09/2018 07:01

Absolutely deepwatersolo

Kathryn Hunter playing Richard III made a huge impression on me.

www.atgtickets.com/blog/women-in-male-roles/

Theoretically, trans actors could be some of the most versatile/adaptable of all.
Insisting on having one’s own boxes reserved just for you (and those like you) has the counterproductive effect of pigeonholing trans actors in casting agents minds.

nopeni · 14/09/2018 07:04

Also, when you don't have a definition of transgender beyond "doesn't like the gender stereotypes of their sex", then almost everyone qualifies. How dare they assume anything about any actor or actress?

VikingVolva · 14/09/2018 07:07

Hayley was played by a female-identifying XX person. Which really set the precedent in UK twenty years ago

The point is, they're acting and you don't get roles reserved for you because of personal history. It's simply about whether your face fits (very brutal business, because of the number of rejections one can expect).

Urbanbeetler · 14/09/2018 07:09

I don’t know. For some minorities there are very few parts on stage, film or tv. If I were an available and proficient actor and trans I would be pretty unhappy if one of those few parts came up and they gave it to someone who hadn’t been through transition.

nopeni · 14/09/2018 07:44

I'm pretty unhappy that our actual biological hard-won rights (like women's sports, women's refuges; women's spaces) are all being handed over to anyone who wants them myself. My heart doesn't bleed for an actor who doesn't get a role.

Luckily for them though, transwomen are becoming an increasingly popular porn category, and the moment that Hollywood thinks most men would like to have sex with a transwoman, they'll become stars. Sex is the main thing they sell - you've got to be attractive to your audience, which is why so many gay actors hide it.

Urbanbeetler · 14/09/2018 07:53

I wish we could fight for the important female sex only spaces without trying to deny trans people anything and everything. Why shouldn’t trans people hope that a trans part would be awarded to a trans actor? Same applies for other minorities wherever possible.

Miladymilord · 14/09/2018 07:57

Why shouldn’t trans people hope that a trans part would be awarded to a trans actor?

Yes, in the same way I hope a women's 800m race would be won by a woman, or an all womens shortlist would be made up of women.

OrchidInTheSun · 14/09/2018 08:02

What will happen if only trans people are allowed to play trans people is that studios will make fewer dramas where they feature. Bit of an own goal

Urbanbeetler · 14/09/2018 08:03

Exactly Milady.

nopeni · 14/09/2018 08:03

But logically why should they?

Should gay people get all gay roles?

Real brunettes get brunette roles?

Actual astronauts get astronaut roles?

Why should Hollywood ever have to use Only X Person In Real Life for X role?

Urbanbeetler · 14/09/2018 08:11

Trans is a physical characteristic. I am deaf and would hope that a deaf actor, if available, would be prioritised in the casting of a deaf person.

You can’t on one hand say trans women aren’t women then on the other hand say woman can be cast as trans women because they are the same.

And if you do believe trans women are women, a type of women, then you would also surely want someone from that type to represent a trans woman, same as you would want a deaf actor to play a deaf person.

So weather you argue for or against trans women being women, logic says trans women should be played by trans actors.

OvaHere · 14/09/2018 08:13

There is a series I watched on Netflix that has a trans character, I won't name the show because it's a bit of a plot spoiler but after watching I googled the show to read reviews and one of the top hits was a Reddit post complaining about the transphobia.

One of their main issues was that a female actress was playing the transwoman but then countered that with it could be worse because at least it wasn't the usual male actor in a wig. Confused

I should point out that the only way the plot would have worked is by having a female actress play the part because up until the finale the trans character was completely stealth and it was integral to the storyline that the audience didn't realise.

I suppose it's possible they could have found one of the very rare transwomen who passes from every single angle and also vocally but even if they found said person it's not likely they would be an actor by trade or that they could even act at all.

Urbanbeetler · 14/09/2018 08:15

Apologies - I know being trans is more than a physical characteristic but that is a part of it.