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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Halle Berry to play transman in new film, and outrages transpeople and their allies

106 replies

Lamahaha · 06/07/2020 20:26

www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/07/06/halle-berry-transgender-trans-man-new-film-2020/?fbclid=IwAR1mCDvwgDdpjBQPxSjxsg0cr7QHPBLTVBjbHKPC9HGCxz-CB5XVHVwXP9A

I'm sorry it's p-news but I found it again here so you don't have to click them. I have no idea what site this is.

www.themarysue.com/halle-berry-should-not-be-playing-a-trans-man/

I found the pnews article on FB posted by the outraged mother of a transchild. They are upset because HB keeps saying the character is a woman when in fact "he's a man". The misgendering wasn't appreciated.
Also HB cannot possibly "get" this character.
I just wonder if there are that many transmen who are good enough actors to be offered the role. Surely it's all about acting ability.
HB sounds very woke about the whole thing but is getting it completely wrong by referring to the character as a woman...
which she is

OP posts:
Quietlyloud · 06/07/2020 22:59

If this is what’s being said now, then why wasn’t there uproar about the young boy that played the part of a trans girl in that short series, what was it? Butterflies or something like that.

Billi77 · 07/07/2020 00:26

I highly recommend you watch Disclosure on Netflix.
It’s a doc about the portrayal of trans people in films. Whatever your viewpoint, it offers some very interesting insights.

SerenityNowwwww · 07/07/2020 00:28

An actor acting?

Dammit - what next?

ErrolTheDragon · 07/07/2020 00:59

“The world is evolving, and today it is a mistake, especially if you are cross-sex casting (a cis man to play a trans woman, or a cis woman to play a trans man.)

Er.. that's not 'cross-sex'.Hmm

Yesterday we watched an episode of Lewis from 2008 with a woman playing a transwoman. Except really she was playing a gay man who'd undergone transition because his partner had been messed up by a Christian group (and a sanctimonious Hathaway) so he tried to make himself into a woman so they could be together ... but was still rejected. (Episode 'life born or fire'). Well ... it probably wouldn't get made today, but if it was who should have played the part? A TW or a gay man? Would that have worked dramatically with no-one realising what was going on?

HeistSociety · 07/07/2020 01:01

Well honestly, actors can't play characters different to their own!!

TehBewilderness · 07/07/2020 01:03

The ongoing effort to make cis and trans a subset of woman and man instead of the currently understood man and boy as subsets of male, and women and girl as subsets of female is on my last nerve.
Linguistic doublespeak.

LetGoOfTheLittleDistractions · 07/07/2020 01:40

But Eddie Redmayne played a TW in the Danish Girl. He's not trans and there wasn't any kick back was there?

TBHno · 07/07/2020 02:35

She's just released a statement saying that she's no longer doing it...

HeistSociety · 07/07/2020 02:38

Of course she has.

Fiction is dead, we are all hurtling into the misery of a world where art is just narc memoir.

FloraFox · 07/07/2020 05:08

The outcome of this will be that no big budget films will be greenlit with a trans lead. Without big names, big films don't get made. So the outcome is lower representation of trans stories onscreen.

ShagMeRiggins · 07/07/2020 05:48

@LetGoOfTheLittleDistractions

But Eddie Redmayne played a TW in the Danish Girl. He's not trans and there wasn't any kick back was there?
Hell, Jared Leto played a transwoman in Dallas Buyers club and they gave him a fucking Oscar for it.
Justjoinedforthis · 07/07/2020 06:13

Yes to pp, why is it only female actresses who get this shit? To my knowledge everyone hailed Transparent as wonderful, that was a male lead (incidentally, I love that guy).

ErrolTheDragon · 07/07/2020 07:58

But Eddie Redmayne played a TW in the Danish Girl. He's not trans and there wasn't any kick back was there?

There were some whinges at the time, and some more recently.

Original poster
Lamahaha · 07/07/2020 07:59

OMG, this is the most grovelling apology I have ever read!!!

variety.com/2020/film/news/halle-berry-trans-role-apology-transgender-film-1234699605/?fbclid=IwAR0kYeDYdMpAaZvSRLX-wU7lWBSMwoKY2gOYPkUL296XwHFCL875tN8zNSo

“Over the weekend I had the opportunity to discuss my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I’d like to apologize for those remarks. As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role, and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories,” she wrote. “I am grateful for the guidance and critical conversation over the past few days and will continue to listen, educate and learn from this mistake. I vow to be an ally in using my voice to promote better representation on-screen, both in front of and behind the camera.”

OP posts:
CourtneyLurve · 07/07/2020 07:59

I can't get past the fucking gall of white male-centric Pink News telling a black woman how 'very, very tired' they are.

Original poster
Lamahaha · 07/07/2020 08:01

Indeed. As a black woman she has no idea about the oppression transmen and transwomen have to endure.

OP posts:
SerenityNowwwww · 07/07/2020 08:18

“I’ll be good. I’ll do better. I’ll do what you want.”

Those words...

heartonastring · 07/07/2020 08:20

I'm so behind. I've just had to Google what cis means.

Original poster
Lamahaha · 07/07/2020 08:29

Poor Halle. She stepped right into the snakepit. It seems she had no idea of what is going on. How uneducated of her.

OP posts:
HeistSociety · 07/07/2020 08:33

Why do these apologies always confirm to a script?

Do PR people just have them to hand out to whomever is required to display contriteness?

SerenityNowwwww · 07/07/2020 08:38

What next huh? She should have known - or maybe she thought she would get away with it as she is popular. Dear dear dear. Who would they cast? So actors will loose roles to who exactly? Didn’t a trans woman play a female role recently?

What are the rules exactly when it comes to actors acting parts? It’s very confusing as to who is ‘allowed’ to play a role.

All I can see is ‘black female actor gets piled on but twitter bots’ - a black woman to loose a job (not sure if she has pulled out)?

Doyoumind · 07/07/2020 08:44

I agree that this will ultimately leads to less representation of trans stories as there won't be big name actors to play the roles and any films will be more niche because of it. And there will still be calls for trans people to play non trans roles. You can't have it both ways but they will always push for it.

fiestar · 07/07/2020 08:46

Eddie Redmayne did get a bit of criticism for it.

One critic went so far as to say that ER is responsible for trans women being attacked by an intimate male partners.

You see, the male partner will have watched movies with TW played by men and associate TW with men. This is dangerous for TW.

If TW were only played by TW, then this partner would not have male associations with TW, and not suffer a gay panic reaction.

Did Julie Hesmondhalgh get any shit for playing a trans woman in Coronation Street?

ErrolTheDragon · 07/07/2020 08:48

I'm so behind. I've just had to Google what cis means.

I'm a chemist so I've known for years ... and when to use the prefix properly.

calllaaalllaaammma · 07/07/2020 08:52

Did Julie Hesmondhalgh get any shit for playing a trans woman in Coronation Street?

No but they were simpler times, she certainly would be criticised in today's climate.