Baby reindeer anti woman pro trans slant

[NZadultwoman]

Watched the series this weekend and like with so many things happening today I'm struck by what I can't unseen. When you really see the narrative, you see it everywhere! Anyone else notice how the trans woman was painted "innocent" and that the "Martha" character was "guilty". And inferred that the trans woman was more of a woman than the actual woman? In fact, the writer may as well have called her Karen! I tried to confirm whether or not the plot was in line with the "true story". All I could find out was that the writer combined many different experiences to construct the plot. I wouldn't be surprised if the writer capitalized on the popularity of the pro trans anti woman element to help popularize he story. I have to admit I liked the show anyway. And I appreciate it as a reflection of our society. It's a useful looking glass me thinks

Gadd has since said in interviews that the Martha character never met the transwoman and was never actually violent. He's obviously very media savvy and knew that Netflix would love a storyline where a big bad woman beats up a poor little transwoman.

Interestingly he lied in a lot of interviews about going to great lengths to hide Martha's real identity. Of course we now know that about the only thing he did was make the Martha character much bigger and more 'scary'.

Gadd was also investigated by Netflix for implying to at least one other transwoman that he was pursuing that he could make them famous and get them a part on his show. The transwoman made a formal complaint about him. Netflix said he wasn't actually guilty of nepotism because he wasn't responsible for casting decisions, but it's a pretty reprehensible thing to do, particularly when he blames so much of his poor decision making on the premise that he was a victim of an older man who sexually exploited his desire for fame.

Netflix of course went to great lengths to chose a transwoman who is incredibly petite and has spent a fortune on plastic surgery. It's almost as if the whole thing was propaganda.

They could have cast the GameStop Ma'am

Anyone else notice how the trans woman was painted "innocent" and that the "Martha" character was "guilty

Are you against transwomen being portrayed in a positive light on TV? I feel like the transwoman character was there to convey the impact of the stalking on Gadds personal relationships rather than anything else.

And inferred that the trans woman was more of a woman than the actual woman?
I didn't get this from it. Can you explain further where you felt this was implied?

Interestingly he lied in a lot of interviews about going to great lengths to hide Martha's real identity

I think he wanted people to be able to track her down. The show used her public social media comments.

I’ve not watched it but it does seem from what I’ve read that he very much threw her under the bus while protecting the identity of the man who sexually assaulted him. I also read about him behaving in a frankly predatory & inappropriate way towards the TW who unsuccessfully auditioned for the show. I think I read somewhere he has been diagnosed with a [Cluster B] personality disorder. Clearly that shouldn’t preclude his working in film & TV; but it should absolutely mean any claims he makes about things being “autobiographical” need checking even more rigorously than would otherwise be the case. (Not all people with a Cluster B Dx, etc).

I think it's also important that he made the Martha character fat. So you have a middle aged fat woman as the crazy violent villain. not exactly busting current stereotypes there mate

I find it quite odd that Martha seems to have been been villainised more than the man who raped him.

Not by Gadd. Literally the bulk of the show is about his inability to stop empathising with Martha and seeing her brokenness in himself. Whereas there is no doubt that his rapist is a straight predator.

Anyone else notice how the trans woman was painted "innocent" and that the "Martha" character was "guilty".
🤔Teri is innocent. She's a bystander. Also she didn't stalk or assault anyone. Was Donny's mum "painted innocent"?

His character used that old trans lie on his parents: you can have a dead son or an alive son who is gay

I liked the character and portrayal of Teri. The show and it's evolving aftermath is a very flawed but very interesting piece of art in my opinion and seems like Gadd continuing the behavior (harmful to self and others) that he is so achingly open about in the show.

Anyone else notice how the trans woman was painted "innocent" and that the "Martha" character was "guilty".

Innocent of what? It's a work of fiction despite what it says. I thought it was fairly sympathetic to Teri being dicked about by the main guy and how his insecurities and choices affected Teri.

I agree there has been more speculation and discussion of Martha's actions and identity than the rapist.

@DreadPirateRobots Martha is also innocent. Gadd has admitted that she never even met Teri in real life, let alone assaulted anyone.

This is the trouble with Gadd claiming that the show was "100% emotionally true". Lots of people still haven't grasped that the real Martha basically just sent him a lot of texts and emails. She didn't assault anyone and now she's getting death threats.

OP, I didn't get that at all. The greatest demon in the series was a man - the rapist. Gadd's character himself was deeply flawed and questionable. Martha was mentally ill. The transwoman was stable and sane. His ex's mum was sane and kind. His ex was sane! There was a range of people behaving in a wide variety of ways. I didn't feel an agenda was being pushed at all.

I don’t see this at all. I saw Teri as a character, like any other, and their transness was circumstantial if anything.
As for Martha being overweight. He was surely trying to portray her as she was - in real life- at least to him.
I’m as GC as they come but I don’t get the issue here.
The only issue I do get is the fact that the predatory male rapist is not being outed.

@heathspeedwell Yes, and I'm fairly sure the Guilty court appearance portrayed at the end never happened otherwise it would have been easy for people to confirm Martha's identity from that.

Martha is also innocent. Gadd has admitted that she never even met Teri in real life, let alone assaulted anyone

So the "real" Martha is innocent of assaulting Gadd's RL girlfriend. She isn't innocent of stalking and harassing a number of people.

It's very clear what Teri's real crime is on here: existing, and to boot as a character that people find interesting and sympathetic.

I think he wanted people to be able to track her down. The show used her public social media comments.

I agree. Gadd is nothing if not media savvy. This show came out five years after 'Don't Mess With Cats' was such a massive success. I think Gadd knew that people would be fascinated with Martha and he predicted that viewers would track her down and that would make his show even more of a success.

My personal theory is that Gadd was never a victim of stalking as such. He was already writing TV scripts when Martha came into his pub. He was savvy enough to see she had potential to be a great character in one of his shows. This is why he didn't block her from texting him, or get bar work in one of the hundreds of other pubs on his doorstep.

He claims he kept giving her free drinks for months because he was flattered by her attention. I think he just saw someone he could exploit. And then Piers Morgan exploited her too.

And inferred that the trans woman was more of a woman than the actual woman?

'Implied', FFS! 😃

Yeah I agree with many pp. The real “Martha” is indeed overweight and in fact a bit older than the actress Jessica Gunning who is playing her. Although she was obviously closer to Jessica’s real age when these events (allegedly) happened.

A discussion on Reddit actually mentioned it would have been more shocking had they actually depicted the age difference more clearly. Gadding isn’t much younger than Gunning and he looks older if anything since he has obviously did his fair bit of drugs etc so it’s easy to forget that there was meant to be something like 15 years difference between them

I liked the series but I do feel in the interests of accuracy it should have said something like “this show is INSPIRED by true events” rather than the bold claim of “this is a true story”

I never finished the show. I watched about three eps, and I thought is was a thoroughly dishonest and unpleasant tale. Gadd doesn't come out of it at all well, and probably neither does RL Martha. The transwoman aspect adds another trendy gloss.

@popebishop absolutely. One of the first things Gadd admitted was that he completely made up the stuff about Martha being charged and pleading guilty.

A woman who worked alongside Gadd in the pub said that he was far less innocent than he portrayed himself in his show. He was just as misogynistic as his mates and he was never scared of Martha at all.

I'm sure she sent him lots of texts and emails, but there's plenty of evidence that he led her to believe that he wanted her to do that, at least for the first few months. Obviously her behaviour is peculiar, but I think the scenes where the police questioned if what she did was actually harassment might be some of the only true bits of the whole show.

I thought that both Gadd and Martha were shown as deeply flawed and also both very vulnerable. I thought the trans woman’s character was interesting because she had her act together in a way that none of the characters did. Why is it not ok to have a positive portrayal of a trans character?

@BiggerBoat1 I don't think there's anything wrong with a positive portrayal or a trans character. It's refreshing that Teri just happened to be trans without her character being all about her gender identity. However I think it was obviously pushing a somewhat harmful lie that trans women are just women, just the same as us, no one can tell the difference, of course they pass and women who object to their safe spaces being infiltrated by male bodies people are the problem.

I read an interview with a woman who Gadd worked with at the time and she said he was very much a part of the misogynistic "banter" including that directed at Martha.

I agree with pp that he saw someone he could exploit in Martha.

I also struggle with why he kept going back to the rapist's house to be drugged and raped. I didn't understand the scene at the end where he went back for a cosy chat with the guy.

What I felt about the show was mostly that he could only tell the story this way because he's a man.

Zero time for Gadd here. At first I was on board with the idea of highlighting male victim stalking (which is quite common actually). But the whole thing seemed seedy, desperate and vain. I think he’s gagging for fame and to end up some kind of poundshop Olly Alexander tbh, and clearly women are seen as a dull, vindictive prudes in that narrative.