In this book, our two protagonists – a teenage boy and a girl – are chatting. They do not know what the other really looks like, for it is online via a huge role-playing game. Think World of Warcraft but more immersive. The boy has a crush on the girl, but is worried she might actually be some middle-aged bloke called Chuck.
Boy: Now, spill it. Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a white human female? You’re not black or muslim are you?
Girl: That’s pretty specific.
Boy: Answer the question, Claire.
Girl: I am, and always have been, a white human female
Woah, random racism and Islamophobia in the middle of the book. Not cool, eh? Well, the book doesn’t actually say that, because I’m sure if it did someone would have called the author out about it by now.
You know where this is going. It’s an old trick, but it works well – swapping a more socially acceptable prejudice for one that is now unacceptable to most to demonstrate the problem.
Here’s what the book actually says:
Boy: Now, spill it. Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?
Girl: That’s pretty specific.
Boy: Answer the question, Claire.
Girl: I am, and always have been, a human female
Apparently, the author (In a book published in 2011) thought that this was OK.
Really, it’s not.
I do not want to be reading a book, and it is a good book, and suddenly and without warning be faced with random bits of dialogue suggesting that my identity is invalid.
Unfortunately, mainstream media doesn’t agree with me. I recently had cause to complain about the BBC’s “Would I lie to you”, in which Nigel Havers recounted a scene in which he “went on a date with a flamenco dancer who turned out to be a man”. In much the same way as this book, I wasn’t watching some risqué comedian who is known for offensive jokes or reading the Daily Mail, this was a relatively mainstream BBC show. And it just comes on as part of planned piece of dialogue. (The text of the dialogue will be available for a few more days here)
Here was the BBC’s response:
One can argue that telling jokes or making light-hearted comments about any group of people is wrong, but usually such comments are affectionate and free from malice. We don’t wish to compile a list of banned subjects but do try to ensure that jokes on certain subjects aren’t overdone and also that they’re genuinely funny.
The BBC’s justification for throwing in scripted, planned transphobia is apparently it was “genuinely funny”. Gee, thanks.
So I’d like to make a point to any non-transgender writers or comedians, in case you are in any doubt:
Unless you’re the kind of comedian who cracks racist and sexist jokes anyway, leave the tranny jokes to Trans comedians who know how to handle it. It’s really not OK to invalidate someone’s gender identity just because they happen to have transitioned.
If you’re a racist, sexist or otherwise offensive comedian then feel free to tell whatever jokes you wish. I don’t care and I won’t be watching anyway. We have freedom of speech, and if only the known offensive comedians are telling transphobic jokes then people might finally understand: It’s offensive and promotes transphobia.
I do not want to lock myself away from the world, never open a book or a newspaper or watch TV, just in case someone decides to try to tell me I’m living a lie and that I am not who I think I am.
So please don’t try to tell me that. Because I do know who I am, better than you do.
Hi Zoe,
Boy could be the most offensive bigot I’ve ever read about, but since Boy is a character, I wouldn’t necessarily take it to reflect on the author. I doubt anyone assumed that the character Alphonso in The Color Purple said anything about the views of it’s author, Alice Walker, or that Armando Iannucci has to answer for the diatribe of Malcolm Tucker.
I don’t think what you’ve shown here suggests that your identity is invalid, I think it shows that a character in a book discriminates and it is up to the reader to determine how they perceive that character. For example, I found Girl’s response (“I am, and always have been, a human female”) rather dull, and thought less of her for it (…unless she was lieing). They’re both into this WoW style game, she doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs to me.
Let’s face it, they were made for each other. 😉
In the book, the boy is presented as a run-of-the-mill teenager, geeky but not particularly bigoted at all. That’s really the problem in my mind – we’re supposed to feel positive towards the protagonist whose actions are supposed to be good in the face of the typical evil-capitalist-corporation he’s pitted against. He’s not some objectionable character whose actions we’re supposed to feel are bad, unlike Malcom Tucker.
I am not trans but I have my gender identity questioned often online. Isn’t this a realistic portrayal of something that happens?
It seems like you are asking comedy and literature to become ‘nicer’ than real life.
But literature is not real life. It would be rather dull if the protagonists were too realistic, with no real “good” or “evil” characters, just a bunch of people trying to get on.
If you describe a “good” character as doing something, and not getting any comeback for it, there is a degree to which you’re saying “This is acceptable behavior, for it is being carried out by someone who is good”.