Homophobia, David Letterman, GLAAD, Amanda Sampson And Banning The ‘Tranny’
STAFF shagger David Letterman makes a joke about Amanda Sampson – who was born ‘Mitch‘ and now works at the U.S. Department of Commerce – and people at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) are unhappy.
GLAAD? Does the acornym follow the name, or is it the other way around? Is every label an acronym dmeanding to be written in capital letters: GAY (Get A Yacht), Homo (He Owes Me One), NORWICH (K-Nickers Off Reqdy When I Come Home)? DISCUSS.
GLAAD issues a statement:
“Depicting people reacting in horror to transgender individuals is a dangerous stereotype for popular media to perpetuate because it contributes to the societal conception of transgender people as abnormal and deceptive, which all-too-often results in anti-transgender violence and/or discrimination when played out in reality. We are reaching out to CBS Late Show with David Letterman with our concerns about this transphobic joke. Please send your concerns to CBS.”
Meanwhile, over in the UK press, the word Tranny or TRANNY is being outlawed. MacGuffin looks at it:
A about a Sunday Life article headlined ‘Tranny worked in rape centre’ was upheld in what the PCC called:
a landmark ruling on the use of terminology in this area.
Taking into account the full context of the piece, the Commission considered that the use of the word ‘tranny’ – which was a needless abbreviation, held by many to be offensive – was pejorative. The complaint was upheld on this point.
If the PCC regard ‘tranny’ as ‘needless’, ‘offensive to many’ and ‘pejorative’ – as they should – then context should not matter.
The PCC added that this was the first ruling under a change to the Code which occurred in 2005 after representations from community organisations:
Individuals who are undergoing or have undergone treatment for gender reassignment will be included in the categories offered protection from prejudicial or pejorative references.
All of which should mean that the word ‘tranny’ is effectively banned, along with other offensive slang terms on race and homosexuality.
But if this change has been in effect for over four years, how has the Sun published stories such as:
- Let perv tranny rot in a men’s prison
- Meet Britain’s oldest tranny…at 75
- Tranny can live in women’s jail
- Teen tranny’s debut video
- Mona’s tranny gaffe
- When Harry met tranny
- Cops’ canny tranny is hate crime nanny
And those are just ones where ‘tranny’ is used in the headline in the last year.
In all, there appear to be over 50 results found for ‘tranny’ on the Sun website, although a couple of these are about transisitor radios.
Press for Change, a lobbying and educational organisation for ‘equal civil rights and liberties for all transgendered people in the United Kingdom’ produced Transsexual People and the Press in 2004, which said:
Expressions such as ‘gender-bender’, ‘sex change’, ‘tranny’ or ‘she-male’ are considered inappropriate ways to describe persons experiencing a medically recognised condition.
And, unsurprisingly, there are several references to ‘gender-benders’ in the Sun archives too (for example, here, here and here).
The Sun isn’t the only one – the Star also uses ‘tranny’ needlessly, and the Mail seems to have a policy that has renamed Trinny and Susannah ‘Trinny and Tranny’.
But if the PCC thinks the word ‘tranny’ is pejorative and offensive, why has it taken four-and-a-half years for them to issue a ruling against the use of the word? Why has it ignored the repeated use of it by the Sun, and others, for so long?
And can we expect the PCC to challenge any future use of the term?
ANORAK will answer that for you: no. Here’s the video to be offended by:
spotter – RR
Posted: 7th, January 2010 | In: Reviews Comments (10) | TrackBack | Permalink
