Sunday, September 28, 2014

Why I hate all the sensationalist news about Bruce Jenner possibly undergoing gender transition

Note: Because I have not seen confirmation that Bruce Jenner actually identifies as a woman and has actually denied that he is undergoing gender transition, I will use male pronouns to refer to him.  This decision is also supported by the current state of his Wikipedia page, which currently uses male pronouns to refer to him.

Bruce Jenner, the former Olympic Track runner, has long been known for exhibiting vanity about his appearance, undergoing plastic surgery at several points in his life, among the latest a tracheal shave because he didn't like his trachea.  Apparently, at that point, a whole bunch of sensationalist new articles were all up in arms about his supposed pending gender transition.  I cringe when I search "sex reassignment" on Google News to try to see our country's (USA's) progress toward making full gender reassignment accessible to all and see that half the results page is filled with articles with rumors about Bruce Jenner.  It really rubs me the wrong way and I'll tell you why.

Bruce Jenner is well known for his vanity, so having so many sensationalist articles saying he is undergoing gender transition poisons the concept of gender transition, making it seem like nothing more than just another vain undertaking, I think.  Not only that, but there's talk of an expensive divorce in the news, so adding to its possibly being viewed as a vain undertaking, gender reassignment may come to be seen as the province of the rich and famous, and more so if it has already come to be seen as that.  Because of the tendency of many people to confuse is and should be, many may come to see that it should be a vain undertaking that is the province of the rich and famous and resist efforts to make full gender reassignment accessible to all people.  This is why the rumors about Bruce Jenner really trouble me.

I don't know if there is anything we can do to stop the sensationalist articles about Bruce Jenner's supposed gender transition, as the guy probably likes all the attention, but when I look with hope for news that coverage of gender reassignment may increase I really hate seeing Bruce Jenner's name come up and take up such a huge portion of the page.

I hope and pray, for my sake (because I really need it) and for others' sake, that we can accelerate the expansion of coverage and access to full gender reassignment in this country.

No comments:

Post a Comment