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30 years ago, “Silence of the Lambs,” a psychological thriller about an FBI trainee catching a serial killer, gained critical acclaim and was heralded as a feminist film but sparked outrage in the LGBTQ+ community. In the film, the killer, Buffalo Bill, skins women to create a “woman suit” in an effort to complete her transition after being denied gender-affirming care.
On Oscar night, just outside the academy’s doors, “activist group Queer Nation staged a protest that devolved into chaos, with objects thrown at vehicles, punches thrown, arrests made, and ‘Fag’ stickers slapped on 24-foot-tall Oscar statues.”
Their goal was to boycott the movie for villainizing the trans experience through Buffalo Bill. The Oscars ceremony was uninterrupted, and “Silence of the Lambs” went on to win all five major awards. While Jodie Foster’s portrayal of Clarice Starling was a groundbreaking representation for women in the workplace, Ted Levine’s portrayal of Buffalo Bill was detrimental to trans people. To this day, accessing gender-affirming care is extremely difficult for trans and nonbinary people. Instead of sympathizing with her, Bill being denied care is viewed as acceptable to the audience because they view her as a violent pervert.
The issue of transgender people being played and written by cisgender people is not new. Queer and trans people have always been fighting to tell their stories, a plea that has only recently been given some thought by the larger population. Negative and inaccurate representation perpetuates harm against the trans community, physically, mentally and systemically. Cis people lack the nuance and know-how to tell these stories. This misrepresentation leads to real-world consequences, from anti-trans legislation to hate crimes to daily microaggressions. That’s why accurate media representation is so important — because prejudice dies hard.
The history of trans characters in the media is a rocky one. There are a plethora of stereotypes and pitfalls when it comes to the portrayals of transfeminine people: the violent man in a dress, the punching bag, the pervert, the victim, the villain — the list goes on. In 2016, cis actor Jeffrey Tambor won an Emmy for his performance of Maura in “Transparent.” He was praised for the “authenticity” of his portrayal of a trans woman. In 2019, the show was canceled because Tambor was accused of sexual assault. Because audiences associate Tambor with transness, the situation only furthers the notion that trans women are just violent men fetishizing women’s bodies. This issue would simply not have arisen if a trans woman took the role. When cis men play trans women in a positive or even neutral light, they are seen as heroes and allies by cisgender people; but the harm it causes cuts much deeper. It leaves trans actors with fewer opportunities — when a cis person comes up to accept an award for playing a trans person, it shows the public that being trans is not a valid identity, but something that you can take on and off. For these actors, these roles are just dress-up, and that is what the audience internalizes.
Media can change the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. “It offers numerous interpretations of what is … attractive and appropriate.” Representation is not the end-all-be-all of trans liberation, but it is important. When trans people are shown as the other, it demonizes them, subjecting them to real-world violence. In 2021, 58 percent of people said they did not know a transgender person, according to the Pew Research Center. Trans people are co-workers, friends and family, and showing them as such can better the lives of trans people everywhere for generations to come.
For the gay community, shows like “Ellen,” “Will & Grace” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” were instrumental in the acceptance of LGB people. Joe Biden even said in an interview with “Meet the Press” that “‘Will & Grace’ probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far.” They helped to break down stereotypes and normalize nonstraight relationships. For years, gay people in media were, at best, a joke to laugh at or, at worst, child molesters. A consistent, healthy portrayal of gay people in media has gone a long way, and the same thing can be true for trans people.
GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, found in an examination of trans people in media from 2002 to 2012 that trans people were cast as villains or killers in 21 percent of episodes. In over half of trans storylines, anti-trans language was used. This violence in the media correlates to violence in real life. 2021 was the deadliest year for trans and gender nonconforming people in U.S. history with 56 reported deaths — most of which were Black trans women and trans women of color. According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest survey examining the trans population to date, 46 percent of participants were verbally harassed in the past year, 9 percent were physically harassed within the past year and one in ten reported being sexually assaulted in the past year. These statistics are higher for Black and/or disabled participants. Unfortunately, data is limited, but through these studies, readers can see the staggering rates of violence trans and gender nonconforming people experience.
Inherently, media is a tool of self-expression; it’s a mirror of how humans view the world. Not only does our self-perception shape media — media shapes ourselves. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “more frequent exposure to negative depictions of transgender people in the media was significantly associated with clinically significant symptoms of depression; anxiety, PTSD, and global psychological distress.” The impact of negative representation not only hurts how trans people view themselves but also how others around them view trans people. Trans people are far more likely to commit suicide or acts of self-harm when those around them are unsupportive. This is only amplified by media portrayals of trans people who rarely seem happy. Trans characters often deal with issues such as self-hatred, physical violence, unsupportive families and poverty. Trans viewers are not given a future to look forward to when they turn to television and movies.
Inaccurate media portrayals of the trans community have not only fooled the public but also the courts. 2021 has become a record year for anti-trans legislation. Trans people are misrepresented so often that lawmakers and world leaders use false and outdated talking points to justify discrimination. From gyms to bathrooms to schools, trans bodies are being villainized everywhere.
It’s not hyperbolic to say that this legislation kills people. A big component of these laws being passed is misinformation and fear-mongering pushed by conservative news media. The rhetoric that trans people would sexually assault children if they were allowed to go into the bathroom of their choosing was pushed with no proof to back up the arguments. In some cases, the members of congress and talk show hosts who spewed this nonsense actually had a sexual assault on their record.
It doesn’t matter, though. For most who latch onto this type of rhetoric, it is only an excuse to be transphobic, not a legitimate fear. This trickles down to affect trans people in their everyday lives. Cis aggression toward trans people existing is in part largely due to media. When trans people only ever see themselves in media as self-hating or monstrous, at best, it delays them from accepting their identity or, at worst, drives them to kill themselves. When cis people only ever see trans people in a negative light, they are less likely to be accepting and more likely to be violent.
In 2014, cis writer Katy Steinmetz wrote an article in Time Magazine called the “Transgender Tipping Point” about how trans people were finally getting their time in the spotlight — but I believe that the tipping point is now. In the past few years, more and more good representations of trans people have been popping up. Jules in “Euphoria,” Joe in “Cowboys,” Cal in “Sex Education” and the entire cast of “POSE” are all great examples of how to write trans characters with depth.
Since trans visibility is becoming more recognized in mainstream media, it receives more backlash. As said previously, 2021 has been a record year for trans deaths and anti-trans legislation. Never before have trans people been so prevalent in media. Right now, the influx of representation is scary to some and may provoke violent reactions. While it may be disheartening, shows like “Veneno,” “Lady in the Dale,” “Shrill” and many more are paving the way for trans people in front of and behind the camera. Normalization does not equate to liberation, but trans acceptance saves lives. As trans people are given the autonomy to control their own stories, cis people and trans people alike have a better understanding of the trans experience. The road to liberation is not a parallel line upward — this year has made that clear. But hopefully, it will get people to pay attention to why accurate representation is so crucial to saving lives.