TV and the Trans Girl

During the period between Christmas and new year I had very little work that I could get on with not much in the way of rehearsals or performances and very little inclination to do much anyway.   So like a lot of other people I ended up watching quite a lot of television, there was a lot of good stuff being shown I enjoyed some excellent films and some first rate shows.

Those that immediately come to mind are "The World's Fastest Indian", I originally recorded this as I am a bit of a bike nut, but enjoyed it for the simple goodness of the central character, and the sympathetic portrayal by Chris Williams of a Trans Woman.   I am a little peeved that so often the character seems to be referred too as a transvestite, when the script makes it quite clear that she is, and identifies as a woman, even gently correcting Anthony Hopkins' central character on the point.

I loved watching the Gruffalo again, this brought back such happy memories of reading this book to my daughter when she was little, it was one of our favorites, I had to do accents for all the different animals (surprisingly similar to the ones chosen for the film) and each time the phrase came up she would join in with the "doesn't he know, there's no such thing as a Gruffalo!"   For similar reasons I also enjoyed Room on the Broom ~ sometimes I think Childrens books and films are too good for children!

Doctor Who is for me now more a part of Christmas Day than the Queen's Speech, and Miranda was so funny I think I wet myself laughing.   Of course there was a lot of other stuff I watched and enjoyed, and some that I watched and wondered why I had bothered, but I suspect that for many of us the stand out piece of television over the holiday period was David Walliams the "Boy in the Dress"

Of course I enjoyed this on a personal level, I enjoyed the contrast between the camp overacting of the adults against the simple realism of the children, I enjoyed the characters, and the storyline, most of all I enjoyed that children enjoyed it.

While at Church this morning a curious and confident boy asked me why I was wearing lipstick (somehow this was what he noticed rather than the earstuds sparkly ring or nail polish), not wanting to go into all the complications of gender and what that meant to me, I could simply ask him if he had watched a lot of television over Christmas and of course he had.   Had he watched "The boy in the Dress" and of course he had, so I could just say well some people are more comfortable like that and I am one of them.   He was quite happy with that as an explanation and was quite happy with me.   Somehow kids totally get it most of the women I talk to totally get it, it's just some of the men who are uncomfortable or don't understand.

I wonder if this is because they feel that somehow their own masculinity is undermined, or as one of my cis sisters opined they may be frightened that by be attracted to a trans woman their own sexuality might be in question.   Either way I have decided that my behaviour is not going to be influenced by what others may expect of me, but by my doing my best to be the best me I can be and to grow into the person God made me to be.