NDLI: Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Funk, Steven Funk, Jaydi
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	Since the 1990s, television narratives have increased visibility for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual) individuals and underscored the need for a deep exploration of the heterosexism (homophobia) that pervades much mainstream American programming (Lee and Meyer in Sex Cult 141:234–250, 2010; Manuel in Soc Semiot 19(3):275–291, 2009). One such serial, Transparent, has been credited by many major media outlets with transforming the way Americans think about transgender, gender expansive (Ehrensaft in Gender born gender made, The Experiment, New York, 2011), or trans, individuals. Exploring Transparent through Butler and Athanasiou’s (Dispossession: the performative in the political, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013) framework of dispossession, this essay argues that the depiction of dispossession in Transparent may serve to hypostasize the gender binary rather than to disrupt it. By severing the rhetorical act of “coming out” from the historical pathologization of non-normative sexualities and gender expansiveness in America, Transparent risks undoing the very social progress that it has the potential to further. While the show could powerfully disrupt cisgender privilege (Brydum in The true meaning of the word cisgender, 2015), as of its second season, instead, it merely illustrates how the media produced trans “coming out” narrative all too often reifies the gender binary and cisgender privilege. Although it is tempting to praise Transparent for its representation of gender expansiveness, its problematic use of the “coming out” rhetoric should not be ignored.
Starting Page	879
Ending Page	905
Page Count	27
File Format	PDF
ISSN	10955143
Journal	Sexuality and Culture
Volume Number	20
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	19364822
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2016-06-02
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Transparent Transgender Coming out Dispossession Media studies Critical media literacy Social Sciences Personality and Social Psychology Psychology Regional and Cultural Studies
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Gender Studies Cultural Studies

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Coming Out: The Career Management of One’s Sexuality

Coming out discourses of Asian American lesbians

Communicating Sexual Identities: A Typology of Coming Out

Sex is a Minor Thing: Parents of Gay Sons Negotiating the Social Influences of Coming Out

‘For Fun’: (De) Humanizing Gisberta—The Violence of Binary Gender Social Representation

Transgender Representation by the People’s Daily Since 1949

Casting out the demon

Coming to terms: Using technology to know identity

Sex and the marketing of media

Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty

Similar Documents

Coming Out: The Career Management of One’s Sexuality

Coming out discourses of Asian American lesbians

Communicating Sexual Identities: A Typology of Coming Out

Sex is a Minor Thing: Parents of Gay Sons Negotiating the Social Influences of Coming Out

‘For Fun’: (De) Humanizing Gisberta—The Violence of Binary Gender Social Representation

Transgender Representation by the People’s Daily Since 1949

Casting out the demon

Coming to terms: Using technology to know identity

Sex and the marketing of media

Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty