Time To Pull The Trans Documentary Drinking Game Out Of The Closet Again

Oh! Looks like I need to swing by the liquor store, too.

I love this list, and it's kinda hilarious.  OTOH, you could end up with alcohol poisoning pretty quickly.... sigh

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by: eastsidekate @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 16:41:41 PM CDT

If anyone is going to watch:

Could we get a running tally?  I think we need some sort of quantitative measure for documentary suck-a-tude.  I'll leave it to others to name the unit of measurement.

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by: eastsidekate @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 16:43:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Absolutely spot-on analysis

(And how man of these would crop up in a spot about a gay person's coming out, too?  Plus of course shots of a lesbian couple kissing and/or a male couple, shot from behind, holding hands as they walk up the street)  

I don't drink much at all. I'd be unable to walk by #5.  If only the tired media cliches were the worst thing we all had to live with...!

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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by: QScribe @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:02:41 PM CDT

he he

HA:

Plus of course shots of a lesbian couple kissing and/or a male couple, shot from behind, holding hands as they walk up the street

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by: PurpleLove08 @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 18:43:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks.

I just set my DVR because I won't be home. However, I think it needs to be said that the documentary won't be played in every state tonight. Here in San Diego it doesn't air until tomorrow night.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." ~~~ Thomas Jefferson

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by: SD_Dave @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:20:47 PM CDT

In a previous life I was a Television Producer/Director

And honey, you missed your true calling.  That is about the best cliche ridden descriptor of the Morrie Povitch, Oprah, Donahue, Today Show script I could ever imagine.

Brilliant.

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.

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by: Snooky Ookums @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:26:22 PM CDT

You missed public bathroom scenes

Women making eye contact trying to decide what to do about the 'masculine' woman who just stepped into a stall.

Feet in a stall pointing the wrong way.

Women  leaving the restroom quickly.

Women directing person tot he 'right' lavatory.

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by: Carolyn in Baltimore @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:30:59 PM CDT

That 35 item list...

...is far from fully inclusive. Please feel free to add more items to the list -- Helen is so right that there are so many more snarky things one could add to this list. :P

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:43:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I take it that you all get seriously 'tight'

during episodes of "Sex change Hospital"

I saw one....
disappointing...

I tell you Chica that no greater abomination exists than women denying their spirit of sisterhood and instead becoming the oppressor. -Rebeca, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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by: MauraHennessey @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:33:25 PM CDT

That Series

Was not worth the time spent watching it.
I have no plans on watching this one ether.

I went through this so many years ago that I can't relate to being in transition anymore.

I feel for all of you who are in transition or planning to transition it sucks to start over.  

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by: LiZ @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 19:48:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

If You're Playing...

buy a lot of liquor.

15 minutes here I come, I suppose.  just shakes head

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by: EnoughNonSense @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:43:16 PM CDT

These are fantastic!

But I think I'm going to have to go for O'Douls to prevent a massive hangover.  ;-)

It is nice to have a light side -- sometimes laughing at the stereotypes people associate with you is one of the best ways NOT to become the object of that laughter in the future.  

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by: Repeal8 @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 17:59:55 PM CDT

How about

being referred to "accidentally" by male name? Did I miss that one on the list?

Omigosh, this sounds like more fun than soap opera cliche' drinking games, Autumn. Like when the main character realizes he's been flirting or worse with his newly-arrived-back-in-town's wife/girlfriend etc in a bar.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

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by: Louise @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 18:08:10 PM CDT

How about

If it's about a M2F, they use the phrase "woman trapped in a man's body".

I think that one is worth a whole bottle.

Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.

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by: Denabeth @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 18:36:57 PM CDT

ha

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by: PurpleLove08 @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 18:44:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Autumn... since you don't drink ...use M&M's

They aren't too much sugar, each one. I always told people to use those to learn to swallow pills.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 19:13:56 PM CDT

The Scary Thing

Is that if I was making a documentary about my own life... I'd realistically have to include over half of those items.

In my case, it's not the documentary that's overly-cliched, it's the subject.

I really hate that. The one thing that kept me going for so many years was the thought that at least I was original. When I went to a gender specialist with my "unique" life story and was told it followed the "standard transsexual narrative" I was flabbergasted. Worse, I then read  up on the subject, and she was right. Instead of being creative, and proud of it, I was a walking stereotype.

sigh

There is no situation so complex it can't get even worse

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by: ZoeB @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 19:25:52 PM CDT

Yeah, I've got 5 on the list I can count...

...but at least no one has 'em on film.

*sigh*

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 19:34:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oh, and earliear in the transition process...

...Eep! Yeah, my numbers of matched items on the list that wouldn't have just been the stereotypes, Zoe, would have been staggering.

Yeah, we I go into surgery in a couple of years, I'll have to bring my stuffed bear Genderqueer (pink, white, blue, and purple) to the hospital, and I'll just have to have the Happy Birthday balloons. The cheese factor of living the stereotype will be a hoot!

My add to the list would be going to that government office to change my documentation - so post surgery, it'll be the trip Social Security Administration.  

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 21:00:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Funny you should mention that...

We just went and changed my wife's Social Security Card on Thursday. (BTW, the lady that helped her couldn't have been nicer. She even congratulated my wife on her surgery.)

susanferman.wordpress.com

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by: Susan_F @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 01:17:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

cookie cutter care

The rule was not to let anyone transition who didn't fit the narrowly-defined cookie-cutter standard transsexual stereotype.

So it's no accident if you have a lot of company there.

Here's what I find about compromise--
don't do it if it hurts inside,
'cause either way you're screwed,
eventually you'll find
you may as well feel good;
you may as well have some pride

--Indigo Girls

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by: Hypatia @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 04:58:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I get the point, but I do think that viewers should understand

that transition is real soul-searching, real grubbing for money to cover expenses (hormones must be at least $100.00/month, or some amount representing a big challenge for many desiring transition), real work, real fear, etc. As a cisgender person, I have to say that I am impressed by the practical, physical, psychological, spiritual challenges undertaken in transitioning, and think it should be regarded as an accomplishment, particularly for those who transition late. I think that the problem is not in talking about transition, but the manner used to talk about it.

I'd like to see a developmental approach: what happens 5 years, 10 years, 20 years out? What was expected? Not expected? What are the practical problems, the makeshift solutions (if any), the necessary long-term solutions (insert legislative agenda here, starting with inclusive ENDA). And I would like to see a transgender man profiled sometime.

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by: NancyP @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 19:29:32 PM CDT

The problem is no wants to make those documentaries

Seriously.

Nor anything else that doesn't conform to the sort of narrative cliches described.  I agree it would be great if they did, but I've heard from helen, Jenny and a number of others who have done media work that if producers/documentarians don't think your story follows this sort of "standard narrative" -- or you won't cooperate in digging up the old photos, putting on make-up while being filmed, etc. -- they simply won't call you back.

And don't get helen started on the subject of the invisibility of partners and spouses when it comes to these sorts of programs. Again, producers and documentaries simply aren't interested in hearing from them.

The ironic thing is even pointing out how cliched these sorts of things are doesn't seem to get through -- even as the producers are talking about how they want to do something new and insightful.

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by: LenaD @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 19:50:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Divide

The way this stuff is handled is radically different for FtMs and MtFs -- and while that is society-driven, so is humor.  Maybe separating these would make things a little more hilarious (not to mention shake some of the stuff out that people haven't noticed enough for drinking games on the FtM one.)

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by: chaoticgrace @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 20:55:17 PM CDT

Half an hour in...

How drunk are you?

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by: dewdrop_world @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 21:36:49 PM CDT

why on earth?

Seriously. Why do folks continue to put themselves out there like that? I'm not saying be in the closet or live stealth but these things are beyond predictable.  I could maybe see it if you are also selling a book or something.  Otherwise, there seems to be little good that can come from it for the person involved.    

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by: arsenalchick @ Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 22:16:22 PM CDT

2 reasons

1. They are naive

2. Doesn't matter how well you thought you told your story, they will edit it so it fits their script.

You couldn't pay me enough to do one of those shows.  After working very hard to fix things I'm not about to flush my self-respect down the toilet.  No way, no how.

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by: xrk9854 @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 08:10:06 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Maybe...

...it's just hope?

I mean, we all wanna be accepted for who we are, and maybe they're just hoping (naively or otherwise, who knows what the people shooting the docs are saying) that This Time Will Be Different.

Personally, I want to try to MAKE trans documentaries if I can figure out a way to do it.  (Which I currently cannot, but anybody who wants to brainstorm, I'd love to talk.)

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by: chaoticgrace @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 10:01:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

How about a happy story,

  38 years of existing to finally come out to face the truth.  I am a woman.  I get to spend $165,000 on attorneys and successfully keep custody of my children.  find a job that I love after relocating to Denver Colorado only to be jobless due to the Bush Economy.  Spend 8 months on unemployment and towards the end of my unemployment I meet a man who loves me for who I am.  I meet his family and they adore me as well.  I get a job doing what I love, the same as the job I was laid off from.  Family and friends see me the happiest I have ever been.

 Yeah, to boring for TV, but I know many of us who have become happier than they have ever been and now see life as living instead of existing.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 00:02:20 AM CDT

I think you have a great story.

You may think that its too boring for TV, but those of us who know a bit of what you have been through are really  glad to hear [read] that things are going so well for you now. You deserve it.

susanferman.wordpress.com

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by: Susan_F @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 01:25:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

13 or 14 *dings* depending on how you counted them.

Despite the 13 dings I kind of liked the segment.  I know I'm being shallow but:

1. She looked good.

2. She sounded (voice) good.

We need to add another stereotype to the list.  Ju Ju Chang for pushing the hormones change orientation myth.

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by: xrk9854 @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 02:32:52 AM CDT

Yes

you are shallow.

We should be know only for our beauty and bust size...

o_O

Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.

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by: Denabeth @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 15:03:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And Voice?

Doesn't she get any points for her voice?

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by: xrk9854 @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 03:52:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]