Trans-misogyny? There’s an app for that.

[ccharles000]

Trans-misogyny? There's an app for that.It’s always hurtful when cis people make trans-misogynistic attacks on trans women’s gender expression, and I doubt I shall ever understand why they think they are entitled to do so. The barbs are bad enough when they’re aimed specifically at me as an individual, but when they target my entire community they inevitably seem only to add insult to injury.

I’ve just seen an example of this mindless hatred emanating from Apple computers; a company which makes products of which I’ve been a long-time fan – indeed, I’m writing this on my much-loved PowerBook and I’m soundtracking my blogging with music played on my iPod. So to then view the cheap shot that is their latest commercial is a huge disappointment, to say the least.

GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has already formally requested Apple Inc to withdraw the advert (you can read the details here) which they describe as follows:

The ad features model Gisele Bundchen, who is supposed to be the embodiment of a home movie made using iMovie. After the Mac presents Gisele, the PC presents a person wearing a dress identical to Gisele’s, in a wig, with no breasts, a five o’clock shadow and an abundance of exposed chest hair.

The ad ends with the line:

“Work in progress?”

For me, perhaps the worst thing about this is the perpetuation of a stereotype founded on pure ignorance. The point that so few cis people ever seem to understand is that transsexual women like me transition as a way of managing the intense morphic dissonance we experience. Do you not think that if we simply wanted to be cross-dressing caricatures as depicted in the Apple ad, then we would? Does it not occur to you that we turn our lives upside down, we lose families, friends, loved ones, jobs, houses, cars – everything – because that is what we need to do to survive? Do you really believe we “choose” to be transsexual, that transitioning is nothing more than a “lifestyle choice” that we could freely reverse if only we would see things your way?

http://birdofparadox.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/trans-misogyny-theres-an-app-for-that/

[NMMNG]

1. Gay and bisexual people have it bad

But transgender people have it far worse. There's no legitimate excuse for any of it.

[MrModerate]

2. I gotta tell you, I just looked at the ad . . .

And maybe I'm just an insensitive lout, but I didn't get the "process interrupted" interpretation at all. Just that Model 1 looked great and Model 2 looked terrible, and so Windows software clearly sucks. (I'm actually a Windows user and mortally tired of Apple's twee arrogance, but that's an entirely different story.)

I suppose it's possible your view is correct, but for a lot of the population, I suspect that reading won't emerge at all.

[Ms. Toad]

3. In this case, it seems some fact checking would have been in order

>>We heard back from an Apple publicity representative who told us this ad has not run since 2006<< http://glaadblog.org/2009/09/25/apple-advertisement-perpetuates-anti-transgender-stereotypes/

Yes - it's bad that they screwed up, but the screw-up apparently was apparently terminated in 2006. They may have learned, and if they really have changed since then perhaps it would be better to acknowledge their learning, rather than to pound them for past mistakes.