Okay, I love the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, but I'm tired of the tranny jokes on both shows. I realize that they make fun of a lot of different people and that's great (or whatever), but I believe that there is a difference between the way that they use other identities in funny ways and transsexuals. The segment I'm posting below is a great example of this
I'm posted this segment because it includes all the worst parts of the jokes made about transsexuals.
1. While "pre-op tranny" was in good company on the list of people found in fake America, there has never once (as far as I know - please correct me if I'm wrong) been any other reference or example of transsexuals other than the stereotypes they present when they use transsexuals as the butt of their jokes. They've had feminists, gays, Jews, and Muslims on to their show and their jokes more often than not are played out to make negative views or actions against these identities look lame and stupid. However transsexuals receive on very little positive treatment on either shows, there never having been a transsexual guest on, nor do they ever really (correct me if I'm wrong) present a positive image of transsexuals or in any way more than a two-dimensional stereotype. On the Daily Show and the Colbert Report we're just a joke.
2. Another majore problem is that these jokes typically ignore the existence of trans men. If these jokes included anything more at their core than the "men in dresses is funny" joke and opened the terms like transsexual or slang like tranny to a wider and more accurate definition in a joke they would become much more complicated and more difficult to use. At the end of the fake America segment I paused and had to ask myself whether or not the joke was that he was a trans woman who had yet to begin transition or whether he was a trans guy who had begun hormones but had not had mastectomy and/or a hysterectomy. I'm sure most people didn't have to ask themselves this or else they would not have found it as funny. The term tranny and transsexual on this show are being used specifically in reference to trans women, continuing the trend of trans women are something to ridicule, trans men are something to be ignored.
3. The use of "Pre-op" in the joke directs the humor away from the identity of being a transsexual towards the state of our genitals. This extends the "men in dresses" joke (since I don't think they were referring to trans me here in any way) to "men in dresses who have their penises cut off". Transsexuals are not defined by their identity or what they feel, but instead by what they do to their body. There is a whole long life that transsexuals have before and after surgery, but other aspects of ourselves is obscured by terms like "pre-op" and "post-op".
4. This is just a lazy joke. This is something that requires no skill and is widely used. In making this joke they share the company of all those bigoted jerks on the radio, TV, or just in communities across the United States who think "pre-op trannys" are pretty funny too (we are both equally ridiculed in real America and the fake one). I'm all for bringing different sides together on common beliefs, but what I really can't stand the lack of effort they put into it. I expect better. If they are going to tell a tranny joke I want it to be a good one and stead of the bullshit above.
Ideas for the daily show to begin working on this problem... First, make a better, smarter joke. If you want to make fun of us, go right ahead, but make sure that some where in the joke is a little bit of the actual lives of transsexuals and not just the stereotype. Second, have transsexual guests on the show. I feel like the number of tranny jokes should some how be balanced by the number of guests on the show, but I'll settle for just one guest to be on. Jennifer Finney Boylan is a very funny person, wrote a best-selling autobiography, and is working on a series of op-ed pieces for the New York Times. Her new book didn't sell as well, but when it comes out in paperback they should have her on the show. I would really love to see Julia Serano or Helen Boyd and a lot of other people who write about trans issues on the show, but I'll take what I can get at this point.
Okay. If you want you can write the daily show and Colbert report about this - I know I'm going to and I encourage you to do it too. Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully think about this issue.
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Yeah. It's unfortunate because that segment was completely awesome otherwise.
I kind of want a copy of that list to use as an avatar, lol. Google images here I come.
Cara - Your post was well written and strong.
I can't believe this was on TV (or maybe I can, actually). It plays off of the negative stereotypes of so many people, I was simply appalled. (I personally found the Feminist and Wall Street jokes offensive - hey, I am a feminist AND I am an Economics major... so if I work on Wall Street one day, am I a douche bag too?) I plan to show this to my friends and Women Studies professor. And I'd like to write to Comedy Central, because this was ridiculous.
you know, transphobic remarks show up a LOT more often than i guess i'd expect on the progressive radio station i listen to in Colorado. i've written in a couple of times to two different hosts, but no response. perhaps they think "trannies" are fair game? yeah, well if they actually looked at some of the violence and harassment stats, they wouldn't be laughing i have a feeling.
jokes about trans and gender variant folks = NOT FUNNY. not until such folks are properly represented (positively) and openly celebrated/embraced by groups other than their own.
You know, I was watching that segment and kind of thinking it was funny. Then the feminist part made my ears perk up, but I wasn't really sure if it was offensive. But the pre-op tranny bit was, no question. It definitely caught at my brain, even though I didn't realize they've never had a transperson as a guest. I'll be paying attention to their coverage of trans issues more closely, thanks for pointing this out.
ps AMAZING, well articulated post. i get excited every time i see trans-specific issues brought up on feministing :)
I have to disagree. While I think your criticisms of jokes about transexuals come from a true place, I don't think this segment on The Daily Show is the best example of that. Rob Riggle was pointing at random people and making assumptions about them, which is exactly what John McCain and Sarah Palin do. The only person who wasn't random was John Oliver, who was labeled a transexual. I think they did that so that they wouldn't "out" anybody, even though the outing would be based on a falsehood. If they pointed out Joe Schmo and one of Joe Schmo's coworkers saw it, they could've said "Hey, Joe Schmo is a tranny. I'll tell the boss tomorrow so that he could get fired." That's more than what other shows would have done.
Lauren T, I have to say I think you're off the mark on that one. The point of this segment was to poke fun at the assumptions that certain people make about others. Rob Riggle's tone was very obviously sarcastic and satirical. What it's playing off is the stupidity of the people who make the assumptions based on the stereotypes, not the people fitting them.
The tranny joke may have crossed a line, but the rest was clear and blatant satire.
I'm not sure how I feel about the piece as a whole, but even as I was posting it I realized that it would probably be served better by a different segment - I remember Colbert making at least one in the last week or two. Yes, it is satirical, although maybe taking it a little bit too far. However the other identities are more represented on the show to at least a little more of an extent.
Here I need to make a correction... although I still think my main points are fairly valid. They have interviewed two transsexuals for segments on there show. In first one made in 1999, the person was chosen because she was sort of doing something reckless and crazy and they were making fun of her. The other interview in 2007 is with the city manager who was fired when she revealed her plan to transition. That interview was some what more balanced and supportive, but it didn't really present trans identities well. Although there was one part where they talk about how she could no longer perform her duties as city manager because the area of the brain that performs those tasks is actually located in the penis which she would no longer have after surgery (a much smarter joke). Still both of these trans people are trans women, still excluding trans men. They are both fairly awkward, one being chosen to interview because she's weird and another who is only just transitioning and neither had much experience talking about trans issues.
The videos are below. Let me know what you think of them. I'm not all that impressed. If this is all they have to represent the trans identities, it isn't enough.
well, its not embeding so here are the links
Riggle does do an okay job in this video. Its still really faulted, but it has positive aspects.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=85447&title=suddenly-susan
The other two aren't great (or may in fact be the opposite of great)
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=128729&title=the-burning-bush
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/181418/january-16-2006/movies-that-are-destroying-america---transamerica
Liza, I re-watched the clip and I agree with you. It is mocking the ignorance of other people. At first, however, I didn't see that. Thanks for clearing that up for me.