RuPaul, Carmen Carrera, Drag Race, and Political Correctness

[Dreamer]

If you haven't heard (or if this has already been brought up in another thread sorry), RuPaul's gotten into some pretty hot water from a portion of the transgendered community for refusing to back down from his beliefs, after finally breaking his silence recently on the issue: when a segment on an episode from the 6th season of his show (RuPaul's Drag Race) was removed, following heavy backlash from the transgendered community, for being considered "transphobic".

For safety measures, Logo also removed a regular segment of the show that's been on every episode since season 1 (a personal favorite of mine, and quite catchy, if I may say so), a play on words: "Oooooo... girl! You got She-Mail!"; Where RuPual would give playful incite of an upcoming challenge in the competition to the girls.

Anyhoo, Carmen Carrera (a former contestant from a previous season of the show who later came out as transgendered, and has been transitioning), was thrown into the mix early on, and shit got ugly from all sides!

Click http://www.advocate.com/politics/transge...ord-debate to get the whole story.

What are your thoughts?


Personally, I'm with RuPaul, on this one... given this interview done on the controversy:

[anduru]

Oh gosh....
I'll try to word this post as nicely as possible.
These are some points I made when discussing the same topic with others, btw.

1. Who appointed RuPaul head spokesperson of the trans community?
2. "The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) state that the term is "usually considered offensive and/or defamatory" by members of the transgender community."
3. Does RuPaul just sit back and let people call him the f-word or the n-word. (i would type them out but I am unsure of this website's policy or reaction to people using those words even in a discussion context)
4. Not that RuPaul touched on it, but other people quite frequently do, "freedom of speech" only protects you from being thrown in jail or charged for what you say. It does not protect you from other people insulting you, being banned from businesses or websites, being fired from jobs, etc. for what you say.
5. Why is it soooooooooooooooooooo difficult for people just to be respectful and say "a trans person"? Yes, some people DO have issues that cause them to be vulnerable or sensitive. Is that their fault? No. Can they change it? Not as easily as you can stop using an offensive word. You gonna pay for all the therapy that those people are gonna go through to help them get through their issues, possibly through the form of tax to provide a mental health benefit? No? Then sit down.

Also:

Is “Tranny” a bad word?
Yes, it is a slur, and considered highly offensive. Please say “Trans* Person” (the asterisk is silent) unless the person you are describing has given you some more specific words to use when describing their identity.

Apparently I am not allowed to provide the link to where this quote is from because I have less than 50 posts but if you copy and paste it into Google search it should lead you to the page.

[cftxp]

I have to agree with anduru on this one. As someone who, as well as being gay, has autism and happens to be a Filipino-American who's had to deal with way too many issues with his body image for his years of life I know what it's like to be called names just because of characteristics you have or are that you can't exactly change about yourself - though of course, I have no idea what it's like to be an individual who doesn't conform with traditional gender roles (on the personal level at least). However, I'd like to send this reminder that RuPaul is NOT a Trans* (didn't know about the asterisk) individual, he considers himself to be cisgendered and from what I remember in an interview he did with Arsenio Hall, only cross-dresses "for the money".

Here's the thing, you'd personally be in guaranteed trouble with me if I hear you say the "F" word that ends with an "o" and a "t", the "R" word that ends with an "a" and a "d", and all of the other slurs you can associate with someone who looks like me or has the same characteristics as myself and even ones that denigrate the humanity of other people. The truth is that I don't care about the word itself, words have no meaning or power if you don't give it to them, but when a word is socially ascribed to someone only to degrade a particular member of a group of disadvantaged individuals, there's something wrong with even letting that word out of your mouth.

I'm just as ignorant as the next guy (even with my experiences with discrimination) but when you do legitimately know that what you do will offend someone in the sense that their very essence of humanity is questioned, I'd rather not take the risk and stop myself from doing it. However, that's just my opinion, and from my knowledge, some Trans* individuals are even on RuPaul's side.

All I can say is that from what I know, it's wrong to call people names.