Transgender Representation in the Media -Simona B. and Jimmy H.

What is the difference in meaning between transgender and transsexual?
Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. 
Transsexual: An older term that originated in the medical and psychological communities. Still preferred by some people who have permanently changed or seek to change their bodies through medical interventions (including but not limited to hormones and/or surgeries). Unlike transgender, transsexual is not an umbrella term.
                                                           Transphobic Comments

 

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Family Guy

Trans Activists

Transgender Representation: Glee, The Fosters, Degrassi, and Orange is the New Black 

Although we’ve come a way since depicting trans actors as sex workers, villains, killers, or a punch line- we still have a long way to go and there is so much more to be done. More education and more representation of trans people is vital for the society and culture we live in because keeping those representations in the media of today creates an extremely unsafe environment in America as well as all around the world.

Discussion Question:
Do you think that some representations are better than no representations even if those representations are negative? In other words: Is negative better than nothing?

The Slides