The above image is from Conan’s Tabloid Moment. In last Thursday’s segment, he sat at a strip bar wondering how to make the moment more embarrassing, then the sign flashed “Trannie’s” and two female strippers arrived and slapped mustaches on their faces. GLAAD has already reached out to NBC on this issue, however; in a case of transmisogny this vicious we should all be enraged.
Having two cisgendered women slap mustaches on themselves and pretend to be trans women, posits that trans women are not really women. No trans woman would present themselves post transition this way and this little snippet makes a mockery of their existence. It is further disgusting that not only did he find it appropriate to use a hateful slur, he displayed it in neon lights.
It is troubling that a cisgendered man with a trans woman is understood as something embarrassing. Conan made a point of suggesting that the supposed embarrassment was escalated after the trans women arrive on the scene. Earlier, I referred to this as transmisogny and that is because not only is this attack based in transphobia, it is specifically aimed at trans women. Much of the hatred that is openly projected at the trans community, is aimed specifically at trans women. Socially we can understand why a woman would want to be a man because of male privilege but it is inconceivable to many, that a person would choose to give up male privilege to live life as a woman. These attacks are a form of discipline and punishment.
Many trans women find that after transition they are unable to function in the job market akin to their previous identities. So terrible is the loss of privilege, many forgo transition until later in life. Trans women are hated not just because they are trans but because of a culture of misogyny.
When feminists or womanists refuse to take up the struggle and fight for the right of trans women, they are actively supporting misogyny. Many of the taunts that are aimed at cisgendered women, are also aimed at trans women. We are one in the battle against patriarchy and by seeking to institute some sort of artificial division, we perpetuate the idea of womanhood as less than and somehow deficient.
Conan uses comedy as a vehicle of “othering”. Only over sensitive PC police, or trans women that can’t take a joke are understood to find this type diminishment alarming. Privilege allows Conan to tell this kind of “joke” because it is not about men like him being reduced and it further reaffirms the social power structure. How many people sat in the audience and laughed at this debasement, while not consciously acknowledging the fact that it was an expression of coercive power? Very few would agree to be the equal of trans woman because socially they are understood to be pariahs and yet their humanity is no less valid than anyone else.
Conan may find it funny to demean others for a laugh because he loses nothing from his behaviour. At the end of the day he will remain an over privileged heterosexual, able bodied, white male, of class privilege. The world was designed just for people like him. Those of you who don’t fit into that small category, should give a moments pause before railing about over sensitivity or the unnaturalness of transgendered bodies to consider that most of us will negotiate one or possibly multiple forms of oppression. The person that you laugh at today, could be giggling at your expense tomorrow because all isms are interrelated. If for no other reason than believing that everyone exists with some form of human dignity, this kind of behaviour must end.
cross posted from Womanist Musings
Great post… I can’t believe this is happening. It makes me utterly sick. Anyone who finds that funny ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Renee,
I’m a good friend of Allison’s and she’s had me reading your work for the last few weeks, especially your pieces on disability studies.
You’re a fantastic writer and an important voice; this piece is no exception. I look forward to reading more of your work here and at Womanist Musings in the weeks and months to come!
I think this all depends on whether you see Conan as ratifying or critiquing the sensibilities of the tabloid press.
The entire bit is seeking to examine the question: From the perspective of the front page of the New York Post, what’s a more embarrassing situation? Now, it may well be that Conan is presenting tabloid judgment as an important and appropriate moral yardstick for celebrities such as himself. Or it may be that he’s trying to lampoon the absurd, misogynistic, judgmental sensationalism of the tabloids. In either case, I do think we need to reckon with his attitude toward the tabloids before we can say anything conclusive about his attitude toward trans women.
Great post! One thing about the screencap: it’s not just awkwardness, it’s horror.
I did not see the sketch, but I would bet you a dollar that, not only was it patently offensive, but that it wasn’t funny, either. I do think it’s a tall order to expect a mainstream figure like Conan to have any understanding of gender identification issues. Often, we cis-folks (I think I like this term; I’m not sure…though I guess it’s only fair) who do know something of it only do because we’ve watched a loved one transition. But one should at least expect O’Brien to write a sketch that’s *funny*. Isn’t that his job?
“In either case, I do think we need to reckon with his attitude toward the tabloids before we can say anything conclusive about his attitude toward trans women.”
Regardless of his intentions I would say putting that on television was a matter of transmisogyny. Satire does not always necessarily excuse comedic portrayals of minorities especially considering the humor most people probably got out of this was “lolz look at the trannies. They think they’re people.”
The problem with the satire/lampooning/parody angle is the collateral damage. Even if trans women weren’t Conan’s targets, he wasn’t doing them any favours. Given the pervasive negative attitudes against trans women that are largely uncritiqued in the mainstream, is it really plausible to read this sketch as a defense of trans women or in any way trans-positive? Even if his point is to make fun of tabloids, it still comes off as “ha ha, tabloids are so obsessed with t******!”
It’s not just about Conan’s attitudes and beliefs — it’s about his audiences’ too, and that’s a pretty broad demographic.
Grrrrrrrrrr!
This is one of those cases where the harsh insult probably wasn’t intended, nor even realized. Which really makes it worse when you think about it. Abusing the trans community in humor is so normalized, that no one even thinks about it. I’m sure Conan isn’t some kind of hate monger, but he does need someone to inform him that this sort of this is hateful.
Somehow, a part of me keeps insisting that what’s most wrong is that they’re spelling it TRANNIE’S rather than TRANNIES.
Maybe the strip club is owned by someone named Trannie? Trannie C.W.D. Shemale III. Worst name evar.
“Somehow, a part of me keeps insisting that what’s most wrong is that they’re spelling it TRANNIE’S rather than TRANNIES.”
You walk around red-penning the world just like I do, don’t you?
As a trans woman, I have a question for everyone. Are there ways to fight back against this sort of bigotry that demonstrate our strength as trans women? My concern is that when we protest the behavior, the defense is that “it’s funny, can’t you take a joke, you’re so uptight, you’re too PC, it’s satire, etc”. This keeps us in the situation where we remain the targets, and anti-trans bigots know they can use these words and images to insult us. What are some ways to turn this around?? Are there ways we can turn the “joke” back on Conan so that he is the one being degraded? What are things we can do to turn an insult, trannie, into a word that show the power of trans women?
Queer was an insult for years and now it is a word that means pride and strenght for many.
this post is just spot on. Positing trans women in this light seeks to humiliate and degrade their existence. It’s not like sexual minorities don’t face enough discrimination in their every day lives, now popular comedians poke fun at them in their late night talk shows. It’s outrageous and completely unacceptable.
Where’s jay when u need him??
I was pretty surprised that Conan allowed this. He has poked fun at himself for looking like certain women, like actress Tilda Swinton and Finland’s president Tarjin Halonen. He didn’t say that those women looked masculine, but that he looks feminine. The joke was always on him. He might be comfortable enough to admit that he’s not the stereotypical man’s man, but he’ll always be a cis man. Trans people aren’t afforded that privilege to be comfortable in their skin and be accepted.
Where’s jay when u need him??
On balance, I’d say Jay Leno’s comedy career is far more troubling than O’ Brien’s Leno pretty much makes a living saying stupid/offensive/inane/”edgy” things about stereotypical members of less-privileged groups. But that’s just the problem with this example. While I usually support Conan as a fairly funny, clever comic, this was a shockingly appalling sketch, and Conan doesn’t deserve a free pass. I’ve noticed a similar issue with Jon Stewart– brilliant, but not above making a cheap joke at the expense of trans people. The bottom line is that even in “hip”, “progressive” circles, there’s this view that demanding people to be respectful of trans people is too much to ask.
[...] Conan O’Brien attacks transsexuals [...]
“Much of the hatred that is openly projected at the trans community, is aimed specifically at trans women. Socially we can understand why a woman would want to be a man because of male privilege”
See, I get that men like me aren’t made the butts of jokes because we aren’t affected by trans misogyny. But I would really like it if transphobia and cissexism that does affect trans men not be minimized. I know the last line you wrote that I quoted was just a little throwaway line, but I’m sorry–it’s wrong.
The butts of horrible, transmisogynist jokes, that is.
jay – I’m not a trans guy, but I was thinking the exact same thing when I read that line. It seems dismissive.
The way comedy, especially lefty jokesmiths like Jon Stewart, are so openly transphobic, throwing “tranny” around pell-mell….well, it makes me super pissed.
Requesting one’s genitals to be photographed for a TEMPORARY AGENCY job and the murder of Lateshia Green are far more angering and horrifying than a ridiculous sketch on a late-night tv show. How many “trannies” do you know with moustaches anyway?
Uhm, Annie, are you suggesting that we aren’t also horrified and angered by those things as well? ‘Cause if I remember the posts on those topics, a lot of people were. Is being angry about how pervasive and thoughtless anti-trans attitudes are (which helps perpetuates the environment in which people feel justified and unconflicted about treating trans people like garbage) somehow taking away from the anger we feel over Lateisha Green’s death (her killer has just been sentenced, for anyone following the case) or Kate Lynn Blatt’s unjust firing?
This article is rediculous. It’s funny how google only picked up 2 articles on this topic, and they were both from this website. Quit making a big deal out of this. It’s comedy. Everyone rips on everyone. Lighten up, laugh and take it like a man… or woman… or both. I don’t know, I’m confused now.
ridiculous.
annie — jokes like this function as a cultural meme to reinforce transmisogyny.
Oh my god….really this upsets you…a joke……this is at best searching for victims…how about the scaring of women in Africa, what about mothers who need help feeding their children…no its a fake mustache that bothers u…really…a great voice…you should then stay quiet.
Chris (or “chris,” if that’s what you prefer), how about YOU stay quiet? I mean, you make it like you care about women in Africa being scared of — well, you don’t quite say — yet you’re wasting your time on this website telling everyone how much of a waste of time and feeling this post is. Those scared women and hungry children don’t have the Internet, and you do, and you use it to waste time. Shouldn’t you be helping them? Or is the only thing you do is troll around the Internet looking for blog posts that you think aren’t as important as others? Maybe you should just hang out at the TMZ website, instead of trying to shame people who actually care about more stuff than you do.
For the record, the first two Chris’ are me. The third “chris” is not me. :) Although I like the way “chris” thinks.
Well, thanks for the clarification, but neither one of you is leaving comments worthy of the discussion. The point has already been made about why “jokes” like these aren’t innocuous.
Or, if you prefer: Lighten up — it’s just a blog post!
The joke is about tabloid headlines. And to a certain extent how square conan is; the contrast is supposed to be funny too. I don’t know how it says anything about transwomen outside of the fact that tabloids would indeed exploit the crap out of that happening. It highlights transphobia of people who buy tabloids but I do not think it perpetuates it. Most of the offensive stuff I see about trans people puts he/she in quotes or refers to them as ‘it’ or implies that they are totally disgusting somehow.
Kathy griffin did stuff with a similar aim (trying to be outrageous to attract tabloid attention) by falling out of cars and being like “im sorry i am just very drunk” and she totally got in that way. I think it is more of a judgement on tabloid sleeziness and exploitation than alcoholism.
As for the fake facial hair- I am pretty sure its supposed to be silly. Even people with the smallest exposure to drag queens or trans people knows that they aren’t going to strut around that way. Conan has always had extremely low budget props too, i mean shit, look at the tranny signs.
Humor is all too often used as a tool in which methods of objectification are indoctrinated. By using humor as a method of dehumanization we simultaneously normalize and validate ourselves while objectifying and obscuring ‘the other’.
This skit that Conan O’brien has created, is just one of the many countless examples of how we, as trans women are stripped of our own humanities and turned into objects. In this case, we are turned into a prop for Conan’s comedy, much like a cartoon. We are made into a spectacle, a freak show, something sub or less than human for others to gawk and laugh at.
Whether or not Conan O’brien was attempting to create a “satire” about tabloid articles is beside the point. The actuality of what he has done, is spent time and money, to create an outwardly dehumanizing joke at the expense of transgendered women on a nationally broadcasted television program. Needless to say, I think that Conan O’brien owes us an apology. He needs to realize that jokes like these have very real consequences/ repercussions on our lives as transgendered people.
After all jokes like these do turn us into objects. And if an object is considered to have no consciousness, voice, humanity or soul, than what is to stop other dehumanizing acts from being done to and against us?
Good article, thanks for posting :)
A true “discussion” bring two parties to debate over a given topic. All the posts thus far were heavily one sided. I just figured it was time to bring the other side to the table. Jokes all around! :)
How is this transmisogynist crap getting past moderation?
Hey Chris.
Go fuck yourself with a rusty spoon. Take it like the rusty spoon fucking fuckhead you are.
#whyaretranswomensoangry #itsjustajoke #getasenseofhumour #tiresomethingscispeoplesay