Amongst all the letters of the LGBT acronym, the T is undoubtedly the most misrepresented in the media and popular opinion. We tend to pay little attention to the reality that is being transgender, and even when we do, we end up almost always talking about it in relation to unpleasant incidents or current events. That is why I am especially pleased to tell you about a project that you should definitely know of, particularly if you like TV series and if you hold the same issues we care about close to your heart.
Her Story is a US web series that not only looks into the transgender community, but is also written, produced and interpreted by trans women. Authors and producers are Jen Richards and Laura Zak, while the director is Sydney Freeland, already known for having directed Drunktown’s finest. It premiered on January 19th 2016 on Youtube and its realisation was made possible thanks to a Indiegogo campaign that raised funds for its completion in post production. There are in fact no television broadcasters behind it, it is an independent project.
The protagonist of the story is Violet, a transsexual woman who recently moved from New York to Los Angeles to begin a new chapter in her life. The events begin to unravel when one day she is approached by Allie, a young gay activist who writes for an LGBT magazine – “Gay LA” – in which she wants to publish an article on the ordinary unconventional life of transgender people. What Allie intends to do is to paint a true picture of what the people of this community face in everyday life, how they live interpersonal relationships, how their sentimental and private life is, in short, to talk about the individuals who lead a normal life, not about the ones who are politically and socially engaged. Since the crossing of these two women’s paths, their relationship develops and begins to grow intertwining with Paige’s story, a friend and confidant of Violet and a successful lawyer. Paige is also a transgender woman, and we see her working to defend another trans woman in a lawsuit filed by the latter against a halfway house for female victims of violence that denied her assistance in time of need.
Her story consists of six episodes of about nine minutes each, for a total of a little less than one hour of video. Although overall the story is quite short and the narrative concise, the series is able to touch upon a number of issues that have a key role when it comes to talking about transgender reality and offers many insights that we will try to outline for you.
Warning: from now on there will be a lot of detailed talk regarding the plot, so to avoid the risk spoilers, we suggest that you rush to watch this little audiovisual gem before continuing to read further.
Prejudice of the common mindset against transgender people
One of the most sensitive issues relating to transgender reality is the relationship with one’s physical appearance. In some cases this suggests the fact that these people have gone through a gender transition, while in others it is much less clear. We see the contrast between two of the central characters in the story: “Violet looks trans” vs “Paige does not look trans.” It’s Allie herself that highlights this element when she approaches Violet asking her bluntly if she’s transsexual but is then astonished by the revelation that Paige is too.
Allie in the story embodies the average woman, the common mentality: despite being a lesbian activist she admits to knowing almost nothing about transgender people and on several occasions is left in a difficult position, not knowing how to talk to Violet. Precisely for this reason she finds herself constantly asking if her way of speaking is offensive, especially after directly asking about her transition journey. Violet declares not having felt debased by the fact that Allie had deduced that she was trans simply by observing her, but adds, “I wish it was not so obvious.” In the brevity of this answer lies all the weight of a past life dealing with her appearance, of many years lived facing the prejudice of those who for real ignorance do not know how things work but also of those who knowingly, discriminate.
The search for one’s identity
A concept that is rarely explained is the fact that transitioning is not the culmination of the search for one’s identity, but rather almost a starting point. “Transitioning,” means abandoning a reality that one knows and embracing a new identity that yet remains to be defined and to be discovered. For Violet the realization of her femininity continues every day and involves questioning every aspect of her life, starting from her sexual orientation. The path isn’t the same for everyone, each person is different and deals with the change in his or her own way, so we see the contrast between Paige’s strong and decisive personality and the more introverted and reflective of the protagonist.
Violet affirms that in the past she was primarily attracted to women, but that this orientation seems to have altered with her transition. As she says, it is not common for such a thing to occur; however it isn’t set in stone that it cannot happen. It ‘s Violet that confesses that dating men makes her feel more womanly, because of the clear anatomical difference between her body and theirs, while the weight of “comparison” to cisgender women almost puts her in awe. Moreover, it’s as if there’s some sort of underlying fear that by feeling attracted to other people of the female sex, it can make her less womanly. Violet fights everyday for her femininity, to be recognized as a woman in the eyes of others, but also and above all in her own.
The acceptance of one’s homosexuality
The whole series revolves around the relationship between transgender women and cisgender women. The environment in which the story takes place is almost exclusively all female; there are very few male characters. Violet distances herself from this reality with the start of her transition journey, but after meeting Allie her desire to get closer to other women returns, in search for female complicity, affection, support, friendship and, why not also, love. The crossing of these two worlds is not as simple and as obvious as one might think, and the strength of Her story is in it’s ability to point out just how high the wall is that sits between you. One of the very first scenes of the first episode shows Violet looking for ads of matches on Craigslist. When she types “m4t” (man looking for a transvestite) there are a lot of hits, most of them derogatory and humiliating, while when she types “w4t” (woman looking for a transvestite) the search engine does not find any hits.
Prejudice within the LGBT community
If unfortunately we expect the common mentality to have prejudices against transsexuals, Her story further highlights an issue that we might have never even considered before. Within the LGBT community the same dynamics of segregation are present or at least some form of strong prejudice persists against the elusive letter T. We see this in the scenes where Allie talks to her (lesbian) friends of her recent encounter with Violet. In this discussion, the girls question each other on whether it is possible or acceptable for a lesbian woman to be attracted to a transsexual woman, if this is not anti-lesbian behaviour. One of Allie’s friends, Lisa, is particularly hostile towards the transgender community and fails to recognize Violet as a woman in all respects.
At the same time when Allie explains to her friend that “Gay LA“, the magazine for which she writes, is a LGBTQ magazine, Violet looks puzzled and suspicious. In fact, her first reaction is to refuse to answer a few questions to help her write the article. Violet’s doubts are rightly founded, as the name “Gay LA” suggests; it is merely representative of one part of LGBTQIA community.
This brings up an obvious question: is the LGBT community not welcoming of transgender people and does it instead only deal with gay rights? Is the fact of not feeling like a part of the LGBT reality related solely to Violet and her difficulty in accepting herself as being gay (or at least bisexual), or is it a common feeling amongst other transgender men and women?
Prejudice within the feminist movement
“Are trans women real women?” “Can we accept them?” “Do we have to also fight for their rights?” are some of the questions that frequently come up within the feminist movement. The more hostile position, as we’ve already mentioned, is the one held by Lisa, who reiterates her ideas claiming to disagree with the fact that trans women should be allowed in halfway houses for female victims of violence. Her motivation is that those who turn to these facilities do so to escape violent men, and therefore would not be safe places for them if people who are biologically male were to be welcomed and lived with them. Lisa argues that special facilities should be in place for trans people who are victims of violence, explaining a thought that is clearly linked to what we have previously called logic of segregation. This is exactly the mentality that survives within many movements that supposedly fight for the rights of all human beings, for equality of people, but unfortunately sometimes they are the first to declare, “You’re all right,” and “You’re not all right“.
It must be said that this is not a position shared by all who call themselves feminists, probably not even the majority of them, but it is a thought that exists.
Prostitution
One of the images that is most commonly associated with transgender people is that of prostitution. In Her Story it is talked about in the form of a past that resurfaces and continues to influence the present. But the difference with the stories we hear on the news or read about in newspapers is that here it is dealt with in a constructive way: why Violet was a prostitute? Because she was alone, in a time of trouble, with no money and no hope in a world that seemed only to reject her. “I did not feel attractive, but earning money that way was proof that I was worth something, that someone liked me,” she confesses to Allie at one point. Tackling such a delicate issue from this point of view is the only way to really understand what lies behind this phenomenon; stopping to observe it from the outside only leads to making judgments and to pointing fingers.
Related to this issue is also the question of violence against women and abusive relationships, that we also see represented in their drama: Violet cannot hope to approach the police for help when she is beaten because she would only receive more insults and ridicule even from those who theoretically should be protecting her, as it already happened in the past. Here then again we realize just how alone these people are and without any support both on a public and private level. Precisely for this reason they often find themselves involved in destructive relationships, which they cannot get out of.
The difficulty in “coming out”
Violet, as we said, does not feel the need to explain her story to the people she meets as her appearance suggests her trans-sexuality. Looking at Paige, however, no one notices that she is transgender. This is probably what Violet also desires in her heart, however, it leads to a big relational problem for Paige: when to reveal herself to those unfamiliar with the story.
During the series we see Paige start a romantic relationship with a man to which she is deeply attracted to, and is reciprocated. But if she revealed the truth about her past, would he still be interested or would he run? And even if he didn’t run, would this great little detail obscure any other aspect of her thus preventing him from knowing her for who she truly is? These doubts creep into her head, but live with the guilt for not having the courage to reveal this side of herself: not saying anything is a lack of honesty towards a person with whom you would instead want to share everything with.
All of these issues are touched upon in Her story with a delicacy that is unequalled. These are not simple or light topics, but this series has the ability to raise such issues with a disarming freshness, without ever being heavy, boring and above all without sounding like a professor. It goes straight to the point without beating around the bush and without too many allusions, effectively and above all in an engaging fashion, because it’s end goal is undoubtedly to entertain. Let’s not forget that although it is rich in content, Her story is primarily a web series, a fictional narrative, not a documentary on the lives of transgender people. Precisely for this reason it is able to communicate with the viewer on an emotional level, involving them in the narrative. At the centre of it all is the story of these people, the focus is on the characters and their stories. It’s easy for the viewer to identify oneself with one of the points of view presented, especially with Allie, who like many, at the beginning is unfamiliar with the transgender world and does not even know what the correct way to approach these people is. The viewer learns with her: just like Allie slowly discovers how things work, the viewer gradually develops familiarity with the matter.
The end result is therefore almost an hour of fast flowing video that is absolutely pleasant: almost without realising that we find ourselves at the end of the six episodes blurting out to the computer “What, it’s already over?! I want to know what happens next!“
Last but not least, another reason why Her story is a product worthy of note is the fact that the actors, producers and writers are people belonging to the LGBTQ community not only on screen but in real life. So we find transgender actresses playing transgender characters and lesbian actresses playing gay characters. It’s important that the writers of this story are people who live every day facing problems related to being trans in a world where just the word is a huge taboo. The fact that they have had a chance, or rather they’ve created the possibility, to take the floor and tell a story from their point of view, starting from their own experiences and feelings, is a fact that is so important because it’s still rare. What is the best way to know a reality if not to leave it to its protagonists to talk? And above all, what better way than this to hear real stories and free of prejudice?
In the media we are always supplied with partial representations, misleading, negative, dictated by preconception and lack of knowledge of the phenomenon. It almost never starts with the assumption that transgender people are first and foremost people. People with feelings, dreams, fears, hopes and aspirations just like everyone else, and that the stories of their daily lives can be told in a light and entertainment format.
How Allie says in one of the six episodes:
<< Our world is less rich without their stories, their laughter, their voices >>
In conclusion, if you have an hour of your life to spare and you have no problems with English, go immediately and watch Her story, you will not regret it!
If however you have trouble with videos in their original language stay tuned to our channels. We could be working on something for you. Something very special.
