'TrAnnie' raises ire of trans people
Cabaret performer Trevor Ashley and the Sydney Opera House have apologised but say their new show trAnnie will still go on despite some members of the transgender community voicing concerns the panto perpetuates negative stereotypes.
A parody of the recent smash musical production Annie, the show written by Phil Scott and Ashley is to have its premiere season at the Opera House from December 5-23.
It follows the “hard knock life” of ten year old orphan Fannie who is desperate to have “long-overdue” gender reassignment surgery but must first escape the Sutherland Shire Children’s Orphanage and the clutches of boozy matron and registered sex offender Miss Trannigan.
Members of the trans community though are said to be not amused with either the show’s title or its plot, with many late last week taking to social media sites to air their upset with the show’s producers.
Indi Kelly Edwards, a spokesperson for activist group Trans Menace Australia, told SX she was just one of many people who found the panto to be demeaning towards the trans community.
“One quick read of the synopsis left me guttered,” she said.
“Trevor and Phil need to dig deep and understand they are in their own way promoting the continuum of trans hate and violence by turning our lives into a comedy pantomime. It’s 2012, it’s time that the rest of the alphabet soup took our concerns seriously and stop treating us in such a tokenistic way.
“There’s no getting around it. This show is transphobic in every sense and we are surprised the Opera House has let this slip under the radar.”
Sally Goldner, spokesperson for Transgender Victoria, said such concerns were valid as the term ‘trannie’ was largely deemed offensive by people experiencing transgender issues.
“For a cisgender person (people whose gender identity matches their body and the gender they were assigned at birth) to use it without consultation is as offensive to trans people as the use of faggot by a heterosexual is to gay men,” Goldner told SX.
“There is also the concern that the production brings in a character who is a sex offender for no apparent reason and concerns have to be raised about how this could be seen as humourous in any context, trans or otherwise.”
The growing controversy has led to the Opera House and Ashley releasing a joint statement in apology.
“The title trAnnie is a play on words. It is a play on the musical Annie and combines the letters of Trevor's name into the title. It is also a play on the fact that the central character is transsexual,” the statement read.
“The show, while being a comedy, shows the transgender character in a positive light and hopes to encourage more understanding of the transgender community.”
Ashley, who missed out on a Helpmann Award last night, said there was a power in reclaiming once offensive words.
“Although I appreciate that the word may brush some transgendered people up the wrong way, the intent is not to harm, but take the sting out of what I’m sure could be a painful word for some,” Ashley told SX.
“Being a part of the GLBTQI community for many years, we are people who can reclaim words that have been used in harmful ways towards us in the past.”
Goldner told SX the incident highlighted the very real issue of others speaking on behalf of trans people without their input.
“[It’s] behaviour which is happening to some extent in a range of areas including activism and legal reform,” she said.
Goldner added that she and others had been consulted frequently over the past few years by performers wanting to cover trans issues. This included, within the last two months, an approach by two Brisbane-based performers about a possible future production involving transgender themes.
“An approach involving consultation can therefore easily balance the right to artistic expression while avoiding offensive material. Trans people know trans’ lives best, are therefore in the best position to speak for trans people and advise accordingly,” Goldner said.
Edwards told SX it was up to everyone, including fellow members of the LGBTI community, to prevent potential incidents of discrimination or prejudice.
“NSW has had a transgender Anti Discrimination/Vilification Act in place since 1996 and we would ask that all parties involved observe our rights,” she said.
- Tags: Discrimination, Indi Kelly Edwards, Phil Scott, Prejudice, Sally Goldner, SX, trAnnie, Trans Menace Australia, Transgender, TransGender Victoria, Trevor Ashley
Comments (22)
I have started an online petition to have this show cancelled. Please review the petition and if you agree with it, sign it and share it with your friends.
http://www.change.org/petitions/cancel-the-play-trannie-cancel-the-sydney-opera-house-showing-from-6-22-dec-2012
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I think that all cisgender persons need to do a web search for "cis privilege checklist" to see how so much of their daily lives can be taking for granted in comparison to trans persons. I wish this would become compulsory reading in schools.
Meanwhile, every single cis person getting defensive about being called out by DSG (diverse sex/gender) persons on this issue could stand to read the following guidelines about dealing with being called out, courtesy of cctcd on tumblr:
1. Don’t tone police. It is NOT your right to dictate how someone should react to their oppression.
2. Don’t demand a detailed explanation. You’re basically asking the person to justify their call out. It’s exhausting, many resources are available, and often this is just a way to try and derail, start an argument, or discredit the other person.
3. Don’t get defensive. A call out is not all about you as a person.
4. Don’t take it personally. Calling out is not a personal attack. If someone calls you out, they’re trying to teach you something. Calling out is a way for people to educate others on how systems of oppression operate on a day to day, individual level.
5. Don’t attack the person who’s calling you out. That’s just fucked up.
6. Don’t assume the person calling you out is just “looking to get offended”. Nobody enjoys calling other people out. To call someone out, people often have to mentally prepare for serious repercussions. Calling someone out might mean starting an argument, during which many people will side with the oppressor by default (especially if you’re privileged over the person calling you out).
7. Understand that being oppressive is not the same as being offensive orhurting feelings. The damage you’re perpetuating is part of a larger system of oppression.
8. Realize that your intent is irrelevant when it comes to whether you were oppressive or not.
9. Recognize the power dynamics that are in place between you and the person calling you out.
10. Understand intersectionality. IE: Just because you are oppressed by classism, doesn’t mean you lack male privilege.
11. Know that being privileged means being oppressive, but you can work to reduce the ways that you are oppressive.
12. LISTEN.
13. Genuinely apologize.
14. Work on oppression reduction and being the best ally you can be. The point of calling you out is to draw your attention to how you’re being oppressive, so that you can work to change it. If you made an oppressive joke, there’s probably oppressive thoughts in place (conscious or not) that led you to think the joke was appropriate. Everyone has to unlearn the oppressive things they’ve absorbed from an oppressive society. We are all taught ways to keep marginalized people in their place, but the good thing is that we can identify these things in ourselves and change. And then we can start working on dismantling the kyriarchy, yeah!
lumping sexuality with gender in my my view is still problematic and confuses the ignorant masses, needless to say being a gender based community we still have to contend with our diverse range of sexualities as well. You would think that this would foster more empathy from the cis queer community however in my experience its not the case at all. As you can see once again the T is thrown under the bus and our concerns rejected by cis gendered people (queer or not) who continue to treat us like an accessory or funding cash cow.
I agree with Sally at the top. It is an offensive mockery of the trans* community and naive for the creators to think they can brush off the real harm stuff like this does. These chaps should have a good look at the statistics of violence against the trans community - particularly trans women, and also the statistics of self harm of transpeople who face discrimination in every corner. I don't think they would come to a natural conclusion that this kind of narrative is needed for a laugh. Look I love a gag and even at my expense from time to time. But if the footy show made a 'panto' about gay men coming out I am sure the gay male community would have a variety of opinions, but I can imagine they would range between a dismissive acknowledgment that it was a pathetic attempt at 'comedy' to possibly the ridicule being a final straw for say a young rural kid contemplating self harm. The fact that it comes from the gay community kinda makes it more ignorant and worse.
Ashley says "the intent is not to harm."
EVERY anti-discrimination and anti-vilification law in this country is based on the idea that "motive is irrelevant." The laws of 4 of 8 States and Territories expressly include these words. Without this principle every law would become effectively void.
The use of intent or motive as an excuse is therefore a total cop-out and it is time in every form of discrimination we jumped on this and stamped it out.
For more see http://www.starobserver.com.au/opinion/2012/02/29/but-i-didnt-mean-it/72834 (my apologies to Evolution for posting a link to your rival :) )
Terrific article, thank you Sally. Good intent does not eschew responsibility!
As the President of a non profit trans group I am outraged at another case of the drag crowd ( gay men ) thinking it's funny to make a joke about my life. Tranny a light hearted word? It is the N word of the T community and need's to be expunged from the lexicon of terminology. What if the transexuals started calling drag reviews " faggot fest " , what's the big deal? They call themselves faggot all the time so why can't we? See, it doesn't matter whether or not YOU think it's offensive, it's about the offended parties reasons. Personally, I think that the reason that gay men dislike transexuals is that when they come out as gay their masculinity is callenged and they are hit with " You like men, guess that means you must want to be a woman..." They've been fighting off accusations of being transexuals and they blame us for it. Truely, I find the lack of understanding in the LGB community to be prevalent. Solution? Stop making fun of other people's lives and struggles. And including a sexual predator in any way, especially in a light hearted way to be criminal. Carol Dauley.
How can someone who is not part of a community claim to reclaim the hurtfull words of that community. Will we next see lesbians reclaim the word "poofter" and heterosexuals reclaim the word "dyke"?
Trevor Ashley and the Opera House are clutching at straws to justify a show that is hatefully to transsexuals.
I don't see what all the fuss is about.
Panto's TRADITIONAL. Like Traditional Marriage, Or Blackface Comedy. Or Poofter-Bashing. Tradition. Harmless fun.
It's not too late to make it "Little Orphan Abo", with the star in blackface, poking harmless fun at the "Stolen Generation". A Laff Riot!
No-one could possibly take offence at that - except for humourless, politically-correct blacks. Certainly not White people.
Apologies to the hard-of-thinking for omitting the SARCASM tags.
Great that they're taking the piss out of the Sutherland Shire though ... As a Trans woman who grew up in the Shire and has been telling people how insular those in the Shire really are for years, it's good to see that that's been recognised.
All that needs to be said is its offensive, no other words are needed. As someone that has fought tirelessly to end discrimination it saddens me when our own community does this. Our brothers and sisters DRAG is not trans and Gay men dont get a pass here. Insert religion or race into performance and see how far you get. WE ARE NOT YOURS OR ANYONES ENTERTAINMENT.
Last time I checked, most gay's and people in the wider community associate the word "Trannie" with transvetites, not transexuals. Trevor has been a trannie/drag performer for donkeys years with critical acclaim both inside and outside the community, and he has helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars through his charity work. Trevor is clearly a comedy drag peformer/transvetite and is known as such. To take offence at this seems pretty petty and trivial to me. Why don't you watch it before you judge it?
Once again I find narrow minded people...
It is this blatant lack of understanding the general populace has and sadly most of the LGBT community. You demand your rights to marry we are hoping to all hell we can just go down the street without hearing "freak", "trannie" or any other names at all....
you wouldn't like it if you were called a faggot or any other derogatory comments that you hate...
and would you call what those words mean to you as pretty petty or trivial....
I think not.. so you want equal rights.. we want equal standards...
to make a Joke out of TrAnnie.. you wouldn't like it if it was called Faggot... and made fun of you...
You can HIDE in the Community.. as your body matches your soul...
we can't.. end of story..
so a bit of respect goes a long long way
~Katz
so this is a play about Trevor? Funny: thought the plot synopsis made it clear it was about a young trans woman looking to pay for srs...which sounds a lot like applying the trannie word to a trans woman?
Therefore, two issues. First, over here in the UK, the word "tranny"is regularly associated with trans folk...usually in phrases like: "oh, look, its a fucking tranny" or "let's give the tranny a good kicking". Maybe that is not the case in Australia?
Second, if this really is about the use of the t-word as applied to the drag/tv world, surely the plot should be about the trials and tribulations of the eponymous star as she struggles to be allowed to wear a dress...
Thank you (a gay man) for telling me (a transwoman) how I should feel. If it wasn't for members of the gaytriarchy such as yourself how would transpeople ever know that gay men are allowed to be so hateful toward other members of the acronym.
sorry that dont fly, we are not interested in seeing it. A quick read of the "plot" is enough to turn my stomach. get a clue.
Taking power reclaiming once offensive words.... I still don't think the gay community cherish being called FAGGOTS, gay is a recognised term such is transgendered not Trannie in the transgendered community.. Since when did you connect with the TG community to get some feedback to gauge the communities feel for your current production.. Just as its assumed that people are taking power from previously offensive terms
we are all very tired of these tedious double standard.
Callit for what it is: TRANSPHOBIC RUBBISH!!!
Lets see what th ADB has to say, there are several ways we can fight this. The show wont go on. IKE