Keeping up with Caitlyn
While it’s heartening that the world at large has embraced Caitlyn Jenner, the focus should not be her looks alone.
IT has been two weeks since Caitlyn Jenner “broke the Internet” with her Vanity Fair cover, and yet interest in her has not waned. ( Somewhere out there, Kim Kardashian- West is screaming: “Nooo ... the attention should be on ME!”)
Next month, the track and field Olympic champion formerly known as Bruce Jenner, will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPY Awards.
The American TV personality was given the award because “she has shown the courage to embrace a truth that had been hidden for years, and to embark on a journey that may not only give comfort to those facing similar circumstances, but can also help to educate people on the challenges that the transgender community faces”.
Jenner’s announcement comes at an unprecedented time for trans visibility.
Her 20/ 20 interview with Diane Sawyer in April garnered 20.7 million viewers, making it US TV’s “highest- ever rated newsmagazine telecast among adults 18– 49, and adults 25– 54.”
In the Sawyer interview, Jenner famously declared that for all intents and purposes “I am a woman.” Jenner said that she crossdressed for many years and did hormone replacement therapy. Jenner also admitted that not knowing the best way to talk about these issues contributed to the deterioration of her marriage to Kris, the matriarch of Keeping Up With The Kardashians reality series.
Where Vanity Fair is concerned, Jenner is the first openly transgender woman featured on its cover. The shot by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz included the caption “Call me Caitlyn”. It accompanied her new Twitter handle (@ Caitlyn_ Jenner) and the message: “I’m so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world Caitlyn. Can’t wait for you to get to know her/ me.”
In just four hours, she amassed over one million Twitter followers. It was a new Guinness World Record, surpassing US president Barack Obama, who a month before accomplished the same feat in four and a half hours.
“Another Jenner world record, and at 65? Who’da thought! Humbled & honored to have reached 1M followers in 4 hrs,” tweeted Jenner. “Thank you for your support.” Four days later, Jenner was up to 2.37 million followers, with another 1.5 million followers on Instagram.
The Washington Post commented that Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover had special significance for its subject: “After all the magazine covers that featured the former athlete, once lauded as the ‘ world’s greatest athlete’, the Leibovitz photograph will be the most meaningful. Looking directly at the camera, Jenner is finally herself for the first time publicly.”
Jenner’s ongoing transition is the subject of I Am Cait, an upcoming eight- part, docu- series on E!.
Like most people, I admire Jenner’s bravery in baring her soul to the world, but I can’t help but wonder, would the world have embraced Caitlyn Jenner so readily if she was not as telegenic?
Jenner herself acknowledged that, “You start learning kind of the pressure women are under all the time about their appearance.” And check out the latest US Weekly headline: Caitlyn Jenner Steps Out In Casual Chic Outfit For Speaking Engagement.
In this regard, I agree with talk show host Jon Stewart and his assessment that the media’s coverage of Jenner focuses mainly on her looks.
Said Stewart, “It’s really heartening to see not only is everyone willing to accept Caitlyn Jenner as a woman, but to waste no time in treating her like a woman.”
“You see, Caitlyn,” he added, “when you were a man, we could talk about your athleticism, your business acumen, but now you’re a woman – and your looks are the only thing we care about.”
In a moving essay on Tumblr, US actress Laverne Cox praised Jenner for being so open. The star of Orange Is The New Black – whom Jenner has publicly acknowledged as one of her inspirations – graced Time magazine’s cover feature The Transgender Tipping Point last year. Cox – who was the first transgender actress to be nominated for an Emmy last year – also pleaded with the media to stop focusing on Jenner’s good looks.
“The reality of trans people’s lives is that so often we are targets of violence,” said the outspoken Cox in an interview. “We experience discrimination disproportionately to the rest of the community. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average.”
In Malaysia and elsewhere, I have heard of cross- dressers and trans people who get disowned by family or have difficulty securing jobs due to discrimination. If they are lucky, they are employed as make- up artists or entertainers; some less fortunate ones resort to prostitution to survive.
While I am as guilty as the next person in admiring Jenner’s beauty, I also think it’s important not to over- glamorise this topic.
Not every person – man, woman or trans – will have access to Jenner’s wealth or connections.
And not every person will be able to transition so elegantly, with a Vanity Fair cover and Annie Leibovitz waiting in the wings. William is now one of Jenner’s 2.5 million followers on Twitter. Send feedback to star2@thestar.com.my.