Chaz Bono: What the Media is Missing in its Coverage
June 25, 2009
by Somjen Frazer, Progressive Women's Voices participant:
The media coverage of Chaz Bono’s transition has, like most other coverage of transgender people, been largely negative and sensationalist. While some news outlets have respectfully referred to him by his preferred name and gender, others have implied that his medical transition and use of male pronouns are somehow unreasonable or freakish. The New York Daily News, for example, uses female pronouns through their coverage and pointed out the use of male pronouns in Chaz’s spokesman’s statement about his transition. Like many other news outlets covering transgender issues, they also focus on whether or not Chaz has or will have surgery. ABC news published older photos of Chaz, in which he looks more feminine, rather than choosing to respect his privacy and his self-identification as male. As Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, points out in an interview with CNN, “"The whole media fixation on surgery is kind of misplaced," and does not represent the experiences of many transgender people.
Further, the mainstream media has failed to make a connection from this individual story to the many people who are transitioning without access to the resources that Chaz enjoys. People who transition genders experience family rejection and social stigma that makes education and employment very difficult for many of them. Research consistently shows that transgender people are more likely to be in poverty, experience homelessness and be unemployed than non-transgender people. Far from having the money to hire a publicist to remind people what pronoun to use, many are focused on survival. In my work as a senior policy analyst at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, I see examples of this discrimination every day. We’re currently analyzing the data from a national discrimination survey, conducted with the National Center for Transgender Equality, of 6,500 transgender and gender non-conforming people and the results are staggering.
In addition to financial resources, Chaz has parental support. Caitlin Ryan’s work at the Family Acceptance project illustrates the importance of family acceptance of transgender and gender non-conforming youth and the prevalence and negative effects of family rejection. Her work shows that youth who experience rejection from their families are more likely to have mental health problems later in life, while those who experience acceptance have much better outcomes.
Instead of focusing on one person’s experience, the media should be attentive to the larger needs of transgender people. For example, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which was just introduced at the federal level, will protect transgender people from employment discrimination if it passes. While it will not solve all of the financial, legal and social problems that people who transition face, ENDA sends an important message about the rights of people who transition and helps to preserve their access to employment and thus, financial resources.
No one can legislate family acceptance, but encouraging states to pass anti-bullying bills that protect transgender and gender non-conforming youth will go a long way towards ensuring the safety of young people. North Carolina, my home state, just passed its first piece of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-inclusive legislation, an anti-bullying bill including protections based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. Let’s hope that rather than creating more sensationalist coverage, media will start to refocus on legislation that is crucial to ensuring equity—and in some cases, survival—for all transgender people.
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