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Caryn Riswold

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Gender Theory & Religion, Brought to You by E!

Gender Theory & Religion, Brought to You by E!

Last updated on: April 4, 2016 at 11:45 am by Caryn Riswold

Gender Theory & Religion, Brought to You by E! 2016-04-04T11:45:32-06:00 Caryn Riswold

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How many viewers of reality shows on the E! Channel have studied gender theory? Thought about the religious roots of homo- and trans-phobia? Taken white male privilege seriously as a factor in shaping political alignment and the worldview of a trans* woman? Given serious consideration to how drag can be a deeply insulting to one trans* woman while being a source empowerment to another?

I’m generalizing of course when I suspect that the answer is not many.

Yet this season of I Am Cait, the reality show following Caitlyn Jenner as she navigates life after coming out as a woman last year, provides all of this and more.

Sure, the show is ridiculous in all the ways that reality TV is ridiculous, especially anything in the Kardashian orbit. And yet …

Jenny Boylan points out more than once that Caitlyn is a public and problematic figure. In one episode, we see a protester shouting her down on the street. “You don’t represent me!” As an exceedingly wealthy, successful, famous white person, Caitlyn learned last season that she knows very little about the lives of trans* people, especially trans* kids and women of color who are some of the most at risk today. Such extended wrestling with white class privilege doesn’t happen on TV much, let alone on E!

Kate Bornstein, author of the now-classic text Gender Outlaw, and Jenny Boylan have an extended conversation about the word “tranny.” For Kate, it’s a word that captures identity in a way that “woman” just doesn’t quite encompass, and thus becomes empowering. For Jenny, it’s a word that evokes memories of hate and harassment and violence.

It’s just one case of how conversations on the show are complicating public conceptions of “the trans* community.” Like any community, there are differences of opinion and experience.

Similarly, Chandi Moore and Jenny Boylan have a difficult discussion about drag. For Chandi, drag was one important step toward finding herself, a celebration of her womanhood. For Jenny, it mocks women and trans* folk by making gender only about spectacle and performance. It’s not just dress-up, she insists. It’s real.

And then there is religion as empowering and oppressive. The end of season one featured Baptist minister Allyson Dylan Robinson presiding at a naming ceremony for Caitlyn (=empowerment). It also included conversation about how religion has been a source of pain and anguish for many gay, lesbian, and trans* people (=oppression). In that vein, this season, Kate Bornstein shared the story of how she hasn’t seen her daughter since she was 9 because of what their family’s religion, Scientology, teaches about transgender people. The pain is real.

At the same time, while on a panel during the group’s visit to Graceland University, Jenner’s alma mater that is affiliated with the Community of Christ denomination, Chandi responded to an audience member’s question about reconciling faith with her gender identity by saying “God knew who I was before I did.” In a later episode, Chandi’s mother points out that she eventually reconciled her faith with her child’s transition by understanding that God made her the way she was.

Now, some of these insights may be basic to those of us who think at the intersection of gender justice and religion daily. But they are nothing short of revolutionary for a mass audience that they are gaining via this reality show on E!

If I Am Cait begins to normalize serious consideration of white class privilege and give examples of how religion doesn’t have to be the enemy of gay, lesbian, and trans* people, then maybe all the Kardashian mess from which the show emerged was worth it.

Image via wikimedia commons.

Christianity

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Allyson Dylan Robinson

Jennifer Finney Boylan

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