Transphobia is so deeply imbedded into our society that most people don’t even recognize it. Even in pop-culture, you are taught to hate, fear, or be disgusted by transgender people without even realizing it.

How many of you watched Ave Ventura: Pet Detective as a kid? I know I did. I thought it was hilarious. Well, as it turns out, this is probably the most transphobic example that there is. The entire movie leads up to a climactic finish in which Ace humiliates a transsexual woman in public, to which the entire police department ‘spits out the gross man saliva’ as they all found her attractive and possibly made-out with her before. They thought she was attractive before, but now knowing that she is transsexual, they feel guilt, shame, and disgust for our entertainment.



There is another scene in the movie, earlier on, where Ace figures out that she is trans, and he goes through the same motions of disgust and ‘cleansing himself,’ all set to the music of “The Crying Game.” It starts at about 2:40 in the video.



Hey look! The Hangover: Part II! It looked great, right? Like the first one, but like, it happens again? Hilarious. Here’s an awesome scene where Ed Helm’s character finds out that the person he had made love to was indeed a transsexual woman, in which he jumps out of his seat in disgust, while all of his friends share the same disgust as well. According to the Youtube user who uploaded it, it’s the best scene.



Oh wow, what about Family Guy? Everyone loves Family Guy! Just look at this picture of what happens when Brian finds out he slept with a transsexual woman:



It’s vomit! Because he’s disgusted! How funny, because trans women are very disgusting and his vomiting makes me laugh. Here’s a link to an article about the episode.

There are so many examples of this. There’s an incredibly transphobic episode of South Park in which transitioning from your assigned-at-birth gender is equated to transitioning from white-to-black and human-to-dolphin.

There’s a gag in Baseketball (one of my favorite movies as a child!) in which Squeak is attracted to someone of the trans* variety in the audience of their games, to which Doug tells Squeak that he’s a dude. Squeak is defensive about this, stating how beautiful she is, and mentions how cute her Adam’s apple is. This leads to Doug becoming sick (again) and vomiting in a bucket.

In the movie How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the beloved Simon Pegg (and how could you dislike Simon Pegg!?) gets to have a reaction shot of disgust as he finds out a woman is trans. Later in the movie, he gets to send said trans woman to his boss to do a striptease in order to embarass his boss with yet another penis-reveal. Even later, there’s a hilarious line in the movie, and I quote, “”Don’t worry about my landlady; the last woman she caught me with had a penis, so you know you are a big step up!” Get it? The last woman was transgender and has yet to have surgery; therefore, she is not as good as you based on that fact alone! Hilarious! Here is a blog post about this movie and the transphobia within.

Naked Gun 33 1/3: Anna Nicole Smith reveals a penis, characters are disgusted.

Grilled: Ray Romano finds out he was making out with a transsexual woman, he becomes disgusted.

Even The Crying Game, which is a movie about a transsexual woman, is built around the “surprise reveal,” which includes disgust. Lots of disgust.

I could keep going on. There are so many examples, and so many quick and cheap shots made by mainstream movies and television, that lists could go on for days. But how about some positive examples of transsexuals in mainstream media, in which they aren’t the target of comedy, disgust, or ridicule?

>cricket noises<

Well, there’s Boy’s Don’t Cry. That’s a positive portrayal of a transgender man in a movie. Of course, it’s based on a true story and (spoiler alert!) he’s murdered at the end of the film.

The Crying Game could go in this category too, but also doesn’t end well for the trans* character, and the antagonist only seems to get over his transphobia enough to be comfortable around her.

Past this, I’m drawing a blank. Google isn’t helping me much here, either.

It’s about time to wrap this post up. Transphobia is everywhere, and please be aware of it. Do not laugh if it is mean-spirited. Do not be entertained if it shines a group of people in an over-simplified, negative light. Think about what you consume before you allow it inside your body, and fight back against the transphobia that is so common in mainstream media.