Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Transphobic jokes

So, I have to admit, I love The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I honestly believe that I can get more accurate and more useful news from them than from any other television broadcast source. Not to mention the fact that it’s all pretty funny. But I can’t help but notice a sharp increase in the number of one-liners maligning transpeople.

Last night’s example comes from Stephen: “These serviceman are just innocent small town kids wandering a big city rife with temptations… Left to their own devices, these brave young souls could fall prey to some very dangerous characters. [shows clips of Sex in the City] By which I mean trannies.”

I’ve been watching for years now, and while there has always been an occasional photoshopped image of Dick Cheney or other conservatives in dresses, there hasn’t been anything directly naming or directly targeting transpeople until much more recently. I can’t recall any direct derogatory references to transpeople before, I don’t know, maybe 3-6 months ago. Since then, it seems like there have been 2 or 3 such “jokes” each month.

Now these statements aren’t nearly as horrible as what’s being said elsewhere in the media. But what’s rather dissapointing is that this is coming from what is generally considered ‘with it’ progressives who should know a lot better. I’ve noticed that there race commentary is often somewhat unfortunate, however, I’ve always been impressed that the queer jokes on each show are usually done in a very conscious and aware way. I mean, they often feel like the kind of jokes my friends and I would tell. In contrast, the dreogatory references to transpeople seem to have no real purpose.

In last night’s example, what is the point? That Sex in the City chararcters are trans-like? That soldiers need to be protected from deceptive transpeople? It’s just a random slam which reflects a complete ignorance of trans issues while perpetuating some rather inane stereotypes. Frankly, I’m much more worried about the soldiers hurting the trannies than the other way around. The whole idea of the deceptive tranny often feeds the whole “trans panic” defense and further justifies the killing of transpeople. So, while this is only a drop in the Ocean, it has some real impacts too.

Since I watch both shows already (they’re just about the only shows I watch regularly these days), I think I’m going to start documenting every time one of these derogatory references happens. If I get a chance, I might try to go back and document some of the derogatory trans references that have happened in the past couple months.