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Post by kostgard on Sept 10, 2015 21:32:35 GMT -4
Yes, while I have great sympathy for Cait and the pain she went through before her transition, she is probably the least likable "character" on her show, and it is because she is so deeply, deeply out of touch, and yes - seems to have a hard time owning up to mistakes. I think it is an extremely bad combo - the ego of a pro athlete, a lifetime of rich, white male privilege (female on the inside and female now, but the world treated her like a white male for most of her life), conservative mindset (which doesn't exactly lend her a strong sense of empathy), a lifetime of hiding and denying her true self and reflexively lying and dodging questions, and it's all wrapped up in the Kardashian bubble of fame and money.
Also, someone needs to teach her how to chew with her mouth closed.
But the other trans people have been great. When they had a scene with Candis and Chandi getting pedicures together (without Cait), I was hoping they were testing the waters for "The Candis and Chandi Show."
As for the parenting thing around Kylie, I don't know (and I don't know all the details). I do know that plastic surgery is pretty routine in that family, so they probably don't see anything wrong with her lips. And I think I saw that Kris has given the thumbs-up on her boyfriend, so...yeah. This is a family that parlayed Kim's sex tape into a career move, gets shit injected in their faces as often as most people change the sheets on their bed, and they live their lives on social media (I died when Kim told Cait that she could sooth Kris's hurt feelings with a tweet. Not a personal phone call and an apology, but an effing tweet). These people live by different standards than most of us.
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Post by prisma on Sept 10, 2015 23:29:04 GMT -4
Just curious: what are some examples of Cait being out of touch with the 99%? I don't have cable so I can't watch. Is she nasty or just oblivious?
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Post by kostgard on Sept 10, 2015 23:52:27 GMT -4
I think she's mostly oblivious - typical rich person obliviousness in most cases. Even when interacting with Candis Cayne (who isn't exactly in the poor house), I often get the feeling she doesn't quite understand that Candis can't afford a lot of the stuff she can. As for her fellow trans people - when talking with other trans people and hearing about their struggles, she's just shocked. She simply had no clue that trans people struggled like that and are sometimes forced to turn to sex work because they can't get any other job or hold onto jobs because they are discriminated against for being trans. This is really her first introduction to the community - I don't think she reached out or did much homework before her transition. She just mostly comes across as largely unaware of her privilege.
The only time I think she approached "nasty" was when her conservative mind-set started creeping in. At one point they were having a conversation about how important social programs (like welfare) are to the trans community (due to the aforementioned employment issues and the high levels of homelessness in the trans community), and Cait started in with "Well, you don't want to let them get used to it because then they won't want to work..." because, you know, welfare queens living high off the hog! Taking your hard-earned taxpayer money to fund their lifestyle of sitting on the couch and eating bonbons. The other ladies schooled her on that one, but I don't know how much sunk in.
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Post by eclair on Sept 11, 2015 8:31:23 GMT -4
The show featured Angelica Ross, now CEO of TransTech Socail Enterprises. She was reluctant to appear on the show, but did appear and... "Our conversation with Cait spanned over two episodes, with the start of the conversation being a cliffhanger to tune in next week. Although the title under my name on the screen read “CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises”, my story and my experience as a black trans woman founding a startup tech company focused on improving the economic landscape and overall well-being of the trans community was completely erased from the show. The full conversation was nuanced, but ultimately what I said about TransTech and what we do was left on the cutting room floor. What the producers ended up using highlighted my life and work in past tense as I explained, “I felt like I would never in my life choose to do sex work, but after being fired from so many jobs what other choice did I have?”" Lucily, the non disclosure agreement for Miss Ross was just until the episode aired. But, yeah, the spent a long time interviewing her about her success, and her business which helps other transpeople, and she found herself reduced to a soundbite about how she had to do sex work to survive. The show potrays other trans people as victims, and Cait as their hero. Except she doesn't know anything about the typical trans experience, and doesn't seem to believe some of their struggles are real. It seems like she thought she'd transition and just be considered a woman, not a transwoman. Transwomen are real women, I'm not saying that, but her friends are people like professional racist Jeff Dunham, who I would guess doesn't really have female friends, but Cait on the show wonders why Jeff hasn't come over since she transitioned. link to article
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mrpeanut
Landed Gentry
Posts: 543
Jun 9, 2010 15:00:08 GMT -4
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Post by mrpeanut on Sept 11, 2015 9:55:41 GMT -4
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Post by prisma on Sept 11, 2015 10:00:33 GMT -4
I sort of hope Caitlyn stops receiving so much hero worship for being the brave face of the trans community because it sounds like she's only interested in promoting herself in the most odious Kardashian fashion.
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Post by GirlyGhoul on Sept 11, 2015 11:23:42 GMT -4
Yeah, I haven't seen any real episodes of this show (just clips here and there- most of them featuring a Kardashian). But from what more frequent watchers are reporting I think they should change the title from "I Am Cait" to "I Am Clueless!"
In the article eclair linked, Angelica Ross calls I Am Cait a missed opportunity. I think the real missed opportunity (and one its not too late to rectify) is they should have center a show on Ms. Ross's organization and focus on her helping people and letting those willing to tell their stories. If they needed the 'stah' power, Cait could come on as a client or 'consultant' and sit in on group/ brainstorming sessions. Each episode could end with Cait as a talking head being all 'I learned something today!'
I know she (Cait) said she wanted her show to be about educating the public on the struggles of TransFolk. But considering the clip that's been getting promoted the most is when her Ex Kris comes bringing her cookies and DUN DUN DUN!!!- it looks like all this show is really is a spin off from Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Nothing more.
These other folks you guys keep mentioning? Candis, Chandi, Angelica? I, as a watcher of clips only, have not seen them. I only saw a picture of Angelica in the article linked above and she looks like a freakin' Super Hero! I'm sorry this show didn't give her a better platform... but that's obviously not the show's true purpose.
Caitlyn, the former multi-medal winning Olympian, Wheaties Box Cover Boy and All-American Hero transitioning into her true form in front of the world in theory should be a powerful story of bravery and triumph that all her sound bytes are making it out to be. But the problem is on this long epic journey of hers, she tripped along the way and landed in the sticky swamp of the Fame Whore. And she definitely hasn't pulled herself free of that muck and most likely never will. I hope she's learning something from the struggles of the new people she's meeting in her life. But I won't be holding my breath about it.
Still on the flip side, it does shine some spotlight on Angelica's organization... and heck, yeah, maybe Candis and Chandi could have their own spin off show. And yeah, it does get people talking and thinking. But I think there are other better venues already doing better jobs. (Transparent, Orange is the New Black, the new show Laverne Cox might get if her pilot is picked up, etc)
I think I'll hold my higher hopes out for those shows and leave Cait to swim in her Fame Whore swamp. (Sometimes Kanye brings his trunks and dives in! And sometimes Kris Jenner brings cookies!! Hooray!!)
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Post by Binky on Sept 11, 2015 11:47:31 GMT -4
Caitlyn, the former multi-medal winning Olympian, Wheaties Box Cover Boy and All-American Hero transitioning into her true form in front of the world in theory should be a powerful story of bravery and triumph that all her sound bytes are making it out to be. But the problem is on this long epic journey of hers, she tripped along the way and landed in the sticky swamp of the Fame Whore. And she definitely hasn't pulled herself free of that muck and most likely never will. I hope she's learning something from the struggles of the new people she's meeting in her life. But I won't be holding my breath about it. Sadly, I think it's more famewhore who happens to be former multi-medal winning Olympian, Wheaties Box Cover Boy and All-American Hero AND transgender. I haven't watched the show because I don't need any Kardashian-related anything in my media. But the interview bits I have caught have been (as a poster above described) of someone with the life experience of a super famous, super rich, white (perceived) male former athlete present dumb reality star now wishing to be perceived as female without understanding that those attributes are all intertwined. It does result in a bizarrely conservative, incredibly sheltered, and extremely privileged trans woman. I'm not going to question her efforts to help with trans rights/visibility/acceptance...but I don't think she ever envisioned that as part of her life and I still don't think she gets why that would be a better role than ANOTHER Kardashian reality show star. I think she wanted to be a super famous, super rich, white (perceived) female reality star, like, say, all the Kardashians. And as I said, I have no interest in watching another Kardashian-esque reality star. That said, I also think Cait is just as shitty a parent as Bruce was, and I blame her for inflicting the next generation of Kardashians/Jenners on the world.
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Post by kostgard on Sept 11, 2015 12:00:10 GMT -4
I do think she is sincere in her attempts to do good for the trans community. The primary issue is that she is absolutely clueless and probably isn't all that comfortable with the idea of leaving her very cushy bubble and therefore will never get her hands dirty in the way that is necessary to bring about real change. I think she probably thought she could use her fame and come riding in on a white horse and be the champion of the trans community, but it doesn't work that way. She does nice things - she treats her new friends to a weekend at a lovely house in wine country. When she meets a young trans lady who is having trouble getting into nursing school, she whispers to her assistant that she wants to help her get into school and wants to pay her tuition. Which is really nice of her, but it doesn't really solve the problem.
It's nice that she visits centers for trans youth and similar places, but that's just it. It's nice, and not a whole lot more. I suppose you can't expect more from an E! show, especially a Kardashian show, and she probably has exposed some people to the trans community who have never given them a second thought, but she really needs to get down in the trenches if she wants to be the hero. Right now she barely steps outside of her gilded cage.
ETA: I agree with Mulva that a lot of this is actually good in a roundabout way. It shows that she didn't transition because she's some liberal Hollywood freak who is just giving polite society the middle finger because she can. She's religious, conservative, rich, out-of-touch, and a 1%-er, and she still had gender identity issues. It's not a choice, it could happen to anybody.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 21, 2024 13:58:39 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 12:07:44 GMT -4
Yeah, as a dad, she sucks. This most recent mini-drama about "No one invited me to Kylie's graduation" is such a quintessential deadbeat dad thing to say and do. SHE didn't show up and yet she wants to make it all about how she is the victim here. You're the dad -- make yourself aware of the events in your kids' lives! It's not up to anyone else to hold your hand through the parenting process.
That plus all of the narrow-minded, one-percenter behavior... Yeah, she's an ass. But in a roundabout way, I kinda feel like her very public transition IS a good thing for the trans movement. It takes allll sorts to make a world.
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