CBS's CSI Sensationalizes Transgender Lives

[Johnny Cocksville]

This is CSI's second episode about Transsexuals. They got in some heat over the first one


CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's one hundredth episode will reportedly offer up a case that will challenge the prejudices of Gil Grissom and his team as they delve into Las Vegas' transgender community.

Reportedly entitled "Ch-Ch-Changes", the November sweeps instalment is set to revolve around a transgendered woman, Wendy Clancy, found brutally murdered in her car by the side of the highway, according to CSI Files sources. Wendy's throat has been slashed, and her genital area mutilated. Her shoes are covered in blood. The last person to see her alive was a police office who was intending to book her for speeding, but let her off with a warning. One thing stands out in his mind: she was definitely in a hurry.

Wendy Clancy, a showgirl at the Tropicana Club, was engaged to marry Aaron Laner, who doesn't know that his wife-to-be used to be a man. Grissom, Brass and Sara turn up at his house to break the news. He tells the CSIs he thought Wendy was spending the night at a friend's place. While Brass and Grissom question Aaron, Sara sets about investigating the house the couple shared. In the bathroom, Sara finds sanitary pads with blood on them, which is a biological impossibility, since Wendy was born a man. It turns out she was drawing blood from other parts of her body then placing them on her pads to prove to herself (and her fiance) that she was a woman.

Next stop is the Tropicana Club. Catherine and Grissom break the news of Wendy's death to her fellow showgirls, who are devastated. They tell the CSIs that Wendy's sex change was performed by a certain Dr. Bower, who is well known as the go-to guy for this sort of thing. Dr. Bower says he turned Wendy down as a candidate for gender re-assignment surgery, saying that she was after a quick-fix without the necessary hormone therapy and adjustment period.

Wendy was having difficulty adjusting to her new life, hence the faking of her periods. One of Wendy's closest friends, Mimosa, reveals that she was seeing a therapist, Dr. Mona Lavelle. When Grissom visits her clinic, Dr. Lavelle tells him that she saw Wendy for an individual session on the night that she died. She says Wendy was anxious about having sex as a woman for the first time and was concerned about her fiance finding out that she was born a man.

Mia, Greg's replacement in the lab, comes through with the results of the blood found on Wendy's shoes the night she was stabbed. The blood was definitely not Wendy's, nor did it belong to the police officer who stopped her that night. One thing is certain, however — if the blood belongs to the killer, then the attacker is a man. But that doesn't necessarily mean he still looks like one...

"Ch-Ch-Changes" is reportedly set to air in November, 2004.

[Caleigh]

It makes me so upset the way that Transwomens lives are always
tragic on TV.

First of all, most of the girls are portrayed as escorts
or former escorts, and no offence to the girls who are providers, but
the majority of transsexuals actually have "straight" jobs and are
working very hard at being integrated into society.

Second, transsexuals seem to always end up being killed by a jealous
former boyfriend or someone who has a freak out because they didn't
realize it was a transwoman that they were hitting on or something.
Allie McBeal had a trans character for a few episodes and it looked like
things were going to improve on TV, but then she was killed when she
just couldn't resist the lure of the street life (even though she had a great
job as a legal secretary).

I guess it's just symptomatic of society's lack of acceptance that TS's are
always these victims. Society subconciously WANTS to victimize us and
does it on TV.

[Ecstatic]

Allie McBeal had a trans character for a few episodes and it looked like things were going to improve on TV, but then she was killed when she just couldn't resist the lure of the street life (even though she had a great job as a legal secretary).

Things did improve on Allie McBeal on a later story arc, when a pre-op TS named Cindy (played very well by fine actress Lisa Edelstein) had a relationship with a somewhat naive young lawyer (Mark). She was not portrayed as an escort or in any unsavory fashion; initially my only objection was that she was being played for all-too-easy shock value. But the show developed her character over several episodes, revealing her to be a strong, independent woman, and there was a very humorous scene where she reveals her secret to Mark while they're dancing. She tells him to hold her close--closer--look of shock on Mark's face. He was both excitedly attracted to her and (homophobe alert, but played nicely for the most part) revulsed at the same time. To give the character props, he tried to make it work, but he ultimately couldn't overcome his bias and they went separate ways. All in all, the best treatment of a pre-op ts on a network television show I've seen, despite some cheap shots along the way. Much better than the abrupt revelation that Famke Jansen's character on Nip/Tuck was really a post-op ts, which was largely played for shock value (though they did have the decency to show some real LGBT support group development along the way).

Perhaps it would have been better had David Kelly cast a real TS in the Cindy role on Allie McBeal, but Lisa Edelstein was well cast and carried the role well, I thought. First of all, though she's a beautiful woman, she has just enough masculine features (angular face, general build) to "pass" for a TS woman, whereas I found it hard to believe that Famke was. And I thought she brought a lot of depth to the character, and quite possibly helped to move the character out of its shock value stature into a believable person.