Jessica Lange looks great on the cover of July’s Vanity Fair.
Oh, wait? That’s right.
“Call me Caitlyn,” says former Olympic champion Bruce Jenner now that he is Caitlyn Jenner. After Vanity Fair’s cover broke the internet, some called the transgender celebrity a hero (she is). Others called her courageous (she is). Still more called her a role model (we’ll see, but I hope!). Just as often, if not more so, people are commenting on Jenner’s beauty.
Now, I don’t know one woman—or man—who would balk at being called attractive. Unless, that is, the label defines you. “Hey, I’m more than just my looks!”
In this case, Jenner is more than just her new body. Sure, an intense focus on how she now looks is only natural. After all, Jenner’s sex transformation is entirely based on physicality—that is, she felt she had to change her outside to match her inside. However, I can’t help but think that had the results failed to meet collective beauty standards, the public’s overall reaction would not have been as positive.
It’s as if Jenner’s good fortune to have good looks somehow validates her entire transformation. It’s as if Jenner’s appearance now defines who she is.
But hey, I guess that’s what being a woman is all about, right? By incessantly focusing on Jenner’s face, breasts, and curves, the media is essentially treating Jenner much as it treats any pretty starlet.
As Orange Is the New Black transgender actress Laverne Cox explains, “Yes, Caitlin looks amazing and is beautiful but what I think is most beautiful about her is her heart and soul, the ways she has allowed the world into her vulnerabilities…Her courage to move past denial into her truth so publicly.”
It takes immense bravery to change one’s gender in front of an ogling public. And while I expect cynics to argue that Jenner’s desire for publicity drives her, let’s just say there are easier ways to make a name for yourself besides changing your name. We shouldn’t be fame-shaming Jenner when her public transformation has the potential to educate people and help prevent violence, bullying, and trans suicides.
Every two days, someone in the world is killed simply for expressing gender nonconformity. Who cares if it takes an alleged fame-whore to change that? What are you doing to solve the problem?
OK, that got kind of dark. Let’s go back to scrutinizing Jenner’s face. That’s easier. That’s livelier. And again, that’s the problem that detracts from real problems. As ACLU attorney Chase Strangio points out, putting aside the fact that most health insurers do not cover the facial feminization surgery that Caitlin received, “most trans people, particularly trans women of color, cannot access the basic care that they need. It means that going to the doctor feels like a battle—if a trans person can get there at all. It means that trans people participate in criminalized economics like the drug and sex trades to pay for the health care they need or seek the care from friends or unsupervised black markets. It means that trans people die seeking the care they need to live.”
Furthermore, “We must not exclaim that Caitlyn looks ‘fabulous’ without interrogating our standards for which trans people get to grace the covers of magazines and all the while continuing to keep the health care that brings life to trans people out of reach.”
The reality is that most trans people cannot afford all the professional psychological and physical help that Caitlyn got. And most will never meet certain beauty standards. They will simply be called…ugly. If not worse. As far as labels go, that’s, well, pretty ugly.
But this isn’t really a trans issue. If you’re a woman, you already know that. When we start criticizing—and complimenting!—little girls on their appearance from the time they discover mirrors, we are already teaching them that who they are rests at least partly on how they look. These are lessons impossible to forget. That’s why eyeliner and lipstick exist.
Now, none of this is to imply that it’s always wrong to praise appearance. But it is wrong to always praise appearance. (You may have to read that again.) Especially only appearance. So let’s all make a greater effort to look beyond looks.
