Despite the laws, transvestites continue to be denigrated on TV.
By Lara Bertolini. Days ago, crime reporter Ricardo Canaletti initiated and maintained a transphobic exchange on air with entertainment panelist Cecilia Absatz on the cable channel TN. The pretext was a discussion of the new Netflix series, “The House of Flowers.” The Mexican telenovela, which revolves around…
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By Lara Bertolini
A few days ago , crime reporter Ricardo Canaletti initiated and maintained a transphobic exchange on air with entertainment panelist Cecilia Absatz on the cable channel TN. The pretext was a discussion of the new Netflix series, "The House of Flowers."
The Mexican telenovela, which revolves around marijuana trafficking, features, among other things, homosexual relationships, threesomes, and polyamory. It also explores trans identities with a storyline about a trans woman who reconnects with her ex-wife after several years, leading to a new relationship of sexual and emotional connection.
Canaletti and Absatz questioned the series for the "bad taste" of the colors (most of the scenes take place in a flower shop) and that "transsexuals act" (the other scenes take place in a cabaret) in "a house of transvestites".
READ ALSO: [ Mocking Zulma Lobato is mocking all transvestites ]
“It’s very hard to watch,” said the panelist, and Canaletti added: “The screenwriter wrote it after eating.”
Clearly, Absatz's outdated attitude is not in keeping with the times and, in particular, with the laws of Argentina.
"This is one of the inconsistencies of the series: transsexuality." And he added: "The series is delusional."
READ ALSO: [ Being trans in '100 Days to Fall in Love': "What is shown is illusory, I wish it were so"]
In response to the comment about how "hard to watch" transvestites are, Canaletti doubled down on the mockery: "Let's just say it's very well acted."
“For those of us who love soap operas, what can we do?” Absatz said.
It won't be the classic slaps of love, it won't be the transvestites trapped in prostitution, it won't be the crimes of passion that were referred to as femicides 10 years ago. It won't be the delicate son who secretly becomes homosexual, it won't be Marimar, nor María la del Barrio, it won't be Rolando Rivas, it won't be La extraña dama, it won't be Rosa de Lejos.
It's just current social events, Canaletti and Absatz, it's just what's happening in a society that's moving forward, reflecting to some extent certain relationships that exist today. Perhaps for you, in your world, these situations seem bizarre. But for everyone else, it's real, it happens.
READ ALSO: [ Television and trans identity: the five forms of violence every day]
What also happens in Argentina is a gender identity law , which establishes "dignified treatment" for transvestite and trans people (mockery would not be allowed there) and an entity like the Ombudsman for the Public , which receives specific complaints about discriminatory and violent statements in the audiovisual fields and takes measures in this regard.
But despite the laws, transvestites and trans people continue to be denigrated on television. We really need to ask ourselves who enables this impunity, and how. And how are we going to continue fighting against it?
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