Addressing Transphobia: The Simpsons

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• published: 25 Jun 2013
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This video is for educational purposes only. I receive and seek no financial compensation for posting this. All clips are owned by FOX Entertainment. Please click "Show More" for explanations of each clip. I grew up with The Simpsons. It has deeply influenced my sense of humor and my understanding of our culture. I'm a sincere and loyal fan of the show and I'm also a transgender woman. I don't want to talk about the transphobia in The Simpsons because I want to tear its writers or its talent down- I want to talk about the transphobia in The Simpsons because I love the show enough that I want to honestly address its faults and examine why these jokes make me uncomfortable. I think when we critically examine humor, it makes sense to ask what the joke is trying to say. Maybe some of these jokes don't have any meaning beyond the surface level of setup and punchline, but I think that does a disservice to the show's writers, who have proven themselves enormously smart people over more than two decades of work. So I've taken a handful of clips- not all possible clips- from The Simpsons that I think are transphobic and I want you to really put them under a microscope. Here are questions I think you should ask yourself when you watch these: Is a transgender person, or the concept of transgender people, the setup or the punchline of the gag? Are transgender people included in the joke, or the butt of it? - Here are additional thoughts on specific clips to provide context: s04e10: The first reference to a transgender person on the show to the best of my knowledge. The core of the gag is that Bart would be warped by sleeping in a bed with his parents the same way Homer's cousin was. Transgender people are not the byproduct of a dysfunctional or disturbed childhood. Many of us grew up happy and healthy, many of us did not- just like everyone else. s10e22: I honestly can't say what the gag is here other than that someone thought the word shemale was funny. It's a term that now only really exists in pornography. Actual transgender people, by and large, don't self-describe with it and in my experience none like being called it. It's degrading. s10e23: The joke hinges on the idea that transgender women are worth less than cisgender women. Very straightforward, very untrue. s16e10: This episode aired on February 20, 2005. Mianne Bagger, an Australian trans woman, started playing professional golf in February of 2004, unwittingly creating a minor sports controversy in the process. She did not dress up as a woman and lie her way into women's sports. She is a woman who plays golf with other women. The International Olympic Committee, the United States Golf Association, and the Ladies Professional Golf Association agree that she should be there. If you disagree with their decision, your opinion flies in the face of professional athletic and medical experts. s20e15: Ok, this one bothers me mostly because my inner comic book guy screams over and over that it's a violation of canon. The Lovejoys have a daughter! s22e11: To my knowledge this is the only direct portrayal of transgender people (self-labeled as transsexuals later in the episode) in The Simpsons to date. The three trans* characters embody every lazy stereotype of what a transgender person is: Muscular frame, deep voice, cross dressing diva attitude and obviously not "passing" as a cisgender woman. Trans people come in every body type. Some of us don't pass- which is usually a miserable, alienating feeling that can directly lead to violence against us. Some of us do pass- you wouldn't know we're trans unless we tell you. I'm guessing this clip is more influenced by Ru Paul's TV show than it is any personal experience with transgender people.