How do you know when you are truly a woman? When you’re being objectified like all the other ‘girls’.
It feels cruel, doesn’t it?
To pick at a negative from the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Caitlyn Jenner’s “coming out” this week.
Because it has been, almost entirely, a supportive reaction.
News bulletins and social media, magazines and TV pundits… With a few, glaring exceptions, they are gushing in universal appreciation at Caitlyn Jenner’s transition story.
It’s a beautiful thing. BUT.
And yes, that’s a BUT in a story about transgender woman who has been extraordinarily courageous in becoming her true self under the gaze of millions.
There’s something in the tsunami of gushing coverage of Jenner’s transition that wrankles.
Because it will not last. The enthusiasm for fawning over a new, brave celebrity icon will soon morph into ruthless critique.
The clues are already there. Because now that Caitlyn Jenner is a woman, there is only one discussion:
And it’s about her appearance. Her boobs, her hair. The effectiveness or otherwise, of her surgery choices. Her wardrobe. Her UNDERWEAR.
As Jon Stewart so brilliantly squewers in this video, it’s as if, when Caitlyn was a man, we talked about what he did. Good and bad. He was an Olympic athlete. He was a motivational speaker. He was a sometimes lack-lustre father. He was the patriarch of arguably the world’s most famous family.
Now Caitlyn is a woman, there is only one thing up for discussion. What she looks like.