tofuboots:

kbs-was-here:

brujacore: tofuboots: Brothers is a new webseries about four trans guy friends out of Brooklyn, NY created by filmmaker Emmett Lundberg. One of the only trans male foc… Cool, another thing focusing on more visibility for white trans dudes. *eyeroll* ‘Cause, ya know, it’s something we don’t have enough of already. Would it seriously kill ya’ll to add POC? I mean, c’mon. This takes place in Brooklyn and yet you still managed to find the whitest dudes to represent the trans male community. White Boys, starring Leonard Dunham! But we DO need more visibility for white trans dudes. We need visibility for ALL trans dudes. The fact that this project even exists to get people arguing about it is fucking monumental. We minorities never need to settle for, “Oh, that’s some representation, so it’s enough representation.” But we do need to support each other. We need to have an open dialogue. We need to let projects that are half-way representative inspire us to make projects that are even better. The truth is, there is nearly ZERO representation of trans men in mainstream media and much the stuff that does exist is either misinformed or all too brief. Someone decided to take it upon themselves to put their time, money, and energy into developing a series that represented them. If you want a project that represents you, then do the work to make it happen. The LGBT community as a whole has to continue to work on this. If we want representation, we have to create our representation. Also, maybe give these guys some real and informed feedback instead of just being annoyed on tumblr.

I’m not quite sure what more visibility for white trans dudes who live in a city like Brooklyn is going to do for the trans guy of color who lives down the street from them. Their struggle is not representative of my own or the majority of trans POCs collective racial experience(s). The trans community, even as a minority, is not a monolithic identity that we can slap a price tag on and remarket to ourselves.

When I came to consciousness about being trans I, like many others, searched far and wide for resources. Most of what I came across were representative of the white trans male experience. Documentaries, websites, publications, books, youtube collaboratives - all of these are dominated by white individuals.

Perhaps what is even more problematic for me is that this is set in Brooklyn, a city that is experiencing growth of destructive proportions at the hands of gentrification. I will say that I’m not sure if any of these individuals are transplants or were born and raised there, but I will say that I personally know of a few trans individuals of color who are being uprooted from Brooklyn because they have no other choice. So this goes beyond visibility and into colonization. Yes, I went there. The idea that not only do POC have to CREATE and fund things for themselves for an audience that will probably be a ¼ of what Original Plumbing has is ridiculous, but the fact that there is a demand from white individuals that this be done is aggravating at least and a reflection of white supremacy at the most.

Queer POC have made their own publishing companies (see things like Third Women Press) which are constantly struggling to find funding. That publishing company has existed for over a decade, so to say that we are merely “complaining” and not doing much is an insult.

I’d also like to point out that one can be critical of a group they are a part of and that you shouldn’t render it as “complaining”. That’s pretty silencing.

And NO representation of trans men in the media?! PLEASE. The tumblr FTM community is basically a giant circle jerk of reblogging the latest OP issue, pictures of a certain german Olympian who transitioned, Skylarks latest youtube video, shirtless photos of some buff dude named Aiden and Tuck Mayo, Chaz Bonos latest drama, and laundry lists of “successful” and “attractive” trans masculine individuals that are mainly white guys and if we are lucky they throw us a bone and include a token POC.

Equality doesn’t have to be done in steps like a fucked up version of Reagan’s “trickle down” economic system. OP could have gotten JUST as much funding just as fast if they would have done the same thing with equal parts POC for every white character they are creating. They could tackle issues facing the transgender community as well as those that are specific to trans POC. The problem is they choose not to. So let’s be for real here and take a look at the agency and strength they already have in our community and hold them accountable for not doing more. Because when you already have this amount of visibility you should always look towards what more you can do instead of the bare minimum.