Her Story

Her story was a very moving mini-series which depicts the daily lives of transgender people and their dating lives. The story mostly focuses on Allie a professional writer who is supposedly “really good” and her attempts to find out more about a transgender man named Violet and his daily life. Throughout their one-on-one interviews, they begin to develop feelings toward one another. The story continues to follow their story and the story of their friends around them. There were several scenes in the mini-series that stuck out in my mind. Many which revealed common misconceptions of transgendered people. In their first one-on-one, Allie asks if Violet is gay. Violet finds that slightly offensive and stereotypical of people to assume. He mentions how everyone who does not truly understand the transgender community believes that if you are transgender you are gay. This assumption could not be farther from the truth. Violet further explains how just because you are transgender, does not mean you like the same sex, it just means you are more comfortable in a different identity. I thought this was very important to inform viewers of common mistakes. Before I took this class, I thought that if you were transgender you were gay, as you are posing as the opposite sex. This assumption is a result of heteronormativity and the negative portrayal of homosexuality and transgender in the media.

Violet also reveals another common misconception in the first one-on-one with Allie. Allie explains how Violet is the only transgender person she has ever met. Violet corrects her and reveals that she knows for a fact Allie has met at least two, the other being her friend in the café. When hearing this, Allie is shocked. Violet explains how not all transgender people can easily be identified. I believe this conversation helped bring light to the common assumptions made by the uninformed.  Many people believe those that are transgender cannot be beautiful, or stick out like a sore thumb. In reality, transgender people can be beautiful. Violet supports this by saying she has two transgender friends, one an actress and one a model. Just because a man or a women corresponds to the opposite gender, does not mean they will look out of place. Some transgender people look more like and man or a woman than those that were born biologically as one.

I believe the biggest issue Her Story brings attention to is the overall negative connotations and stereotypes of transgender people. The idea that transgender people are all homosexual, that transgender people are ugly, or that dating a transgender person is wrong. In one of the scenes in the second episode, Allie is hanging out with her friends when one poses the question “would you ever date a transgender?”. One of Allie’s friends responds with an outstanding no, as another responds saying transgender people are destroying everything feminism work for. Later in the second episode, Paige explains how she reveals that she is transgender on the first date and that always scares people off. Violet’s boyfriend in an earlier scene also rips up Allie’s business card once Violet tells him she wanted to interview Violet for her transsexuality. Violet’s boyfriend clearly prefers Violet to not draw attention to it, as opposed to being proud of it. There are also countless other scenes such as these throughout the mini-series which stress this fundamental issue. It is a shame that the transgender community pinned to these negative ideas. Transgender people can be heterosexual, they can be beautiful, and dating a transgender is perfectly acceptable. Nothing about a transgender person’s appearance or personality or attributes one likes about them changes when they reveal they are transgender, the only thing that changes are the opinions of other person. And why does this one word have such a large impact on people’s opinions?