Well, what is there to say about ABC’s latest brainchild, Work It? The show revolves around two heterosexual unemployed car salesmen who after their dealership goes out of business, dress as women in order to land jobs as salesmen at a pharmaceutical company looking to hire female sales reps. The show is set to premiere this January….WHAT?!?! Am I the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea? Apparently not! As the article states, “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups are blasting ABC and its upcoming cross-dressing comedy Work It, claiming the series is damaging to transgender individuals.” Damn straight! The American population is already naïve and for lack of a better word stupid when it comes to acceptance, tolerance, and understanding, so other trouble will a show like Work It cause? Organizations like GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and the Human Rights Campaign claim the new comedy "reinforces false and damaging stereotypes about transgender people,” and have decided to take action. The groups have set up meetings with ABC executives to discuss their grievances, and rightly so. The HRC has even encouraged people to send in emails to ABC urging them to stop the show from airing. I believe it is imperative to stop such a show from ever reaching the eyes of the American public because of how misconstrued the images of transgender individuals is. Moreover, the argument of the two advocacy groups comes at a very crucial time, considering more than a quarter of transgender people have been fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Perhaps not the best time for comedy about such a topic? If ABC decides to ignore the warnings and worries of these advocacy groups, I fear the American public will only have a new outlet for judgmental material towards transgender individuals.
This news story really stood out to me because of how well it fits into our blog topic. The amount of influence the media has in today’s world is incredible. News stations, television programs, and other meaningless forms of media have become a favorite national pastime for Americans, because psht, who reads anymore, right? Well, besides the dangers associated with watching mindless hours of television and the mass population’s brain turning to mush, there is a greater danger; this of course is the influential power of the media. It seems today, the general masses believe anything they see on television. The biggest example I see of this is “reality television.” People take the crap they see on The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Jersey Shore as true reality, and don’t understand the very carefully orchestrated process that goes into creating such shows. The elaborate editing and planning of these shows allows the creation of an exaggerated amount of drama while projecting a façade of reality. Because of this, a show like Work It would be an extremely detrimental factor in the lives of Transsexual individuals. Their portrayal on this show would be highly inaccurate and exaggerated, but perceived by the general public as the truth. While I realize the show isn’t a reality show, I believe its perception would be the same as if it was. Most Americans know very little about Transsexual individuals, therefore however the media decides to portray their image is taken at face value. Media portrayal of LGBT individuals is often exaggerated and incorrect, and the social implications that result are damaging at the very least.
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