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Documentary: Disclosure banner

Documentary: Disclosure

Posted on March 6, 2023March 3, 2023

If I must believe up-to-date numbers, only a small percentage of people in society are transgender. Numbers vary, but the highest number I’ve seen is 4%. That’s a minority. Most people say they don’t know someone who is transgender. And as is usually the case for minorities, there are many misconceptions about that minority. And for transgender people these misconceptions are usually created in media (television, films, etc.). Today I want to share a documentary which highlights these misconceptions and show us how much we still need to change. I’m sharing the documentary: Disclosure.

Disclosure: representation comes with hate

The documentary Disclosure starts with a positive message. When we look back now, transgender people are represented much better and more than about 50 years ago. But because of this, a negative paradox is showing. The more representation of trans people there is, the more the violence against these people is growing. And that violence is horrific, to the point of murder. This makes this first positive message not so positive anymore. But what makes cisgender people hate transgender people?

There’s no simple answer to this question. However, the documentary Disclosure shows that representation in media (mostly film) plays a huge role in this. The documentary follows a chronological order. Once the introduction is over, the documentary shows the first films that show transgender people. Alongside, we see the negative way they’re portrayed. From showing transgender people as crazy, to criminalizing them, portraying them as people with a huge secret, cultural appropriation, outing them, etc. There’s even a whole group of films where the narrative is the same each time: transgender people are secretly killers.

Examples

Alongside with that chronological order of films showing the representation of transgender people, there are all sorts of famous transgender people telling their personal stories in the documentary. People like Laverne Cox and Elliot Fletcher. They tell us what all this negative representation has done to them and their lives. How they struggle to see theirselves represented at all on television and how that has caused so much confusion. It shows how hard their lives can be.

Slow Progress

The documentary ends with a more positive narrative. Representation of transgender people is getting better. Not as fast as it should, but there is progress. One great example of this is POSE, a series I personally loved so much that I shared it on this blog before. More great examples are stories of parents who are proud of their transgender children. I loved one scene in the documentary where a father talks about his daughter, calling her a unicorn, because she is so special. He said that because she is transgender, she is very close to herself and brave as well. I found that a beautiful example of what life should be like for transgender people.

Reality

But this documentary does not end with a happy message. It’s not like it used to be bad and now everything is good. No. Things are getting better, but we’re not there yet. Like the documentary showed in the beginning: with more and better representation comes more hate. And it’s us cisgendered people who need to do better. We should educate ourselves, our families, friends and kids better. Just today, a few a hours before I was writing this, I heard a transphobic message on the radio. We should fight that. We should fight for transgender people. For a future where everyone can be theirselves and live their lives happily.

Watch Disclosure

The first step is always to educate yourself. Watch the documentary Disclosure and learn from all the mistakes that were made by other people. And then do better. Also, vote for parties which recognize this issue and want to do something about it. And speak up when someone says something transphobic in your presence. There’s usually false information behind these comments people make. But eventually I think we should abolish all gender norms in general. Nail-polish or skirts should never be called girly anymore, nor should soccer and the color blue be consider boyish. Let’s break those gender norms. To make sure that all of us are safe and happy.

Watch Disclosure on Netflix.

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

Here’s what I posted most recently

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Dit is de route van de interrail die ik maakte de afgelopen maand! Over die interrail staat vandaag het eerste artikel (in een reeks van meerdere) online op mijn blog. Ik deel daarin namelijk mijn ervaring én wat tips en tricks. Je kan het nu vinden via de link in mijn bio 🚞.#duurzaamleven #duurzaamreizen #interrail Dit is hoe ik met de trein van Krásná Lípa (🇨🇿) naar Bratislava (🇸🇰) reisde. Dit was reisdag 3/6 van onze duurzame interrail reis. Ik ben vandaag 25 jaar geworden 🥳. Ik hoop heel hard dat dat betekent dat ik ongeveer op een kwart van mijn leven ben. En wat een verjaardag is dit! Ik mag het vieren in Kopenhagen met mijn favoriete persoon @casperchristiaanse , terwijl ik met de trein door Europa reis 🚃. Ik ben een gelukkig mens. Op naar de 50! Dit is hoe ik van Dresden (🇩🇪) naar Krásná Lípa (🇨🇿) reisde. Niet een bijster lange, maar wel een prachtige treinreis, omdat je door het nationaal park Boheems Zwitserland gaat. Dit was de tweede reisdag van onze interrail (2/6). We zijn op de helft van de interrail. Terwijl ik dit typ zijn we onderweg naar Warschau (8,5 uur vanaf Bratislava). Nog twee bestemmingen te ontdekken, maar wat hebben we nu al veel genoten. Elke dag goed en lang slapen, nieuw vegan eten proberen, bijzonder lang wandelen, spelletjes spelen, weinig schermtijd, genieten van de mooie uitzichten en zon: deze reis is genieten 💜. Dit is hoe ik met de trein van Amsterdam naar Dresden reisde 🚃. De interrail is officieel begonnen! (1/6) Vandaag verschijnt er geen artikel op mijn blog. En de komende twee weken hierna ook niet. Dat is voor het eerst, in de 7 jaar dat ik schrijf. Een heel leuk onderdeel van duurzaam leven is tweedehands kleding. Hier zijn 4 tweedehands outfits die ik droeg in augustus 2023 🌞. Je zag het al in de reel van vorige week: ik ben op vakantie geweest naar Gent, in België. Het was een ontzettende aanrader, en daarom verscheen er vandaag een artikel op mijn blog over de leukste en duurzaamste hotspots in Gent 🌆. Check it out via de link in mijn bio

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