This is a bucket of shit. If someone thows shit at us, we throw shit back at them. We start a shit fight. We throw so much shit back at them that they can't pick up shit, they can't throw shit, they can't do shit.*

Gwen Araujo, Dead at 17So, Middle Sex was a very interesting and even handed documentary about transgender last night that by and large avoided prurience and sensationalism in favour of balance and reason.

Only thing I had a slight argument with was how Thailand was held up as a paragon of tolerance and Buddhist-based peace between male, female and the middle sex. I think the acceptance of the third way that is demonstrated in Thailand is great, and it was great to see the interviews with all the Katoeys and the diversity that exists even within their community.

But having said that, there is still an acceptance that predominantly, the sex industry is where these people belong. And while that is the case in the world, while transgendered people are objectified rather than treated as individuals, then the end result will still be horrific instances of intolerance and lack of understanding like the horrific murder of Gwen Araujo, kicked, beten and strangled to death in the by an angry mob at the age of 17, that opened the show.

*quote from last night's The Thick of It, discussed previously, which I found curiously appropriate.


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