“Trans Bechdel Test” is Assimilationist
I’ve been thinking a lot about Kiley May’s Trans Bechdel Test (I am unsure if simply calling it the May test at this point would resonate) since last Fall.
As May writes, “The Bechdel Test looks at whether a work features 1) at least two women who 2) talk to each other 3) about something other than a man. Ideally these should be named characters, but this last point is optional.”
May’s test brings this to the next level for trans representation:
“The May Test asks whether a transgender character is/has:
1. portrayed by a transgender actor (If not, why not? Is the role perpetuating the cisgender actor playing the “man in a dress” stereotype?)
2. safe, stable, and secure (not homeless, assaulted, or victimized — no more bloody noses!)
3. thriving, healthy, and happy
4. in love, loveable, and dating (not a lonely romantic pariah)
5. a trans identity not used as a joke or “surprise reveal” gag
6. an occupation that isn’t sex worker, dealer, or thief
7. a storyline that is not solely about their transition or surgery, or their struggle with their identity
Bonus points if the trans character is in a lead role or has a gender queer, non-conforming or neutral gender identity.”
I take issue with points 6 and 7, primarily, and points 2 and 3 to the extent that they touch on similar themes.
Point 6
Point 6 reminded me of a contention from someone I worked with at a transgender organization, who said that trans activism should not be linked inherently to sex worker activism. May similarly critiques Tangerine and other films for its depiction of trans women as sex workers. On my read, Tangerine serves to humanize sex workers. Instead of framing this as an occupation not worthy of depiction on screen, why not frame it as an intimate relation that has existed for centuries and that deserves to be decriminalized? Who is the consumer May assumes Tangerine was made for? Might not trans sex workers who see themselves in the film feel seen?
Similarly, Tangerine serves, in one reading, to humanize sex workers. Instead of framing this as an occupation not worthy of depiction on screen, why not frame it as an intimate relation that has existed for centuries and that deserves to be decriminalized? Who is the consumer May assumes Tangerine was made for? Might not trans sex workers who see themselves in the film feel seen?
Point 7
May’s Test also says the storyline cannot be a struggle with transition or surgery or their identity, which Tangerine also fails. I’d contest this point as applied to Tangerine, in which all of the transwomen are quite solidly accepting of their identities. It may fail the original Bechdel test because the plot centers on a love triangle, and a chase after a man. But I don’t think there was a grand trans identity crisis that the May test means to check for.
Applying this point to Tangerine helps to make my ultimate point clear: what is a movie about a trans person if it does not include some kind of identity struggle? I accept (and have written before in a review about The Danish Girl) that we deserve films that do not focus on transition/surgery. But so many films use the narrative device of an identity struggle. To frame that as negative on a test seems bizarre.
Sex work and identity struggles are both realities for many trans people in the world. Assimilationist LGBT politics would have us ignore the class struggle that comes with being trans. But Angela Davis has spoken about the significance trans people can bring to an abolition movement because we can attempt to rupture one of the core organizing principles of capitalism: gender.
This video game from a Japanese trans perspective does exactly that, showing how the gender binary causes anxiety. This is a lived experience for a trans person, but it also has myriad negative implications for cis people. A trans-led world could question why sociality must take place in gendered onsen. Why must our bodies be hidden from people of other genders? How could we restructure early childhood consent and respect education such that a diversity of bodies would be accepted instead of made illicit to look at or think about?
I worry that we are creating the trans version of the gay marriage movement if we allow tests like this one to prevail. Capitalism is the problem, not survival strategies and coping realities trans people use to get through the world. If “safe, stable, and secure,” “thriving, healthy, happy” (read: white middle class) trans identities are missing on screen, I agree with May that it is likely because society has not accepted trans people today. Trans people should be in more films and TV shows depicting this demographic, to the extent that we want our media to depict such lives. I disagree with the remedy proposed by her test: erasing low-income trans people from the national conversation and representing only those trans people who look like, in her set of requirements, pretty basic characters on screen.
Bonus Points
First off, reducing nonconforming identities to “bonus points” and not giving it an actual prong on the test is quite literally diminishing their importance, and begs the creation of a gender non-binary test in response to this one. The options are limitless.
“1) At least two characters 2) talk to each other 3) and share their pronouns without event.”
“1) At least one character 2) with a speaking role 3) is discussed by another character in the third person 4) using their previously established pronouns.”
“1) At least one character 2) with a leading or speaking role 3) is never gendered by another character.”
Non-binary people use all sorts of pronouns, including “he/him/his,” “they/them/theirs,” and “she/her/hers.” Until a character establishes their pronouns, we can never know if other characters are misgendering them. It’s not as easy as waiting for a “they/them” to pop up, as thrilling as that would be for me as someone who uses that pronoun. We cannot know a person is trans or non-binary just by looking at them; their identity would become salient only upon their sharing it. The sort of pronoun-focused test proposed here allows the slow and steady deconstruction of cisnormative gender practices, even if it does not create an explicitly non-binary character. This is a start — and very similar to the relatively basic ask that the Bechdel Test made. It would surely be similarly difficult to achieve.
This test is the definition of assimilation, and I can’t get behind it. It is not going to bring us to trans liberation. Such a movement should be led by our poor, incarcerated, sex worker communities within the trans community because they have experienced some of the worst oppression under our capitalist state.
