“You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all. I was like, “Yo, is something wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist?" And part of what inspired me, was this deep desire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors so that kids like me might see themselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it.” ― Junot Díaz
Do you Remember the first trans* stories you saw and heard?
As the landscape of trans stories can still fall short, be laden with shallow characters and tired tropes, having tools to help us with filtering, critiquing and debriefing media can help.
Paulo Friere "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" gives way to Agusto Boal "Theatre of the Oppressed"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2xjQab_cYc
Can we approach trans tropes in the media with a similar tactic?
-hear the message
-identify it's voice
-counter it, shut it down or dismiss it.