Dear Mike Papantonio,
Enough with the ‘Anne Coulter as transsexual’ crap, please. I work with transwomen all the time and believe me, the trans community doesn’t want her.
But the thing is, you’re sinking to her stupid levels by insulting her that way. Whether or not she’s masculine or feminine doesn’t matter; what matters is that she’s full of hate, opportunism, and idiocy.
There are some damned cool trans people in the world, and some damned cool masculine women, neither of whom wants to be insulted by being compared to or having anything in common with Anne Coulter.
Helen Boyd
author, My Husband Betty
Which episode are you responding to? I do Ring of Fire on podcast, so I’m usually a couple of weeks behind in listening to it. I’d be *happy* to add my own comment on this, but would kind of like to hear what he said first.
it’s the june 17th show. the “pap attack” is actually called “ann the man.”
http://ringoffireradio.com/show.asp?jid=122
So right!
I can see why he thinks it’s a funny joke – arrogance is traditionally considered a “male” trait (since girls are discouraged from it from birth much more strongly than boys are), and Coultier is basically arrogance incarnate. But telling somebody “you’re not being gender-obedient” when you mean “you’re being obnoxious” is stupid. Trying to trick people into behaving decently by telling them that their gender demands it is not going to fix anything.
Wow! You beat me to it! Thanks Helen!!!
I’m about to write Air America’s main office to tell them to make a network-wide policy not to broadcast transphobic comments. If we all jump on AAR’s case, I’d bet that the suits would take notice because they want every listener they can get.
Reciently, Randi Rhodes has made several transphobic comments up and beyond Ann Coulter jokes, and she totally pissed me off. If it wouldn’t be for Rhodes and Pap using trans as the butt-end of their jokes, I would likely have respect for them.
At least Sam Seder demonstrates sensitivity towards people like us. His interview of Leslie Feinberg was good exposure for the community.
You can contact AAR’s main office by snail at this address.
Air America Radio
641 Sixth Avenue
4th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Or fill out the feedback form at – http://www.airamericaradio.com/contact
Randi is still doing it. I wouldn’t have expected it from Papantonio.
On June 28, 2007, Randi Rhodes once again used the transgender community as a punch line to attack Ann Coulter, and in a way that poses a risk and danger to us all.
For several weeks prior, whenever I tuned into her show (usually the last half hour or so before Rachel Maddow comes on), I would either hear Rhodes claim that Coulter is transsexual, or that stupid bridge piece she uses to head into a commercial break, the one that says it’s okay to point out Coulter’s “adam’s apple” and ends with the phrase “it’s a man, baby!”
But last Thursday took the cake. Near the end of Rhodes’ show, she was in a particularly vicious attack against Coulter, making all the usual allegations regarding Coulter’s gender status, etc. Then Rhodes made the statement that she was informed by a third party that all transgendered persons undergoing hormone replacement therapy are mentally unstable as a direct result of HRT.
The third party Rhodes cites as source was not a therapist, an endocrinologist, a psychiatrist, a surgeon, an electrologist, or even another transgendered person. Rhodes’ source, as described by her, is an acquaintance who once met a person she thinks is transgendered, and that said person behaved unusually.
This from a person who claims to do more research for her shows than any other radio talk show host. Despite the fact that medically supervised HRT helps stabilize mentally the transgendered patient (who typically suffers from anxiety and depression resulting from unresolved gender issues), Rhodes made her blanket statement towards all transgendered persons in another personal attack on Coulter for an alleged (and likely false) gender identity issue.
Transgendered persons are already subjected to irrational discrimination in employment, housing, education, medical care, finances, child custody, etc., and are most often the targets of violence since we are very visible early on. Rhodes’ comments only fuels myths, fears, and bigotry. In my case, being “out” even at work, I was asked questions about the validity of Rhodes’ claims. Fortunately, I have far more credibility on this issue than Rhodes, who herself has a lengthy history of attacks and slurs against the transgendered population. Otherwise, I might have lost my job or been evicted from my home.
I shudder to think of how many people out there may have believed Rhodes’ claims, and what the result will be for all of us in the coming weeks. Rhodes has had a history of offensive remarks and slurs directed against the transgendered community dating back to at least 1987. While she no longer uses more extreme name-calling tactics used early on in her career, she now is claiming to have medical or other scientific “proof” that justifies her using us as punch-lines in her personal attacks on Coulter.
Even if Coulter were transgendered, it would be inappropriate at best to use that issue when it is Coulter’s political, social, and religious views that are the issue, none of which have anything to do with her status (or lack thereof) as a trans-person. Quite frankly, I would suspect Coulter of hyperthyroidism or an eating disorder, given how thin she is, long before I suspected her of being transgendered. If she someday is discovered to be transgendered (highly unlikely), I want to meet her surgeon!
For Rhodes to make false claims that even Fox Noise Channel’s Bill O’Reilly and the 700 Club’s Pat Robertson would find offensive demonstrates that Rhodes needs to either apologize for the slurs, insults, and misinformation, or she should seek life in another line of work (perhaps as a research assistant to Rush Limbaugh?). Clearly, she does little if any research into her shows, and prefers the “shoot from the lips” form of attack journalism, especially attacking the most vulnerable population in the United States.
We as a community need to get far more vocal on this problem, and put a stop to it. We can start by letting Air America know that Rhodes’ comments last week were unacceptable. We can follow up by flooding her phone lines, email, and message boards every single time she attacks us and uses us as a punch-line to make personal attacks, as well as every time she uses that stupid bridge piece.
If this fails to alter her behavior on this subject, we can next begin contacting her employer (Clear Channel), and her sponsors. This was the tactic that worked back in 1987. We cannot afford to let this continue.
[...] also dismayed at the gender-based cracks about Ann. For a group that claims to care about equality for all LGBTQ people, it seems like an odd [...]
[...] also dismayed at the gender-based cracks about Ann. For a group that claims to care about equality for all LGBTQ people, it seems like an odd [...]