Locke, if you’re still around, It may do you well to know that many transwomen have suffered violence at the hands of gay men when they learned of transition plans. In my experience, gay men are MUCH less understanding than straights, not that straight men are bastions of understanding.

Love is often deadly to us. and we don’t owe you shit about our pasts.

The show only works because male sexuality is so fragile.

Men are fragile. I know- I’ve broken a few

i was reading ur page on ”there’s something about miriam” i’ve been hearing and reading alot about it and wanted to check it out for myself. i was wondering if u knew when it would air in the united states…

please e-mail me back

In my opinion, this show was a stupid idea. Even though transsexuals may prefer to be referred to a member of the future gender does not change the fact that they are a member of their current gender.

“One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an earful of cider.”

Year 2003 Version:

“Never, never, never, agree to be on a reality show.”

No matter how disgusting these men may be, I hope they win their case, as the world would be a better place for not having this show see the light of day. Too bad it’s too late for “Joe Bachelor” or whatever the fuck.

I find that there is a huge difference between the terms “gender” and “sex”.

Richard said, “Even though transsexuals may prefer to be referred to a member of the future gender does not change the fact that they are a member of their current gender.”

I’d say it “does not change the fact that they are a memeber of their current sex.” Miriam personifies the feminine gender, which is just associated with being a female.

I don’t see sexual assualt as they willingly snuggled with her. They found her “woman”-enough for that much.

An analogy could be drawn with the case of the HIV-positive man who had sex with two women, not telling them that this was the case, who was subsequently convicted for grievous bodily harm and jailed. Had one of his friends also told the women that this guy was HIV-negative, then this friend could’ve been charged with conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm or aiding and abetting. The same goes for Sky Broadcasting in this case.

Now, I can understand PinkDreamPoppies being upset by the revulsion the men showed when they knew the truth of the situation, but that is not the point of the situation. It’s a question of informed consent, which was clearly missing in this case.

Also, hairsplitting about whether referring to Miriam as a woman was true or not doesn’t matter.
What counted was the impression she and SKy Broadcasting gave to the men.

If you tell me, you’re a woman, I’ll believe you, but I would wish you’d tell me that you’re a pre-op transsexual before we had sex, if only to save some bother during that crucial first time.

I don’t think what the producers are guilty of is sexual assault. But if the current fad for “reality” television continues, then the entertainment industry is going to have to follow the example of academia and develop guidelines for the ethical treatment of human experimental subjects.

–Kynn

Is the relevant legal issue one of consent? If so, how much do you need to know about your partner for your apparent consent to count as real consent? Remember, in the HIV case, the woman “consents” to sexual intercourse. In the Miriam case, the suitors consent to … dating? Kissing? Groping?

The men on There’s Something About Miriam, however, were not actually harmed in any real way. They were duped, they groped, kissed, and cuddled a preoperative transsexual, but their health and their lives are not at risk in the same way those two women were.

As to the question of informed consent… I’m not sure what the laws are like in the U.K., and what legal precedent has been set, but I think a more appropriately analogous situation would be if I went to a bar, met a woman, had a friend refer to her as she, and later discover that she was a preoperative transsexual and my friend knew that all along and chose not to tell me (for whatever reason). By U.S. law, and I’m assuming by U.K. law, that’s not grounds for saying that I wasn’t properly informed and therefore was sexually assaulted.

I think Raznor makes a good point: if the contract refers to Miriam as a woman, the guys probably have a bit more grounding for the case. I assume, though, as I mentioned in my post, that the contract refers to “the contestant” or “Miriam” at all times rather than using “he” or “she.”

Sadly, I can’t hope that the men in this situation win their case because it would lead to reforms in the reality TV show genre. I think the reality TV show thing needs to curl up and die in a dank hole somewhere, but I think that there’s no legal basis for this case and a victory in it would be a further reinforcement of anti-trans prejudice.

As I see it, this case is nothing more than a bunch of blokes who let their hormones lead them into a situation where they unintentionally did something homoerotic and are now searching for some legal way to mend their wounded pride.

The most important point I’m trying to make, and want to repeat it to be clear, is that if this had happened with six guys in a bar, a preoperative transexual, and those six guys’ friend, the case would be laughed out of court.

Why would a station launch a show with such an inflammatory concept ? Do they have no long term memory ? Do they actually like keeping scads of lawyers in guccis and big diamonds ? WTF ???

Poltoonist Mikhaela B. Reid made a touching cartoon about this tragedy, as well as many sensitive and well-thought posts (mainly about the awful media coverage, who kept insulting Araujo’s memory by using her male first name) on her blog, with excerpts from moving letters she received from other transgendered people.

A year old, but still a required reading for anyone unfamiliar with the issue.

But, you know, as easy as it is to blame these asshole executives, you also have to take into account the asshole audience who actually watches this shit.