When considering options for my transgender-oriented research proposal, I had countless angles to choose from.  The medical process of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a untapped treasure trove of data in and of itself.  As a Digital Media Telecommunications major, however, I’ll spare my proposal of any unnecessary legwork.  Focusing on my own framework will certainly make do as a gateway for the time being.

Fortunately, broad swaths of my first impressions can easily be transferred over to media.  My original idea was to analyze the quality-of-life among transgender people on the basis of age.  As it happens, networks have upheld a systemic ageism bias.  This has been noted as far back as the dawn of cable in the 1980s according to Denise D. Bielby and William T. Bielby (2001).  18-49 year olds are still generally being catered to above all else, and that’s translated to a looking-glass self of disproportionately young adult characters in fiction.  The outcome is an industry where older actors struggle to embrace different stages of life according to Media Report to Women (1999).

(Pictured:  The first three publicity photos when searching “Hollywood” on Pixabay are all flawlessly attractive young people)

These problems are only orders of magnitude worse for older transgender people.  After all, LGBT representation is still overwhelmingly young–both figuratively and literally–in terms of cultural acceptance.  With Hollywood’s long-held stereotype of all old people being “traditional” and grumpy, trans people over the age of 50 are left almost completely without representation.

My question for the sake of the research proposal might be as follows:

1. What is the extent to which age characterizes transgender people in media?
2. Alternatively, how do ageist and transphobic stereotypes in the media correlate to popular perception of transgender people in real-life?

This research topic is ultra-specific, but its importance within transgender spaces cannot be understated.  We still live in an age where transgender people are only beginning to find acceptance in the Western world.  Waves of older transgender people are still acclimating this newly opened environment, yet they are woefully underrepresented.  This has led many people to believe that being trans is little more than a recent trend of exclusively teenagers taking dominant culture hostage.  Understanding these dichotomies is vital to the progression of transgender rights.

Research on the topic is difficult yet manageable.  Within this blog post, I’ve already scoured for sources using the Communications & Mass Media Collection, Communications & Mass Media Complete, and the LGBT Magazine Archive courtesy of the Forsyth Library in search of sources.  Much work still has yet to be done on the topic, but if I don’t accept the challenge, I can’t imagine who will.

Works cited

Bielby, D. D., & Bielby, W. T. (2001). Audience Segmentation and Age Stratification Among Television Writers. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 45(3), 391. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A79167591/PPCM?u=klnb_fhsuniv&sid=bookmark-PPCM&xid=c144fe70

Women 40 and older underrepresented in acting jobs, Screen Actors Guild says. (1999). Media Report to Women., 27(2), 3.