Queer Eye season 2 celebrates trans man in show first

We must start to follow the lead of this episode: to profile and platform trans people positively, subtly, and generously

In the current slew of transphobic media, it’s become a rare occurrence to see a positive or thoughtful representation of the transgender experience on a mainstream platform.

Just this week alone Munroe Bergdorf chose to stand down from the keynote position of the BFI’s Women With a Movie Camera conference after a heinously transphobic petition was set up calling for her removal; parenting forum Mumsnet had to place regulations on the ways their users discuss gender after it had become a hotbed of transmisogyny and TERFism, and there was a Twitter storm after Cancer Research referred to ‘people with cervixes’ instead of ‘women’ in their recent smear test campaign.

Transphobia in Britain, as perpetuated by much media, continues at both an alarming and violent level.

After its release on Friday, Queer Eye 2 — known for focussing usually on cisgender, heterosexual men — widened their intake to include Skyler, the subject of episode five, and a trans man.

While the central format was much the same — these five gay men arriving to work through the complexities of masculinity with each subject — the messages of the episode were much more powerful and important than their usually tearjerking work.

The episode tackled some of Skyler’s worries: from finding the right tailor, to changing the gender marker on his ID. To most, people see these things as mundane, but the episode highlighted the daily micro-aggressions and difficulties that can often come with transition.

It was powerful to see representation of Skyler’s experience on such a mainstream platform, and saw Skyler also teaching the Fab Five, as well as the viewer, about the usually overlooked experience of life for some trans folk.

While, overall, the episode was a powerful portrayal of the trans masculine experience, it also saw Skyler expend labour by having to explain simple things regarding pronouns, for example. Starting the episode with a video of his top surgery was also unnecessary, and perpetuates the idea that the trans experience comes down to whether someone’s had surgery or not, when it certainly doesn’t.

This doesn’t negate Skyler’s experience and authenticity, but shows the editors are more concerned with educating the heterosexual viewer over protecting the safety of a their trans audience.

This aside, the episode closed with Tyler saying, “I feel more comfortable in this moment than I’ve ever felt in my life,” — with the help of the Fab Five who showed him ways to dress to minimise his feelings of dysphoria, and helped him work on his skin after the effects of Testosterone.

Now, we are in a critical, and appalling, position when it comes to society’s treatment of trans folk in the media and in reality. We must start to follow the lead of this episode: to profile and platform trans people positively, subtly, and generously.

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