Salon.com: Many accomplished artists — actors, musicians, writers — are able to transcend the attributes society attached to them that are, quite often, part of what made them famous in the first place.
Beyoncé is a black musician, for certain, and proud of it. But, by now, that does not circumscribe her value. Nor does Ellen DeGeneres' queerness make her just or only a queer talk-show host.
2 comments:
Hmm... This is an interesting topic. Can anyone ever really escape their identity in their work? Can they do something and not be labeled by their ethnicity or gender identity? I think it would be quite difficult to. Black actors fifty years ago probably found it just as difficult to separate their work from their skin color, because no matter what they did they were putting themselves out their for every one to see and comment on. And do to the fact that they were on the forefront of pushing for more diversity in their field and acting as a role model for younger black people in the world, they were viewed through a lens of who they are and what their skin color is. I feel like it is the same way for trans actors today. Of course it should not matter with their work about what their gender is, but due to the fact that they are trans people who are high up in their fields, they are going to noted as such, because that is a big deal and a good example of the progress we are trying to make as a society.
It is very interesting to see Hari Nef’s perspective on this. I feel like so often in this time if someone comes out as gay or transgender that is all they are associated as which is honestly very upsetting. Yes, being transgender is not the norm, but what makes it someone’s only identifier. In the same way I am a woman, Hari Nef is a woman, it just so happens that she was not biologically born that way. While I do see Cooper’s point in saying that you almost have to have a connection with your gender and your race, I feel like that is a personal connection that needs to be there versus a public observation. There is a huge difference between individually acknowledging your own personal growth, your own personal experiences, your own personal life and having it publicized and being used as the only way to identify and describe you. Yes, it is important to recognize the successes transgender people are making (and even more so, how incredible it is that Nef has been able to make it in an industry that has had such a strong stance on gender identity), because up until recent history transgender people have not even been acknowledged, but there is still something to be said about separating one's gender or race or sexuality from them as a just a successful human being.
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