I am thrilled for Caitlyn Jenner that she can finally be her true self. I have great respect for her for going through something so challenging in the eye of the world’s media, but I am shocked at the way the media has treated it.
Before her transition, Caitlyn was an olympic gold medal winner, and any news articles written about her 20 or 30 years ago would describe her as an American sporting hero. Not once was there an article whose main focus was her appearance instead of her successes.
Now everywhere I look, on the train, in shops, on the internet; the only stance the media has now is how beautiful Caitlyn is. You’d be forgiven for forgetting that this is the same person who has won olympic gold medals. Naturally, because of societal norms and pressures, we all want to be deemed attractive, but it is important to remember that Caitlyn Jenner is part of a multimillion dollar family who have access to the world’s best surgeons. Caitlyn Jenner is still the same woman who appeared in the Diane Swayer interview, pre operations, but it seems only now that the newspapers dare to call her beautiful. Only now she has conformed to our society's expectations of how a beautiful women should look.
I think I’m trying to make two points here; the different way in which the media treat men and women, even when they have accomplished the same achievements, and the fact that people who are transgender are only fully accepted by society when they have spent a lot of money conforming to our idea of beauty.
Transgender people are still the least economically active group of people in the western world, so many people who find themselves in the same position as Caitlyn will not be able to afford all the treatment she has had, nor may they want it. Therefore it is important that we continue to fight societal pressures so that people can feel comfortable in their own skin, despite how they look.
Written by Georgina
Picture Credit: Ellen
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