Bruce Jenner

[the G-man]

For reasons I'm not going to go into I found myself watching a lot of bad reality TV today, primarily Pawn Stars and the Kardashians.

Damn. Bruce Jenner comes off as a really decent, level headed, but completely ineffectual older man who's surrendered his life to his crazy wife and fame whore kids/step-kids.

The biggest kick in the nuts I saw was when his step-son (who Bruce raised as his own kid since the boy was three) was bemoaning during dinner having no father figure in his life. Bruce, naturally, took umbrage this and started to say something to the wife. The wife completely ignored him and kept chatting on her blackberry during the meal and didn't even recall the conversation later.

This guy was an Olympic athlete and, bad plastic surgery decision aside, WTF happened?

 

[Robert D. Robot]

There is another thread going on here right now that Bruce might like to join in on: "Anyone Wish They Were Doing Something Else?"

.... or even "Anyone Wish They Were Doing Someone Else?"

If it were me, I would be hating every day that I woke up in that ridiculous household....

 

[Borgminister]

Sack time.

 

[Therin of Andor]

This guy was an Olympic athlete and, bad plastic surgery decision aside, WTF happened?

I really liked his acting role in the Village People movie, "Can't Stop the Music".

 

[the G-man]

WTF happened?

Man, when I asked that question nearly three years ago, never would have guessed this.

 

[auntiehill]

It's such a drastic change--physically, hormonally, emotionally. Aren't people supposed to get several years of counseling for beginning the transition?

I feel sorry for him. Either he's lived his whole life (he's what, 65?) with a gender disorder (which had to be terrible) or he's going through a crisis and has been allowed to rush into something that should have been much more gradual. Either way, I feel bad for him and think he really needs to be left the hell alone.

 

[the G-man]

I agree with everything you just wrote. But it's hard to leave someone the hell alone when they decide to publicize what they're doing, complete with a reality show

 

[auntiehill]

He's doing a reality show???

Fuck. Well, there's goes my feeling sorry for him, right out the window.

 

[Green Shirt]

I agree with everything you just wrote. But it's hard to leave someone the hell alone when they decide to publicize what they're doing, complete with a reality show

In life, most of us get what we ask for.

 

[the G-man]

He's doing a reality show???

Fuck. Well, there's goes my feeling sorry for him, right out the window.

Yep. According to the link I posted above:

• the 65-year-old reality star is filming his momentous journey, to be shared with viewers on a docu-series this year. "It will air when he is ready to be open about his transition," the source tells PEOPLE. "But he's acting more and more confident and seems very happy."

In his defense, he might legitimately believe that doing so could help others (or their familes) struggling with this. But considering what he's done with the past ten years of his life on cable TV I tend to think it's more of a cash/attention grab.

 

[auntiehill]

^ Yeah, me too.

 

[Melakon]

I actually thought he was dead at one point because he'd dropped out of sight for a while.

 

[Trekker4747]

It's such a drastic change--physically, hormonally, emotionally. Aren't people supposed to get several years of counseling for beginning the transition?

I feel sorry for him. Either he's lived his whole life (he's what, 65?) with a gender disorder (which had to be terrible) or he's going through a crisis and has been allowed to rush into something that should have been much more gradual. Either way, I feel bad for him and think he really needs to be left the hell alone.

You can't just "rush into" getting gender-reassignment surgery. It involves many years of counseling before even starting to get even the more minor surgeries and getting the actual SRS surgery requires living for a year as the desired gender.

Jenner being in his 60s seems like a very, very late point in life to decide to make this change. I suppose it's possible he's struggled with it all his life and only recently felt "comfortable" enough to transition or simply decided he didn't care what anyone else thinks to make the transition.

Transitioning is hard enough for people in younger adulthood, I can't imagine what it'd be like being at an age where you can collect Social Security.

Whatever the case may be, I hope the road he's decided to go down makes him happy and feel more fulfilled in his remaining life, I can't imagine transitioning this late will be easy but, I suppose, it depends on how far he intends to go with it. (If he'll get actual SRS or not.)

Again, I find it odd he's made it almost his entire life without feeling the need to transition but I suspect he actually has a gender identity disorder in order to make the transition because, again, it's not something you get to "just do", no matter how much money you may have (I suspect.)

Good luck to him, or I suppose more appropriate to use his desired gender and say: Good luck to her.

 

[the G-man]

Jenner being in his 60s seems like a very, very late point in life to decide to make this change. I suppose it's possible he's struggled with it all his life and only recently felt "comfortable" enough to transition or simply decided he didn't care what anyone else thinks to make the transition.

That, or being married to a Kardashian really, REALLY, messes with a guy's head.

 

[JWPlatt]

The biggest kick in the nuts I saw was when his step-son (who Bruce raised as his own kid since the boy was three) was bemoaning during dinner having no father figure in his life. Bruce, naturally, took umbrage this and started to say something to the wife. The wife completely ignored him and kept chatting on her blackberry during the meal and didn't even recall the conversation later.

Current events validate the perceptive step-son.

 

[urbandefault]

That whole family is messed up. Big time.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

This whole thread is messed up. Big time.

As this article puts it, unless and until Jenner makes public comments about what's going on, maybe everybody should just chill out and mind their own business. It's been pretty gross to watch the months of speculation, as if possibly being trans is something to gossip and pass judgments about and impugn families over.

I can see some value in a documentary show about it--trans people could use more positive media appearances, since being trans is still very fraught and difficult and even dangerous, and anything that helps the general public understand and gives trans people positive examples is a good move in my eyes. Will this documentary show be it? Hopefully. I guess we'll see.

In the meantime, it'd be nice if people stopped speculating and acting like if Jenner is trans, it's some kind of scandal. It's not. It's a personal issue that's only the public's business if Jenner chooses to speak of it.

 

[JWPlatt]

"Documentary" puts a respectful spin on the circus act if it is in fact a reality show, and all pretense of being a private, "personal" matter is abandoned. Your hopes for a "positive media appearance" is already scuttled by any connection with the name "Kardashian."

 

[Robert Maxwell]

"Documentary" puts a respectful spin on the circus act if it is in fact a reality show, and all pretense of being a private, "personal" matter is abandoned. Your hopes for a "positive media appearance" is already scuttled by any connection with the name "Kardashian" or "reality show."

Not caring one way or the other about the Kardashians, myself, your over-the-top attitude about it betrays what might be an unhealthy interest in their affairs.

 

[cultcross]

The biggest kick in the nuts I saw was when his step-son (who Bruce raised as his own kid since the boy was three) was bemoaning during dinner having no father figure in his life. Bruce, naturally, took umbrage this and started to say something to the wife. The wife completely ignored him and kept chatting on her blackberry during the meal and didn't even recall the conversation later.

Current events validate the perceptive step-son.

Transphobic comments, whether intended as "humour" or not, are not acceptable.


All posters are reminded that hate speech generally is not accepted on TrekBBS, and in that spirit the thread can continue...