Caitlyn Jenner on Cover of Vanity Fair

[RandallT]

It's absolutely a publicity play, but that doesn't mean it's a negative thing, guys.

Sometimes an actor or actress will do publicity to raise awareness for their charity. Is that a negative thing? So why can't this be a "publicity play" that's positive?

Eyed, man, I hope nobody you ever love or care about is ever addicted to anything, is homosexual, is conflicted about their gender identity, etc.

QFT.  One of my daughter's best friends was always a "tomboy." (is that phrase derogatory now? Not meant to be in this context!). Over the past few months, she "came out" on social media to the world as feeling she is a boy trapped in a girl's body. You can imagine the difficulties she was then having at school now as kids snicker in the hallways at school.  This episode with Bruce Jenner has been rather helpful to her, from what I gather.

If it's not part of your world, no sweat. But if it helps make a few others with a similar condition feel like they are not freaks, then I think it's helpful for them to get through it. Maybe they don't feel quite so alone, now that a pretty famous person has gone so public with it.

As a parent of a girl who is friends with a person struggling with this, I'm still not sure how I handle it! When they are together, is it still like two girls (not a big deal), or do I treat it like a boy and girl together (which I'd likely put more restrictions around). Parenting!

[Mr. Desmond]

Good post. Too bad none of the poll options reflected this kind of thinking.

I think the cover shocked me ... wasn't expecting it, and frankly, I was not certain how to approach it, so I tried humor. Thinking back, not the best approach.  Would post the poll differently now with more options.

But I think one of the purposes of the cover was to shock people. It worked.

[Golfingdad]

It's absolutely a publicity play, but that doesn't mean it's a negative thing, guys.

Sometimes an actor or actress will do publicity to raise awareness for their charity. Is that a negative thing? So why can't this be a "publicity play" that's positive?

When you word it like this, I agree.  But when it's worded negatively and with opinionated nonsense such as:

"I don't believe his transformation was done SOLELY for the pub" and

"He could easily avoid most of the publicity if he wanted to"

then I have to strongly disagree.

The first statement, and the fact that it leaves the door open for the possibility that somebody is actually changing sexes at least partially for publicity, is insulting to me as a human being.  The second statement is just not thought through.  How, exactly, would a person who is already a member of a family that graces the cover of every tabloid on every newsstand seemingly every week go about "easily avoiding" that while at the same time going from a famous American decathlete to a woman?

[mvmac]

Some people think it's a publicity stunt which I disagree with, I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to make but it gives you an insight to how "trapped" he felt in his body.

To clarify when I said publicity stunt, I was referring to some of the stuff I've seen on The Facebook where people think Jenner went through the whole gender transition for publicity. Yes the interview and being photographed for the cover of magazines is a publicity play.

[Ernest Jones]

I think the cover shocked me ... wasn't expecting it, and frankly, I was not certain how to approach it, so I tried humor. Thinking back, not the best approach.  Would post the poll differently now with more options. But I think one of the purposes of the cover was to shock people. It worked.

Yeah, these things can be shocking and hard to digest. Sometimes making a joke is about the only reaction one can come up with, it buys you time to think through your emotions. I don't know any transgender people, but I hope I would be able to deal with it and just treat them like anyone else. John Irving wrote a book called In One Person that was pretty eye-opening about the subject. I recommend it to anyone that wants to get a better perspective. Don't worry Eyad, the book won't give you a bad case of the Gays. Lol.

[Mac62]

Let's compare apples to apples, errrr, Photoshopped to Photoshopped :-)

As hard as it is to be objective knowing what we know, I still say Caitlyn wins.

[Abu3baid]

It's absolutely a publicity play, but that doesn't mean it's a negative thing, guys.

Sometimes an actor or actress will do publicity to raise awareness for their charity. Is that a negative thing? So why can't this be a "publicity play" that's positive?

Eyed, man, I hope nobody you ever love or care about is ever addicted to anything, is homosexual, is conflicted about their gender identity, etc.

Thanks Erik.. just for the record I was only commenting on picture, the poll question said Foxxy and I answered nooooooooooooooooooooooo and made my comment about it.  Transgender people or gender identity isn't something that those people can control, and they have a very tough life ahead of them in this world and I feel for them.  I am thankful indeed that no one I know has been inflicted with that kind of gender identity issue, because it must be hard to deal with by them and their families.

As far as repulsive there are women who were born and are women that I find repulsive as well.. example is an Arab x factor judge with enough plastic surgeries that would make a batch of pepsi bottles.

Yeah, these things can be shocking and hard to digest. Sometimes making a joke is about the only reaction one can come up with, it buys you time to think through your emotions. I don't know any transgender people, but I hope I would be able to deal with it and just treat them like anyone else. John Irving wrote a book called In One Person that was pretty eye-opening about the subject. I recommend it to anyone that wants to get a better perspective.

Don't worry Eyad, the book won't give you a bad case of the Gays. Lol.

Maybe I'll take a look.. although I find your comment distasteful.

[Ernest Jones]

Thanks Erik.. just for the record I was only commenting on picture, the poll question said Foxxy and I answered nooooooooooooooooooooooo and made my comment about it.  Transgender people or gender identity isn't something that those people can control, and they have a very tough life ahead of them in this world and I feel for them.  I am thankful indeed that no one I know has been inflicted with that kind of gender identity issue, because it must be hard to deal with by them and their families.   As far as repulsive there are women who were born and are women that I find repulsive as well.. example is an Arab x factor judge with enough plastic surgeries that would make a batch of pepsi bottles. [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/123316/] [/URL] Maybe I'll take a look.. although I find your comment distasteful.

It was a great book, you might actually enjoy it. Very sad but also pretty funny at times because, after all, it is John Irving.

[newtogolf]

To clarify when I said publicity stunt, I was referring to some of the stuff I've seen on The Facebook where people think Jenner went through the whole gender transition for publicity. Yes the interview and being photographed for the cover of magazines is a publicity play.

That's my feeling on it.  I in no way believe the surgery was for publicity and I do hope she's happy living and looking like a female.  That said she could have had the surgery and gone off to enjoy her new found happiness without high profile photo shoots, television interviews and magazine covers.

Do I blame her for taking the money, not entirely, I also blame the media for wanting to exploit the situation for their own gain as well.

[colin007]

I had to have a talk with my tenth graders this morning, they came in making some ignorant comments. We talked about the differences between sexuality, gender, biology...interesting stuff from the kids...And this was Spanish class!

[Golfingdad]

That said she could have had the surgery and gone off to enjoy her new found happiness without high profile photo shoots, television interviews and magazine covers.

She could have certainly gone on to "enjoy" everything without publicity she COULD CONTROL, but no way she goes on without tons of tabloid publicity that she has no say over.  And without coming forward like this, the tabloid publicity likely takes on a much more negative and speculative tone.

"Bruce Jenner is a cross-dresser!!!"

"What is Bruce trying to hide from us!?!?!?!"

"Is Bruce Jenner gay?!?!?!?!"

Coming forward on her own terms like this makes loads of sense ... the publicity for somebody already in the spotlight was going to be completely unavoidable, so why not get in front of it?

[newtogolf]

She could have certainly gone on to "enjoy" everything without publicity she COULD CONTROL, but no way she goes on without tons of tabloid publicity that she has no say over.  And without coming forward like this, the tabloid publicity likely takes on a much more negative and speculative tone.

"Bruce Jenner is a cross-dresser!!!"

"What is Bruce trying to hide from us!?!?!?!"

"Is Bruce Jenner gay?!?!?!?!"

Coming forward on her own terms like this makes loads of sense ... the publicity for somebody already in the spotlight was going to be completely unavoidable, so why not get in front of it?

I guess it all depends on how you view the situation, ultimately it has zero impact on me since I don't read Vanity Fair.  Caitlyn had already negotiated a reality show prior to the surgery that would follow her life as a woman, I'd say that she's definitely trying to capitalize on the procedure.   She could have issued a simple statement or press release that got in front of the story as well.

[Mac62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

She could have certainly gone on to "enjoy" everything without publicity she COULD CONTROL, but no way she goes on without tons of tabloid publicity that she has no say over.  And without coming forward like this, the tabloid publicity likely takes on a much more negative and speculative tone.

"Bruce Jenner is a cross-dresser!!!"

"What is Bruce trying to hide from us!?!?!?!"

"Is Bruce Jenner gay?!?!?!?!"

Coming forward on her own terms like this makes loads of sense ... the publicity for somebody already in the spotlight was going to be completely unavoidable, so why not get in front of it?

I guess it all depends on how you view the situation, ultimately it has zero impact on me since I don't read Vanity Fair.  Caitlyn had already negotiated a reality show prior to the surgery that would follow her life as a woman, I'd say that she's definitely trying to capitalize on the procedure.   She could have issued a simple statement or press release that got in front of the story as well.

I'd say it depends upon her motivations for doing the reality show (which I don't know).  If her intention is to bring attention to issues trans people face and serve as an advocate for that community, that's one thing; if it's purely to make money, that's quite something else - but even so, it's nothing that many, many other celebrities haven't done in the past to make money and/or stay relevant.  The entire Kardashian family was a bunch of nobodies, save for the fact that their father was one of OJ's attorneys, until their reality show.  Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons both did reality shows in an effort to stay in the limelight and keep the $$$ coming in, same thing.  In some regards I think being rich and famous is like a drug - you can never get enough of either and it's a hard thing to kick.

I'd suspect that Caitlyn's motivations are probably a bit of both the above.  She's been a celebrity all her life as Bruce, and as Golfingdad said, she's going to be in the tabloid/paparazzi limelight whether she likes it or not - might as well take control of it and manage her image.  If she makes money in the process of doing so, then I guess it is what it is.

[JonMA1]

I voted his or her business. It's certainly none of mine.

If something good comes from it, that's fine. Other than that, there are bigger issues in the world besides someone famous wanting to change genders. Jesus, we all have issues. I'm not sure why people feel the need to share and I'm even more confused as to why they think we should all accept or be sympathetic towards them.

[dsc123]

I watched the interview and I was really impressed by Bruce.  I can't imagine going through such a struggle but its clearly something that's bothered him his whole life.  I have a family member that is going through procedures to correct her gender assignment and many of the questions and issues she has faced were discussed by Bruce and Barbara.  There are a lot of misconcpetions about what it means and I thought it was really important to spread awareness and dispel some misconceptions.

I was also really surprised at how good Caitlin looks.

[Scottish Hacker]

That's one way to cut a few yards off the course :-)

[Ernest Jones]

I wish I could give thumbs in this thread.

[RandallT]

A 2009 episode of Family Guy:

I think 2009 also:

I think that in Hollywood circles, everyone knew Bruce's "secret."  It was as well kept as FIFA's corruption.