genderqueer, y'r doin' it wrong

[wisdomeagle]

I watched NCIS 1x19 "Dead Man Talking" this evening.

[dialogue from the end of the episode, with sadface and ranting, and teeny tiny mentions of Ugly Betty S1]


KATE: Well, he wasn't a woman yet. The surgery was scheduled for next month in
Bangkok.
ABBY: Getting your plumbing turned outside-in. It's so ...
MCGEE: ... hinky?
ABBY: No, no. Way beyond hinky. It's, uh ...

And then I facepalmed repeatedly and tried to figure out why the hell Abby, who seems to know what's to know on every other subject, cultural or counter-, is completely transignorant? The rest of the team, I understand (though it would be nice if there were a tiny nod in the direction of PC?), but Abby? Srsly?

I'm not entirely clear whether the character in question was trans* or just seriously in need of witness protection, but either way, she was scheduled for gender reassignment surgery and some nod in the direction of... SOMETHING would have been nice.

Now I'm feeling all cranky and moderately fragile (being in the middle of nowhere, Midwest USA is making me a bit twitchy re: queer issues. Gee, I wonder why?)

Can there be new Ugly Betty now pls? What with actual queer characters in the main cast who are moderately non-villainous?

Comments

[azarsuerte.livejournal.com]

That's definitely not one of the best episodes of the series, mostly for the reasons you stated. In fact, I honestly think it's the episode that made me stop liking Kate. The way she was taunting Tony about Voss...it was WAY over the line. :-P

It's possible the line you were referring to was *intended* to mean she couldn't comprehend why anyone would change their sex *just* to conceal a crime, but if that was the intent it failed miserably. :-/

[kaizoku.livejournal.com]

Rrawr. If someone knows enough about the actual surgery to say something like that, they should fucking well know some small smidgen about trans issues.

(Wow, that totally wasn't what I was going to say. That's like the opposite of what I was going to say. Then I guess my cranky pants revealed themselves...)

What with actual queer characters in the main cast who are moderately non-villainous?

Hee, moderately non-villainous. :-)

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

The last time I caught any NCIS it was the end of that episode, with Kate's teasing, and it really put me off. I've never expected much from mainstream television, but that was very much a "does not compute" moment. I don't consider myself particularly sensitive to trans*issues, but I understood that one.

I was hoping for even a "she was a woman" protest from Tony.

I haven't watched any Ugly Betty, but I'm tempted to give it a go just for that.