ANTM is one of my un-feminist guilty pleasures. Though, as modeling reality shows, it certainly could do worse. They've had lesbians in the competition, addressed eating disorders, Tyra is a proponent of non-stereotypical beauty, and emphasizes the importance of being able to market yourself and talk intelligently with designers and reporters. ...but it's still a show where the skinny girls do best.

I'm excited to see some trans-women on the show. I hope she isn't just the token trans, but someone who is truly respected on the show.

The dream of getting yelled at by Tyra Banks?

ANTM is such a stupid show. Why is it still on the air, is way beyond me.

I also have to admit that I love this show. Rationally I know that the modeling industry is twisted and it uses girls and women looking for glamor as pawns to try to make the rest of us feel bad enough about ourselves that we need to BUY, BUY, BUY to feel better. But emotionally, I love how Next Top Model showcases that any woman can be beautiful to herself and others-- bigger women, gangly women, women with eyes very far apart or close together, with hair long or completely shaved off, and skin of every color. This seems to be another step in Tyra's plan to show that beauty can be found in everyone, even people many viewers may not have had the opportunity to meet and understand.

I used to be a big fan of ANTM, but have gotten increasingly bored and fed up with the show. Maybe I'm too old for it? Anyway, I'm glad that show "outed" Isis pre-show, and that it's not a secret, or part of a big reveal/therapy sesh with Tyra.

Here's a clip from Janice Dickinson's modeling show, where a (different) trans model says that ANTM has a woman-born-woman policy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTg664TCKjE&eurl=http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2008/08/antms-discrimin.html

(This clip is pretty aggravating. Janice has to "disclose" to the male model that the woman is trans, and says that she "came with issues." I don't know why she had to do that.)

I checked the various ANTM blogs/boards I used to visit, and I'm disappointed at the number of unfunny, "First transgender contestant? I thought Jaslene/Anne/Michelle/Coryn/etc was the first tranny on the show! Har har!"

I'll be rooting for her! I know it's bad that I enjoy this show, but I can't help it!!

Good for ANTM - I'll watch and root for Isis and any other "different" girl. I love watching this show as a peek into the interaction between these girls/women, all on that cusp of adulthood and figuring out who they are. Maybe it's because I'm on the far side of 30 - I love how earnest these girls are with each other, with no boys around as distractions. They aren't always nice to each other and some are just nasty. But overall they are more supportive and kind to each other than so many other competitive reality show people (think Top Chef's head-shaving incident - if you watched, you know what I mean, and those people were in their twenties and thirties.) So, good on you Ty Ty, and you be fierce, Isis.

The VH1 Show: "I Want To Work For Diddy" already has a trans-contestant - a trans female of color.

I don't even know if this will show who she is, and as far as I know, she's still in the running:
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/i_want_to_work_for_diddy/140170/episode.jhtml

here seems to be a a better link:
http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2008/08/transwoman-who-wants-to-work-for-diddy.html

There is a movie coming out that follows Laverne Cox, the trans contestant on VH1 (and interviewed last fall in an article entitled Gay vs. Trans in The Advocate), as well as other trans women. The movie looks sort of questionable especially since the directors seem to over-sexualize all of the women that are in the film. On their web page (beingt.com) the flash animation ends with a nude trans women and T between her legs. While I feel it may address some issues that trans people face that need to be examined such as poverty among young trans women (hopefully), I feel that the directors were looking for very specific trans women to feature in this documentary series and isn't in line with what most trans women experience. They've made... well, music videos and one of them directed the pilot for the real world. I feel like this is more the product of people who see something in trans women that they like and I'm worried that they enchance those aspects, while not really understanding what it means being T. I guess I'll have to wait for its release to find out.

WARNING: I found the trailer to be incredibly stressful. Contains... well, I felt pretty well assaulted (and sort of insulted) by the time it was done. Editing is really similar to films like Requiem for a Dream and creates strong feelings of anxiety - at least for this viewer. beingt.com

I'm really hoping both the other shows handle this a little better. The fact that they are not hiding her identity may be a good sign.

I fully support inclusion of trans-women in well... everything. Unfortunately for me this headline triggered an unhappy little voice in the back of my head to whisper "See, to be a model you really DO need to have breast implants and hips as slim as a boy's".

I like watching ANTM and I do like how Tyra claims to be all for beauty of all types. A plus size model winning last cycle and a trans model coming up seem to fit into that.

Except she still requires a model be at least 5'7". So it's not "beauty at any size," it's "beauty at any size for anyone who's way taller than average." (The average US woman is 5'3.75" or so.) And I do remember one poor, 5'7" model being the butt of the jokes because she was so "short."

Also, Whitney stayed her size, so that was okay, but in Cycle 9 the token plus size lost too much weight and was suddenly unacceptable. Size 8/10, okay, you're "plus." Size 2, you're a regular model. Size 4/6?? OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU?? FREAK!

I still like the show, but boyyyy does it have its problems.

I have really high hopes for this. Yes, ANTM is a horrendously flawed show that I'm better off not watching, for the sake of my own self-love and sanity. But, it's really popular. And every representation of the trans community in normal life (well, OK, modeling on reality TV isn't quite normal, but at least it isn't a CSI thriller about 'life on the streets'), the harder it will be for people to dehumanize someone based on their gender identity.

This is just nasty. It just proves how sick and stupid reality TV has become. I think they should take this and just about every other reality TV show off now.

Brandi,

Are you saying that featuring a transwoman at all is "nasty, sick and stupid," or are you referring to some other aspect of the show?

Carasande: "See, to be a model you really DO need to have breast implants and hips as slim as a boy's".

Err are you assuming she has breast implants because she is trans? We are quite capable of growing boobs on hormones just like cisgender women.

Nicole commented at August 17, 2008 11:01 AM: "We are quite capable of growing boobs on hormones just like cisgender women."

Really? I'm cisfemale, I asked my doctor if there was any hormonal or other medicine I could take instead of implants to finally have breasts that don't go totally flat when I raise my arms (I got barely any breast growth during puberty), and she said there wasn't any.

Mina: Secondary sexual characteristics (breasts, beards) are caused by hormones. If I started hormone replacement therapy now, I would grow a beard, and the pitch of my voice would drop. The same thing happens when transwomen undergo HRT; however, hormone replacement therapy is not nearly as simple as a boob job in a syringe. It is more like a second puberty. I can think of lots of reasons that your doctor might not have recommended HRT for a cisgendered woman seeking larger breasts.