Katie Couric offends trans*people everywhere with her invasive genitalia questions.
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Katie Couric was schooled by transgender actress Laverne Cox and transgender reality star/model Carmen Carerra on her daytime talk show Katie Monday when she began asking invasive questions about the women’s genitalia.
Couric introduced Carerra as being “born a man and that’s why she’s on our show.” Once Carerra had taken her seat, Couric asked her about transitioning from male to female.
“Your private parts are different now, aren’t they?” she inquired.
Carrera responded by shushing Couric. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “It’s really personal.” Then she explained that there is much more to her than what’s between her legs.
Couric said she hoped she hadn’t offended Carrera, only to then ask the same question to Cox minutes later.
Cox joined the panel during the show’s second segment. About halfway through her interview, Couric brought up genitalia again. But Cox wasn’t having one of it. Said she:
I do feel there is a preoccupation with that. The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we don’t get to really deal with the real lived experiences. The reality of trans people’s lives is that so often we are targets of violence. We experience discrimination disproportionately to the rest of the community. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average; if you are a trans person of color, that rate is four times the national average. The homicide rate is highest among trans women. If we focus on transition, we don’t actually get to talk about those things.
This shut Couric up. She replied with a simple, “That was very well put,” before bidding her guests farewell and the show cut to commercial.
Awkward!
Originally published at Queerty
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They did such a wonderful job in this interview. It’s a delicate balance – having real conversations about a topic many people don’t understand, and maintaining boundaries.
I don’t quite understand. Isn’t this like a woman getting a big boob job and then being upset when everyone stares? Or a guy always flaunting his money and then complaining he can’t find someone who wants to get to know “the real him”?
What happened to being happy with whatever nature gave you, down there or up here?
If you can’t find happiness within yourself, you’re never going to fill that void with external things or appearances.
Odd world.
Any medical intervention trans people recieve is just that – medical treatment. So a more apt comparison would have been having an actor/actress on your show and asking them about their medical history.
I’ve not yet a trans person who truly didn’t try to be happy in their gender assigned at birth. Transition is not taken lightly, it’s a painstaking process with major social, economical and physical implications. Despite the difficulties that can arise, for those who are brave enough to take it on, it can make all the difference in the world in terms of feeling fulfilled.
This is good information. I can’t speak for Couric, I’ve never been a fan of hers, but this gives me true insight because I am interviewing a trans on my radio program next week. I would never in a million years want to embarrass or shame or make him feel uncomfortable so this article showed me what questions to focus on which ones to stay clear of. My question about genitalia would come from a pure position of wanting to gain knowledge and understanding of what it truly means to be trans and would treat the information respectfully. But I… Read more »
I’m glad you are interested in being respectful to trans people. It means a lot.