"Batgirl" Creative Team Apologizes for Handling of Transgender Storyline in "Batgirl" #37

[Jonah Weiland]

Seeing a bit of thread drift here, as well as some people just being dismissive. We've banned a number of people in this thread already.

Contribute something meaningful to this discussion and keep it on subject. If that doesn't happen, we may just shut down this thread entirely.

[borntohula]

Perhaps they could adjust the dialogue a bit (the "But you're a" for example) when it's released in a collected form. Similar to how Scott Snyder toning down some of Joker's dialogue in Death of the family.

Either way. Cool that they recognized that it didn't turn out as they intended.

[Stay Puft]

DC & Babs did what they felt was prudent...and that was apologizing to individuals who have been hurt over a story...kudos to them.

Within the context of the new artistic focus, I think The Dagger Type character fits right in the glam-revival, bubblegum, and anime fusion elements presented in these last three issues. I think they tried to make a dynamic character and go in a different direction than we would expect, but within the larger context of how some feel LGBT characters have been portrayed historically and histrionically, I can see how some feelings could be hurt. Personally, I love this vibrancy presented in the all-new Batgirl...but this last issue lost me at "Kawaii!", long before the twist ending.

[Dr. Poison]

I dropped Batgirl with the start of the new run as the interior art doesn't appeal to me but I honestly don't see the issue here. I'm a gay male and I'm not sure why this comes across as offensive to anyone but at the same time, I'm not in any position to tell anyone that they can't be offended. Have we now gotten to an age where only straight, white people can be portrayed as super-villains? Characters both good and bad have been using transgender/sexual disguises since the Golden Age such as Madame Fatale. Then, there's a whole slew of Wonder Woman villains that were transgender/sexual: Dr. Poison, Blue Snowman, Hypnota, etc.

Really.....this kind of stuff is old news.

[Nipower888]

I dropped Batgirl with the start of the new run as the interior art doesn't appeal to me but I honestly don't see the issue here. I'm a gay male and I'm not sure why this comes across as offensive to anyone but at the same time, I'm not in any position to tell anyone that they can't be offended. Have we now gotten to an age where only straight, white people can be portrayed as super-villains? Characters both good and bad have been using transgender/sexual disguises since the Golden Age such as Madame Fatale. Then, there's a whole slew of Wonder Woman villains that were transgender/sexual: Dr. Poison, Blue Snowman, Hypnota, etc.

Really.....this kind of stuff is old news.

I don't think I've ever seen a transgender hero. Also stop with the have we come to a point where only straight white males can be villains because we haven't. You forget to mention the millions of straight white male Heros to counter act those villans.

[Dr. Poison]

I don't think I've ever seen a transgender hero. Also stop with the have we come to a point where only straight white males can be villains because we haven't. You forget to mention the millions of straight white male Heros to counter act those villans.

You've never seen Madame Fatale?





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Fatal

[neonrideraryeh]

What about all the cross-dressing villains in early Wonder Woman comics? That wasn't a problem, so I don't see why that can't happen now. Guy wasn't transgender, he was just a person dressing as Batgirl. Heck, the cross-dressing could have just been the Batgirl thing as an isolated incident rather than generally dressing up as a girl. People getting offended for something that isn't even offensive towards them just shows the victim complexes these people have. It's just disappointing to see so much pointless controversy when there are more important things to be done. Though my problem with this book is the whole Burnside thing is just... it doesn't feel like Gotham City and does not mesh with the whole gothic Gotham thing. It's like if somebody picked up and dropped Los Angeles in Iran.

[gbryantlucas]

So... whether you agree or disagree with the portrayal of DT, you must admit, their apology was awesome. I've met the creative team, and they are the most humble, genuine comic creators I've met. Their apology was heart felt and sincere. Kudos to all three of them. Often apologies tend to fall flat, as the creators don't own up to their mistake. It's nice to see that they were genuinely were apologetic for causing offense.

[resipsaloquitur]

Erin shvaughn was a member of the pre-Zero Hour Legion who was a male to female transsexual.

[Magnanimousbosch]

I am a trans woman and any huge batgirl fan. There are a lot of us which is why probably the reason for the controversy storming up really. I will get this out of the way. The situation was a little problematic but any uninteional harm is more than made up for in the apology. I'm still buying the book.

I think a lot of people jumping to defend the comic are missing the points of the argument. It's not that there is a trans villian. Trans people as Villians shouldn't be off limits. If there was an unambiguously trans woman villian with some depth and who was interesting. We wouldn't care. Hell I'd be happy about it. It's the way it's done. A delusional psycho who reacts to being laughed at by trying to kill people isn't what I call a good or interesting character.

The whole take over batgirl' identity thing taps into a deeply harmful trope to trans women as deceptive infiltrators out to supplant women and turn men gay so there is real potential harm in that portrayal. But that's not really what happens here. This is about fame and power rather than identity.

Laughing a trans woman off stage tips some triggers for people. Having someone who has been portrayed as so trans positive appear (though not unambiguously) the have a transphobic reaction. It's pushing some buttons on trans folks.

Here's the thing though. I like Daggar Type. I hope they find a way to keep him around. With some tweaking, I would love to see some hammy, trans/ femme/ unapologetically gender fucking villian fame chasing and being awesome. Hell yeah I'll read that issue. Plus it would be a great loss to lose one of the greatest photography pun names ever.

[DemonRin]

I guess I should be outraged every time a villain is just a straight white male in his 30s.

Can people PLEASE stop using this argument? It's a very very poor argument since "Straight White Male in his 30s" also has hundreds if not thousands of Heroes that already represent that parcticular group, you can have villains of that like because the representation is far from lop-sided.

For trans people in media, it's VERY Lopsided. We are either Villains (Bonus points if said villain is crazy) or we're the butt of a joke about us "Tricking" some guy into wanting to sleep with us.

Erin shvaughn was a member of the pre-Zero Hour Legion who was a male to female transsexual.

Yes and no.

Ignoring the fact that she was presented as not trans for 99% of her existence as a comic book character, and that she was ONLY revealed as trans so the writer could make Element Lad gay, and therefore once that establishment was made, they stopped portraying her or referencing her as Trans, there's more to the portrayal of her that I have a problem with.

My issue issue with counting a character like Erin Shvaughn from the Legion is because she transitioned through Sci-Fi means. She takes a nigh magical drug that can change your genetic makeup so your body is the opposite sex on a genetic level, and it can be easily reversed by stopping the drug. IMO, while it's nice to have a few characters outside the gender norm like that, it's still slightly problematic because you aren't showing the reader a real-world trans person. By making a magical drug that is said to make the characters sex change on the genetic level, you're making the portrayal super safe for the reader and not asking the reader at all to potentially step outside their comfort zone and acknowledge that trans people are a real thing.

Not that any of this really matters, that character has been wiped from continuity and hasn't reappeared in the New 52. Considering the whole "They only made her trans to male Element Lad gay" thing, I wouldn't expect her to be trans if she WERE introduced at some point in the New 52 either.

[CSTowle]

You've never seen Madame Fatale?





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Fatal

Good Christ, that's some heavy inking. Looks like a bad Bruce Timm impression (apologies if that's Timm inked by Frank Miller).

[resipsaloquitur]

That, and Madam Fatal has done some really, really scary waist cinching there. You can do various things to either bring in your waist or make your shoulders and hips bigger so the waist looks comparatively smaller, but it looks like he's just crushed his organs there.

[Pinsir]

There is a history of having gay, transgendered, minority, and deformed characters as villains. This is largely because villains rotate where heroes remain the same throughout a series.

Still context matters, during the first issue though nearly every character was gay or bi though...and the last run had a trans woman living with Barbara too.

[Nite-Wing]

I don't get the controversy. The villain isn't transgender and identified as male in the comic the whole scheme and reason for dressing up like batgirl was following the orders of another villain.
Its classy to apologize but it seems to be a big misunderstanding imo