The Complex Transphobia of Dave Chappelle

Ahh, thank you Juliana

Jessie Earl

Was on vacation so getting caught up on YouTube and just now watching this, but here's a black genderfluid comedian's take on the special: https://youtu.be/HoJ8Qn_Lyzs

Juliana Riegel

I did, and in particular thanks for watching the whole thing - I didn't, didn't want to give Netflix the views. I definitely appreciate you showing the nuance he does eventually show the subject. Of course, that's the problem, isn't it? Nobody's going to get the nuance. People are either going to be turned off by the publicity like me, or right wing anti-trans people will run with the TERF crap and ignore the rest. I guarantee you people are buying "team TERF" t-shirts right now who have never and will never watch Dave Chappelle. And HE KNOWS BETTER.

Vince Whitacre

I agree, I don't have any answers either... it's hard to navigate in a lot of senses. I hope this special leads people to learning more about the trans community, but I worry that it would cause people to double down on transphobic ideas that Chappelle said he supported.

Jessie Earl

<3 sending you love Wellington.

Jessie Earl

I hope you enjoyed the video, and yeah, I agree with all of this, cause Dave is smarter then some of his statements he made in teh special.

Jessie Earl

Comedy is difficult, both to write and to analyze. The two main questions I try to ask myself are whether the comedy is making a marginalized community the butt of the joke, and whether the comedy relies on making problematic assumptions about the world. And I try to remind myself that members of the community are in a better position to answer those questions than I am. It sounds like your criticism largely falls into the latter category, and your arguments sound reasonable (without having done my own research). The discussion about how he is growing is interesting. I wonder if, in a different society, having that happen on a platform could end up being productive. As you said, there are a lot of people who are in a similar position. If we were having the nuanced conversations that you are calling for, then a lot of people who would otherwise not be exposed to relevant information would suddenly start seeing it. And then, perhaps, both Chappelle and the many people who enjoy his work would better understand the issues, and it would be easier to fight transphobia moving forward. If that did happen, would this outweigh the immediate harm done to the community? I'm not in a position to say. And since we don't live in that world, I don't think anyone can know for sure.

Dave Chappel is brilliant and while i've enjoyed standup comedy for decades, the enjoyment of this medium has petered out for me. so, I won't be watching but 100% support! trans rights are human rights

Wellington Marcus

And of course another damn shame is that he says "they're (TERFs) just saying gender is a fact!" ...when of course the main TERF line is that gender doesn't exist and only biological essentialism is real. Saying gender is real is affirming that a lot more goes into what makes us who and what we are than chromosomes and genitals.

Vince Whitacre

Shitting on her memory, not "shifting." Damn autocorrect.

Vince Whitacre

😓 ...about to dive in. This one hurts - I know it's far from the first time Dave has said something transphobic, but I always tried to hold out hope. In the past he always couched it in the possibility he could be wrong, the possibility he could learn and grow - and spoke about what seems in some way to be genuine affection for his late transfemme friend. But this doubling down is not only more... *proud* of being transphobic, but also kinda shifting on his friend's memory (of course the sharp eyed reader will note JKR also used a supposed friendship with "a good tran" to excuse her own bigotry, so maybe this is just par for the course). What sucks is that Dave is smarter and understands bigotry better than JKR. He should know better. Interested in hearing your thoughts. ❤

Vince Whitacre