‘Is Bruce Jenner Going to Represent Anybody More Than Bruce Jenner?’ What the Interview Means
Former Olympian Bruce Jenner revealed that he has always identified as a woman.
Bruce Jenner isn’t alone – his announcement that he has always identified as a woman brings him into a community of transgender people, one that can use a high-profile figure to increase understanding.
“He’s in many ways the perfect TV and Hollywood version of what a transgender person coming out should look like,’’ says Michael Bronski, a professor in Harvard’s Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.
But how will Jenner — who told ABC’s Diane Sawyer Friday that “for all intents and purposes, I am a woman’’ — choose to wield that influence, if at all? The answer remains to be seen.
Jenner, who still goes by his male name and uses male pronouns, said he has struggled with his gender identity since he was child. Even as he ran a victory lap after winning the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics, the man once called the “world’s greatest athlete’’ told Sawyer that he felt afraid.
Athletic domination was a way of proving his masculinity, Jenner said, but he felt like he was fighting a battle he couldn’t win. Now, at age 65, he says he wants to live his own life.
Though he doesn’t claim to be a spokesman for the transgender community, Jenner is wealthy, famous, and had a wide support system behind him. This makes him uniquely positioned to, at the very least, raise awareness about the struggles faced by a group many Americans still don’t understand.
“Life for transgender people in America is really hard,’’ Bronski said. “It would great if [Jenner’s] visibility trickled down to basic decent treatment of transgender people.’’
There are an estimated 700,000 transgender people in the United States, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank specializing in sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy at UCLA. Compared to the overall adult population, transgender people are statistically more vulnerable to suicide, poverty, discrimination, and violence, The Washington Post reports.
This is especially the case for transgender women of color. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, in 2013, 72 percent of hate crimes were against transgender women, 90 percent of whom were transgender women of color.
Of the resources and support Jenner has had during his journey, Boston Pride President Sylvain Bruni said, “This is not your typical trans experience.’’
Still, Bruni said that hearing a transgender person, especially one of Jenner’s stature, talk about his experience in such frank detail “was probably really eye-opening for a lot of people. … In that sense, this interview was historical.’’
The interview was no doubt educational, and was for the most part respectful, Bruni and Bronski agreed. It was especially deft in its handling of the widely-held misconception that one’s gender identity bears on one’s sexual orientation.
“There’s two different things here,’’ Jenner, who said he is not gay, told Sawyer. “Sexuality is who you personally are attracted to. … Gender identity has to do with who you are as a person and your soul.’’
Jenner often touched on the topic of the soul. Rejecting oft-heard phrasing, he said he has never felt like a woman “trapped’’ in a man’s body. Instead, he said he feels that he has a female soul. Bruni said that putting it this way shows Jenner accepting and claiming his body as his own, rather than rejecting it.
In the last few years, Jenner’s visibility has no doubt been bolstered by his role as the patriarch on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.’’ That connection has led many, even Sawyer, to ask if Jenner’s “coming out’’ is all just a stunt.
For the last 40 years, Jenner has been a public figure, and in that sense everything he does is a public gesture. “My question politically is, is Bruce Jenner going to represent anybody more than Bruce Jenner?’’ Bronski asked. “Does he…have to?’’
Transgender activists may want Jenner to lobby politicians, especially Republicans, since Jenner told Sawyer he supports the party and would consider approaching prominent Washington Republicans to discuss LGBT issues: “In a heartbeat, why not?’’
“Every chance at visibility is going to have different opportunities and drawbacks,’’ said Mason Dunn, the executive director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. The drawbacks for Jenner are the expectations that may be placed on him, and potential privacy violations by the mainstream news media, paparazzi, and curious fans.
Bruni said that it is every activist’s dream that high-profile figures will use their influence to bring about change for those less visible. That said, Bruce Jenner’s journey is individual, and personal, and that process needs to be respected, regardless of what role the public may want Jenner to play once it is complete.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com