Sex Education has become one of the best examples of trans+ representation in the history of television
Since last Thursday September 21, the followers of fri Education They have the fourth and final season on the streaming service Netflix. One of the new features is the incorporation of Abbie y Kent, the first transsexual characters to appear in the series.
in this new season, Cal Bowman (Dua Saleh), the non-binary student, tells us the pros and cons of taking testosterone for six months. Facial hair, broader shoulders, fuller eyebrows: advantages. Indomitable libido, dry skin, excessive sweating: cons. The scene begins a season that will soon be considered one of the most outstanding examples of representation trans+ well done.
As we continue the journey of Callus like a person transmasculine non binary, viewers learn about her struggle with the wait list times and costs of gender-affirming surgery, the dysphoria associated with menstruation, and her attempt to navigate her relationship with her mother.
Multiple trans realities
"From the beginning we realized that, in reality, a non-binary trans character cannot contain everything", acknowledges the television scriptwriter Krishna Istha. "That's why they are Roman (Felix Mufti) and Abbi (Anthony Lexa), to portray the different versions of trans you could be".
Actors Lexa and Mufti were recruited through a open casting and participated in the construction of their stories. Consultants were also present, including the charity trans Gendered Intelligence, to ensure the stories were as authentic as possible.
Trans representation in fri Education is particularly revolutionary because it is not a show specifically for the LGBTQ+ viewer. The audience is much broader and in this way the cis audience is involved, who can better understand the lives of trans people.
Furthermore, the new characters are not stereotyped, but rather round. They are not exclusively defined by their gender identity. We are surely facing the first general fiction that portrays the trans fact in such a broad and nuanced way.
