One of my favorite TV shows is RuPaul's Drag Race, a popular competitive TV show where professional drag queens compete to be the "next drag superstar." I have been watching this show since the very beginning, when I was about 15 years old. I love this show because it helped give me an open mind and really educated me about individuals who are drag queens, individuals who identify as transgender, the issue surrounding AIDS, as well as the LGBT rights movement as a whole. Basically, I love this show.
Recently, RuPaul's Drag Race came under a lot of scrutiny due to their video segment which begins with, "Ooh girl, you've got she-mail." In the 6 years I have been watching this show, I took it as a joke and a pun on the term "email," as well as an apparent mockery of America's Next Top Model since everyone says RuPaul looks like Tyra Banks. Members of the trans community, as well as LGBT groups, have voiced out against this segment, saying that it is a mockery of the trans community and an insult due to the use of the term "she-mail" and its obvious similarity to "shemale," an individual, I believe, who is usually born with both genitalia or who people perceive is a man/woman. No matter how big of an activist I am for the LGBT community, it shocked me that it never occurred to me that this humorous segment is extremely offensive to people. What do you guys think? Do you think this is an example of humor being taken too far, or do you think that the "she-mail" slogan is appropriate?
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