First of all I’d like to apologise to anyone who is offended by the use of the word Tranny. I feel that if this word is used in a positive context it will loose and negative connotations.

Britain Next Top Tranny is a program I and a few other media associates are developing to find the next representative for the transgendered community. We will be looking for, from hundreds of contestants, a person who is able to represent, at a celebrity level, the transgendered community.

This will be a program that will run along a similar format to Tyra Bank's 'Next Top Model' series. 12 (or so) contestants being tested on a number of tasks, one being voted off each week until the winner is found.

The program is proposed to be shown on primetime television on a major channel. This will potentially secure it 10s of thousands of viewers.

I basically want to know what the transgendered community think of this concept. The ethical notions it draws? How you think the non-transgendered public would receive it? And whether or not you think people within the transgendered community would like to compete in such a competition?

Many thanks for reading and look forward to your response.

Kazimir Bielecki

My first response is that the word tranny is to most TS/TG people what the word n*gger is to black people. Not all of us feel the same way and I appreciate you are looking to make a catchy title but please consider that you wouldn't make a program called 'Britains Top N*gger' and expect to just be able to say "But I meant n*gger in a nice way".

Secondly you make no mention of the fact you are only looking for female to male transsexual people, or are you in fact clueless about trans issues?

There will probably be a deluge of responses to this and mine is not intended to be representative of the viewpoint of the entire 'group'. I appreciate that you are trying to increase visibility of transgendered people, but this seems a cynical and frankly bizarre way to do so. First of all, the use of the term 'tranny' is unlikely to be read positively by many transgendered people. Secondly, (in my opinion) these reality shows are the lowest common denominator of entertainment and I sincerely doubt that any self-respecting person (transgenderism aside) would wish to parade themselves in such a way. Whilst some people may be proud to adopt epithets such as 'tranny' and / or to publicly promote themselves as being transgender, I for one would be rather anxious about the motivations of television producers to profit from displaying those people in this rather cynical way. To be a model or singer, as featured on other reality shows, is to obtain a profession; someone's gender is integral to their being and should not be paraded as part of a competition to be the 'best' 'tranny'. It would be akin to creating a television show searching for 'Britain's Top Black' or 'Britain's Top Asian'. Perhaps other people will respond more positively, but I don't see that this can be a good thing for anyone concerned.

outrageous use of the word

shame on you and your associates

if you want to do good with a word then use transgender at least 'Transgender Catwalk' or 'Britains TOP Transmodel'

do this properly - dont not end up in ofcom complaints

what about Project Catwalk - I am sure you could think of something offensive for that too if you tried hard enough

calling someone an offensive name does not make it harmless it makes a person a BULLY

reclaiming labels only works if the community in question reclaim them and its not a word we encourage around here

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Man [...] must count no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." (Jean Paul Sartre, 1943)

The program is proposed to be shown on primetime television on a major channel. This will potentially secure it 10s of thousands of viewers.

Primetime viewing ..... 10s of thousands of viewers LOL
I think that a major channel would be looking for more of an attraction than that ....... what about putting some DIY and cookery into the mix and then Jerry Springer could appear and add some real class to the proceedings.
WTF!!

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The Daily Turnout - King of the Throne Room

HELEN
what about putting some DIY and cookery into the mix and then Jerry Springer could appear and add some real class to the proceedings.

FABULOUS COMMENTARY

SAIBH
I ask a simple question: why? Why not Britain's next top Packy or Britain's next top Retard or Britain's next top Faggot?

SPOT ON - WE ARE SOUL MATES

_________________
Man [...] must count no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." (Jean Paul Sartre, 1943)

PS KILROY IS OUT OF MEDIA WORK - maybe he could discuss if they should SHARE OR SHAFT p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzZ86GYoxE0

_________________
Man [...] must count no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." (Jean Paul Sartre, 1943)

I wholeheartedly agree with every response to this ridiculous idea, and like Reenie said, well done for getting the apology in first, but it does beg the question....if you felt the need to apologise in advance, why say it at all?