Along the same lines, This American Life (which is generally good) did a bit called “Tom Girls” about two trans girls meeting at a conference. It’s up as http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/374/somewhere-out-there

I can easily believe this. It occurred to me recently that I could hardly conceive of a trans person not being some sort of victim, simply because I had never seen an example of that in the media.

They are always shown as, say, a suicidal prostitute, stalking the night as a frequent target for abuse – or the butt of a joke. They are never shown as ordinary people, for instance I have never seen a transsexual character that is a regular in some sort of teen drama, partly chronicling her struggles and her transition. (I suppose it exists, but I’m not aware of anything like this)

It’s unfortunate… I met a trans person the other day for the first time and I basically had to force myself to treat her normally, because initially her existence confused me.

I think there is a tendency amongst journalists to judge a package at least as much on how its presented as on what it contains. Hence Griffin is out (ugly weirdo), but Julie is in (‘unpredictable’ and ‘value for money’).

This tendency becomes outright pathological when it’s applied to politics, hence Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, inter alia, who are lauded by the media class for their performances, rather than decried for their monstrosity.