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Media Representation of Transgender People Isn’t Diverse Enough
Time featuring Elliot Page on the cover of their magazine follows a similar playbook of cis media gatekeepers embracing queerness through the lens of white people.
Elliot Page can be seen on the cover of Time with the phrase, ‘‘I’m fully who I am’’. It’s an exciting moment for the transgender community to be embraced again by cis media. However, it is another example of the transgender story being told through the lens of a white person.
A quick Google search of ‘transgender people on the cover of magazines’ features only two People of Color in the top search — Laverne Cox and Indya Moore. Yet, there are countless images of white transgender people in magazines. Elliot Page is the first male transgender person to be on the cover of a major magazine, but they are the second major famous person that gets to document their story for the world to see.
The first time we saw that was back in 2015 when Caitlyn Jenner was on the cover of Vanity Fair. Why is it that we get to learn of white transgender stories through magazine covers and shows but anyone else's stories are often told through a breaking news headline? Elliot’s story is one to be celebrated and honored, but it follows a…
