Gender Revolution A Journey With Katie Couric DVD Review
Summary: In her friendly way Katie Couric explores the topic of gender and what it means and what it's like to feel you are in the wrong gender.
4.6
Be You!
In the last few years LGBTI issues have seemed to appear in the media a lot more. We have the same sex marriage debate (or lack thereof) we have a lot more transgendered performers and of course we have that whole U.S. who can go to which toilet issue. For National Geographic Katie Couric sits down with a number of people who have been impacted by the issue of gender and how it is perceived in our modern world.
I like Katie Couric… I used to watch the NBC Today show regularly… but as I got older I simply stopped watching… other things got in the way. So it was a nice reunion of sorts to see Katie again and her friendly style I think is the most appropriate for this topic. The main thing I would say is it almost seems as though Katie sought only positive stories or positive perspectives. I did think to myself at at least one point “If this were a Louie Theroux documentary, he’d probably also visit some people who were against the notion of being transgendered or of not fitting the old binary either male of female.”. But other than that lack of both sides of the debate… this documentary is a great exploration of the topic.
Not that long ago one of our children returned from school and said that one of his class mates was adamant that there were only two genders, at the time we explained to him that in fact even biologically speaking that’s not the case, you have people who are born as hermaphrodites or with a different chromosome mix etc. I am almost tempted to hand him this disc now and say “give this to your classmate and ask them to watch it… it may just make it clearer for them that there are more than two.” In fact I would be quite happy for any school to use this as a teaching aid when/if they cover the topic of gender. Katie explores (at least to some extent) the main ways in which someone might identify as different to the gender they present as be that purely physiologically or psychologically or a combination. Showing that there are grounds to accept that someone is a different gender to what they present as on medical grounds also should help prevent people from being so cruel and dismissing other’s right to a sense of self.
The other thing that I got from watching this was hope. Yes hope that as a global society we are becoming more accepting of these things… but specifically hope that the youth of today has some amazingly impressive people among them. That previously mentioned issue with toilets (or as the American’s call them “bathrooms”)… well the young man at the center of that debate is featured in this documentary and not only showed phenomenal courage but also came across as extremely well educated and articulate… in a room full of people who we both supporters and very vocal opponents. That someone that young can stand in front of those sorts of people and speak so eloquently and in such a calm manner… gives me hope that our future might be ok.
There are also some great bonus features on the disc… one is certainly not for the squeamish but if you are curious about how the procedure is performed to help a male become a female… that’s there. This is certainly a great resource for anyone who might need to explain gender and the fact that there are more than just males and females. Class rooms would do well to invest in a copy and use it to both inform and to start conversations about gender identity and related topics. Definitely well worth watching!
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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