The new blackface

 Growing up in a city that was well known for sinful behavior, I learned about what is now called the "trans community" at an early age. In the 1950's my parents explained to me that when Milton Berle wore a dress, it was part of his act, and it was meant to be funny. "Female impersonation" has a long history in theater and film. In the early 1960's people who took this behavior more seriously were called "cross dressers" or "transvestites". Many were performers in the clubs in the old quarters where I lived, and you could often see them in the streets as they made their way to and from work. Little did we children know about the sexual acts in which they might be engaged. 

Coming of age in the early 1970's, we were no longer amused by these people as we understood what went on behind the mask. It was clear that transvestites were not normal. 

Jumping forward to the 2020's, we are living in an age when one must celebrate "diversity" and "inclusion", and we have to deny or denigrate "normality". 

It is hard to look at the current crop of biological males who are dressing up and altering their bodies to appear female without thinking back to the "blackface" controversies of the last few decades. Blackface was comic and serious performance art on stage and in cinema even up to the time its satirical use in "Silver Streak" (1976). Blackface performers earned their bad reputation through the stereotypes and  mockery they made of black people, and also by depriving blacks of acting roles. 

Why is it that women are not claiming offense at seeing males impersonating them, receiving awards, appearing on the covers of fashion magazines, and advertising products targeting actual females. Is it not also a mockery?

Perhaps there is no outcry because of fear of the backlash, or maybe women recognize that these men, while not amusing, are no threat to womanhood despite some of  their more outlandish claims. 

No threat until they show up in your daughter's bathroom, locker room, shower, or prison cell. 

Hopefully the promotion of what is now called "transgenderism" will someday go the way of blackface.