Sophie’s Choice: I am Cait (TV review)

Published by Student Rag magazine.

Following on from the Keeping Up with The Kardashians: About Bruce special led the way for the newly unveiled Caitlyn Jenner’s E! documentary series: I am Cait. We’ve all seen that already iconic Vanity Fair cover (a victory in itself for transgender rights) and seen the tweets of support for Caitlyn from celebrities including Ariana Grande and Barack Obama, but I am Cait offers an authentic and unique glimpse into Caitlyn’s newly discovered world of hair, makeup, slumber parties and sleepovers as she goes through a “second adolescence”.

But after the fun dressing up part comes the more serious side of being a transgender individual as Caitlyn meets other transgender women who have some heart-breaking stories; experiencing everything from bullying, sex work, abuse and sexual violence; to disownment from their families and friends, poverty, homelessness, unemployment, depression and suicide.

As well as the physical transformation, the change in Caitlyn as a person is remarkable. Bruce Jenner was only seen crying once in KUWTK during Khloe Kardashian’s wedding episode, but as the born again Caitlyn Jenner in I am Cait; Caitlyn is drastically more sensitive, thoughtful and in touch with her emotions as the incredible stories she hears and the tremendous love and acceptance she receives from members of her new community easily brings her to tears on several occasions.

Although Caitlyn’s new friends offer her encouragement, advice and support in bucket loads, they are also quick to call her out on her privilege and make sure she knows that what she has achieved in only a few short months is more than what some disadvantaged transgender individuals will ever achieve in their entire lifetime. Her friends are also quick to point out that what she has done isn’t actually ground-breaking; that many other people have come out as transgender and transitioned against all odds and they haven’t received anywhere near the same amount of credit and support. But on the spin side, Jenner also defends herself; pointing out that living in the public eye and being stalked by paparazzi is its own beast.

In Sunday’s episode, we saw Jenner having her first girly sleepover with her friend and suspected love interest, actress Candis Cayne, as well as having tense confrontations with Kim Kardashian West and Khloe Kardashian over the comments Caitlyn made in the Vanity Fair article as she described ex-wife Kris Jenner and daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner as “distractions”.

The more tactile of the elder sisters, Kim, is the first to speak to Caitlyn about how her comments have hurt Kris and, later on, Khloe goes in not quite all guns blazing but definitely not tip-toeing around the subject with Caitlyn. In a way, I do think Caitlyn has lost herself in this amazing new world and, maybe for a brief moment, overlooked her family. As Khloe explains why the family are hurt by her comments, Caitlyn snaps back with “you don’t know what you’re talking about”, which may be true to a certain extend but just because her family don’t, and probably never will, fully understand her transition, that doesn’t make their feelings invalid.

Fortunately, Khloe and Caitlyn quickly make amends; hugging, kissing and talking about accessories and eyelash extensions as soon as both sides have said their piece and expressed themselves.

In the snippet of next week’s episodes, we finally see Kris and Caitlyn have a tense and emotionally charged first meeting where Kris raises her own issues with comments Caitlyn has made in the press.

I am Cait is truly an authentic and exceptional documentary series that shows the highs and lows of gender reassignment and does an excellent job at showcasing that transgender individuals are no different from everyone else. The overall message of this series is one of acceptance, tolerance and love, and with every episode, the audience becomes more and more inspired to be kinder and more accepting of everyone no matter their gender, sexuality, race, religion or disability. I am Cait continuously encourages the audience to embrace and love our differences and flaws instead of masking them.

The next episode of I am Cait airs on Sunday at 9pm on E!

For more on Caitlyn Jenner, read my CultNoise Magazine opinion piece: “Call Me Transphobia: The Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume“.

Featured image courtesy of Caitlyn Jenner’s Instagram.

Sophie’s Choice: Made in Chelsea LA (TV review)

Published by Student Rag magazine.

So, our favourite bunch of incestuous toffs are back and this time they’ve left behind the luxurious borough of Chelsea and Kensington, London, and flitted off to Los Angeles, California – you know, as you do – to create MiC’s latest summer instalment: Made in Chelsea LA.

At the opening of the new reality some-scenes-have-been-created-for-your-entertainment series, we find Binky and JP in a state of limbo with their friend/relationship; Jamie struggling to accept that his and Jess’s brief romance has fizzled out; and a shock break up with Josh abruptly dumping Stephanie “to focus on work” only weeks after asking her what kind of engagement ring she’d like. (My thoughts on this one are that Josh is being a bit of a coward and using a, quite frankly, pathetic excuse to break up with Steph. I mean, come on, just admit that you want to be single and stop lying about it!)

Last night’s episode saw the gang go on a trip to Las Vegas where they stayed out clubbing and gambling until 6am, Jamie and Alex had a pretend wedding conducted by the king of rock n’ roll himself Elvis Presley (well, almost), and a tiff between Jamie and his new love interest, Nas. Considering that Jamie often falls hard for girls and “loves the hunt but loses interest when he’s caught his prey” as the charming Alex Mytton put it, it’s no surprise to long serving audiences that Jamie has allegedly cheated already. I mean, it’s just expected from almost everyone in Chelsea, right? But on this occasion, I felt bad for Nas. The LA girl has just met Jamie and despite warnings from Jamie’s ex’s including Lucy, Louise and Jess, Nas is in that rose-tinted-glasses, lovey-dovey phase that seems more like teenage puppy love than anything really serious – I mean, they were suddenly exclusive after only one date for goodness sake!

After admitting to JP and Alex that she’s never had a connection with someone so quickly before, Nas has really left herself in a vulnerable position where she is open to getting hurt as everyone starts acting a bit fishy and are clearly concealing information about Jamie’s recent womanizing activities. (The details are still hazy but I think we’ll find out in the next episode if Jamie has actually cheated or not, or if he will again.)

Although seeing the Chelsea boys and girls in a new setting with new people, seeing Alik return from New York to be with Louise and watching sparks fly between Binky and JP (who both clearly like each other but just won’t admit it!) was all good, this episode was a little bit of a flop. If you’re going to take us on a trip through our TV screens to Viva Las Vegas, at least show us the crazy nights out and things getting messy. We know MiC isn’t exactly Geordie Shore but we still want to see the cast getting ridiculously drunk and making fools of themselves rather than just hearing about it during the gossip sessions the next morning.

One of the downfalls of MiC is that the cast clearly have more control of what is filmed than on other reality shows. We see the cast “bumping into each other” and having drama in sophisticated and controlled settings but the camera always cuts away to ‘the morning after the night before’ shot just when the night out was starting to get interesting.

But the real reason I’m complaining about this is because I want to see more and because I’m a little bit addicted to watching their love triangles, bitch fests and dramas unfold and, of course, I’ll still be tuning in next week.

The next episode of Made in Chelsea LA airs on E4 on Monday at 9pm.

Featured image via Lucy Watson Instagram.

She’s *My* Best Friend

Published by Femsplain.

I’m sure when ancient man saw another cave dweller with a bigger piece of meat than he had from that afternoon’s hunt, he probably felt a twinge of jealousy. He may even have been so jealous that he smashed his fellow cave dweller over the head with a club, stole the meat and ran off with it. Who knows? Maybe jealousy is a quality that dates back to the days of the Flintstones, right back to the beginning of humanity. Whatever the case, it seems to be a primal part of us, but its meaning often blurs, and sometimes what would usually be protectiveness can morph into that all-too-familiar green-eyed monster: jealousy.

“Friend jealousy” is something that I’m sure most people — perhaps more so the case with girls — have experienced (although they may not admit to it). When you’re a small child and you make your first best friend, and you have fun with them, care about them, share your deepest darkest secrets (usually which boy you fancy that week) and cuddle them when they cry, a sense of protectiveness over that friend gradually builds. As your bond strengthens and you become true BFFs who know everything there is to know about each other, you start to think “Yep, this is my friend. Don’t mess with them, or you mess with me!”

But, typically, at some time or another, someone else is going to come along. Maybe they’re already in your group of close friends, and at the start of the new school year after a long summer off, they have a cool new haircut or backpack and they’re just cool this time around; everyone wants to be their new friend, including your BFF.

Though you want to cling on to your best friend — much like a spouse trying to win back the attention of their estranged partner who is looking to trade them in for a younger model — neediness is not going to help your case. You’ll get new toys, invite them over for sleepovers, make them a friendship bracelet, anything just to make yourself the “it” girl again. But, before you know it, your bestie will be playing Barbies with the new BFF at lunch times instead of you.

This is all natural. Especially when you’re young. As we grow, we are all constantly changing in every way physically and emotionally, from our fashion sense to our tastes and interests. It’s natural to outgrow friends, to drift apart from them, to discover new friendships that make you happier and to generally just change from pal to pal sometimes. But these constantly interchanging friend groups as a child can sometimes leaving a lasting impression into teenage years and even adulthood, and you may continue to feel twinges of that little green-eyed creature niggling in the back corner of your mind.

With the drama, hormones and stress associated with high school, this environment could be even more difficult in the friend department than earlier years. But when you get past high school and start community college or university or get a job, and you find yourself in a more stable, committed, friend-making-friendly setting, you should be able to build those kind of solid friendships that last a lifetime. By this stage, you’ll probably think, Ah, I am so over “friend jealousy” now. Ugh, I used to be so silly and childish. Thank goodness I’m way past that. Wrong.

With your new grownup friends, secret sharing has gone deeper than just about who you have feelings for or who you dislike, and you don’t just have other friends to compete with. There are now boyfriends and girlfriends, too. You might think that you’ve locked up that jealousy monster, but as soon as you hear, “Uh, sorry. I’ll have to cancel on you tonight. I’m going on a date with Jonathan” or, “Sorry, I can’t make it to the cinema. I’m going shopping with Jessica,” you’ll start to feel it once more.

At this stage in life, the good news is: Your friend isn’t going to be stolen. If your friend is shallow enough to ditch you for someone else simply because they are new and “cool” or have a lot of nice things, then they weren’t a friend worth having. And you’ll be at a stage where you’ll have a group of friends that you’re really close with, and you’ll constantly make new friends in new social circles. You may not even have one best friend anymore, but a whole group of them.

The bottom line is, “friend jealousy” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This particular green-eyed monster has a heart of gold and is only riddled with jealousy because at the root, there is love. When you make a friend who you instantly click with and you just think, Wow, this person is amazing! I love them! I want to hang out with them all the time, you quickly feel protectiveness and “friend love” for them. So, when someone new comes along, you naturally want to wrap your friend up in cotton wool and hold them tight. But you have to let go. If they’re a true friend, they won’t be going anywhere anyway.

I am good friends with both sexes, but I love my girlfriends and I’ll always be protective if someone threatens to hurt them. And maybe I’ll always have a bit of “friend jealousy” if someone new comes along. But nowadays, I’ll meet that new person too and think, Hey, I want to be friends with this person as well!

It’s okay to admit that you feel “friend jealousy;” it just means that you care. We just need to remember to tell this cute, lovable, little green-eyed monster that true friends are never stolen, and that everything will be okay.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr.

Call Me Transphobic: The Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume

Published by CultNoise Magazine

I’ve always loved Halloween. It’s a holiday where we have the excuse to dress up in elaborate costumes and makeup, be silly, play games and go out trick or treating with friends and family for bags full of free sweets and chocolaty treats that’ll rot our teeth — it’s basically Christmas come early — which then, as you get older, turns into going Halloween parties where, with the help of alcohol, things get a little scarier. But in the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that fewer people use Halloween as an excuse to create imaginative outfits and cosmetics and instead take the opportunity to make some kind of provocative statement.

This particular “provocative” statement, however, is in not funny or clever or in the true spirit of Halloween in any way, shape or form. The latest costume craze emerging from fancy dress shops takes the form of this extremely damaging, transphobic advertisement: the unisex Caitlyn Jenner Halloween costume.

The initial concept of a costume styled in the image of Caitlyn Jenner’s iconic Vanity Fair cover isn’t in itself offensive. In fact, had it been marketed appropriately and modelled by a woman, it could have been a celebratory statement; a tribute to Jenner just like when fans of Marilyn Monroe and Beyoncé dress up in the image of their idols for Halloween as a way of honouring them.

This costume, however, in the way it has been represented, is not honouring Jenner at all but, instead, is shaming and ridiculing her. The first aspect of this ad that is offensive is the category it has been placed in: “mens costumes”. By reducing Jenner’s legacy and image down to “mens costumes” when she is now legally a woman, Wholesale Halloween Costumes have completely insulted, disregarded and belittled Jenner’s 65-year-long struggle to come out as transgender and fully transition — physically, emotionally and mentally — into the woman she always was on the inside.

It’s unimaginable how much courage it must have taken Jenner to dismantle the carefully-constructed hyper-masculine facade she had been hiding behind her entire life and admitting to herself and to the world — quite literally the world since Jenner stars in a reality TV show that is broadcast around the globe and is stalked daily by ruthless paparazzi —  that she was in fact a woman, and to have her struggle reduced down to a mockery in the form of this tasteless, transphobic Halloween costume is utterly disgraceful.

The second thing that makes this representation of Jenner offensive is the model. Having a man representing a transgender woman in this way is essentially the epitome of transphobia and I don’t think much more could have been done to create a more offensive, insensitive and harmful statement.

And last, but not least, the third offence of this ad is categorizing the costume as “humorous”. Turning the image of Caitlyn Jenner into a joke is extremely damaging to all the activist work that Jenner and other transgender individuals, groups and supporters have been doing for decades to try to spread a message of love, acceptance and tolerance towards LGBTQ individuals (as seen on E! documentary series I am Cait).

The decision to market the costume in this way and having a man dressing up as Jenner not only implies that society should still perceive Jenner as a man rather than the woman she chooses to identify as, but is also a huge step backwards for gender equality; implying that LGBTQ activist work is a laughing stock rather than a serious issue that deserves respect, recognition and support.

In the public outcry that quite rightly followed the publication of the ad, a petition has been created on Change.org aiming to stop Caitlyn Jenner being exploited with this transphobic costume and has already received over 4000 signatures and counting.

While this costume may, at first glance, appear to be a harmless joke made by someone who isn’t very aware of the struggles that LGBTQ individuals face daily; it is when we take a closer look at the connotations of transphobia, ignorance and intolerance associated with the way this costume has been designed and marketed, that we see just how much work still needs to be done before all transgender individuals will be truly accepted and respected within society.

It is important to remember that while the UK, America and other developed countries are reasonably — but not yet entirely — tolerant towards transgender individuals, there are still many transgender men and women who not only have to cope with a few little jokes and jibes here and there but also face poverty, unemployment, disownment from their family and friends, suicide and even murder in many countries around the world. This ad does nothing but promote the ongoing stigma that transgender people are freaks when in fact they are just people who deserve the same rights and opportunities as everyone else; people who deserve respect, acceptance and love.

Although many people have spoken out against the companies making and selling this costume and have shown huge support for Caitlyn Jenner, it is clear that our society is still far from perfect when it comes to acceptance and much more still needs to be done to achieve equality for all genders.

What do you think of the Caitlyn Jenner Halloween costume? Let us know in the comments section below.

Featured image courtesy of Heikki Siltala via Flickr.

Book Review: ‘The Nose’ by Nikolai Gogol

It was the title that originally caught my eye: The Nose.

This strange little book (perhaps more of a novella, no, in fact, a short story) is on the reading list for one of my literature classes that I’ll be doing when the new semester that starts next month. Since it was the shortest of the mountain of books that I had to order all at once through Amazon (all scribbled-on and secondhand, of course), and I was dying to find out about this nose, I decided to put it at the top of my list.

The first thing that came to mind when reading The Nose was its similarities to another strange little book that I read a year or two ago: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, which is also a story of the absurd as the protagonist, travel salesmans Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning to get ready for work only to realise he has been transformed into a giant, monstrous insect.

The Nose is of a similar theme in that the story opens with barber Ivan Yakovlevich finding a decapitated nose inside his loaf of bread at breakfast, and we later discover that the nose belongs to one of his regular customers, Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov (‘Major Kovalyov’) who wakes up with an empty vacancy where his nose used to be.

Overall, I enjoyed The Nose. However, since the story was originally written in Russian, I left that a bit of the soul of the tale has been lost in translation as parts of the book seem quite “matter of fact” and a bit lifeless, yet other sections are full of colour and description.

One of the best aspects of the book is the unreliable narrator who becomes a bit of a character in its own right. The narrator frequently halts the story to talk to the reader directly to give their own opinion of what’s currently going on, or to tell the reader that they need more information (about a particular character or plot line) and they go off on a tangent, eventually returning to the present plot and moving on with the story. It’s hard to determine at which points is the narrator telling the truth or lying to us, and they even say at some point that the story “contains much that is highly implausible” – what are we meant to believe?

As the story is absurdist, I found myself continuously trying to unravel some kind of intricate deep, dark, hidden meaning to Gogol’s narrative. Is the Major’s nose disappearing a symbol for something more prominent? Does losing the nose symbolise emasculation? Castration even? Since hardly anything is given away in this story and we have to dig deep through a lot of metaphors and inferences, it’s hard to know what the narrator is really trying to say.

As if things couldn’t get any more bizarre, the Major later goes out to an advertisement office where he plans to place an ad appealing for his lost nose to be returned but on the way there, he stumbles across his nose dressed up and pretending to be a human being! He even has a conversation with it that goes a little like this:

“Hey, you’re my nose! Get back on my face!” … “Sir, I am not your nose. Don’t be so absurd and leave me alone.”

– Could it get much stranger? (Reading The Nose, I couldn’t help but imagine the characters in a kind of Tim Burton animation style. I’m not sure what that means either…)

And in the third act of the story *warning: spoiler!*, the Major wakes again one morning to find his previously lost nose back in its rightful place: stuck onto the middle of his face.

We never find out how or why the nose disappeared in the first place, or how it came to be back on the Major’s face, and towards the end, the narrator appears to become more and more unreliable and dwindles into a bit of a confusing waffle.

If I know anything, it’s that this book definitely takes a few reads and a lot of dissecting and theorizing to understand.

Rating: 3/5

(In) Hiding: A Poem

The windows were open but the curtains were closed.

The sunlight poured through the thin lime fabric; diffusing dusty

liquid sunshine into this dark room, where I watched in silence from the floor.

Silhouettes of bobbing heads slid along the curtains like

a war time film projected on a sheet screen. I can see them

but they can’t see me.

The wind slides in through the window vents; breathing in

the scents of the market, someone’s cooking, someone else’s

chimney smoke. – But I can still smell the air.

I fill my lungs and they feast on the kind of

fresh, crispy oxygen that only comes here after the rain. Moist but

not humid; it’s still gauzed with beads of water. I always

imagine what they’d look like if I was small enough to see them;

like the sun passing through the prism of microscopic kaleidoscopes,

trapped forever inside raindrops. – The curtains inflate up and down,

in and out, with the wind: like the balloon chest of a frog;

like my own quick lungs. I can see them

but they can’t see me.

The noise sounds and the bobbing heads flash along the curtains.

Rushing past, their shadows are crushed and warped as the curtains

flail in the gust; thrashing with panic as if they were drowning.

Eventually, the gale eases and floats away; the street is calm,

quiet again. I thought I was safe when the shadows disappeared

but a only moment later, a new bobbing head comes.

Wearing a large top hat, the silhouette gets bigger and bigger

as it hovers closer on the curtain screen.

It taps on the window as I hold my breath under my blanket,

I know it can see me.

– Words and pictures are property of Sophie McNaughton.

Sophie’s Choice: Supervet in the Field (TV Review)

Published by Student Rag:

Hearing the phrase “bionic supervet”, you’d be forgiven for assuming that pioneering veterinary surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick is some kind of superhero from a comic book. But you’d be wrong. This extraordinary vet is not a fictional character from a colourful comic strip but is in fact a real person who is changing the world of veterinary science and pioneering new treatments and technologies, the likes of some aren’t available even to humans in medical science.

Creating his own inventions with everything from bionic limbs built into the patient’s skeleton to ground-breaking spinal surgeries that make the lame walk once more, Fitzpatrick is a bit of a Doctor Victor Frankenstein for animals – except he uses his powers for good, not evil.

The Soundtrack to Your Freshers Week

I have an article published in the print edition of the August/September issue (Fresher’s edition) of Scotcampus magazine!

Bic’s Epic Fail: Gender Equality Lessons to Be Learned

Published by CultNoise magazine.

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For a writer like me who largely writes opinion pieces on social issues and injustices, epic fails like this are a gift. An insulting, offensive, rage-inducing gift, but a gift nonetheless.

This week, Bic Stationary (South Africa) just about managed to offend every woman and feminist who was made aware of their catastrophic, sexist blunder as they posted this backwards and insensitive advertisement on their Facebook and Twitter pages on Women’s Day:

Comedy Review: Frankie Boyle “Work in Progress” at The Stand Comedy Club, Glasgow

Comedian: Frankie Boyle – Work in Progress

Venue: The Stand Comedy Club, Glasgow – 10/08/2015

It’s hard – no, actually, it’s nigh on impossible – to defend Frankie Boyle’s comedy. So, I’m not even going to try. I don’t think it’s even deemed socially acceptable to openly admit to liking Frankie Boyle. He is arguably the most controversial comedian in the country today. A comedian who will quite literally joke about any and every sensitive topic and tragic event under the sun; no matter how risqué it is, no matter how much abuse he will get for it.

Frankie Boyle may be despicable (to say the least) but if he was truly hated by everyone across the nation, we wouldn’t be talking about him; he wouldn’t be selling out shows, books and DVDs, and he wouldn’t even be known to us at all – but he is. The thing that many people won’t admit is that Boyle, while hated, is also adored by fans across the country.

In many ways, Frankie Boyle could be compared to acid-tongue newspaper columnist Katie Hopkins (oh, except, Boyle is actually funny). While he may offend and disgust, he also often says what all other comedians are too afraid to say, and usually says what many people in the audience are really thinking.

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It’s a typical drizzly Monday night in Kelvinbridge in the West End of Glasgow and The Stand Comedy Club is packed from the bar to the stalls with fans eagerly anticipating the return of one of the cities favourite, and paradoxically most divisive, comedians since his last Glasgow shows during the 2014 Independence Referendum.