I was watching The Queen's Gambit and immediately noticed the man posing as a female in the first episode. (Very minor spoilers.)

submitted by Nonime from self.GenderCritical

Very minor spoilers:

I was so excited to watch The Queen's Gambit, and in the very first episode, one of the caretaker "women" at the orphanage looked abnormally broad/tall and masculine to me. I looked up the actors/actresses on IMDb, and sure enough, Miss Lonsdale is played by a man named Rebecca Root.

I went from being relaxed and not thinking about the recent and continuing attacks on women's rights, to incredibly grossed out and angry. I'm so fucking tired of this. This sneaky, silently insert the transgender shit into a show to try and normalize it is immersion breaking and gross. A man in a dress posing as a woman taking care of young girls in an orphanage is horrifying, and I saw through it right away. Stop shoving these people into our shows and movies. This was also set in the 1960s and this would never fucking happen then.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2340289/

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[–]purrvana 31 insightful - 1 fun31 insightful - 0 fun32 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah I clocked him right away too. It's so distracting because I can never tell if they're meant to play biological women or transwomen when I see non-passing TIMs in shows. I knew for this one it was supposed to be a real woman based on the time period. So dumb. The trans community complains when trans characters aren't played by trans actors, but I constantly see transwomen playing women's roles on Netflix.

That's the only episode he appears in. I enjoyed the rest of the series.

[–]Eurowoman24 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

clocked instantly lmao

[–]MarkTwainiac 25 insightful - 2 fun25 insightful - 1 fun26 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

These days, these guys aren't just showing up in fictional media stories, either. I often watch financial news programs on CNBC in the mornings, and I've noticed in the past year several of the expert guests opining about various industries and financial issues are men pretending to be women.

The other day, I was watching some footage about the fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and the blood testing scam she ran at her company Theranos, and found out that the highest-ranking woman at Theranos after Holmes was actually a guy who had a long career at Apple, where he was one of the principal designers of the iPhone, who now goes by the name Ana Arriola. What's interesting is that this guy, who thinks wearing makeup and "female coded" clothing makes him a bona fide woman, suggests Holmes is a phony and ludicrous for modeling her fashion style and public image after Steve Jobs and for adopting the affection of a faked baritone voice meant to make her sound like a man:

https://youtu.be/MjWS8hQk188?t=303

[–]purrvana 19 insightful - 10 fun19 insightful - 9 fun20 insightful - 10 fun -  (2 children)

Wait...Arriola, like areola? As in nipple skin? I actually laughed out loud at that.

[–]MarkTwainiac 22 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 0 fun23 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yup, that was my response too.

Also, it's interesting that after dissing Elizabeth Holmes on TV for aping Steve Jobs' sartorial style, this guy Arriola turned around and bragged to Elle magazine last year that he was the one who suggested that Holmes start wearing Jobs' trademark black turtlenecks along with black jackets and trousers in the first place. Yet at the same time, this man pretending he's a woman feels free to slag off Holmes' Jobs-mimicking style as follows:

"But it wasn't her own personal style," Arriola adds. "She copied other people... She was 120 percent fake."

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a26946867/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-black-turtleneck-ana-arriola/

There's picture of "Ana" with his wife in the Elle article that shows he's just another heterosexual man LARPing. But of course, this straight man has gotten lots of awards for being both an "LGBT" leader as well as a pioneer trailblazer for "women in tech." He's also held many prestigious appointed positions coz of his purported expertise on "gender" and women's issues.

Yet we're supposed to believe Elizabeth Holmes is the only one here who is a fraud and "120 percent fake" LOL.

This sort of stuff makes me hope an earth-destroying asteroid comes quick.

[–]ColoredTwice 14 insightful - 1 fun14 insightful - 0 fun15 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

And as "expert" he represents women and women needs? Then nothing strange that nothing is improving for actual women, as this guy can't know whqt we may need or what we think.

[–]eddyelric 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Wow. Internet conspiracies are crazy. How common is this?

[–]leninsleftnipple 22 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 0 fun23 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

My husband and I looked at each other and we're like "that's not a woman..." In another episode there's a scene where the teacher is singing with a group of girls in a lesson and you can clearly hear a male voice. No matter how hard they try to normalize trans women in media, anyone with a functional brain is going to instantly tell that that's not really a woman.

[–]Anniesworld 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Apparently she/he is a trans voice coach.

[–]MarkTwainiac 17 insightful - 2 fun17 insightful - 1 fun18 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

So a "trans" actor was supposedly playing a "cis" person? I thought that sort of thing wasn't allowed nowadays.

Or do the new authoritarian rules only go one way: trans and gay can play any part they want, but so-called "cis" and straight actors can only play "cis" and straight characters? If that's the case, damn Cher and Diana Scarwid for playing lesbians in "Silkwood," damn Daniel Day-Lewis for playing a hot gay guy in "My Beautiful Launderette," damn Tom Hanks and Antonia Banderas for playing gay lovers in "Philadelphia"... and damn so many more over the years. What horrible people all those actors are for showing they can play a wide range of human characters.

Next thing they'll probably be saying "cis" and straight actors can only have "vanilla" sex on screen.

[–]ColoredTwice 15 insightful - 3 fun15 insightful - 2 fun16 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

I thought that sort of thing wasn't allowed nowadays.

Not allowed other way around. There were even few scandals that "cis people can't play trans, they don't understand".

gay

Gay are now in "cis" camp. Not cool. Only cool "gays" are straight transes (transwoman with penis and woman, or transman without surgery with man).

[–]MarkTwainiac 6 insightful - 5 fun6 insightful - 4 fun7 insightful - 5 fun -  (1 child)

Yes, you're absolutely right. Gays are now in the "cis" camp. I stand corrected. Thank you for educating me. Where can I send you the money to compensate you for your emotional labor? Again, my abject apologies for getting it wrong and not being fully up to speed with the latest dogma. I promise I will "do better" in the future. (LOL)

[–]ColoredTwice 8 insightful - 6 fun8 insightful - 5 fun9 insightful - 6 fun -  (0 children)

I will send thought policetransman to make sure this will not be repeated.

[–]purrvana 11 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

It's trans privilege.

Just like the person on reddit last night who called me a terf... I quickly browsed through his history and he claims he's a woman, a transwoman, nonbinary, a lesbian AND most of his posts are in r/mensrights. So he gets to claim the whole spectrum while yelling at me for not wanting to be called a cervix-haver. Trans privilege!

[–]lefterfield 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

most of his posts are in r/mensrights

Strange how often this is the case, hmm? I once argued something related to feminism against a man who claims to be a man and a man who claims to be a woman. Strangely, it was exactly like arguing with two men.

[–]hfxB0oyA 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

a transwoman, nonbinary,

I don't get this particular piece of horseshit. How can you call yourself trans, meaning you switched sides, while also insisting you have no side? Complete idiocy.

[–]fr_bandersnatch 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Noticed immediately here too. For what it's worth, the character has like 7 minutes total screen time in the entire series. They aren't portrayed in particularly positive or negative light. For me, I wonder if it was an intentional casting choice since the character had this "uncanny valley" air which was sort of amplified by being the religion teacher (I'm recalling the hymn sessions with that baritone voice). Amplifying the bizarreness and awkwardness of the orphanage? Part of me thinks this was tongue in cheek casting.

[–]emptiedriver 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I thought he was in a couple episodes and never understood if he was meant to be a man or woman, or some weird memory of the main character's, or what. It distracted me a little bit, since it seemed sort of out of place in the time period, but the whole series was slightly surreal or at least unrealistic in its presentation so I just attributed it to that.

But yeah, it was certainly obvious.

[–]Vari4 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I watched the first episode. Saw him in there. I legit thought that they casted a TiM deliberately so that he could play a creepy nun (out of all the characters in the orphanage the TiM was the most annoying and was most likely to be a pedo).

Was pretty confused when this storyline didn't go anywhere.

[–]FineIWillDoItMyself 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

even though he call himself a woman he still act like a man, you know implying he will beat her up

[–]slushpilot 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

The whole orphanage backstory was a bit flat, just like this pointless hymn teacher. When it came to building up Beth Harmon, there was little there except for the drugs, the grumpy janitor, and the loneliness—save her one kind friend. Other than that, there was no depth to any of the supporting characters there.

So why this weird choice for the hymn teacher? I'm not sure whether they chose a man there just to add to the creepy vibe of the place. I thought, maybe nobody noticed that nun is a man... maybe they're harboring him for some strange reason we'll find out... but nope, nothing.

[–]hfxB0oyA 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Yep. I saw him and immediately said "That looks like a guy". My semi-woke squeeze said "women can look all sorts of ways". I told her they can, but that doesn't look like a woman. After I looked him up and confirmed, she was no longer interested in pursuing the conversation. :D

[–]whateverneverpine 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The "semi-woke squeeze" -- semi-awake, until they're awoken, and then they don't want to talk about it. Whatever happened to "the truth will set you free?"

[–]LasagnaRossa 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

OOOOHHHHH so it was really a man!!!

That "lady" sounded and looked too off to be mistaken for a woman.

[–]jet199 3 insightful - 5 fun3 insightful - 4 fun4 insightful - 5 fun -  (1 child)

Haha, yeah I used to work with Rebecca.

I actually thought it was a good fit for the role because teaching girls how to act like a stereotypical laydee is the one thing TiMs have some insight in.

I mean Rebecca trains actors in voice for her proper job. So she literally took what she learnt on her "how to be feminine" nhs training and turned it into a career. Then when she finally got a little acting job it was pretty much playing the part of what she does irl.

[–]SweetBabyCheeses 7 insightful - 4 fun7 insightful - 3 fun8 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Interesting. So she’s a professional imposter, experienced trainer in the dark arts of how to be mistaken for a woman, and yet she still doesn’t even pass on the telly 😂 it’s almost as though “non-passing TIMs” is a tautology.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They have been doing this lol

[–]CosmicFarmPrisoner 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There have always been trans people in the entertainment industry. Now because of greater acceptance, some of the less passable ones can admit to what they are and still have a career as a performer.

[–]mohittyagi12 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

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