What does it mean to be a woman?
Ok so I feel like you literally cannot say anything contrary about Caitlin (formerly Bruce) Jenner without being branded a mindless, heartless bigot. This is unfortunate. Sadly, we are living in a world that demands a pro-everything stance to well…everything.
If you go against the grain, you’re dumped at the very top of a ‘politically incorrect’ heap that is expanding by the second. You cannot express an alternative opinion these days without rubbing the ‘establishment’ the wrong way.
And when I say alternative, I mean traditional. It’s funny how convention has become the ‘other’. There is a movement or an agenda if you like, to accept everything as quote and quote, normal, to the exclusion of any other position.
But back to Caitlin and her Vanity Fair cover where she appears in her underwear. She’s received a lot of praise for being brave and having the courage to live life on her own terms. None of that, in my opinion, is misplaced. It is indeed a very courageous thing to switch sexes in full view of the public, and then go on to boldly display your feminine side with such sensual abandon.
Her publicised ‘coming out’ is likely to embolden millions of other closeted transgendered individuals who have hitherto felt trapped in the wrong body. We don’t have to look too far afield for a local example, thanks to our very own Audrey Mbugua, who is still fighting for her right to be acknowledged as a female. Transgender issues are real, and they should be championed.
That has never been my issue with Caitlin. I’m all for people living their best lives and being their most authentic selves, la de dah, de dah. What I find distasteful is the blatant commercialisation of Caitlin Jenner’s cause. It has taken her 65 years to find her soul but she barely took a breath before cutting the deal(s) to sell it.
No, she was not paid for the Diane Sawyer interview, and neither was she paid for the Vanity Fair cover, but after her appearances on both, her brand value has shot through the roof. She’s gone from Kris Jenner’s emasculated husband, to the Kardashian matriarch’s super-popular ex-wife, faster than anybody in the Kardashian/Jenner clan can say “ka-ching!”
Any woman who can attract one million Twitter followers in less than four hours will certainly be an advertiser’s dream (by the time we went to press, she had more than two million). Caitlyn Jenner is about to become the poster woman for endorsements.
And really at the end of the day, more power to her and all the people who are probably out right now buying Kardashian/Jenner merchandise to support Caitlin’s act of bravery. After all, money does make the world go round.
Here at home – because we’re far more comfortable running our mouths than spending our money – if you’re #TeamCaitlin, more power to you too. You have a right to your opinion. Just don’t turn around and pounce on everyone who doesn’t agree with your left-of-centre approach. The intolerance you’re railing against really has begun with you.
And finally, a quote from the horse’s mouth, speaking about her (Caitlin Jenner’s) upcoming docuseries on E! (and yeah, she’s getting a cheque for this one): “I’m not doing it for money. I’m doing it to help my soul and help other people. If I can make a dollar, I certainly am not stupid. [I have] house payments and all that kind of stuff. I will never make an excuse for something like that.”
You be the judge.
