A few weeks ago, a video of two YouTube celebrity brothers coming out to their dad over the phone went viral. Between sobs they told their dad about who they were, taking turns while the other caught his breath. The father wasn’t stellar about it, but he certainly handled it better than some fathers would. The video was a tearjerker to say the least, especially for people who have had to do the same thing. But overall, it represented something that is very problematic.

Taking a process that is very private and making it public. Creating a spectacle out of something that people are working hard to normalize. People are using the media, and the media are using people, to exploit experiences that they know will get viewers. Coming out stories and transition stories should not be for sale.

Bruce Jenner, former-Olympian, turned reluctant-reality star on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” has been the subject of the media’s ruthless speculation about his gender identity and expression. People have commented on his lips, his hair, everything. In the pinnacle of insensitivity InTouch truly proved that it is indeed out of touch and Photoshopped him as a woman for the cover of its Jan. 26 issue.

Initially it was easy to feel bad for Jenner, but now rumors are being confirmed that they are producing a reality series all about his transition into a woman. This hasn’t been confirmed by Jenner or the family, but if it does happen, it will be just another page in the history of traditional media exploiting LGBT people. While people should feel free to express themselves and come out as gay or transgender or whatever they may be, these displays succeed only in commodifying real people and their experiences.

Let’s recall back to Katie Couric’s gaffe when she invited transgender actress Laverne Cox on her show, and proceeded to ask her invasive questions about her transition. Cox, of course, shut her down with unparalleled grace, saying, “I do feel there is a preoccupation with that. The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we don’t get to really deal with the real lived experiences.”

Couric has since taken some sincere steps to address this, making up for some lost ground, but Cox is right. People tune in to see the spectacle, and that’s exactly what will happen with this series.

This kind of visibility is destructive. If the media wants to help trans* people, this is not the way to do it. Healthy visibility comes in the form of better representation of transgender people in Hollywood. The fact that historically roles written for trans* people portray them drugged out prostitutes, for instance, is something that we can address. As is the fact that men are disproportionally cast as transgender women, for example, Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club,” or more recently Eddie Redmayne in “The Danish Girl”. We should be telling the stories of everyday trans* people in ways that address the real problems associated with transgender discrimination, not through the lens of one of the most privileged celebrity families in the world.

Coming out and transition experiences are private. Trans* people work very hard to achieve that kind of privacy. And we should afford Jenner that same privacy, even if he doesn’t want it.

Eric King is a sophomore magazine journalism major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @erickingdavid.

Published on February 3, 2015 at 12:30 am