South Park have been accused of transphobia over a new episode of the show.
The seventh episode of the show’s current 23rd series was based around the Strongwoman competition and main character Strong Woman.
“I’m not here to talk about my transition, I’m here to kick some f***ing ass,” she says, while saying she’s “honoured” to be competing against the “first trans woman” to be entered into the competition.
The “trans woman” in question Heather is Heather Swanson, who says she started identifying as a woman “two weeks ago”, before stating: “I can’t tell you how free I feel. Now that I can compete as female, I’m ready to smash the other girls.”
The new episode of the show has been criticised across social media, with trans rights activist and professional cyclist Rachel McKinnon at the head of the complaints, calling them “lazy” and stating that these kind of jokes have been happening for decades.
“I’m not particularly mad about the South Park episode,” she tweeted. “Yes it’s transphobic. Yes it’s lazy. Yes, it contributes to harm to trans women and girls. But they’re lazy and increasingly irrelevant. Fuck, Futurama made the same stupid storyline in 2003. Transphobes don’t have new jokes.”
I'm not particularly mad about the South Park episode.
Yes it's transphobic. Yes it's lazy. Yes it contributes to harm to trans women and girls
But they're lazy and increasingly irrelevant
Fuck, Futurama made the same stupid storyline in 2003
Transphobes don't have new jokes.
— Dr. Veronica McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) November 14, 2019
She continued: “South Park has been deeply transphobic the *entire time*. This isn’t their first explicitly transphobic story line. It won’t be their last. Stone and Parker are transphobes. Write them off. Ignore their lazy show.”
South Park has been deeply transphobic the *entire time*
This isn't their first explicitly transphobic story line. It won't be their last. Stone and Parker are transphobes. Write them off. Ignore their lazy show.
— Dr. Veronica McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) November 14, 2019
Another critic called the show out for painting trans people as “gross/weird”, saying that the portrayal “reinforces negative stigmas”.
Okay southpark continually makes jokes about trans people and like yeah satire can be fun and all but when you’re consistently making trans people out to be gross/weird solely because of their gender identity it’s really just rude and hurtful and reinforces negative stigmas.
— amelio (@EmilioEleccion) November 14, 2019
Others referred to the real-life treatment of trans athletes such as Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand in their criticism of the show.
If South Park really was interested in a nuanced conversation about women’s sports, they would have acknowledged how transphobic stereotypes have led to literal cisgender women like Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand being banned from female track and field.
— ???????????????? (@wrendovelark) November 14, 2019
South Park recently came under fire for its episode Band In China, which resulted in the show being literally banned in China.