Kathleen D.

Topic: Gender stereotypes in media

As I walk briskly to the big glass doors of the building that has changed people’s understanding of me, and of other people like me, I am nervous. I am normally nervous in public because when people find out who I am, they find me weird and stop talking to me. But I know I will have to eventually walk in the building, so I slowly open the door, and as I walk through, I trip on a door stopper, almost dropping everything in my tan folder with all my audition information in it. A tall blonde woman with bright blue eyes who was behind the front desk rushes towards me and asks if I’m okay, and if she can be of any assistance. I quickly stand up and say that I’m okay, and I thank her for rushing to my aid even though I’m perfectly fine.

The woman walks back behind the desk and checks me in by checking all my audition forms and my headshots. She goes to my personal information page and starts to read. She gives me nasty looks as she continues to read. She starts confirming information that she can contact me by, but speaking to me in a tone that just screams, “You’re weird, and I don’t like you.” Almost like I’m a different person than when she was kindly trying to help me when I had tripped earlier. Then I realize that she’s most likely giving me nasty looks for what I wrote on my information paper. There was a checkbox for male and female, but not for other. So, I wrote my own checkbox for gender non-binary. Most people think that you have to identify as a certain gender, and that makes me stand out, mostly in a bad way. But maybe not everyone will act this way, right? That was proven wrong quite quickly.

She said I was good to go to room 127, and I should sit inside to wait for the director and his assistant. As I walk down the hall, I read the numbers, and finally after two or three minutes I reach room 127. I open the metal door and am not surprised to see beautiful young women and handsome men waiting for their audition. I thought I had a chance, but I start doubting myself because everyone in the room is “the look” that most people have on TV. But maybe I’ll act more like a person on TV.

The director and his assistant walk in the room, and everyone falls silent. They give us a little speech about what they expect and when to check our email for when they’ll tell us if we made it in the show or not. They start to call names in one by one. “Parker!” they yell after about ten minutes. I get up and walk to where they called me from, and into a seperate room. I stand up in front of some other judges, the director, and his assistant. They start to read my information paper and immediately start looking at each other awkwardly. They whisper back and forth, but I can’t tell what they are saying. The director says, “Okay Paker, why don’t you cold read this monologue?”

I respond, “Alright, may I have a few moments to read this?”

They all look at each other silently and nod. They have kindly highlighted the part that I need to read, and I assume someone will read the other lines. I start to read my lines in my head. Is this supposed to be funny? This is a identity that people are, but they try to make it seem funny or like a joke. In the script, I’m supposed to be this gay person (which I don’t have a problem with), and at the top of the script it has jokes about being gay and how to “act gay.” Also the thing that I absolutely hate on media and TV is where they make girls overly feminine and guys overly masculine, and they have that in the script as well.

I say, “Do you think this is funny?”

The director responds with, “Well, yes. I personally do find it hilarious.”

Really? This is outrageous! Just because someone is gay or in the LGBTQ+ community doesn’t mean that their life is a joke. I finally say, “I’m leaving. I hope you’re happy that you’re making people’s gender identities a joke.” I quietly walk out of the room without a word and through the hall, back to the front desk, and out the front entrance. I knew at that moment something had to be done.

I ask a few other LGBTQ+ people and gender nonbinary people how their audition experiences have gone, and all of them had similar situations where they were told how to “act gay” or “act lesbian,” and they were told to be overly feminine or overly masculine. Or they were just treated poorly by the staff. I tell them to spread the word about this company treating us poorly and make sure everyone knows why. One week later, it’s everywhere on social media. Everyone is giving their opinion on it, and most of them are supportive. I even receive an email from Channel 8 news, asking if they can interview me. In four hours! I graciously accept because I could get the word out to people who don’t have social media.

Four hours later, I go to my interview. To sum it up, they inquire about what the people from the company said and how they reacted when they found out I was gender non-binary. I also say that no matter how this situation is handled, we need to stay true to ourselves and not change who we are just because a company makes fun of our identities. It is about a 20 minute interview, and it goes by very quickly.  We wrap up the interview, and after they thank me for coming and sharing. I walk outside and back to my house to watch the interview. I turn on my small, black TV and scroll through the channels. As I am scrolling, I find news that a whole riot has begun, where people are standing outside the building where I auditioned with signs, and the people are yelling, “Equal rights! Equal rights!” Wow. This is great. I guess a lot more people care than I thought. Eventually, the company gets fed up and calls the police to move everyone out of the area.

A week later, I watch the news again, and apparently the company I auditioned for is going to get shut down due to me and the whole riot. Since people saw the news of my interview and the riot, the company wasn’t making any money because no one was watching their shows. When the company gets moved out and shut down, I want to start my own company where everyone is treated respectfully and where there are no awful stereotypes of people. So I go to the bank to get a loan and buy that building.

So as I walk briskly to the big glass doors of the building that has changed people’s understanding of me, and other people like me, I remember to stay true to myself and not let anyone diminish me for who I am.