My Prejudices Are Showing

Vanity Fair photo by Annie Leibowitz

Not much bothers me any more.  Photos in the news of ISIS atrocities, plane wrecks, refugees drowning and so on, but there is something about the Annie Leibowitz photo of Caitlin Jenner that really, really bothers me.  It actually makes my skin crawl.

I'm surprised at my reaction to the finished transformation of the former Bruce Jenner.  After all we've been privy to it since the outset and were offered pictures of progress throughout the transition.

Still.  Maybe it's because I'm old enough to remember Bruce as the former Olympic champion.  I watched him.  I cheered for him.  Then he disappeared from my radar for quite some time only to reappear years later as one of the Kardashian clan.  Ah, what fame can do for you.

I don't think I have a prejudice against transgenders.  I can't say I've ever met one.  Maybe that's the point.  If I have I don't know it and I just as soon it stay that way.  I guess I'm having trouble reconciling who he was with who he has become. Especially this particular pose.  It seems to be trying to be provocative.  After all Jenner is 65 years old.  Not that a 65 year old can't be provocative.  Look at Helen Mirren.  She's 69 and in my opinion still reeks femininity and sex appeal.  And I haven't even seen her is a strapless bathing suit! Point being she doesn't need it.

Somehow I'm thinking that without all the doctoring one can do to photos these days, Caitlan may not look quite like this in the flesh. I might find that even more disturbing.

Never-the-less, I hope Ms. Jenner is finding happiness in her new self and goes on to lead a wonderful life without the angst she has lived with previously.  She can fade out of the limelight now as far as I'm concerned.  Next time I see a photo of this 65 year old woman I hope she's dressed and posed age appropriately.  I'd find that easier to digest - the woman she really is.  Not some posed fantasy.