Nope, Transgender Folk Are Not Serial Killers (And Those Serial Killers Weren’t Trans)
By: Cassie Brighter
Tags: Women, LGBTQ, Diversity, Transgender, Movies

Nope, Transgender Folk Are Not Serial Killers (And Those Serial Killers Weren’t Trans)

The Ugly Portrayal of Transgender Folks in the Media

Buffalo Bill — The Archetypical Negative Stereotype

Perhaps the most horrible stereotype about transgender people to ever appear on the silver screen, Buffalo Bill was the crazed serial killer in the movie Silence of the Lambs. He embodied (or created!) a lot of the fears people have about trans folk — that we’re mentally unhinged, that we are predators, that we are a threat to women, etc.

“Buffalo Bill,” as portrayed by Ted Levine in the 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs

Buffalo Bill was based on a real-life serial killer — Gary M. Heidnik.

Heidnik had been diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder, and had attempted suicide 13 times. He spent a lot of time in mental hospitals.

Heidnik followed a pattern of kidnapping women and keeping them in a pit in his basement. He was arrested in 1987 and found guilty of serial rape and murder. He was executed in PA in 1999.

Here’s the kicker: Gary Heidnik was NOT transgender. He was not a crossdresser. He was not genderfluid He was not LGBTQ in any way. Heidnik was a cisgender, hetero-normative, male-presenting, heterosexual man.

Heidnik was a white man, and he preyed exclusively on mentally disabled black women. He kidnapped and raped six women, killing two of them.

Killer Gary Heidnik being led to a hearing, in 1987.

Gary Heidnik was NOT transgender. He was not a crossdresser. He was not genderfluid. He was not LGBTQ in any way. Heidnik was a cisgender, hetero-normative, male-presenting, heterosexual man.

Silence of the Lambs drew immediate condemnation from GLAAD upon the film’s release in 1991.

“We Are Not Predators, We Are Prey”

In 2016, Director Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix) harshly criticized the movie Silence of the Lambs for demonizing trans people. “Though we have come a long way since Silence of the Lambs, we continue to be demonized and vilified in the media where attack ads portray us as potential predators to keep us from even using the goddamn bathroom,” she wrote. “We are not predators, we are prey.”

A 2017 article in Feministing denounces Silence of the Lambs. “Far from inadvertently stumbling upon a transmisogynistic supervillan, Silence of the Lambs actually actively promoted a transmisogynistic idea, birthed by people operating under the feminist label, that trans women are the ultimate representation of male violence.”

In 2014 Jonathan Demme himself — the director of the SOTL movie, applauded the building backlash against the movie’s transphobia. He said, “Now, finally — maybe this year — more and more people, me included, are starting to really wake up to the challenge [the transgender community faces] today.”

“Now, finally — maybe this year — more and more people, me included, are starting to really wake up to the challenge [the transgender community faces] today.”

Victims or Villains

An extensive study by GLAAD, started in 2002 and ongoing, cataloged 102 portrayals of transgender characters — with 54% being negative representations, 35% ranging from “problematic” to “good,” and only 12% being fair and accurate enough to earn a GLAAD media award nomination.

According to the study, trans folk were depicted as victims 40% of the time, and as villains 21% of the time. The most frequent occupation for transgender characters was that of sex worker (20%). Anti-trans slurs and language were present in at last 61% of the cataloged episodes.

Fiction vs. Reality

The reality of transgender people is a lot less sensational than what is commonly depicted by the media. We hold jobs, we pay taxes, we have families and friends, we deal with our day-to-day lives just like cisgender folks do. Some of us are accomplished music composers, actors, ground-breaking scientists. Some of us are brilliant CEOs, inspired politicians, police officers. Some of us are suburban moms and nine-to-five employees.

As I documented in my Empowered Trans Woman Summit, trans folk come from all racial backgrounds and have a rich diversity of experience, both professionally and personally.

We are contributing members of society and enrich the fabric of the communities in which we participate.

How You Can Learn

There is, of course, Google. :-)

That said, if you are earnest about learning more about the trans experience, do what my new friend Lucy (name changed) has done — befriend a trans person. A friend-of-a-friend, Lucy proved herself to be a genuine, caring ally by volunteering a couple of bags of hand-me-down clothes after ascertaining we wear the same size. This led us to hang out and chat, at which time Lucy felt comfortable enough to ask some of her questions — and I felt comfortable enough to answer them.

Today, while driving my daughter to a sleepover at her best friend’s, I got a text from Lucy— she wanted to know if the term “transvestite” was deprecated, and whether it meant the same as “crossdresser.” I don’t know much about crossdressers and said as much, but I agreed that ‘crossdresser’ seems to be the current vernacular. This led to an interesting discussion on the differences between crossdressers and drag queens. It’s worth noting that neither Lucy (a cis woman) nor I (a trans woman) have a good grasp of drag culture or crossdressing, but we shared a fun conversation and we were both inspired to do some googling — which led to some good learnings.

Lucy had asked me whether the term ‘transvestite’ is offensive. I told her I didn’t think it was. Later, as I did my googling, I ran into something that seems too obvious, but nevertheless might have been worth noting: it is not offensive to use the word ‘transvestite’ to refer to a heterosexual cisgender man who occasionally indulges in some creative gender expression by donning a dress and applying makeup. It IS offensive to use the word ‘transvestite’ to refer to a transgender person (a woman dressed as a woman is not ‘cross-dressing).

You can check with your trans friend to understand trans terms such as ‘clocking,’ ‘doxxing,’ ‘misgendering,’ ‘passing’ and ‘TERF.’

The pitfall of the Walking Dictionary

I love to talk. I love to teach. So if you ask me about the trans experience, I will probably tell you. But it’s not that way for everyone. Recently, a black friend shared with me her increasing frustration as being the sound board for casual racism from White acquaintances. She has positioned herself as “the approachable black gal,” encouraging White folks to ask her questions about the black experience. This slid into unwanted questions, and was now sliding into challenging, often passive-aggressive questions — basically poorly-veiled racist statements dressed as questions. “But don’t you think that black men are inherently more violent?” or such.

Same applies to trans folk. If you’re going to ask,

► First find out if your trans acquaintance is generally open to such questions.

► Then find out if your trans friend is open to such questions right now.

► Third, feel free to indulge your curiosity. Do NOT feel free to indulge your transphobia, your ‘healthy skepticism,’ or to 'let’s just be Devil’s advocate for a minute.’ (The Devil doesn’t need a lawyer, and your trans friend doesn’t need to hear ‘the opposing view’ to his/her very existence.)

► Fourth, be prepared to receive the answer (as in, don’t challenge every answer with protestations — if you’re going to challenge every answer, why bother asking the question).

► Fifth, thank your trans friend for being willing to spend the time and effort, and do the emotional labor necessary, for you to learn a thing or two.