Ariadna Thalia, 26 years old, the big news of Big Brother Brasil, gained her sad freedom on the night of Tuesday, 18th. The reason? The participant is a transsexual hairdresser (the first), a former call girl, foul-mouthed and who, contrary to the happy LGBT stereotype (one of the few positive attributes that the media tends to give to people of color), complains about life and has a sad look. and makes a point of highlighting the difficulties he has already experienced in Brazil (and Italy).
Result: rejection from most viewers. Yes, although Ariadna did not suffer prejudice from the participants (who did not even know about her trans background), many people turned up their noses because she did NOT SAY that she was a transsexual woman, because she did not correspond to the stereotype of the stallholder or gossiper and because she knew in advance about her past (suffering, but seen as an easy life by many people).
Before we express our opinion about her, I suggest quick questions for self-reflection about trans people and the closet: Why would someone who fought her entire life to achieve an identity as a woman (and achieved it in every way; with surgery, documentation, leaving home early, prejudice) should she talk about a masculine past that perhaps haunts her? Do all participants immediately open their hearts to people who were previously unknown? Ariadna has already proven extreme sincerity and humility by revealing to the participants that she worked with sexual programs (which other sisters have certainly done, but would deny to the death), will it be fair that she is forced to reveal all her pains and joys in JUST one week?
To those who insist that she should have the word "faggot" on her chest (because for many she is nothing more than one; confusing gender with sexuality), I say that her intimate declarations were being proclaimed in homeopathic doses (like all the participants in the house). , always with people closest to us, like Rodrigo, Talula and Jaqueline. Maybe she needed more time to loosen up and say (or not) that she is a transgender woman. In the last few days she kept saying: "I have a secret", "you're still going to find out", "I'm afraid to go out because there are things out there that you don't know". And at the end, she made an emotional revelation: "I'm proud to be the first transsexual in Brazil to participate in BBB."
What I question (and this may be the reason for her quick rejection by the public) is the need to disqualify Ariadna's authenticity as a woman. And this is reflected in the media, in sayings such as "she/him", "who is a man", "cheating", "gay". Prejudice against trans people has many faces, but one explanation – pointed out by social scientist Larissa Pelucio – is that society tends to see a trans person as someone who wants to deceive, someone who wants to pretend to be someone they are not, as an illegitimate, deceitful figure. . Therefore, they want Ariadna to say that she is not a woman, that it is "he", that she is less of a woman than other women. And since she didn't say so, they argue that they wouldn't give the prize to a fake.
It is for this reason that people feel very calm about looking for signs of where she is going to betray herself, to give herself away. "Is it in the hand? Is it in the foot? Is it the gogó? And they don't even care if it will offend or hurt" And automatically, when they realize it's "someone who cheats", they recriminate with their chests puffed out, full of reason. Diego Alemão did this on his pay channel program: he said that Ariadna wouldn't CHEAT anyone because she has gogó.
I ask: Would any genetic woman (who was born with female biological sex) like to have her feminine identity called into question? So imagine what this is like for someone who fought hard for such an identity. I saw a BBB blogger (ex-actress, ex-successful) say that if she stayed with someone and didn't reveal her past, she could be sued for moral harassment. As if kissing with a transsexual was a laughing matter, something shameful, a prank.
Ariadna is uncomfortable. And it's not because of her appearance. Ariadna bothers mainly because she exists. Because society still doesn't know how to deal with the different forms of persona that even appear contemporary (but are ancient), with conquered identities, with other people's happiness, with the disruption of issues that are fixed in penis and vagina, with machismo and transphobia .
And as it bothers, it is marginalized, eliminated, it should stay away. This is why many transvestites work on the margins of society, as call girls. There, they are in a world that accepts them better because it is hidden, also marginalized, where they find others like them discriminated against, where "no one" wants to see, but many family men feel. The problem is that we tend to only see and comment on the result of the entire process, forgetting the intricacies of the environment and the prejudice that we ourselves carry.
For those who were scared, Ariadna's elimination is nothing new on television. Just remember the first transvestite to participate in a reality show – Bianca Soares from Casa dos Artistas 4, Protagonistas de Novela, in 2004: she was the first to be eliminated in the first week with more than 70% of the votes. And even the participation of the drag-transsexual Nany People in A Fazenda: in her first farm in the fifth week… bye!
In other words, until we begin to observe a transvestite, a transsexual, a transgender, as a legitimate figure, as yet another manifestation of human behavior and identities – with natural feminine and masculine characteristics, and not as a prank by Sérgio Mallandro – it will be difficult to we will have an evolution in thinking about who is in charge of sexual conventions, in the basic and universal rights of all and even in the real chances of a transsexual participant winning a Globo reality show.
"If someone asks, I say: I'm a woman. Because I'm a woman. Because it's always been my dream, you know. If someone says they doubt it... I'll show them: Here's my ID" (Ariadna, early morning of Monday, 17th January). After all, being transsexual is more than a choice, it is an intrinsic characteristic. She is a woman (transsexual woman, whatever), and always has been. What she had for a few moments between her legs was never greater than what she had between her ears, in her thoughts, in her truth.
* Neto Lucon is a journalist and author of the book "Por um place ao Sol", about transvestites and transsexuals in the formal job market, which will be released this year.
