Boobs, Lingerie, and Trans Women: Reality TV Show “Double Divas” Gets It Right

If you haven’t seen the new Lifetime series, The Double Divas, you are really missing out. It’s one of those horribly scripted reality shows where the scenarios are clearly staged. But if that doesn’t hook you maybe this will: it’s about boobs!

The show follows best friends Molly and Cynthia who own the premiere lingerie shop in Atlanta. The great thing about these ladies is that they find the right bra and fit for women of all shapes and sizes; from designing a bra for the woman with the largest breasts in the world to attempting to create a sexy nursing bra (oxymoron?) these ladies take on anything boob-related. (And yes, this is a win.)

In the latest episode I was surprised (and nervous!) when a black transgender woman walked into the shop. Owner, Molly, began asking her questions about what she was looking for, and then the two women proceeded to gather items and head to the dressing rooms.

(Cue me holding my breath and waiting to be horrified as I usually am when watching the million shows that treat issues of sexuality, gender, or race with zero tact.)

But then… nothing bad happened. *Blinks twice.*

The trans woman asked if Molly would mind helping her, sharing that most people are uncomfortable with trans bodies. Molly responded by saying she would of course help her, just as she would help any of her other female clients. Seriously everyone, this was shocking to me. This white business owner was assisting a black trans woman in the South! Molly went on to ask the woman about her experience as trans and amazingly prefaced it with “I don’t want to be rude, but I’m always trying to learn.”

As a cis, feminine woman I cannot imagine walking into a place, like a lingerie shop, and feeling fearful or uncomfortable (even more than usual) about my body or how others are seeing my body. So, getting to see these two women share this moment on television was monumental. In media we don’t usually see women in authentic community with one another, let alone women’s communities forming across difference, staged or not.

As a sociologist and pop culture fanatic, critique is how I was trained to consume media. It’s relatively easy to pick apart mainstream media’s mis-representation of queer and trans women of color, to notice only the blaring flaws and the overwhelming amount of work that still needs to be done. But discovering Double Diva’s has been comforting, and made me appreciative of those moments when media gets it right, by telling honest stories about real people. Let’s hope this trend continues.

tmac_last_id:

dsq_thread_id:

1069280093