TLC announced today that they would be producing and airing a two new programs featuring 19 Kids and Counting stars, Jill and Jessa Duggar. For those with no background on the show or its subject, 19 Kids and Counting was a reality program that aired on TLC chronicling the day to day lives of supersized family (due to religious beliefs against contraception) the Duggars from Tonitown, Arkansas. The show was a huge hit for TLC, with people tuning in to watch the spectacle that was basically watching these christian human rabbits reproducing at record rates with none of the fun parts. The show was cancelled when it was revealed that oldest Duggar son, Josh Duggar, had molested his two oldest sisters (Jessa and Jill) along with other victims. A situation that would have been traumatic and scandalous for any family but that was now highlighted by the family's christian values that prohibited even hugging before marriage.
However now that the show aka money maker is off the air, TLC has started looking for new ways to exploit the victims of Josh's molestation for their own benefit. First the network will air a documentary called "Breaking the Silence" about the victims involved in child abuse, including interviews from Jill and Jess. The network will then start production on a new show just following the lives of Jill and Jess sans their parents and 17 other siblings. This kind of exploitation is not new for a network for TLC but will be an interesting test for the nielsen homes of America. Will the profiting off the victims of molestation be too much for America to handle or will they welcome it into their homes, like another member of the family?
Over the years, there have been controversies with depicting transgender people in the media. Many people are not accepting of the fact that some people cannot strictly identify with being male or female, and people are very discriminatory against this. In the media, transgender people have hit many milestones and have been celebrating their acceptance coming to life. Teen YouTube star, Jazz Jennings is getting her own TV show called "All That Jazz" which will give us an insight through the eyes of a transgender youth. This teen drama will be appearing on TLC, according to an announcement made last week. Jazz may be young, but she is an author and an activist for transgender people that is turning heads to how people view them. Even though Jazz was born a boy, she knew from the beginning that she was meant to be a girl. Having gender dysphoria at such a young age was obviously a struggle but Jazz made the most out of her childhood by not letting the teasing get her down, and became a very important advocate for the debate on transgender youth. She was even signed on as Clean & Clear's face for the "See the Real Me" campaign which shares a touching video describing the trials of being a transgender youth.
In addition to Jazz's incredible accomplishments, transgender people have been portrayed significantly more often on television than in the past. There are many shows that feature transgender actors such as Orange Is The New Black, and Discovery Life's New Girls on the Block. There are also shows where actors play transgender people such as in ABC Family's My Transparent Life or the Golden-Globe winning comedy, Transparent. Even though there has been a significant shift in the way some people view the lives of transgender humans, there is still a long way to go. There will always be hateful comments against people that are seen as different or out of place, but they deserve just as equality as everyone else does. The shows where actors are playing transgender people are great, but there are plenty of real transgender actors in the field that could have taken on those specific roles. Overall, the advocacy campaigns that have been pointed towards transgender awareness should be taken seriously, and even though they have completed certain milestones, there are many more mountains to climb for equal representation in the media.
