Last week’s White Lotus episode gave us the now-infamous (and deeply eggy) Sam Rockwell monologue, and the dolls are putting in the work to unpack it for the cis masses. While on the surface it might have seemed like just another random moment of character development for one of the show’s many chaotic rich white vacationers, it speaks to a broader trend—in pop culture and in life—that trans women are all too familiar with.
“The way that you have failed to realize that trans women have been therapists to your men during their hero’s journey,” creator @essence explained on TikTok this week, “…they finally found out who they are through a trans woman.”
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Could things seriously get even weirder in next week’s episode? Signs point to yes.
Speaking about the fact that a trans character showed up to help Rockwell process his queer feelings only to be promptly dropped from the rest of the narrative, she goes on to explain that trans people are “not your f*cking therapist.”
Explaining further, she talks about the cost of using trans women as modes of self-exploration for repressed men who don’t want to deal with their queerness or transness.
“If I had a dollar for every man I knew who really just wanted to be a trans woman, I’d be a f*cking very rich woman,” she continues. “However, I will never let a man use my body just to find out who he is.”
Nor should anyone! During a time when trans women are facing concentrated oppression in all areas of life, there shouldn’t be the added onus and expectation of care for men who could easily turn around and repay that kindness with harm.
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