GLAAD Raises Concerns over ABC Cross-Dressing Comedy ‘Work It’
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ABC/ERIC MCCANDLESS(LOS ANGELES) — The premise of a new ABC comedy just doesn’t work for GLAAD. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has posted an essay on its website in which it argues that the midseason sitcom Work It, in which two guys dress as women to land jobs, hurts the transgender community.
Matt Kane, GLAAD’s associate director of entertainment media, writes, “During a period in which the transgender community now routinely finds itself in the cultural crosshairs, the timing couldn’t be worse for a show based on the notion that men dressed as women is inherently funny. In fact, shows like this have the power to put the transgender community in an even more dangerous position.”
Kane says GLAAD has seen the pilot episode, and while it does not address the transgender community, “Work It invites the audience to laugh at images of men trying to adopt a feminine appearance, thereby also making it easier to mock people whose gender identity and expression are different than the one they were assigned at birth.”
Work It premieres on ABC on Jan. 3.
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