Jane Adams and Thomas Jane as Tanya and Ray on Hung
After I posted on Hung, I watched a few more episodes, catching up with a recentstory-line (Episode 27, “What’s Going on Downstairs or Don’t Eat Prince Eric“)about Ray’s encounters with Kyla (Jamie Clayton), the transgender client Lenoreintroduces to his services without telling Ray that Kyla, who presents as awoman, is “actually” a man.
The debate about Kyla is set in the context ofRay’s apparent aversion to having sex with men, which Tanya’s new worker, thehappily omi-sexual Jason, is willing to do. When Charlie, Tanya's erstwhile lover and fellow pimp, suggests that joining forces with Jasonand his wife, Sandy, will allow Tanya and Ray to expand their services, Raygrudgingly agrees to bring the much younger man on board.
Later in the episode, the revelation that Kyla is transgenderedturns the tables on Ray and forces him to examine his narrow-mindedness.
The story-line presents a rather lame, liberalexcursion into transgendered experience. Ray’s dismay when he learns that Kyla is trans seems calculated toaddress mainstream viewers’ presumed discomfort.
But when Ray accompanies Kyla to her high schoolreunion—and paid handsomely, even though he insists that sex is out of thequestion—he sees his date through her former classmates’ eyes and realizes his bigotry.
At the affair, Kyla aims to pass as a woman, andsuccessfully mystifies former friends who have no idea who she is. Then, in a double reveal, just as a tablefull of men recognizes Ray as a local if faded basketball hero, they alsorecognize Kyla as Dan, an old classmate they remember with derision andrighteous ridicule for his new gender performance.
Kyla is humiliated and plans to flee, but Raycomes to her rescue, chivalrously suggesting that they dance as the othersleer. Kyla is appeased andcomforted. Ray’s voiceover suggests thathe’s become too old not to let himself and others be what they are, whatever thatmay be, securing the liberal message of tolerance for the episode’s end.
Obviously, this isn’t the treatment transgenderpeople deserve from a show that otherwise takes a more progressive view ofwomen’s sexuality. Given how much theproducers seem to know about feminism, I’d expect them to present a more complicatedstory about the show’s first trans client. Because the story proceeds from Ray’s perspective, his anxiety abouthomosex determines his reaction to Kyla, and steers the viewers’ response.
At the same time, the episode is one of the firstin the series to underscore that Tanya and Ray are middle-aged. Charlie reminds Ray that however large his dick, it won’t last forever, startlingRay with this foreshadowing of his inevitable loss of potency.
And when Tanya and Ray try to work with Jason andSandy, they’re both chagrined that they can’t follow the younger couple’s popculture references. The show’s attentionto their ages increased my affection for the characters. After all, how often do explicitly middle-agedcharacters talk about generational issues on television?
On the next episode (#28, “I, Sandee or This Sex. Which Is. Not One.”), Jessica (Anne Heche) continues to find herself excited byTanya’s instruction at the Wellness Center. Although her presence there throws Tanya and Ray into fits of anxiety,because they continue to think they can hide Ray’s sexual activities from hisformer wife, Jessica is taken with the theory and the practice of embracing herown sexuality.
She enters Tanya’s office clutching a book,breathlessly trying to say the author’s name, which Tanya explains is “Irigaray.” The book is the famous French feminist’s This Sex Which is Not One. I think this is the first time I’ve seenFrench feminist theory happily referenced on television (let alone used tosuggest how women might sexually empower themselves). Jessica can’t quite follow Irigaray’s ideas,but Tanya is delighted by her enthusiasm and eagerness. The two women bond over the book, hugging oneanother thankfully.
This level of insight into the post-structuralistcritique of sexuality and gender should have allowed the producers to handlethe trans story-line more gracefully. But I continue to revel in Tanya’s feminist sex pedagogy and herintellectual savvy, which more than outweighs her dismal business acumen.
Argue with its lapses, but do watch Hung.
The Feminist Spectator
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