Sandee Crack, actor in the Libra Tampon commercial (Photo: sandee crack.com)
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — The trans woman in the Libra commercial is actor Sandee Crack who is a gay man who also dresses in drag as a performer. He does not consider himself transgender.
Excerpts:
“I saw it as a great opportunity to participate in a positive step toward acceptance for drag queens and gay men among the wider community. . . .
I never felt for one moment that I would be depicted as a trans woman, nor do I believe that I have been. . . .
Unfortunately, a small portion of the trans community has chosen to view the ad as a personal attack on their fight to be viewed as equal women within society. . . .
. . . I feel hurt that representing myself as a drag queen on television and playing out a commonplace scenario in my life has lead to a clear “dragphobia” among some transgender individuals who wish to pull the plug on something that reflects true honesty about the life of a drag queen. A drag queen is a man in women’s clothing, and if that offends a trans woman, I am afraid I cannot apologise, as by doing so, I would be apologising for being me.”
My previous post on the Libra Tampon ad: https://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/photos-transgender-character-in-libra-tampons-commerical-funny-offensive-transphobic-you-tell-me/
Read the entire article in The Huffington Post: Sandee Crack: Libra Tampon Commercial Reflects Honesty About the Life of a Drag Queen.
Sandee Crack’s website: http://sandeecrack.com/about-sandee/
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Categories: Transgender, Transsexual, Trans
LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS 
Mr, Crack does not need my approval to dress as he wishes. He will however, never get anything but my disgust and ire for dressing as he does. I’ll say straight up I do not like the concept of drag as a person, but I also know from personal experience that a lot of headaches and heartaches trans women receive is because the public at large perceives us as nothing more than committed drag queens. I hate to say the obvious, but the public at large will always consider drag and transvestism to be outrageous, morally appealing and reprehensible conduct.
I do not think the community would benefit from divorcing itself from the LGB community, though in the long term it might. However, the existence of drag performers and transvestite fetishists hurt our fight for respect and acceptance TREMENDOUSLY. And by ours I do not just mean tans people, I mean ALL LGBT people. It is ultimately UNACCEPTABLE for a man to parade himself as a woman, nor for a woman to parade themselves as a man. That’s a huge reason I transitioned; I’m not a man and so I shouldn’t pretend to be one.*
*If it’s not safe or otherwise possible to transition, that’s one thing. Cross dressing as a means of expression is not.
How sad it is that the world is filled with such narrow mindedness. Are “we” not becoming what “:we” have long fought for? Equality among and between all. Please embrace acceptance.
Hmmm… he makes some valid points. However, he does it by being kind of a twat from white male cisgender privilege.
I wasn’t actually in favor of the ad being pulled … until I read his response.
Sandee Crack said..”I feel hurt that representing myself as a drag queen on television and playing out a commonplace scenario in my life has lead to a clear “dragphobia” among some transgender individuals who wish to pull the plug on something that reflects true honesty about the life of a drag queen. A drag queen is a man in women’s clothing, and if that offends a trans woman, I am afraid I cannot apologise, as by doing so, I would be apologising for being me.”
Well, as a trans woman, I do feel offended to know how the actor (whom I thought was trans) truly feels, but tough tits dear; I was first amused by the ad, then I watched it a few more times and the message the ad was giving on a few levels did offend me and also slapped the faces of cisgendered females. I DO NOT oppose those who choose to just dress the gender they feel, not at all, BUT when it is a job, in media that is posted to the general public, the ‘creative team’ missed the mark on this ad. This is NOT an attack on the actors and actresses in the commercial, I trust they made their pay and have since cashed their checks. They could have had Sandee maybe do a few different comedic responses to the tampon, but she did walk out in a huff, as portrayed in the ad; it is my hope HE will get on with his life, Libra may rethink their next ad and lets get some intelligent people in the ad machine who don’t need to add to marginalizing the trans communty. As a member of the transwomen demographic, I already have enough boulders to move and more hurdles to kick out of my way BUT I am woman, regardless if I use a tampon or not.
Unfortunately Mr. Crack has an unfortunate notion of his role in that commercial and how his depiction denigrates transsexual and transgender women by doing a parody of ourselves as less than being truly female, less than the women that we are.
“I am the drag queen.. a gay man who dresses in drag as a performer …. never… transgender… and never will..”
“[Libra was an] .. opportunity… a positive step toward acceptance for drag queens and gay men among the wider community.”
“I never felt … I would be depicted as a trans woman… notice that my stubble is slightly visible…”
“I feel hurt that representing myself as a drag queen on television and playing out a commonplace scenario in my life has lead to…”dragphobia”…”
All this would be well and good except that Mr. Crack is shown in what appears to be some kind of women’s lounge, a women-only space, a sex segregated space. Although we’re not shown restroom stalls, the implication is that this lounge is part of a women’s restroom. The offering of a tampon to Mr. Crack’s character, who is perceived as someone female and perhaps in need of it– would not be deemed as appropriate public behavior. Otherwise the woman is either too stupid to realize or it or she is making the offer in jest to someone who is deliberately trying to present as not being female.
In most places in the world persons self-identifying as male or as gay men are not granted the legal right or permission to enter a women’s restroom, lounge or dressing room, despite Mr. Crack’s assertion that this is a commonplace scenario in his life apparently where he lives and works.
To be legally in a what appears to be a sex segregated space is to imply that such a person must be at least nominally a transgender or transsexual woman otherwise his “drag” character might have been subject to arrest for his conduct.
But then deliberately trying to present oneself with stubble, broad shoulders, exaggerated makeup and making clownish gestures tugging at his brassiere is a dead giveaway.
Drag humor is essentially a misogynistic parody of all women and transmisogynist of us. To me it is only funny if the person is not trying to look or behave as a woman – but also is not claiming to be someone like us– and that is the problem with those who cover the expression of gender as a vocation but not as an identity– with the transgeder umbrella. If people cannot tell crossdressers, drag queens, transgenders and transsexuals apart, the one size fits all label of “transgender” does not help to increase understanding.
And think about this. There is a lot of hate violence, “dragphobia” directed at drag queens and many are murdered each year by people who don’t understand. And although he claims that he is not now nor ever will be transgender, and Ru Paul says the same, other drag queens have been honored or remembered in the Transgender Day of Remembrance for being murdered for being “transgender”.
But then it also appears that self-identification doesn’t count for much. As I am a woman of transsexual history and I do not identify as transgender, but GLAAD and virtually every LGBT & TG organization calls me transgender whether I consent to it or not. And if I should be killed I will be memorialized that way whether I like it or not. And some transgender activists are attempting to “transmogrify” the entire LGBT, declaring all persons gay or lesbian as “gender transgressors”.
A recent article published declared to anti-trans Lesbian Separatist attorney Cathy Brennan, “You Are Transgender”, because as a “butch lesbian” she defies cultural heteronormality. But you cannot assimilate millions of non-heterosexual people who have no desire to change sex or change gender role by sex as transgender– as no matter how she presents, Cathy Brennan has not resigned from being female.
A feature interview in the Seattle Gay News referred to Ru Paul as nothing but “she” and “her” some 28 times. Why?
But we do not honor the murders of Matthew Shepard or Harvey Milk, nor do we cry in outrage and anguish to the tragic suicides of young gay men caused by homophobic bullying– to declare them all to be transgender just because it might help the cause of collectively gender variant people. And we do not let gay men into women’s restrooms because of homophobic violence. If persons who only identify as men are afraid of men’s restrooms because of homophobic or transphobic violence then we must educate and change the public to allow men in men’s rooms to be there safely, including trans men. Even if we have to have increased penalties including severe felony convictions for hate violence. And Mr. Crack, proud of his manhood should be going there instead of playing out his “commonplace scenario” as a man in a women’s room.
But doing a clown parody of womanhood, as someone who is presenting as something less than feminine or less than female is something that we as women take very seriously particularly during our awkward moments early in transition. And how does drag humor in a commercial that makes fun of the appearance of TG & TS women increase the acceptance of gay men and drag performers? It certainly doesn’t increase trans acceptance.
This is exactly what pisses me off about the way we Trans women are portrayed. I had guessed as much as no T woman I know would have preened and pouted so competitively. And that bloody name Sandee Crack, typical bar-room drag queen insult to women. Ooh, I don’t often get so discombobulated.
Thanks for the comments everyone!