Paint Me Pretty by Catherine Argabright

Recently, I received a submission from an eager high school student’ The submission advised that they had written a great piece for the school paper and it wasn’t chosen to be published. As you can image I was annoyed by the crippling of this students artistic creativity.

Not to fret, it is with great pleasure that I present you “Paint Me Pretty” by Catherine Argabright with –Illustration by Ella Sams.

This past summer, when a beautiful woman finally stripped herself of her former male identity and proudly came out as Caitlyn Jenner, most welcomed her with open arms. She was featured on the cover of Vanity Fair and graced with a 22-page cover story.

It’s necessary to remember that while she lived as Bruce Jenner, winner of the Men’s Decathlon in the 1976 Summer Olympics, Jenner was regarded as a symbol of masculinity.

She lived with these accomplishments and privileges of her male self for just over 60 years before building enough courage to not only come out to the whole of her family, but to premier on her own documentary style television show. She was honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award on July 15, 2015 and her show, I am Cait, debuted on E! on July 26, 2015.

Unfortunately, the transgender community doesn’t usually receive such acceptance and they certainly aren’t always met with a cover story in Vanity Fair or reality television show upon coming out.

Her case is atypical to say the least and what’s beyond appalling is how uninformed the general public is about the issues transgender women face. To think that they are “well off” and living a “charmed life,” much like Ms. Jenner, is saddening and just setting back any progress previously made.

Though Jenner is using her show and certainly used her Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly award speech to bring awareness to issues transgender women face, the media continually writes her off as a fashion symbol, causing her attempts to be in vain.

It’s sad to note that the public is more interested in discussing the shade of her lipstick rather than seeing and using Jenner as a method to bring real problems, generally encountered, to light.

Why is nobody talking about the fact that 20 percent of trans-women are homeless and how, according to an article published on Vocativ on March 5th, 2015, nearly 41 percent of transgender youth have attempted suicide?

What we need to realize is that not everyone who comes out is met with love and acceptance, not everyone is treated like the wealthy, caucasian, republican Caitlyn Jenner so happens to be.

Don’t get me wrong, how Jenner has been handling the press and the way in which she has conducted herself proves that she is a woman of class and respect. What I disagree with is the public’s generally positive response to Caitlyn, but their lack of sympathy and regard for other transgender women.

Let’s flashback to earlier this past year when 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn committed suicide, her parents still refuse to acknowledge her identity and won’t use the proper pronouns when addressing her, continually referring to Leelah as “their son” and “he.”

This mentality, this lack of acceptance and this overarching denial is what is preventing the transgender community from making a significant amount of progress on the personal level.

When a child is repeatedly told by the parents they love and admire that they are wrong, demented, a mistake, the child will, inevitably begin to hate themselves.

It’s difficult to accept and live with one’s self when your own parents can’t make peace with who you are.

The issue at hand lies with the unaccepting, close minded sect of our population, not with those who have chosen to live their life openly and freely.

If there is any lesson we can learn from Caitlyn Jenner, it is that nobody should have to live their life in fear of who they are and how others might react to them.

We should live openly, honestly and accept those around us.

–Content By Catherine Argabright, –Illustration by Ella Sams