Welcome to Trans Tuesday! This week we discuss the rest of the television I watched and look at the overall numbers and see if we can spot some trends, in TRANS REPRESENTATION IN 2025 MEDIA part 4: TV part 3!
If you really want the full picture from these four essays, please be sure to see PART 1: MOVIES, PART 2: TV PART 1, and PART 3: TV PART 2 first. At the end of this essay we’re gonna look at the totals from the entire year and see where things are at.
Fab, let’s get this wrapped up!
Resident Alien s4 – 2*
Nonbinary actor Jinkx Monsoon appears again (in this report), voicing a cgi gray alien named Bruce, who’s referred to with “he” pronouns. As the character is a literal alien we don’t really know if the “he” pronouns would correlate to the alien being a cis man in-world, but the show made the choice to cast a nonbinary actor to play a character that’s treated like they’re male, so I have to count this as actor rep, but not character rep… because this show has done nothing to make me think they’d include a transmasc alien that wasn’t intended to be a joke. I’ve said in past trans rep in media reports that I really like this show… but it’s also demonstrated some regressive ideas around gender on multiple occasions.
In ep 2 there’s a protracted joke about a cis woman who had sex with a cis man, and there’s questions about “who was inside who” and “of course she wasn’t inside him.” I think this is just another, “ha ha because women don’t have penises” joke, but y’know, some trans women do, so it’s still implicitly transphobic.
Also a cis guy later says, “I assure you I am all man, my penis is mostly intact” which just reinforces that dicks = men, but not all men have dicks, and not everyone who has a dick is a man. We are all more than our reproductive organs.
Harry, who was an alien that was made human, has an alien human hybrid son, constantly called a son and referred to with he/him pronouns, who is named Bridget. The baby alien puppet is voiced by a cis woman, and when the alien is in human form, is played by nonbinary actor Taylor Blackwell, and presents somewhat gender-neutral.
So the two options here are that Bridget the alien kid is nonbinary, or it’s a joke about how having a “son” with a girl’s name, voiced by a woman, with a gender-neutral appearance is “funny,” because Gender Reasons.
I’d like to give the show the benefit of the doubt, but based on its track record in past seasons I would have to lean more toward it being a joke. I won’t count it as a joke or as trans character representation in the tally, but my gut says, with this show, it was sadly meant as a joke.
Severance s2 -0
Still a show with a super trans premise that doesn’t at all get close to exploring transness within its world.
Slow Horses s5 – 0
In the season premiere, a cis woman insults a cis man, who wondered if any ladies were checking him out, by saying something like “please, your vibes are so asexual.” And it’s weird because the character’s definitely not asexual, and it’s not like nobody could find asexual people attractive? Boo. What the heck. This isn’t trans-related, but is a weird and terrible dig at asexual people for some reason.
In one episode, Lamb and his team are being babysat by people from MI5, and a cis woman is butting heads with him. He comes out of the bathroom and she’s standing there and he says, “I left the seat up for you.” Damn it, come on, that’s just transphobic bullshit.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds s3 – 0
There’s a brief gag where a cis man is in a blue suit with a big tie and flower crown at a wedding, and he says he was forced to be the maid of honor, and it felt very much like it was intended to be a joke, and y’know what, I don’t like that in my Star Trek.
One episode seemingly undoes the entire “genetics are not destiny” talk with La’an from the amazingly trans-affirming episode AD ASTRA PER ASPERA, which I did three essays about! It sort of flips the good on its head and says, “well actually, your genetics do determine who you are and have to be,” and that is… not great.
There’s an episode that features aliens called Metrons, who are kind of like sentient balls of light, and I have no idea if they have gender. They can take human form and appear fairly androgynous. The character was played by Dariush Zadeh, who I couldn’t find enough information about to confirm their gender, so I’m not counting the actor or the character.
Stranger Things s5 – 0
Will has a coming out scene, and though he’s gay and cis, it’s handled well and something a lot of trans people can probably relate to.
The Studio s1 – 0
In episode three someone says a cis man will, “laugh his tits off” and in the same episode women call cis men “pussy” and “bitch.”
In another episode a woman gets mad and says, “blow me,” and in the same episode a studio executive says they have a meeting with the guy who wrote Harry Potter stage plays blehhh could we not.
In another episode a cis woman holds an open bottle of vodka at her crotch like a penis and jerks her hips so it splashes out the top (to… celebrate good news). Sure.
This show is fabulous and doesn’t need to resort to that kind of stuff, it’s just so ingrained into society, and comedy, that it shows up everywhere.
Survival of the Thickest s1 – 2
Trans woman Peppermint has a supporting role. There are likely other trans people in the club she works in, but there are many and they’re not really characters as much as they are background extras.
In one episode, trans actor Jayae Riley Jr. plays Divinity, but the character’s gender isn’t mentioned. The same episode, sadly, contains a Harry Potter joke.
In another episode, a queer cis woman talks with her therapist. The therapist mentions her patient didn’t have the words or the experience to fully explore queer aspects of her own identity, due to the way there’s forced heterosexuality everywhere, and the way our society centers that around the pleasure of men. There’s nothing trans there, but it was so wild to see something like that said with regard to anything queer, I had to mention it.
In another episode Mavis is designing a plus size lingerie launch and says she wants all kinds of models, and specifically mentions trans women among them. Later, at the lingerie showing, she talks about how important it was to give “these queens, kings, and nonbinary royalty” the spotlight they deserve.
We love to see that kind of easy inclusion!
In episode 7, nonbinary actor Misha Osherovich plays Billy, who uses they/them pronouns.
Survival of the Thickest s2 – 1
Peppermint returns this season, and gets her own subplot, which leads to a wedding. It’s glorious and queer, and at one point she even says she looks forward to growing old with her new husband, especially since she knows that’s not a thing all of our trans sisters get to do. So rare and wild to see this mentioned in… anything. It was really well done.
In one episode, Mavis opens up a bridal gown pop up shop, specifically for women whose bodies don’t conform to the narrow view of most women’s fashion, and she specifically mentions trans women as a group who struggle because of this! More fabulous, easy inclusion from this show.
In another episode, Mavis wears a trans rights shirt, and Khalil creates a painting of Peppermint. He says he was inspired by all she went through, being Black and trans, and how she was “boundaryless.” We love to see it.
Upload s4 – 1
This show has routinely been one of the worst offenders with implicitly transphobic jokes, and this final season was sadly no different.
There’s a joke in episode 1 about someone they call “the penisless man,” who then appears, naked, without a penis. A ha ha, a man without a penis can you imagine? H I L A R I O U S.
In another episode a man is trying to convince the woman he loves to get back into a relationship with him, and says, “I’m pregnant.” Isn’t that so funny? I can’t stop laughing. They built a whole scene around this entire “joke” a few seasons back, and I guess it’s just so funny to them that they keep going back to it.
Trans woman Gigi Gorgeous appears as basically herself in the finale, but she’s not mentioned as trans. Also she’s just conducting an interview, and doesn’t really have a character to speak of.
Wayward – 3
Created by and stars nonbinary actor Mae Martin, though their character on the show is a trans man, Alex. The story is a deep trans allegory about the way society gaslights trans people and all the trauma that causes, and how you can’t even trust the people closest to you, who supposedly love you, to not perpetuate that trauma. It’s also a pretty dark story, so keep that in mind going in.
One episode includes discussion of testosterone doses, Alex not having stubble yet, and not being treated like a man at his last job. Top surgery scars are shown.
In episode 3, a girl wants to go to Alex for help, and another girl says “A cop? All they do is wave their dick around,” and the first girl replies, “I don’t think he has a dick.” And it’s not… a joke? I mean it kind of is, but it was more a matter of fact. And not at all intended like the standard, “Yes your honor, this man has no dick,” “joke” that’s used to mock cis men because obvs not having a dick means you’re not a man. It was nuanced and kind of great, and this is what you get when trans people get to tell our own stories!
There’s a sex scene in episode 5, where they definitely don’t treat Alex like a cis man, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. It’s filmed as a trans man in a sex scene, and that’s fab.
Nonbinary actor Tricia Black also has a recurring role as Mule, though the character isn’t mentioned as nonbinary.
Misha Osherovich, who played a nonbinary character I mentioned in the report on Survival of the Thickest, was on the writing staff for Wayward.
Witcher s4 – 0
I believe there is a trans or nonbinary actor in the show, playing a character whose gender isn’t mentioned in dialogue, but I couldn’t one hundred percent confirm it, and I’m not looking to speculate or out people who aren’t ready to be out publicly, so we’re gonna just move on.
Yellowjackets s3 – 3
Nonbinary actor Liv Hewson returns as Teen Van, and is part of the main cast, though their character is cis.
Emily St. James and her cis wife are on the writing staff. Nicole Maines returns briefly in one episode, but the character is still not mentioned as trans.
And that’s a wrap on everything I watched in 2025! Let’s look at the totals, from thirty-four movies and thirty-seven seasons of television:
39 trans or nonbinary creatives (writers, actors, and/or directors)
18 trans or nonbinary characters
41 jokes about trans people
Oof.
The numbers look even worse if you remove Clean Slate, which had the most trans rep of anything and has already been canceled, so it won’t be back to boost the numbers next year:
30 trans creatives involved
13 trans characters
41 jokes about trans people
One show should not be carrying nearly a third of all representation! And this is also why it’s so incredibly devastating when trans shows get canceled, because often they account for a disproportionate amount of the representation we actually get.
Also keep in mind that the “trans writers/actors/directors involved” number includes Eve Lindley, Jinx Monsoon, and Peppermint, who all got counted twice, and Yasmin Finney, who was counted three times. If you’re looking for how many trans people were involved as individuals, the number drops from 39 to 34.
Also also, remember that many of the trans actors who are counted in the total were not mentioned as trans, and several of those had all of one line. For example, I really loved Heated Rivalry, and I think it’s hugely important for the queer community right now, and it had two trans people in it! But nobody watching knew they were trans and they each had one line. That is representation on a technicality, but it’s not really doing anything to help the sad state of trans representation in our media.
These were the numbers from 2024:
23 trans or nonbinary creatives
25 trans or nonbinary characters
30 jokes about trans people
These were the numbers from 2023:
31 trans or nonbinary creatives
20 trans or nonbinary characters
16 jokes about trans people
These were the numbers from 2022:
22 trans people
15 jokes about trans people
So what we see is a higher number of trans creatives working on things, which is great! But… far less trans characters on screen, and far more jokes about trans people. In fact 2025 had the lowest on-screen trans representation and the highest amount of jokes punching down at trans people, of any year since I started doing these reports.
I wish I could say that was surprising, but it mirrors how 2025 was the most transphobic year in politics, with the most anti-trans laws passed, than ever before.
I do want to remind you that the actual American public is largely supportive of trans people, and even after the 2024 election, all the Republicans who campaigned on anti-trans rhetoric lost their elections. It’s not a popular position! Most people are not transphobic!
But the political party in power sure is, and despite the fact that words like “liberal Hollywood” get bandied about, the studios are largely all run by incredibly conservative cishet white men. And that group is also largely from the tech sector and are all-in on Republicans, because they don’t want their precious large language model, error-prone, environment-destroying thievery machines to be regulated.
There are good producers and executives fighting to get more inclusive stories out there, but they are also limited in what they’re allowed to do by the people at the very top.
And even still, cis gatekeepers of trans stories and trans art remain a barrier to getting our stories told. We still need a lot more trans executives and producers to help trans shows and movies get made, but I still don’t have any clue how we make that happen… because it’s going to take those same cis gatekeepers to finally help trans people get hired as executives and producers.
But until we change things behind the scenes to give more trans creators a shot, I fear these numbers will keep getting worse.
Cis producers, executives, and showrunners: hire trans writers, directors, and actors. As often as you can. And help them get their stories told. Please.
And trans and nonbinary creatives, keep telling those stories and fighting to get them out there. I’m in those trenches right along with you, and we’ve got to keep trying.
Because trans people deserve to see ourselves in pop culture, in media, and nobody else is going to do it if we don’t.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com