Television is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving
images and sound1. It is
undeniable that television is one of the greatest inventions in the modern era.
Television has become the main source of socialization in many modern societies
(Gerbner et al. (2002)); however, its role as a media which extents many
information can alter cultural traits and beliefs of societies through the
dipictations of Gender Identity Disorder
in the television.
For clarity purposes, the term of gender identity disorder refers to a person or people who are more
comfortable to be the opposite gender and discomfort with his or her own
assigned sex2. Several TV
programs that I may take into account in this essay are the programs which
relate to the entertainment. Those are Dashyat
in RCTI, Inbox in SCTV, The Terong Show and Duo Pedang in
Indosiar, Facebooker in ANTV, and YKS in Trans TV. The purpose of the TV programs that I have
mentioned is to entertain people; however, I believe that those TV programs
which depict gender identity disorder should be banned for three reasons to do
with the effects on the general society, the dignity of gender, and the effects
on children..
First, it is said that TV programs implicitly bring new culture that can
alter the personality traits and beliefs for the society. Many studies have
revealed that television changed women’s status in rural India (Jensen and
Oster, 2009), that television has decreased participation in social
organizations in Indonesia (Olken, 2006) and that exposure to soap operas in
Brazil has reduced fertility (La Ferrara et
al, 2008) and increased divorce rates (Chong and La Ferrara, 2009). With
all of the findings in the studies, is it imposible that gender representatives
in Indonesian TV programs affect the personality traits and beliefs among
Indonesian societies? The presence of some actreses and actors in the mentioned
tv programs who behave as gender identity disorder, for instance, a man dresses
like a woman and his gestures depict action of effeminate may alter the
paradigm of Indonesian people towards such a disorder. Some countries in the
world for instance France and USA may have legalized many kinds of sexual
disorder such as gay, lesbian, bisex, and transgender which are famous as
“LGBT”. For clarity purposes, the definition of a lesbianis a self-identified
woman who is attracted to other women; a gay man ia a self-identified man who
is attracted to other men; a bisex individual is someone who is attracted to
their own gender and also to other genders; a transgender individual is someone who does not identify with the
gender they were assigned at birth (Kahn, 2014). However in Indonesia, those
kinds of sexual orientation disorders are still taboo due to the ideology of
Indonesia itself which upholds religious and moral values. If the programs
still exist in Indonesian TV channels, people will see that such disorders are
a naturalness and they will consider it as a common thing. As a result, they
will seem to lose their awarness towards that matter.
Second is to do with the dignity of each gender. Based on
previous research in the field of gender studies in the media, it has been
argued that man and woman are viewed differently, and this view lives on in how
they continue to be represented or framed within the media (Ottosson, 2012). It
is also in line with the study of Houston who reveals that depictation can
influence attitude, values, and actions of the people who view them (Huston,
1992). In these entertainment programs, each shows the actor and actrees who
play a role. A role often depicts a gender representation that acts
as Gender Identity Disorder. When
actors or actrees acts in an opposite gender, it seems to underestimate the
role and the position of the gender which is roled by them. To ilustrate, TV
shows hosted by men with effeminate characteristics and mannerisms or a man who
acts like a woman potrays undermining himself as a man as well as
underestimating woman characters. These actions are easily found in Dashyat, Facebookers, and Duo Pedang. They
argue that the actions are on behalf of popularity. Even some of them seem to
be proud of having that kind of gender identity disorder. It is in line with
the argument of one host of “Duo Pedang” who is being questioned in the
interview between him and journalist of Kapanlagi.com.
He said:
“Menurut aku
begini, aku digosipin homo, banci, kenapa, masalahnya apa? Kalo saya jadi homo
masalahnya apa dong? Kalo saya ingin jadi banci kenapa masalahnya? Kalian
bisanya sirik saja, saya kaya gini tuh buat cari uang. Yang paling penting kan
tidak merugikan kalian semua!”
(“In my
opinion, when people think that I have gender identity disorder, I am just
wondering what the problem for you is. If I became a gay, what is the problem? And
is it your bussiness If I want to be a transgender? You just can do envy, I do
this to earn money. The most important is that i don’t harm you all!”). (Nassar
in kapalagi.com)
From Nasar’s point of view, it indicates that the gender
identity disorder is a common thing that cannot be consider trouble. He
believes that as long as his actions do not harm for people, that kind of
disorder should be understood in terms of tolerance. In fact, his actions
portray the unussual mannerism that can change cultural trait and beliefs in
society.
Last, the presence of those kinds of programs may impact
to the children. Young children are highly vunerable to the teachings of media
because they seem to have no critical capacity necessary to distinguish between
fantasy and reality, to identify persuasive intent, or to understand irony and
disregard stereotypes (Graydon, 2012). Children will question about his role in
the society. They may think that man and woman have the same role in the
society. As a result, children may follow the trend in the television. It is
said that there are many children who act in the opposite gender such as boy
wants to wear girl’s cloth and so on. This needs a preventive action and attention
as this will build children’s characteristics to be carried out until his maturity
age. Children are innocent. They will imitate what another people do. It is
unfair if we let our young generation are fed with such inappropriate mannerism.
In conclusion, gender identity disorder which depicts on
television seems to bring several negative effects that I have mentioned above.
Having a diversity in terms of religion, beliefs, and gender is one’s right. We
affirm each person’s ability to judge for themselves who they are and express
themselves in the way that is most fit to their soul. We honor the diversity of
thruts and cultures that exists within the communities, but will we solely keep
in silence letting them affect the society? Here, the role of government is
very important. Indonesia has Komisi
Penyiaran Indonesia that can manage and filter the programs in
Indonesians’s tv. We can look at Malaysia. Malaysia’s Information Department
has banned TV shows featuring gender identity disorder since 2012 as reported
by Star newspaper3. Besides, the role of parents are also needed to watch
and direct their children into the appropriate programs because i believe that
there is no parent who wishes his beloved children to live abnormal.
References
2Psychology
Today. 2012. Gender Identity Disorder.
On http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/gender-identity-disorder
3Mackey,
Michael. 2012. Malaysian government Band gay
TV Characters. On http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/313774
Gerbner, George, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, Nancy Signorielli and James Shanahan.
2002. "Growing up with television, cultivation
process" Chapter 3 in Media e¤ects: advances in theory and research
(second edition) edited by Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillmann, LEA London.
Graydon, S. 2012. Gender Issues In The Media. Mediawatch. {[Online}.
Retrieved from http://mediawatch.ca
Houston, A.C. 1992. Big world, small
screen: The role of television in American society. Lincoln, NE: University
of Nebraska Press.
Jensen, Robert and Emily Oster. (2009). The
Power of TV: Cable Television and Women.s Status in India. Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 124, No.
3, Pages 1057-1094.
Kahn, Heather. 2014. LGBT Parents on
American Television. Mississipi; The University of Southern Missisipi
Press.
La Ferrara, E., A., Chong, and Duryea, S. 2008. Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil,.BREAD Working
Paper No. 172.
Olken, Benjamin A. 2009. "Do
Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian
Villages", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1:4, 1. 33.
Ottosson, T. 2012. The Representation
of Gender Role in the Media. Department of Economics and Informatics,
University West
