Well that was surprising.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/second-wachowski-sibling-comes-as-873674
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/second-wachowski-sibling-comes-as-873674
Sibling to Lana Wachowski, who came out as transgender in 2012, has gone public after a media outlet threatened to out her.
The second half of the directing duo known as the Wachowskis has come out as transgender.
Lilly Wachowski, 48, sibling of Lana Wachowski, 50, issued a statement to Windy City Times that begins, "SEX CHANGE SHOCKERWACHOWSKI BROTHERS NOW SISTERS!!!"
The Times reports an outlet threatened to out the younger Wachowski, which led to the announcement, which, Lilly writes, she had been anticipating with "dread and/or eye rolling exasperation."
"The 'news' has almost come out a couple of times," Wachowski writes. "Each was preceded by an ominous email from my agent -- reporters have been asking for statements regarding the 'Andy Wachowski gender transition' story they were about to publish."
Wachowski goes on to recount an incident in which a reporter from the Daily Mail showed up at her home to elicit an exclusive on her gender transition.
"After he had given me his card, and I closed the door it began to dawn on me where I had heard of the Daily Mail," Wachowski writes. "It was the 'news' organization that had played a huge part in the national public outing of Lucy Meadows, an elementary school teacher and trans woman in the UK."
Wachowski decided instead to come out on her own terms.
"So yeah," she writes. "I'm transgender."
Lilly's sister, Lana, came out as transgender on Oct. 20, 2012, in a funny, honest and deeply moving speech delivered at the Human Rights Campaigns gala fundraising dinner in San Francisco.
She was joined at the time by Lilly, their parents, and Lana's wife.
"I knew that I would do this eventually," Lana later told The Hollywood Reporter. "But it was interesting that I didnt want to inhabit the memory too closely. A lot of them are very painful memories."
Together, the Wachowskis have directed eight features, including The Matrix Trilogy, V for Vendetta and Cloud Atlas. They also co-created the Netflix series Sense8, a science-fiction fantasy about a group of people linked psychically, which explores transgender themes and stars transgender actress Jamie Clayton.
"SEX CHANGE SHOCKER—WACHOWSKI BROTHERS NOW SISTERS!!!"
There's the headline I've been waiting for this past year. Up until now with dread and/or eye rolling exasperation. The "news" has almost come out a couple of times. Each was preceded by an ominous email from my agent—reporters have been asking for statements regarding the "Andy Wachowski gender transition" story they were about to publish. In response to this threatened public outing against my will, I had a prepared a statement that was one part piss, one part vinegar and 12 parts gasoline.
It had a lot of politically relevant insights regarding the dangers of outing trans people, and the statistical horrors of transgender suicide and murder rates. Not to mention a slightly sarcastic wrap-up that "revealed" my father had injected praying mantis blood into his paternal ball-sac before conceiving each of his children to produce a brood of super women, hellbent on female domination. Okay, mega sarcastic.
But it didn't happen. The editors of these publications didn't print a story that was only salacious in substance and could possibly have a potentially fatal effect. And being the optimist that I am, I was happy to chalk it up to progress.
Then last night while getting ready to go out for dinner my doorbell rang. Standing on my front porch was a man I did not recognize.
"This might be a little awkward," he said in an English accent.
I remember sighing.
Sometimes it's really tough work to be an optimist.
He proceeded to explain he was a journalist from the Daily Mail, which was the largest news service in the UK and was most definitely not a tabloid. And that I really had to sit down with him tomorrow or the next day or next week so that I could have my picture taken and tell my story which was so inspirational! And that I really didn't want to have someone from the National Enquirer following me around, did I? BTW—The Daily Mail is so definitely not a tabloid.
My sister Lana and I have largely avoided the press. I find talking about my art frustratingly tedious and talking about myself a wholly mortifying experience. I knew at some point I would have to come out publicly. You know, when you're living as an out transgender person it's … kind of difficult to hide. I just wanted—needed some time to get my head right, to feel comfortable.
But apparently I don't get to decide this.
After he had given me his card, and I closed the door it began to dawn on me where I had heard of the Daily Mail. It was the "news" organization that had played a huge part in the national public outing of Lucy Meadows, an elementary school teacher and trans woman in the UK. An editorial in the "not-a-tabloid" demonized her as a damaging influence on the children's delicate innocence and summarized "he's not only trapped in the wrong body, he's in the wrong job." The reason I knew about her wasn't because she was transgender it was because three months after the Daily Mail article came out, Lucy committed suicide.
And now here they were, at my front door, almost as if to say—
"There's another one! Let's drag 'em out in the open so we can all have a look!"
Being transgender is not easy. We live in a majority-enforced gender binary world. This means when you're transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you.
I am one of the lucky ones. Having the support of my family and the means to afford doctors and therapists has given me the chance to actually survive this process. Transgender people without support, means and privilege do not have this luxury. And many do not survive. In 2015, the transgender murder rate hit an all-time high in this country. A horrifying disproportionate number of the victims were trans women of color. These are only the recorded homicides so, since trans people do not all fit in the tidy gender binary statistics of murder rates, it means the actual numbers are higher.
And though we have come a long way since Silence of the Lambs, we continue to be demonized and vilified in the media where attack ads portray us as potential predators to keep us from even using the goddamn bathroom. The so-called bathroom bills that are popping up all over this country do not keep children safe, they force trans people into using bathrooms where they can be beaten and or murdered. We are not predators, we are prey.
So yeah, I'm transgender.
And yeah, I've transitioned.
I'm out to my friends and family. Most people at work know too. Everyone is cool with it. Yes, thanks to my fabulous sister they've done it before, but also because they're fantastic people. Without the love and support of my wife and friends and family I would not be where I am today.
But these words, "transgender" and "transitioned" are hard for me because they both have lost their complexity in their assimilation into the mainstream. There is a lack of nuance of time and space. To be transgender is something largely understood as existing within the dogmatic terminus of male or female. And to "transition" imparts a sense of immediacy, a before and after from one terminus to another. But the reality, my reality is that I've been transitioning and will continue to transition all of my life, through the infinite that exists between male and female as it does in the infinite between the binary of zero and one. We need to elevate the dialogue beyond the simplicity of binary. Binary is a false idol.
Now, gender theory and queer theory hurt my tiny brain. The combinations of words, like freeform jazz, clang disjointed and discordant in my ears. I long for understanding of queer and gender theory but it's a struggle as is the struggle for understanding of my own identity. I have a quote in my office though by José Muñoz given to me by a good friend. I stare at it in contemplation sometimes trying to decipher its meaning but the last sentence resonates:
"Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality for another world."
So I will continue to be an optimist adding my shoulder to the Sisyphean struggle of progress and in my very being, be an example of the potentiality of another world.
Lilly Wachowski
Not really shocked.
I'd be much more surprised if they ever got another film deal, gender transition notwithstanding.
Not really shocked.
I'd be much more surprised if they ever got another film deal, gender transition notwithstanding.
They just did Jupiter Ascending (2015).
Fern
well joel silver is still out there producing, so give it a few years for hollywood amnesia to set in and i'm sure someone will give the wachowski's 200m in the name of diversity.
Not really shocked.
I'd be much more surprised if they ever got another film deal, gender transition notwithstanding.
The only thing that matters is money.
...and they haven't made anyone money since "V for Vendetta".
It would be weird if some people 'imprint' like animals. We're supposed to be beyond that sort of thing - except we really aren't.I watched their show "sensate" with the number 8 in the title somewhere... It took six episodes, but then it got really good.
It's about body dysmorphia and having the super power of orgies.
... I'm very sad that our society is such that people feel they need to mutilate themselves to be their 'true self'.
There were some native tribes that would accept a person 'born with the spirit' of another gender. Self-mudilation wasn't needed, they just accepted that this person would act like the other gender.
But we all know the "spirit" part of this is just bullshit: it's another term for "ideology i've internalized". Well if you've internalized being a woman instead of man that's fine: If you want me to believe you have been magically given the 'brain' of another gender, you're asking me to believe your spirituality.
You are welcome to believe your faith, but you have no business demanding I believe it.
That said, people caught up in this spirituality need to be treated with the same respect we treat any other devotee/true believer. Being bigoted against folks that change or present as a different gender should not be acceptable, but not believing someone's faith is not bigotry.
The thing about humans is that we have the ability to imprint repeatedly throughout our lives, often with agency over that which we choose to imprint upon. The expression of things that we imprint upon is then mediated by our social-normative expectations regarding sex.It would be weird if some people 'imprint' like animals. We're supposed to be beyond that sort of thing - except we really aren't.
It's even possible that we're sensitive to pheromones via the VNO (vomeronasal organ).
They just did Jupiter Ascending (2015).
Fern
I watched their show "sensate" with the number 8 in the title somewhere... It took six episodes, but then it got really good.
But that's not true imprinting. If a cat or a duck imprints on a human, they try to imitate being human. There's no act of will involved. I think it's completely possible for that to happen with people. The only difference is that we have the ability to override those imprinted impulses and force ourselves to act in a different way.The thing about humans is that we have the ability to imprint repeatedly throughout our lives, often with agency over that which we choose to imprint upon. The expression of things that we imprint upon is then mediated by our social-normative expectations regarding sex.
I loved the special effects and watched solely for that reason. They made some effort to complicate the plot but it didn't really help.I saw that movie. I was a bit lost for the first half hour and was basically sitting there wondering who the fuck was fighting who and why I should care about any of them but then the movie started to come together and I started to give a crap. Overall, I thought the movie was mediocre at best and the only reason I went was because my son wanted to see it. I wouldn't bother seeing it again though... unlike the Matrix which I could watch more than once.
But that's not true imprinting. If a cat or a duck imprints on a human, they try to imitate being human. There's no act of will involved. I think it's completely possible for that to happen with people. The only difference is that we have the ability to override those imprinted impulses and force ourselves to act in a different way.
The problem is that you can't experiment with people to see what would happen if they were raised by wolves or chimps for example.
did their dicks get turned into billiard pockets?