NBC’s Heartbeat is a show that deals with conflict. A main character, who is a female, runs around acting like a man. An ex-husband of the main character, who is so incredibly over the idea of getting back together with his former wife, becomes gay. And on Tuesday night’s episode, titled ‘Permanent Glitter,’ a man who is convinced he’s a woman defies his genetic gender, in order to continue taking hormones that he thinks make him a woman.
Got all that? Good.
Check out the video of this week’s episode. All of you I Am Cait watcher (and yes, I purposely left that singular, based on my firm conviction that there is at most only one person other than me who watches that show) might recognize the trans man in this scene:
- Hi, I’m Dr. Pantierre. I know you.
- I work at the Waiting Room part time.
- Right. - You put down "Dance teacher."
- Was. When it gets slow, Brian lets me wait tables.
- You didn't finish filling out the form. Here, sorry. Hospital rules.
- The part where it asks male or female? Your form needs more boxes. - Ah.
- I was assigned male at birth, but I've always identified female. I take hormones and I'm in transition.
- Cool.
- Which pronouns do you prefer?
- "She" and "Her." Thanks for asking.
- Of course. Okay, where does it hurt?
- It's just along my ribs here.
- Okay. Excuse me. There's some contusions. I'm gonna press lightly along your ribs. Okay? See if there's a fracture. Let me know if there's any sharp pain.
- The whole area is just sore.
- What's this?
- That's my right breast.
- No, the hard tissue. I want to do a fine needle aspiration and some imaging studies to be sure. It might be nothing, maybe just fibrous tissue, but let's not take any chances. Ji-sung will schedule the appointments, and once we get your results, we'll take it from there
Yep. It’s Candis from I Am Cait. Now that we have that out of the way, what the heck, right? Need more boxes? I could have sworn when someone asked you to check a box for male or female, they were asking you for what you scientifically are. Not what you “identify” as.
But, hey, I also thought there was no way the Muppets would get made into a primetime television show, with Miss Piggy dancing in lingerie.