FRONTLINE: the pbs documentary series not the flea medicine

the meat industry is horrifying

looked at preview online of upcoming "rape on the night shift" and just kind of said to myself, holy shit, noooo

the one on growing up trans was v good

Agree. It was interesting to see how the emotional vocabulary of the kids featured in the movie is soooo much more rich than when I was growing up. Even the boys who suggested to Alex that he burp more and ignore girls. It was really good!

i think they deliberately chose, not only kids who were especially articulate, but -- perhaps more cynically -- kids who were unusually attractive in/as their 'new' gender.

it was very powerful and raised some very difficult questions. the psychologists (psychiatrists?) were very supportive and sensitive and yet i couldn't help but detect a kind of cheerleading that, seen from a different perspective, might seem troubling.

i think the key point in the documentary was the dad (?) who said that they were making the best choices in the absence of a lot of solid answers (answers that science may one day provide).

interesting that the doc essentially offered two endings, one notably ambivalent and the other brightly optimistic

the perspective of the somewhat older dude who admitted its really tough to gauge/appreciate irreversible changes as a young-er person was interesting, like that juxtoposed w the eagerness these kids have to take hormones is def kinda unsettling

xxp yea the clinician cheerleading too

the perspective of the somewhat older dude who admitted its really tough to gauge/appreciate irreversible changes as a young-er person was interesting, like that juxtoposed w the eagerness these kids have to take hormones is def kinda unsettling

― johnny crunch, Sunday, July 5, 2015 4:16 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes, and you have to contrast this perspective with the fact (?) that undergoing these hormonal treatments in adolescence can make the transition easier than undergoing them in adulthood.

what's interesting to me is the seeming consensus among psychologists that gender dysphoria is a "thing"--that is, some kind of irreducible, discrete, empirically observable phenomenon that can't be reversed or placated. which it might be, but the psychiatric profession has a history of deciding such things when they turn out to be, at least, much more complex.

there's also the issue--which wasn't really broached in the documentary--about the relationship between gender and sex. is it just that people who have a sexual dysphoria inevitably express it in terms of the dominant cultural signifiers of that gender?

the mix of culture and biology here is so fraught....

that is, is it possible to desire to be another sex w/o assuming the dominant cultural characteristics of the gender generally associated with that sex? or does the desire to change one's sex (via hormones, surgery, etc.) follow from the desire to achieve those characteristics?

i'm not a hardcore cultural constructionist though and i'm comfortable with the idea that some of the cultural manisfestation of gender are a more or less natural, or rather evolutionary, extension of sex. but that assumption definitely flies in the face of some of the more radical implications of the queering of gender that a lot of activists have been invested in for a long time.

If you're interested in the topic, Andrew Solomon's Far From the Tree has a chapter about transgender kids (and their parents). The book is indispensable as an empathy-generating force. It's really great.

heeeeey http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/immigration-2/rape-in-the-fields/female-farm-workers-awarded-17-million-in-florida-abuse-case/

Exxon that climate change was real in 1977. Hope this expanded into a full hour-long episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppfpFZ92JAY

Inside Assad's Syria is on in just a few

RIP Robin Poor Bear/Kind Hearted Woman
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/robin-poor-bear-1977-2015/

Oh wow, so sad.

i know, i can't stop thinking about it
if you haven't checked out David Sutherland's other documentaries, they are all great. i've wondered and worried for years about the kids in Country Boys
i hope Robin is at peace

Oh nooooo :(

Shit.... :( :(

I'm trying to watch "Separate But Unequal" about the resegregation of public schools, and I know I should be able to at least listen to this as I fold laundry but I just want to punch every one of these white men in the fucking face.

you should occasionally glance at the screen so you know what they look like -- that way if you see them irl you can punch them in the face :)

Did anyone watch the one about Netanyahu?

this supplement one was good & like theyre doing a gambling/fantasy sprts ep

its cool they have the entire transcript - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/supplements-and-safety/transcript/

I haven't seen a Frontline episode in a few years. I eat chicken seemingly every day so I will not be watching that, lol. Netflix used to have many episodes, but I've seen them all. Are they shown anywhere else, like Hulu Plus or something?

The Frontline website has them all, or at least almost 200.

They also post transcripts for virtually all of them there too. It helps my students take notes while they watch.

I just watched a couple on MRSA-type infections in hospitals while doing repetitive work at work, but found them to be kind of thin... could not bring myself to watch the ISIS ones though, despite strong interest in the subject. Too grim. Which is silly of me, since, you know, Frontline.

Frontline also podcasts the audio of their episodes with the descriptive subliminals. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/podcasts/

ok i'm watching the one about supplements and the first lady they interview (Purity First) is so -- i don't even know. when she was asked about her husband's medical background, she said "he was a chemist in college and then he went to chiropractic school" which, let's be honest, does not suggest a promising future in chemistry. i look forward to the hucksterism/snake oil on display in this episode!!

also -- the podcasts are the most terrifying, no question, and audio ISIS might be insomnia material

"I've got these incredible bleeding scales on my head and I can't go to work"
--Purity First customer

wowowowowowow
i thought this one might be boring but no

there is a free PBS iOS/appleTV app that has at least the most recent season, maybe more

the one about supplements was so good
perfect for a lesson about snake oil or a casual hour of lol/wut?!

Ha, didn't even think to check if they had a website, thanks.

Two things --
1) Frontline is going bananas with the microcephaly photos/stories about the zika virus
2) I recently wondered if somewhere there is a porn parody called Frontloin but I am not googling for it from work or ever

Zika is total Frontline bait though, there's no way they wouldn't go all in on it!

frontloin would +/- = 'gunt' i guess?

Also I have a Pavlovian pizza-craving response to Frontline, even today.

not googling "gunt" either!

waiting for ZIKA ON ICE

I had my co-worker google frontloin; results 0% salacious. I asked him to do it because his search history is already guaranteed to get him fired if anyone happens to look at it. Mine will just show that my interests, while work-appropriate, are worryingly obsessive.

hahaha
good move

seriously the one about supplements is unintentionally hilarious, really recommend for lighter fare

I am absolutely going to watch that this afternoon while taping receipts!

the one about fantasy gambling was good from what i saw of it (only watched half) not a heavy topic, but somewhat interesting insight into what happens among groups of friends that i will likely (hopefully) never be a part of. the reporter was fun to watch too. trip to curaçao, don't mind if i do…

also saw the one about heroin. very thorough and focused, informative. depressing.

received an email from frontline today with subj head: In Case You Missed It: Heroin, Pot, Zika, and South Sudan and i loled :-/

lol thanks frontline

I have never seen this tech before, but it is incredible:

https://www.facebook.com/frontline/videos?fref=photo

Basically allows a totally immersive view of the sites described in the doc in real time. Like, the Chernobyl one, as they narrate you view through your camera and can totally look around, down, up, etc. Really quite amazing, and the first of this stuff that feels game changing to me.

wow, that's cool! my students are working on their frontline final papers again. one of them has a pretty severe speech impediment and he struggles to talk in class, but he could not contain himself about the kids and the bats in the doc about ebola. he uses a lot of gesturing to communicate and he re-enacted the whole bat story when we were brainstorming earlier this week. it was pretty great.

maybe i'll show them the chernobyl site if the computers can handle it...

I think you're actually supposed to watch on your phone/device! We were watching in the kitchen this morning, walking around, turning around, etc. It was fascinating

Oh ok that's perfect bc most of them have phones even though our school computers are crappy.

The one about flood insurance really digs into the disgusting profit margins of government-backed insurance companies thanks to relentless questioning from reporter Laura Sullivan. I also found it amusing how lovingly the camera followed her in the b-roll (?). She's always wearing fabulous boots.

The one about the birth of ISIS was also really good.