Do NOT Support âAdamâ When The Film Comes Out
Iâve talked about this before on this blog but this is the most disgustingly transphobic and lesbophobic narrative Iâve ever come across.Â
CWs: transphobia, homophobia, lesbophobia, corrective rape, voyeurism
The book Adam by Ariel Schrag is being turned into a movie which has been named as one of the most exciting LGBTQ films of the year. You should know before watching that the book is about a cis boy who pretends to be a trans man in order to persuade lesbians to sleep with him.
Yeah⌠you read that right.
boy spies on his lesbian sister having sex
boy decides to pretend to be a trans man (gross)
i.e. pretends to have a vagina because he thinks lesbians will want him then (he literally wants to fuck lesbians because he watched his lesbian sister have sex wtf)
he does get a lesbian to sleep with him, he straps his penis down using ace bandages and uses a strap on.
all the actual trans dudes we meet identify as lesbians this basically implies that trans men are not real men (lesbians i.e. women) Â
another time they have sex again only he uses his actual penis but tells her its a strap on. thatâs literally rape, she didnât consent to an actual penis.
he confesses that heâs been lying to her this whole time but she doesnât break up with him. she even says its okay cause she fantasised about him being âa real boy"
thatâs a direct quote. massive transphobia. huge. not to mention this is now the âlesbian is cured by dick tropeâ which is disgusting and that trope leads to real lesbians and bi women being raped to âfixâ them.Â
he leaves new york, theyâre long distance. they get in an argument and he calls her a slut and a whore among other things and then she dumps him
eventually they get back in touch and she has a new cis boyfriend so yep, sheâs been âcuredâ woo sheâs actually straight and he helped her realise that yay (massive sarcasm)
It is deeply deeply transphobic. To imply that our identities are just costumes for other people to put on erases who we are as people. More than that, to imply it is done to trick people into sex is a dangerous lie that literally gets us killed.
It is also deeply lesbophobic. To fuel this narrative that lesbians can be âfixedâ by having sex with a man leads to real corrective rapes happening.Â
Here is a review of the book by a trans man. I have yet to find one by a lesbian but will edit this if I do.
This book gives out incredibly harmful notions about trans men and lesbians that are used to hurt them in real life. Itâs so entrenched in the narrative that I donât see how the film can possibly be any better.
I do not say any of this lightly. itâs very very rare for me to call out a piece of fiction or for me to decide that a story is unfixable. But this⌠thereâs no excuse for the bigotry in this.Â
Iâd like to tell people to boycott it but I canât tell you what to do. So instead Iâm going to ask that you share this because it being named as an exciting new LGBTQ film is going to make LGBTQ teens want to see it. And they should know beforehand how hurtful it could be. They should be able to arm themselves with that knowledge.
Donât make queer kids see this film believing it will represent them only to be exposed to this hatred of their identities.Â
