Boys Dont Cry

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Boys Dont Cry

• 1999

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Kimberly Pierce
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Kimberly Pierce

• September 8, 1967
• B.A. in English and Japanese literature from
  University of Chicago and an M.F.A. in film from
  Columbia University.
• Originally made Boys Dont Cry as a short film in
  1995.

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Transgender

• One believes one should be a different gender
  than the one assigned at birth.
• This is not the same thing as identifying as gay
  or lesbian.
• Also known as gender dysphoria, the psychiatric
  bible, DSM-IV, lists persistent transexuality as
  a gender identity disorder.  In general, it's a
  state of conflict between one's gender
  orientation and one's physical self. 

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The True Story

• December 31 in Humboldt, Nebraska three people
  are found shot, stabbed and beaten.
• Richardson County Sheriff Charles Laux recognized
  one of the women on the bed as Teena Brandon, 21,
  who'd reported that John Lotter and Tom Nissen
  had raped her a week earlier, after a Christmas
  party.

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• Arrest warrants for sexual assault were issued
  for John Lotter and Marvin Thomas Nissen, and
  when apprehended, they would be questioned in the
  matter of these murders.  They were under heavy
  suspicion.
• Teena Brandon had been the primary target, a
  transexual, who had been living as a man and
  saving for a sex change operation.

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Teena Brandon- 1972-1993
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• Teena Renae Brandon was born in Lincoln,
  Nebraska, on December 12, 1972.  By the time she
  was in high school she was calling herself Billy
  and dating girls from other schools. 
• By all accounts she was an excellent date.
• Her greatest fear, according to acquaintances,
  was to be touched sexually by a man, and she was
  especially afraid of being raped. 
• She was the victim of childhood sexual abuse.

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• She had some problems forged checks to get
  money, stole from people, and got
• In 1993, she left Lincoln and set out for a place
  where people wouldn't know her.  Keeping her
  secret from others, she could start a new life
  strictly as a man.

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• "Brandon" came into Humboldt, about eighty miles
  south of Lincoln, and stayed with a girl named
  Lisa Lambert.  Lisa fell in love with him, but he
  was interested in someone else. 
• By early December in 1993, he was dating Lana
  Tisdel, 19

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Brandon and Lana Tisdel
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• Among his new acquaintances were Tom Nissen, an
  ex-con who was married and had two kids. They
  sometimes hung out together with another ex-con,
  John Lotter, a former boyfriend of Lana's. 
• Brandon had no money, so he soon turned to his
  old habit of forging checks. 
• Three days after his twenty-first birthday, on
  December 15, he was in jail, placed in the
  women's section.
• Lana was confused and horrified, and by December
  22, she got Tom to bail him out. 
• Two days later, they were all at Tom's house for
  a Christmas Eve party.

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• Lana confronted Brandon who had first claimed to
  be a hermaphrodite. Now he admitted he was going
  through a sex change procedure.
• Lana stood by Brandon.
• On Christmas even, John and Tom stripped Brandon,
  trying to force Lana to admit he was a woman.

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• After sending Lana home, Tom and John beat and
  raped Brandon.
• Lana urged Brandon to report the attack.
• Brandon reported the attack and was treated with
  contempt by authorities.
• After three days, deputies went out to question
  the suspects and thought they ought to be
  arrested, but Sheriff Laux would not allow it. 

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• After searching for Brandon for several days,
  John and Tom located him at his friend Lisas
  home.
• They murdered the three adults in the house,
  Lisa, Brandon and a third friend.
• After being arrested Tom hurt his case by
  confessing to journalists and jailhouse snitches.
• Both were found guilty of murder.
• Brandons mother successfully sued the Sheriffs
  department for the six days they allowed the
  suspects to search publicly for the victim (while
  repeatedly stating the intent to kill him).

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Homosexuality as a Weapon of Sexism

• Axes of inequality reinforce inequitable
  relations of privilege/oppression.
• Sexuality and gender reinforce each other.

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Sexuality and Gender

• Idealized images of masculinity and femininity
• Threat of Stigma (what are you a )
• Reinforces gender and sexuality