''Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric'' is a 2017 documentary film about gender identity, produced by

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. Since 2016, she ha ...

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

, and World of Wonder. It originally aired on the American network

on February 6, 2017. The film's release followed the January 2017 ''

'' magazine issue of the same name, which also focused on gender.

Plot

Katie Couric says that she was inspired to go into the television profession after watching the central character of ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 ...

''. She meets up with Sam Killermann in New York City. Later, she interviews a person with

congenital adrenal hyperplasia Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of Genetic disorder#Autosomal recessive, autosomal recessive disorders characterized by impaired cortisol synthesis. It results from the deficiency of one of the five enzymes required for the Biosy ...

. Couric says that

John Money John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand American psychologist, sexologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University known for his research on human sexual behavior and gender. Money advanced the use of more accur ...

theorized that "nurture can supersede nature." Couric meets a family whose daughter is taking

puberty blocker Puberty blockers (also called puberty inhibitors or hormone blockers) are medicines used to postpone puberty in children. The most commonly used puberty blockers are gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which suppress the natura ...

s. Her guests explain the effects of

gender-affirming hormone therapy Gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), also called hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or transgender hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy in which sex hormones and other sex-hormonal agent, hormonal medications are administered to transg ...

. They discuss suicide among trans children who can't receive gender-affirming care. Couric travels to San Francisco to meets with surgeon Marci Bowers and her patients; they say that they are "affirming" gender as opposed "assigning" it. In this documentary, Couric interviews both young and old trans people. Couric says that "many transgender people are poor, unemployed, and often the target of violence." Sabel Samone-Loreca echoes this viewpoint. Michaela Mendelsohn is seeking to provide economic opportunities to trans people in the Los Angeles area. Michaela Mendelsohn tells Couric that many trans women have low

self-esteem Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Macki ...

. Couric discusses the

North Carolina House Bill 2 The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, commonly known as House Bill 2, Bathroom Bill, or HB2, was a North Carolina statute passed in March 2016 and signed into law by Governor of North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory. The bill amended st ...

which was passed one year before the production of this documentary. Clips of

William Barber II William J. Barber II (born August 30, 1963) is an American Protestant minister, social activist, professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divini ...

and

Loretta Lynch Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the ...

are shown giving speeches in favor of trans rights. Couric interviews Gavin Grimm in Virginia. Afterwards, she interviews Yale Dean

Tamar Gendler Tamar Szabó Gendler (born December 20, 1965) is an American academic and philosopher. She has been the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale University, where she is also the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy and a Professor o ...

. Fa'afafine people in Samoa are non-binary. In Mexico, the

muxe In Juchitán de Zaragoza, a Zapotec culture of Oaxaca (southeastern Mexico), a muxe (also spelled muxhe; ) is a person assigned male at birth who adopts aspects of feminine gender roles, including dress, behavior, and social standing. The ex ...

are feminine and non-binary. Near the end, Couric interviews

Renée Richards Renée Richards (formerly Richard Raskind; born August 19, 1934) is an American ophthalmologist and former tennis player who competed on the professional circuit in the 1970s, and became widely known following male-to-female medical affirmati ...

. They show a photograph of Richards and

Caitlyn Jenner Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner, October 28, 1949), formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yell ...

from the 1980s. Couric points out that

Hari Nef Hari Nef (born October 21, 1992) is an American actress, model, and writer. Nef's breakthrough role was Gittel in the Amazon original series '' Transparent'', for which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performa ...

is 23 while Richards is 82 at the airing of this documentary.

References

External links

* * 2017 documentary films 2017 television films 2017 films American documentary television films Gender in the United States National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming Transgender-related documentary films 2017 LGBTQ-related films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films World of Wonder (company) films American LGBTQ-related documentary films English-language documentary films {{LGBT-documentary-film-stub

Plot

See also

References

External links