''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''. From 2013 to 2017, ...

, National Geographic, and World of Wonder. It originally aired on the American network National Geographic on February 6, 2017. The film's release followed the January 2017 '' National Geographic'' 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 1970 to 1977. ...

''. 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 autosomal recessive disorders characterized by impaired cortisol synthesis. It results from the deficiency of one of the five enzymes required for the synthesis of cortisol in the adrenal cortex. ...

. Couric says that

John Money John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author known for his research into sexual identity and Sex determination and differentiation (human), biology of gender. He was one of the first ...

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 productio ...

s. Her guests explain the effects of

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

. They discuss suicide among trans children who can't receive gender-affirming care. Couric travels to San Francisco to meets with surgeon

Marci Bowers Marci Lee Bowers (born January 18, 1958) is an American gynecologist and surgeon who specializes in gender confirmation surgeries. Bowers is viewed as an innovator in gender confirmation/affirmation surgery, and is the first transgender woman ...

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 or abilities. 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 Mackie (2007) d ...

. Couric discusses the

North Carolina House Bill 2 The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, commonly known as House Bill 2 or HB2, was a North Carolina statute passed in March 2016 and signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory. The bill amended state law to preempt any anti-discrimination o ...

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 and social activist. He is the president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. ...

and

Loretta Lynch Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American lawyer 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 Uni ...

are shown giving speeches in favor of trans rights. Couric interviews

Gavin Grimm ''G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board'' is a case dealing with transgender rights. The case involves a transgender boy attending a Virginia high school, who sued the local school board after he was forced to use girls' restrooms based on his a ...

in Virginia. Afterwards, she interviews Yale Dean

Tamar Gendler Tamar Szabó Gendler (born December 20, 1965) is an American philosopher. She is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale as well as the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy and a Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences ...

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

muxe In Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca (southern Mexico), a muxe (also spelled muxhe; ) is a person assigned male at birth who dresses and behaves in ways otherwise associated with women; they may be seen as a third gender. Etymology The Zapotec word ...

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

Renée Richards Renée Richards (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 sex reassignment surgery, when she fought to ...

. They show a photograph of Richards and

Caitlyn Jenner Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949) is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee i ...

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 SAG award in 2016. She made her runway debut at New ...

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 LGBT-related films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{LGBT-documentary-film-stub

Plot

See also

References

External links