Trans Teen Jazz Jennings Gets Her Own TV Show

[Content Note: Transphobia; self-harm.]


Jazz Jennings at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 20, 2013.
Derrick Clifton at Mic:

14-year-old trans activist Jazz Jennings has been tapped by TLC for an upcoming reality series titled All That Jazz. Jennings, a young author and star of the documentary I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition, will be followed by cameras once again as she navigates high school and faces the joys and tribulations of young adulthood.

As an opportunity to increase public understanding of trans youth, the show comes at an important time. According to the 2011 report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 78% of trans or gender nonconforming youth reported feeling harassed at school, which correlates with higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness. And with news of trans teen suicides making headlines in early 2015, the visibility created by the show could also help more trans youth feel accepted.

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, All That Jazz will also feature other members of Jenning's family, including her parents, who have been both supportive of her and vocal about the difficulties she sometimes encounters.

...All That Jazz is an opportunity for the American public to get a non-sensationalized account of what it means to be trans.

It's an opportunity to get one more voice in the mix: a trans person telling her story on her own terms.

Obviously, TLC has, ahh, a mixed record on its reality programming. There is a lot of exploitative stuff mixed in with some genuinely good programming about people from marginalized populations. I hope that All That Jazz (which is THE BEST title, by the way) falls on the better end of the TLC spectrum.

In any case, Jazz is courageous as hell to put herself out there—and I don't mean that just because she's trans. Anyone who's willing to put their lives on display for entertainment, for education, for advocacy is a brave soul indeed.