"who promises her, since she's "kind, approachable, and well mannered," that she's the perfect face for "trans palatability." "FUCK YES," Mulvaney responds to the screen. "I mean, yay!" Suddenly, she's thrust onto a talk show, where she has to respond politely to invasive questions from a perky blonde interviewer (also Mulvaney on video in a different wig), and given an ominous contract to sign in which she promises to "relentlessly exploit her identity through social media.""
"For the next few minutes, Mulvaney putters around the stage like an animatronic housewife just escaped from the Tomorrowland section of Disneyland, shilling for whatever products are thrust into her hands: "trans palatable mascara"; the "tranpon, for the girl who has everything except a bleeding uterus"; a treadmill because "maybe it's my responsibility to normalize trans people in sports?"; and finally, in a gesture accompanied with a drumroll as if we're seeing Sweeney Todd's right arm become complete again, Mulvaney's handed a beer."
A staged sequence portrays an advertiser avatar promising "trans palatability" to a newly transitioning woman and offering fame in exchange for a contract that requires her to "relentlessly exploit her identity through social media." The performer is thrust onto a talk show, pressured to answer invasive questions and to hawk novelty products—"trans palatable mascara," a "tranpon," a treadmill tied to sports normalization—and ultimately a beer. The sequence ties upbeat social-media visibility to corporate sponsorship, shows how identity becomes productized, and links a rise to fame via TikTok with a subsequent right-wing backlash after a Bud Light sponsorship.
Read at Vulture
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