I am Cait: Partner Up
The second season of Caitlyn Jenner’s I Am Cait premiered episode 3, “Partner Up” on E! Sunday night. This season follows Cait and her pals Candis Cayne, Jenny Boylan, Chandi Moore, Zackary Drucker, Kate Bornstein and newcomer Ella Giselle as they get on a bus and travel across the country to raise transgender awareness.
***Spoiler Alert***
The girls finally get away from the politics and start with breakfast as Zackary Drucker tells Candis that she set her up with an online date. Candis goes on to talk about her dating experience which she summarizes as being “dismal”. Caitlyn receives her license as she laments the “old Bruce”. The show flashes back to Cait’s daughters Kourtney and Kim helping her take her license picture at the DMV in a show of support.
I’m sick and tired of men who feel like they have the upper hand on trans women,”
Candis ends up getting stood up and the girls console her. “I’m sick and tired of men who feel like they have the upper hand on trans women,” says Candis. “F@ck you. I’m sorry, I’m over it.” She manages to pick herself up but the show makes a strong point of exposing some of the hardships transgender girls face in the dating world.
Next the girls take a salsa class, but men are there and Caitlyn worries about her daughters seeing her with guys. This becomes one of the points of the show as Caitlyn ponders dating men and how her daughters would handle it. Ciatlyn ultimately ends up dancing with Candis instead. Afterwards Candis and Chandi make plans to do a drag show when they get to Chicago. On the way, the girls get kicked out of a restaurant after the owner realizes who they are and tells them they cannot film there. This is pure transgender discrimination and Chandi makes a point that acceptance is much harder in some areas of the south.
The girls make a detour to go rock climbing where Candis meets a transgender model from New York named Laith. With the meeting Candis comes to the realization that she needs to be more open minded regarding which type of guys she is willing to date. Fortunately this time Laith comes through and shows up for their date later that night. Meanwhile Caitlyn is in New York accepting her “Woman of the Year” award from Glamour magazine. Cait’s daughter was supposed to be her date bt she misses the red carpet due to a wardrobe malfunction. The two talk it out later.
On the way to Chicago the girls and Jenny talk about drag culture and trans women. Jenny feels that drag is pretending and it is something she does not identify with because she “does not pretend” when it comes to her identity. Chandi and Candis explain how everyone’s journey is different and form many girls, drag was a point on the road to their discovery of who they were. Finally the girls meet up with Caitlyn in Chicago to see Chandi make her first appearance as “Chandelier” in over a decade. The girls have a great time and even Jenny gets into it and shows her support for Candis and Chandi.
The episode wraps up on the subject of dating and it looks like it may be some time before Caitlyn figures out who and when she is going to date.
Mila Madison – | Twitter | Email
It is good to see the girls get off the politics this week. I though the show did a good job of highlighting some of the troubles transgender women face. It was rough episode for Candis, but it really showed what many of us go through. She is Candis Cayne and she is gorgeous. Even she has to deal with all the pitfalls of dating that transgender women face. I am glad things worked out for her in the end. I got a sense from this episode that Caitlyn is still struggling a bit with letting go of Bruce. I guess we will see where that goes. I wish they did a little more on the restaurant that turned them away. It goes to show how far we still have yet to go.
The star of the show was Chandi. I have a world of respect for her as she is the one girl on the show that is actually in the trenches and directing all of her energy and resources to helping her community. The show did a good job of highlighting the good that this woman does. She keeps it real and she is the real deal. On the subject of the drag community I am personally for anyone who has any kind of expression of gender. They have my support and it does not matter if you are pretending or if it is real. We all have our journey. We all need each other.
Regarding Caitlyn wining the Glamour “Woman of the Year” award, I know many people are up in arms over her winning it. I think what people fail to realize is that this is not a trans thing or a slight against cis women. Caitlyn Jenner is a name and Glamour’s selection of her brings attention and some controversy which promotes the brand. At the end of the day it is about money and selling magazines. She is a name that brings attention. Let me ask you this, who won the award last year?…..I rest my case.
