Stephen Ira, Warren Beatty's Transgender Son, Slams Chaz Bono As 'Misogynous' In Blog Posting

The transgender son of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening has lashed out at Chaz Bono on his blog, accusing the recently departed "Dancing with the Stars" contestant of being misogynous.

Nineteen-year-old Stephen Ira Beatty, who was born Kathlyn, accused Bono, 42, of being unqualified to speak about gender reassignment. "Chaz has appointed himself as the representative of a group of people who are not all like him," Stephen writes. "He has said misogynistic and prescriptivist things about gender. I take particular issue with his comments on trans embodiment and on women."

Stephen takes particular issue with Bono's assertion in The New York Times, in which he likened being transgender to having a birth defect. "There's a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99 percent of people, those things are in alignment," Bono said in May. "For transgender people, they're mismatched. That's all it is. It's not complicated, it’s not a neurosis. It's a mix-up. It's a birth defect, like a cleft palate."

Stephen responded, "Chaz is a misogynist...This man doesn't represent our community. He especially does not represent those of us who are non-binary, non-op, women, or feminist men. Chaz needs to do some hard thinking about what it means to appoint oneself representative of a whole group without considering the desires of all the group's members."

He later followed the original post up with a second blog dated Nov. 17, presumably as an effort to clarify his views. "I would be more than happy to sit down with Chaz, have a drink, and talk with him about how he can think and talk about gender in a way that’s more inclusive," he wrote. "He seems like an all right guy, his questionable views aside. And from what I’ve seen, he’s really remarkably good at the cha cha."

Stephen, who is reportedly attending college as a man, was said in 2010 to be planning to undergo gender reassignment surgery. According to the National Enquirer, his famous father was "beside himself over the situation."

Comments

[MrsHughes]

12:09 PM on 02/13/2012

Chastity Bono looks like The Bearded Lady from the circus.

[AuntJoJo]

04:54 PM on 11/26/2011

I might add that it takes years to come to terms with one's sexuality sometimes. Take your time if you feel transgendered, I know many gay men and women who felt out of their sex, but came to terms years later and just adjusted and tweaked their look and intellect to reflect who they were. Sexuality is very fluid. Take your time. You may find that being a man or a woman is worthwhile and ok.

[jwoolman]

03:20 AM on 11/23/2011

Chaz and Stephen are different generations - Stephen is only 19. It's not surprising that their experiences and perspectives are quite different. They have one thing in common, but many things not in common.

When Stephen has a few more years on him, he might become more tolerant of such differences and see that it's all like the story of the six blind men and the elephant. I think we all went through a rather absolute phase in our late teens...

[TeamSanity]

12:09 AM on 03/14/2012

That is exactly what went through my mind: this is a 19 year old, where absolutes are a typical response when arguing via essay.

[Bernette Nunez]

01:01 PM on 11/22/2011

i RECALL SEEING CHAZ WHEN SHE WAS A LITTLE GIRL AND APPEARED WITH HER PARENTS ON TV - EVEN AT THAT TIME, SHE DIDN'T ACT LIKE A LITTLE GIRL...SHE WAS ALWAYS "BOYISH"...SHE WAS A TERRIBLE DANCER...GLAD SHE'S GONE...WHA T EVER HAPPENED HER BROTHER...?

[AuntJoJo]

04:49 PM on 11/26/2011

your kind of an idiot Bernette.

[partilines]

09:47 PM on 11/21/2011

Hope and Maks should be thrilled they made it as far as they did. She's gorgeous and improved remarkably. But she always looked like she was working out, not dancing. She does not belong in the finals.

[partilines]

09:45 PM on 11/21/2011

If Kathylyn/Steven is so confident and secure, why is there no picture of her/him to be found? The irony is something: the biggest womanizer of all time, Warren Beatty, ends up with a transgender child - not that there's anything wrong with that. But it's just a reminder that you can't predict the road of life.

[itsjules]

04:16 AM on 11/21/2011

Well FIRST of all, "According to the National Enquirer, his famous father was "beside himself over the situation." According to the NATIONAL ENQUIRER? Seriously? C'MON!

Ok now that that nastiness is out of the way, I find it interesting to hear a differing opinion on the subject. I hope the two of them CAN get together and hash this out. I did not realize that Chaz had appointed himself the spokesperson of anything, but I will say, he's one of the bravest people I've ever seen. To be so open about such a personal and socially hot-buttoned issue is very courageous.

Anyone who is so concerned with judging and condemning Chaz or Stephen or any other gay, lesbian, bi or trans person, ask yourself why you're so threatened?. Try for ONE second to imagine what it must be like for that person, having thousands "hate" them and find them "disgusting." What if that was YOU? It's only the luck (or BAD luck, for bigots) of the draw that you are who you are. Hop off that high horse and just be a person.

[itsjules]

02:01 AM on 11/21/2011

I find your comment cruel and small-minded.

[MINPINSAM]

05:12 AM on 12/07/2011

I replied 2 another just b4 your comment. HER doctor should have their medical licence taken away for trying to pull off HER looking like a man. It is such a joke & a 1/2 having to see HER on tv & in the news.

[bellsblu2]

03:22 PM on 11/21/2011

The issue here ISN'T what Chaz LOOKS like, but what Chaz SAYS.

Anyone who doesn't like Chaz's looks is free not to date him.

[Jtt]

11:12 PM on 11/20/2011

I don't think anyone is really wrong here - just different perspectives and sensitivity to what is difficult in society really.

[rosey7]

09:19 PM on 11/20/2011

Chaz Bono has kept his last name and not hidden under a different last name. If Stephen wanted to bring about real change and respect for transgender people, he would be using his true last name instead of Ira. But, Stephen is a know it all kid of 19. I am sure he will someday regret this. I am also sure his un generous attack on Chaz Bono is not sitting well with his open minded and generous famous parents. I don't have any friends with transgender kids but many with gay kids. May all of us, with our various differences, agree that ad hominem attacks on others who are struggling for acceptance do no one any good. Bullying shows bad manners and immaturity.

[itsjules]

02:01 AM on 11/21/2011

Excellent post! Faved!

[UhtredU]

09:27 AM on 11/21/2011

Yes, Stephen's parents were so accepting that they haven't accepted their son. They tried to suppress and hide his identity prior to his turning 18, and are now apparently "devastated" that he is actually planning to undergo sex affirmation surgery. Something tells me he doesn't much care about their opinions, given how unsupportive they appear to be of trans issues. Depending on how deep the rift will go, Stephen may very well end up like countless other trans people who no longer have contact with their families as a result of their family's open transphobia.

[Crash2Parties]

08:29 PM on 11/20/2011

Just as some straight, non-transsexual people are transgender although most are not, some intersex people are transgender and some are not...some transsexual people are transgender. And some are not.

‘Transsexual’ is a condition usually best treated with endo and surgical intervention when possible. Beginning with that tiny, somewhat weak but groundbreaking study in 1994, it’s been repeatedly shown to be tied to a number of sex-dimorphic sites in the brain that develop opposite the genitals. So, it’s a medical condition. For some, it is severe enough to require all possible treatment, for others it may be somewhat less severe and not worth the social and monetary cost.

‘Transgender’ is an identity related to the social categories ‘male’ and ‘female’ and the expectations that surrounds – or the rejection of – that assumed binary.

Biological condition vs social identity.
Transsexual vs Transgender
Apples and oranges.

There are men with a transsexual condition that identify as transgender. And there are those who do not identify as transgender. And I hope by now that everyone knows that their sexuality and feminism can be all over the map, as can their race and cosmology.

Is it really all that complicated?

The question could be asked of either (any!) side:

Why does your experience of gender identity + body identity have to be the only legitimate one?

[Crash2Parties]

08:31 PM on 11/20/2011

Phew! Luckily you don't have to...just respect everyone.

[Christine Cooke]

10:10 PM on 11/20/2011

You're a really horrible person.

[campwv1028]

07:19 PM on 11/20/2011

I love Chaz Bono and have to applaud him. I wish him all the happiness he can have in this old world. We all deserve that.

[Kali03]

07:58 PM on 11/20/2011

Me too! Chaz seems like a sweetie!

:)

[Christopher Koulouris]

07:13 PM on 11/20/2011

Of course what you have to remember is the fact that Chaz himself was born a woman before having a series of operations that facilitated his biological male gender. Whether the operation dealt with that part of Chaz’s psychological make up is another thing, after all the way Stephen sees it it could be an issue that Chaz is talking with her misaligned female quotient. Or could it be a situation that Chaz has appropriated his (disgust) mixed feelings of having been born a female into his ethos that being the ‘wrong’ gender is tantamount to a birth defect?

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/11/stephen-ira-warren-beattys-transgender-son-isnt-very-happy-with-chers-son-chaz-bono/

[Crash2Parties]

10:45 AM on 11/21/2011

It is clear you have absolutely no idea what being transsexual is or entails. Please, refrain from such ridiculous 19th century phrases as, 'misaligned female quotient'. Finally, Chaz was mis-sexed at birth based on a 2 second peek at his genitals; he was not "born a woman". There's a whole lot more to sex development than just that one area of the body, such as neural and endocrinological development. 300+ studies in the fields of neurology, endocrinology and fetus development back it up. Psych mumblings have done nothing for trans people except cause harm and death.

[Rainbow Law]

04:18 PM on 11/20/2011

I am a 56 year old lesbian and when I was a child I used to dream of becoming a man because I did not know I could live my life openly as a woman who loves women. Can't speak for anyone else but I know what I felt and how I my feelings changed over time. I am now thrilled to BE a lesbian and a woman. When someone feels so strongly that their sex and gender are mixed up and/or somehow wrong, who am I or anyone else to say what is right or wrong for them? Until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, you really have no idea what they are experiencing.