 And then all of a sudden they walked up close and it's like, oh shit, it's a dude. Call it ignorance, I guess, because I had no exposure to any trans people at all, to be honest. Holy shit, that's fucking crazy. I mean, shit, I learned some stuff when I was growing up. I remember what my dad used to say. I remember what Bob used to say. If anybody doesn't have anybody to look up to, how do they even know how to get through what they're doing? By unlearning what it is that we've learned, that's the only way we'll be able to understand what people are going through. The ways in which trans people have been represented have suggested that we're mentally ill, that we don't exist, and yet here we are. And we've always been here. What's going on guys, right? Jarasi here, and I'm here with my barber, Eugene Torres. Eugene say hi. Hey. Well, I'm in a mood. Disclosure, and it's about trans representation in media. I know it changed my view of trans people in a lot of ways. I know it had the same impact on Eugene, and so I thought it would be a great idea that we got together and recorded a little vlog about it for you guys. The shop's right here on La Brea, and it's basically West Hollywood Hollywood, and there's a lot of people, we get a lot of foot traffic here. Some of these people are trans, for sure. I've noticed just being here in your chair that, well, you notice all the ladies that walk by. All the good looking ladies. Of course. And cat calling and stuff like that. Right, I remember, I think specifically, there was three trans people walking by, and I had asked, I think, about, what do I have to, he, she. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, I think, one of our first conversations about it. And I think I mentioned their pronouns. Right. If they are transitioning from a male to a female, then their pronouns are associated with female, presumably, unless they prefer they then, which is all sort of thing. Yes. And for me, I really didn't, I had very little exposure to the trans community until last August when I started working for Peppermint. Peppermint is obviously, she's amazing. She's a huge Broadway performer. She was on RuPaul's Drag Race season nine. She was the star. And now, I've been working with her lately, and we've been doing a lot of stuff together, so that's really cool. But it's exposed me to a lot. Yeah, I don't know, that just stood out to me that it was like, we're in this really masculine atmosphere, which is a barbershop with black and Latinx people, and that's very hyper masculine. And so to be catcalling at women that go by, and then to see a trans woman be like, oh, that's a he, no, it's a she. Right, it's a thing, actually, because of where we are out in the corner, we can see across the street, of course, but there's been numerous times where it's like, it's one of the guys who's been like, oh, check her out. I know that I've caught it earlier than everybody else did, so I'd be like, well, just wait till she gets a little closer, because you just don't know. But they'd be trying to look at a girl a bit, oh man, look at her, she's got this, she's got that, and then all of a sudden they walk up close to her, and it's like, oh, shit, it's a dude, you know? And it's like, well, is it a dude? I mean, that's the whole thing where it came with the verbiage. He, she, I call it ignorance, I guess, because there's never had, like you say, you didn't have exposure, I had no exposure to any trans people at all, to be honest, until literally recently, taking over this shop last October would be one of the first times when that started happening. And it's important to know that distinction between a man dressing up as a woman, like drag, and then a man who now identifies as a woman, and is a woman for all attempts and purposes. Which, watching disclosure, also. So tell me about that. Yeah, I mean. So like what, you're? Yeah. I watched it with Pep, and I was like, I know I teared up multiple times throughout, and I'm like, really had an impact on me. Right, I, personally, I've always felt I'm very, very empathetic of an empath, you know? And so, when I watch things like that. Which, looking at you, people might not assume I don't, that's your opinion, Reeve. Very, very, very good. You're intimidating, looking, but like, if someone sits down and talks to you for like 30 seconds, you're like, okay, this guy's a giant teddy bear. Right? Yeah, give me a big hug, yes. So yeah, I'm very much an empath. And so, when watching documentaries, mostly, I mean, shit, watching dance competition shows, they get like, oh, because they're, you know, there's so much dedication and so much, you know, everything they're putting into it. So, when watching this, yeah, right away, I was in the first, I think, what would be called the intro, which is like 10 minutes. It was just like, it's very almost overwhelming, because the emotions that these particular people are going through and what they need to change or how they feel inside versus how they look on the outside and then going through the process and everything they had to go, it's just like getting the chills thinking about it right now. I just can't even imagine like what that would be like, you know, there's enough problems that you have to deal with being a human being in general that trying to fulfill your own personal dreams of what it is that your goals are personally, because you don't feel right doing the things that you're doing, that you're being told you should do. I mean, that's just gotta be extremely overwhelming. So, right away, I was emotionally came to it. Yeah, a lot of much of a cryer, I get to that point where I'm like, you know, I wanna cry and I'm sure if I just let myself cry, maybe I would, but it really, it got me to like tears where I was, you know, like, I just can't believe that this is the kind of that they have to go through because I could never, I mean, I cry and complain about my bullshit sometimes and it's like, yeah, right. The amount of, you know, internal, you know, problems that they had going through and not to mention externally as well, it's literally overwhelming, it's a lot, so. And also when you factor in being black. Oh yeah. Black lives matter, a lot of times you'll see black trans lives matter too. Because it's like one of the people on the documentary, he's like, so what is my black trans ass is gonna be, you know, like, how am I supposed to fill in? It's like, yeah, I mean, it sucks because you don't really wanna say double whammy, you know what I mean? Like, oh, if I got that and that, like Jesus. But unfortunately, that's the society that we live in and it's the truth. Being black and being queer has a lot of relevance. And then black queer trans, which is, but that's just so much more. It's like a whole other step, right? Yeah, so it was pretty crazy, just when I watched it. The big thing that stood out for me was when they showed the scenes from Ace Ventura. Yeah. A detective. Right. And I forget who the character is. Is she a detective as well? Yeah, fake goal is Einhorn, Einhorn is fake goal. And it's found out later in the film that she is trans. Right, she was the kicker of the team that lost or whatever. But she was the dolphin's kicker, the place kicker and he missed the field goal for the win. And then he is a she though, right? Right. Yeah. And the fact that people who are trans have been portrayed as like disgusting, basically. And how after Ace Ventura realizes, Jim Carrey's character realizes that he made out with a trans person, that he's like so ill by that that he's like retching, vomiting and everybody in that scene starts... spitting, vomiting. Yeah. Ventura's crazy, brushing his teeth, the shower and crying. And I thought that was so funny growing up. I'm not gonna lie. And again, that I've learned in my older age, it's like a lot of ignorance because I wasn't aware. And that's like one of the things that they mentioned at the beginning of the documentary was that like 80% of Americans have never even come in contact with a trans person. So not knowing that, you're watching Jim Carrey busting up laughing, of course. You think about it and then after I watched, literally like you said, that scene. I thought I watched that scene. Like I fucking felt horrible. Like I really did. Like I felt like a real asshole because I thought that was the funniest shit ever. Like I mean, I've even referenced it plenty of times. But because I never thought of another, anybody else's emotions when it comes to that. And I think as a collective, people have been very ignorant. Like you see in the movie that even, was it Oprah and then Katie Couric? We're asking really insensitive questions and immediately wanting to make the conversation about what's underneath your clothes. And that's not anybody's business. It has nothing to do with that person being trans. And it changes later. Not the line when they interview later. Yeah. Which is why I wanted to talk to you because you're someone who I've seen grow and evolve all the time and you're interested in that. You want to become a better person. And so if someone, you, that whom I see as like a really masculine guy, right? If you can like change and evolve and you know, learn about things like that, then why can't other people, and if other people, like guys like you, can see you and be like, oh, this dude's open about it and maybe that'll like open some minds. I completely agree. And I, again, at my old age, I've learned to accept that. I, you know, I am a leader. Like I have kind of, I have an alpha male. And so there are a lot of things that, you know, what I have in my reach, I have an influence on, you know? So just like even when I did watch it, I was watching it with a friend of mine, her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend. So what was the conversation when you decided to watch this movie with them? Oh, well, I was like, we were looking for something to watch because we were in Big Bear and there's like, you know, we were just the cabin chilling and I was there like, well, what should we watch now? And I was like, you know, like, oh my God, my boy, Rafe, he was telling me about this documentary about transgender people and like how that's going to be the narrative, you know, as far as, you know, civil rights, things like that. These are happening at this very moment with Black Lives Matters and, you know, everything that's just been happening in the past, you know, three, six months, fuck, I don't know, all the years basically. But right now how intense everything is. And you told me that that was going to be the narrative because you had to make my peppermint. You know, we have conversations. I was, so I told them about it and they were like, and I said, I don't know, I mean, it's about transgender, like, I mean, a lot of information apparently that it's supposed to be really, really good. And, you know, if you guys are interested, they're like, oh, they started, you know, looking it up, found it and I was like, well, cool, this, you know, are you guys, they're like, yeah, they just clicked it on and started watching it. And so we started watching it and like, you know, 25 minutes into it probably, like everybody was kind of quiet, you know? And I was just like, and I was totally quiet because I was watching it, which I should have already clicked in my head that they're quiet because they're watching it too. But, you know, because I'm so like, I hope everything's okay. You know what I mean? Like worried. Were you worried that maybe they were like, I don't know what this is. Well, I was just, I didn't want anybody to be first of all bored. And I also didn't want anybody to be uncomfortable, you know? But then again, thinking about it, saying it right now, it's like, why should I feel like they were uncomfortable when this is something that we should all know about? You know what I mean? And even the gentleman that was there, he's, you know, a snowboarder dude. Like, you know, he's very, what I would say, like a manly dude, you know? Like he doesn't, you don't see him being very feminine in a sense, I guess. And I was like, hey, are you cool with watching this? You know what? And like, are you guys okay? We can totally change it if you guys want to. And he was the first one to say, no, no, no, no, leave it on. This is really good. I don't, like, I don't, nothing about this whatsoever. And he's like, and I have no exposure to any of this. This is really good. That's awesome. Yeah, and of course the girls were just like, no, no, no, no, we want to watch it. And I was like, good, I'm glad. And so even with just like three people, you know, like I was able to influence them to, to watch them that I hadn't even watched, but I wanted to watch it with, you know, we all watched it together. And they were really impressed. They were very like, you know, emotional about it. And, you know, they, I wish I could have sat down with him too, like to get his opinion because he literally didn't get up once. He sat there and watched it the whole time. But wait, of course, we all did. Pretty interesting. They all really enjoyed it, you know? They all really, and not like a, oh my God, I really liked this. So it was just like, holy shit, like, I mean, that's fucking crazy. That's like, yeah, I know. I mean, were you guys aware watching it that every single person that was on camera? I told them that as it started, because that, because you had told me. I was like, every single one of them. Can I remember even you said like, baby, like a couple of them you can cut. He's like, but most of them you can't even tell that they are transgender at all. They're trans, it's, I guess not surprising, but it was kind of surprising because I just never paid attention. But, you know, as far as Hollywood goes back, it's been portraying the trans person as exactly that. Like, it's usually some like, manly looking man, obviously. And then they throw like a dress on him. And like they said in the documentary, they always portrayed it as being like, you know, mentally ill, like crazy, like literally crazy, you know, murderers, just, you know, disgusting people and all these different things. So they, Hollywood used that as part of their, their storylines, I guess you can say for their, you know, for their movies and for their TV shows. It's pretty messed up. Like, because they're not, they don't care about anybody's feelings, but they're just trying to make some money. It was very eye-opening when they come to all that. And it's so important to have, because the movie focuses on specifically representation in media and Hollywood films and television. So as a kid, if you are, if you're trans, you know that there's something different about you and you're looking for something to relate to on TV or in film, all you see is this segment of population that's laughed at or that's crazy psycho killer. Yeah, Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. That was one that they talked about. I was all, I love that song, Goodbye Horses. You didn't even, but that song does take you back to that scene at the same time. And you think about that and now, I look at it now on the reverse side, you know, after seeing this, damn, it's a documentary, I was just like, wow. Like, that's crazy, that's fucked up. I mean, really what it is. But like what you were saying, a lot of people, they were saying like the whole, like 80% of Americans don't even know anybody, like, fuck. How does those trans people, they see this image of what they want to, or not what they want to be, but like, you know, an image of how they feel on television, but they have nobody else they can like look up to, or nobody to talk to about it, because they didn't even know anybody. That didn't really chip me out when I was watching that. I was like, that really kind of broke my heart. It's heartbreaking because I've never had that contact or that conversation with any trans people that's loved. As far as I know, I mean, you know what I mean? That's another thing, like, I don't, yeah, because the whole thing about, what was her name, Sandra Caldwell? Like, her not saying anything for years and years just she continued to work and be in Hollywood and stuff. And never once came out about it until, you know, a few years ago, whatever it was. Not even, maybe it was a year ago or something. She was saying like, cause she was passing, right? Which means people couldn't tell. And so it was just easier to just blend in, right? Just get my hand in. That's it. And so she never had a, she didn't have a, her voice was never, you know, heard up until recently. When she said, she started seeing, you know, everybody that was like, oh wait, they're doing this? Like, oh, we're doing this? We're doing that? Like, okay, it's time for me to say something. And it seemed like she kind of realized that she has like, kind of a responsibility to be a visible role model. Absolutely, because there isn't, if you don't have, again, if anybody doesn't have anybody to look up to, then how do they even know how to get through what they're going through? So. Do you think that if more people are exposed to movies like Disclosure and more trans people, do you think that that would impact the way that they view the trans community in general and trans rights and like things like having gender neutral restrooms or allowing a trans woman to go into the woman's restroom and stuff like that? Of course, like my hope is that, yes, that that would change, that that would impact people to have different views. Not even opinions, but views and feelings about just humans, you know what I mean? And unfortunately, I don't believe, I just don't believe that the human race as a whole can change that drastically, that quickly. I mean, I would do my best to, like even just earlier today with my last client, who's a friend of yours as well, Sam. But I, you know, Sam's very, he's. Pretty masculine dude too. Yeah, he's a masculine dude, masculine. Whatever that means. Whatever that means. But when I started talking to him about what we're about to do, and then when I spoke to him about disclosure and then explained to him what it was about and the information that you would receive and the different views and like the understanding that you would get from it, the empathy that you'll probably have by watching it because nobody as a human being wants to be treated like shit. So if you can grasp the fact that you're a human being and so is everybody else who's different, but just not like you, but we're all humans, well they have everybody else the same feelings that you do, you know? And he literally was like, what is it called again? And I was like, disclosure. And I was like, dude, really, you should really watch it. I mean, it'll be, it'll be informative for you, you know? And it'll probably change your perspective on things. Not to say he even has a perspective on it because I've never even had a conversation about it with him because. Yeah. But then again, it's like, everyone has some perspective on it just from unconscious bias. Correct. Based on the movies we've seen on TV shows and that's when we have to like identify and unravel and then like we figure out. Yeah, it's like, it's like, it's all stuff that we've learned. It's not, we're not born with like any sort of racism or bigotry or anything. It's, we're not, we're not born with it. We learn it, you know? And I mean, shit, I learned some stuff when I was growing up. I remember what my dad used to say. I remember what my mom used to say, you know what I mean? Like, and you know, and now being able to abandon, you know, and having a son and all that, you know, they're obviously their opinions have changed over years, you know? But you have to unlearn it. So by unlearning what it is that we've learned, that's the only way we'll be able to have a clear conscience to understand what people are going through. I mean, it's, it's crazy. It's really crazy. But that's what it is. It's unlearning it because it's a learn to trade. It's nothing else. Like nobody is like born like, oh, I hate this. Like. That's what you do. Well, thank you for having this chat with me. I think it's really important. And I think a lot of people can benefit from watching it, not just people like you, but to see other people in the LGBTQ community be able to see, you know, a guy like you who's very progressive and open-hearted. Yes. And willing to learn and grow is really like inspiring. It's hopefully, it brings a lot of hope. I appreciate that. I never look at it that way. I just always, you know. It's just how I feel. Eugene's super supportive of the community. His shop is really open. Got the big flag. Flag, memo flag, with the BLM. The BLM one? Yeah, I love that thing. It's nice. I would love to continue this and do more conversations about all your stuff like this. Anytime. I think he's gonna say that. Oh man, here we go, man. You're gonna get yourself in trouble. Look at Ray's. All right guys, thank you so much for tuning in. I hope that you guys enjoyed this conversation. I think we need to be having way more conversations just like this. It's not just protesting and marching on the street, but one-on-one amongst ourselves having an important dialogue. And I have a lot more of this coming for you. I'm excited to bring it to you. Please give me your feedback. I wanna hear it. Like this video if you liked it. Share it. Please share it with other people who would appreciate it. And I'll see you guys soon. Awesome. Okay.