For transgender people, media representation can feel complicated; it’s exciting to see themselves working with mainstream brands but can be distressing when there is a backlash of online hate.
But there are ways brands can protect people from trolling.
US brands Bud Light and Nike have been in the spotlight for collaborating with transgender actor and TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, who shared sponsored posts with both brands on Instagram.
After Ms Mulvaney posted a series of photos of her wearing a Nike sports bra and leggings, her page was flooded with vile comments and the post was mentioned frequently by conservative commentators.
In the case of Bud Light, who had sent Ms Mulvaney beers that were the subject of another pilloried post marking a year after she had transitioned, its parent company Anheuser-Busch released a statement saying it would continue to try to reach diverse groups of people.
Frankie Mazzone is a 15-year-old transgender actor, ambassador and aspiring filmmaker.
She says she doesn’t read the comments for ad campaigns she’s been part of.
“It’s important for brands and agents to be totally transparent and honest with their talent and tell them exactly what’s happening,” she told SBS News.
“Brands tend to approach me but I always think about whether their values line up with me and whether I agree with the concept and product and whether they make me feel safe.”
She said it’s important for transgender people to be able to tell their own stories and keep speaking up because it’s very affirming to see themselves in the media.
“We’re just normal people,” she said.
The US has seen a rise in state legislation that critics say would undermine transgender rights, including legal definitions of gender based on biological sex, and bans on gender-affirming care.
Gender-affirming care covers a wide range of interventions - from social and behavioural to medical - aimed at allowing a person's life to align with their gender identity.
Elements of the conservative media constantly fuel ‘debate’ over transgender rights, which transgender people find demeaning.
Non-binary activist Deni Todorovic has worked on both sides of marketing, as a brand ambassador and in editorial and stylist roles.
They told SBS News brands always need to have a duty of care when working with diverse talent.
“The engagement rate for brand content that I do is through the roof, but a lot of that will be trolling,” they said.
“Brands should be ready to put out a statement to defend their campaigns and their talent and they shouldn’t back down to the trolls.”
Deni Todorovic says they take the approach of trying to educate online trolls. Source: Supplied
“You'll get the people that say ‘Yass queen this is amazing.’ Then you get people that say, ‘Oh, this person is really beautiful but this is a bit confronting, and then you're just gonna get TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) who say, ‘this is foul I'm never buying from here again’.”
Brands frequently turn comment sections off on posts that get hit by trolling.
But Todorovic said this should not be done too quickly.
“It’s a shame because the comments section should be good and affirming of what we’ve done, but if it's going to be at the risk of someone's mental health or safety, which it has been for me before, then you just turn off the comments.”
Transgender people in Australia have described feeling particularly unsafe in recent months following anti-transgender sentiment and rallies.
, performing Nazi salutes on the steps of Victorian parliament.
“Tough doesn’t even begin to scrape the barrel of our situation, I got accosted by a woman at the supermarket yesterday in Darlinghurst [Sydney] which is supposed to be the gay capital of the southern hemisphere,” Todorovic said.
“I have to desensitize myself to it”
Transgender rights became a flashpoint in the May federal election, .
Transgender educator and public speaker Katherine Wolfgramme told SBS News discrimination is like a pendulum.
“The queer community will win something major like marriage equality, or Sydney World Pride. And then in retaliation, the far right will come and do something to swing the pendulum, and they’ll go after trans children or trans women in sport.”
She said it’s essential to keep speaking out and to counter the hate against transgender people.
“The trolls are trying to erase and silence trans people so it’s important not to be silenced by them, otherwise it’s enabling the hatred.”
She says online trolls are a very vocal minority of people in society.
“In Melbourne recently yes there were neo-Nazis outside parliament recently but there were only a few hundred anti-trans protesters, as opposed to several thousand people that were trying to uphold the trans community.
"That's an example of a vocal minority.”
She says corporate culture can be a vehicle for change in Australia
“Every time there's a trans campaign, and there's controversy, the next campaign we have, there'll be less.”
