In 2004 Executive Producer Bruce Hensel and his team made two documentaries called The Opposite Sex which were both screened on the Showtime Channel. Each film was a different story of two very different people who were in the throes of transitioning, both of whom had the added struggle of being part of conservative redneck families. Rene from Texas was biologically born a female and felt very strongly about wanting to be a heterosexual male who wanted to be with a woman and have a family of his own.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky Jamie was biologically born a male, was married to a woman and had a daughter as a male, left and was with men as a woman, and eventually settled into a relationship with another woman.
Now over a decade later, with Emily Abt as his co-director, Hensel has revisited his two protagonists to see how life has shaped up for them both now they finally are matched with their correct gender.
Rene has divorced from his wife as even though they had adopted two children, she was still desperate to give birth to her own. They appear on good speaking terms and Rene has taken up truck driving so that he can support his family too. He’s also now back at school and studying online for a Ph.D. and has a new girlfriend who has no issues with him being a trans man.
His mother and siblings who put him through hell when he first started his journey are now fully supportive. His only barrier to full acceptance is with his girlfriend’s family who he has not shared his history with yet. His fears are proved found less in what is one of the most touching scenes of the film.
Jaime, on the other hand, lives with Lisa her girlfriend in a very rural part of her State where they fear that all the neighbors, would want to run them out of town if they knew they were gay. Jaime accepts that she is not the most feminine of women, which is a point of contention she has with Lisa who would like her to make more of an effort with her appearance. However she is extremely self-assured and when a radical feminist blogger tries to pin her down, she adamantly insists that she is not a transwoman, just a woman.
Life has not worked out for either Rene and Jaime as they expected but finally becoming their true gender has certainly given them the peace and happiness they never had before. Aside from one meeting with students to talk about his journey, neither he or Jaime express any desire for acting as advocates for future generations of trans men and women which is slightly surprising.
The one main fault of the film is that it panders too much to society’s obsession with genitalia and sexual performance, and does a disservice to both Jaime, Rene and their partners by making such an issue about this. It feels like a ‘dumbing down’ that Hensel and his team should have totally avoided.
There is, however, one perfect moment in the documentary when Rene is out walking and talking to Adam a very young trans man who very simply sums up what his response to inquisitive minds i. “Sex is about who you want to sleep with; gender is about who you want to sleep as,”
The concept of doing a follow up on the original films was an inspired decision and it’s refreshing to see two extraordinary people happy that they got through their hells to get to the promised land. Any addition like this to the continuing dialogue about the journey of the trans community has to be a good thing regardless of its faults.
