How Zeke Smith Opened My Mind

Anyone who knows me knows my passion for the tv show Survivor. I consider it to be the greatest television show of all time, as it highlights the human condition while also displaying a fascinating game of mental chess. It is complex, heroic, humorous, and often times, even tragic. Through 34 seasons, and over 500 episodes, a lot has obviously happened, but last night was a bit of a different beast.

I’ll summarize the events succinctly: Jeff Varner was about to be voted out, so in a hail mary effort, he outed contestant Zeke Smith as transgender, trying to show his capacity for deception.

wut

Yeah, dick move for sure. Something that is not moral, or right, or remotely appropriate, even in a game for a million dollars. That’s obvious though, so rather than ramble on some moral pedestal in regards to Varner, I’d like to speak a bit about my experiences watching Zeke.

This is Zeke’s second consecutive season playing Survivor, as he burst onto the scene as an instant star in last semester’s Millennials vs. Gen X, which despite a clunky title was a spectacular season. Zeke had every aspect I expect from a top tier Survivor character: wit and eloquence while speaking, challenge prowess, and dominant strategic chops. His interesting aesthetic combined with his general strength made him a Survivor unicorn.

One day, maybe 2/3rds of last season, I was browsing the Survivor sub-reddit, and I stumbled across an interesting article: Zeke Smith went to Harvard a lesbian, and left a male. I was very confused. In the 8 or so episodes, at that point, I was watching the show, I never remotely considered the mere possibility that Zeke was transgender. Honestly, I thought the article was fake at first. But in that moment, I realized that if this information would ever publicly come out, it would make Zeke a fascinating and significant pop culture figure.

I’ll be straight up: I have limited experience with transgender people. I can count the amount of (openly) transgender people I know on one hand, and there is no one I have ever known both before and after the transition. Quite frankly, the idea is something I struggle to wrap my mind around. This is not because I’m bigoted or transphobic, but it was just something that I couldn’t really wrap my mind around. I could hear all the proper labels and pronouns and appropriate behavior from academia, but I never really got it.

Additionally, the transgender media figures that I had been exposed to never really did much for me culturally, as I honestly find Caitlyn Jenner to have a whole slew of problems, and while I respect Laverne Cox, I have never really been into her programs. Maybe the Wachowski siblings were the closest thing? Regardless, what makes all of these figures similar is that they are all openly transgender, and I knew the entire time that they were transgender. I did not think of them as male or female, but specifically as transgender, a sort of third gender, where they are closer to the one they associate with. Is this wrong of me? Probably. But, I’m writing this with the full intention of having my mind continue to open.

Zeke, though, is interesting because I never thought of him as transgender, but exclusively male. He was not only a guy, but a macho guy! He had facial hair, and often did not wear a shirt. This guy is transgender? The hormone technology is even this good? I asked myself all these questions, and I realized that yes, Zeke is transgender, but he is still a male. Not some sort of in between male and female that is closer to male, but a male.

Now that I know Zeke is transgender, I actually do not look at him any differently. He’s a macho, kick-ass Survivor contestant that I certainly would not want to mess with, and oh yeah, he’s transgender, but who cares? I care because of its cultural significance, but not because it changes his identity as a male, or as a role model. Thus, Zeke’s appearance on Survivor has really opened my mind to what it means to be transgender, and how I should be mentally approaching the idea.

Because Survivor is a reality show, it’s powerful that Zeke is not some celebrity, paparazzi grabber, but a real person with real struggles that he has overcome. He has opened my mind to the possibilities of transition, and how transgender people associate their identity. I am thankful he is on my favorite TV show, not only because he’s a once-in-a-generation role model, but just a great contestant, who also happens to have a hell of a backstory.

And, oh yeah, I don’t want Zeke to win this season. Yeah, great, he’s trans…but there are still other contestants I like more.