This New Series Stars Trans Women In A “Gritty, Sexy, Real” Way

A web series about the dating experiences of trans women deemed "gritty, sexy and real" by executive producer Eve Ensler? Yes, we are excited. Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, writes about the series, titled Her Story, and provides the aforementioned adjectives in a new piece in The Guardian. "Her Story could be the new rad-fem soap opera," Ensler explains. "The characters all work against cliché, exploitation, and political correctness." The show, which is due out in October, stars transgender activists Jen Richards and Angelica Ross — who have both appeared on I Am Cait — as Vi and Paige. Richards co-wrote the show with Laura Zak, who plays a lesbian reporter Allie. (In the trailer, Allie tells Vi, "You are the first trans woman I've ever met." Vi says, "That you know of.") "This series is so real, specific and intense — and I hope, a model for future television programs — because it is the first show made by a collective of trans and queer writers, actors, directors, producers, camera people, and musicians, who created it independently and funded it on a shoestring," Ensler wrote in The Guardian. The shows that are oft cited when discussing trans visibility (Transparent, Orange Is The New Black) on TV haven't really explored the romantic lives of their trans characters. (Sense8 is an exception, but that operates in the sci-fi genre.) Her Story, however, goes the soap/Sex and the City route. "Not long ago, Jen and I were sitting in our apartment in Chicago telling each other these stories," Ross told Ensler. "If love is a battlefield, the two of us are dating warriors. Our experiences are like Sex and the City on steroids! Now, we get to tell them to the world." There is an Indiegogo campaign for the show's post-production costs.