I have to confess to sympathising with Nikki a bit at that point. I'm still a bit confused about Sam myself. She has said a number of times that she is a man, she says she's more commonly known as Samuel. Has she even asked to be referred to as her, or have the Housemates taken to doing that because she looks like a woman? The male pronouns on the website make me wonder how she referred to herself on paperwork, in pre-show interviews etc. Nadia was consistently given female pronouns, wasn't she?
Yes, it is confusing, at least partly because there's some confusion on Sam's part about how she prefers to identify. According to Davina, she's said that she prefers female pronouns, but this is, as you say, at odds with her details on the official website. From what I gleaned from last night's live feed, she told Housemates they could use whatever pronouns they found most comfortable - but that most people used "she" and "her".
She's also said she's comfortable with the situation as it stands, and isn't thinking about surgery. The term "pre-op" wouldn't seem to apply in her case, then. I'm curious about whether she's on feminising hormones: I think she's someone who's either started on oestrogens/anti-androgens and the heat is off re: further physical modification, or she's going through a delayed adolescence. Her voice is only semi-broken, and she doesn't look like she needs to shave very often...
So when Richard explained to Nikki that Sam 'was a man but now lives as a woman' I wondered if he knew this for sure. And I'm not sure he did a perfect job of clarifying the situation for Nikki. Explaining that he (as a gay man) didn't fancy Sam because he liked men (not, because he likes men *who live as men*) understandably confuzzled poor Nikki who had just been told that Sam was a man, and that 'man' was the very thing she was struggling to get her head around in the first place.
I suppose I understood because I understand the difference between 'man' and 'male', etc. I think "was a man but now lives as a woman" was a reasonable assumption and, as it's so close to what Sam said in her audition tape (I think she said "I'm a guy - but I live as a woman"), I suspect he might have got it directly from her. Either that or Richard's assumed that she's a pre-op transsexual - which is, I think, not unreasonable, since pre-op transsexuals are commoner than individuals who identify as female but don't mind being called "he", and don't mind having a penis.
Yes, arguably a better way would've been to sit Nikki down and explain the difference between sex, gender and sexual orientation. That would've taken a fair amount of time and effort, and Sam's a rather confusing illustration (a gender-identification of female and a sexual orientation described as "gay" would appear to be at odds), so... all things considered, I don't think Richard did a bad job. |
