14 DAY TRIAL // Over the weekend, Bruce Jenner made headline news again and it wasn't because of something he did or said, but it was, yet again, about the way he looked. The former Olympian and reality star has raised so many eyebrows over the past months (including his own by tweezing them) that it's become generally accepted that he's turning himself into a woman.
However, no one is saying it out loud, everyone is hinting at it and dancing around the issue, all because of political correctness. When asked about the transition, both Bruce and all the members of his family denied such a theory, but Bruce keeps doing more and more things to himself, striving to be more feminine.
Over the weekend, Bruce emerged with a fully coiffed hairdo, shoulder-length hair, that made him look distinctly feminine. When you add to that the fact that he's been looking a little fuller in the bra department, and was even seen wearing a sports bra, that he shaved his Adam's apple, shaved his legs, and walks around with manicured nails, it's hard to deny that Bruce is striving to look like a woman.
Bruce forces himself and the rest of the world to ignore the changes, denies them completely
Not that there's anything wrong with that. People have the right to strive for whatever makes them happy, and it's not as if turning Bruce into Barbara is going to make him a different person. Apart from changing his name and wardrobe, Bruce is still going to have the same behavior, the same flaws and the same qualities.
So then why does he feel the need to deny the whole process? It's not like he's the first man to make a transition to womanhood, although, admittedly, most choose to do it earlier in life. For Bruce, it all started last year, when he shaved off his Adam's apple, a distinctly male trait.
It's believed that it was around this time that he started getting estrogen treatments, which would explain the need to wear a bra lately. It's become so obvious, that there are reports that even his granddaughter North West has begun calling him “Mama,” something which has her parents very worried.
His family is also ignoring the issue, either willingly or accidentally
This is, in fact, another issue altogether, how his entire family seems to be ignoring the signs, either accidentally or tacitly. His own daughters have strenuously denied the theory according to which their father, a 64-year-old, has decided to become a woman. This does not explain the fact that he's started using lipstick and nail polish.
After he got his Adam's apple shaved, a procedure which is usually undergone by people looking to change gender, Bruce was asked about plans to have his own gender changed, but he denied the possibility. Instead, he claimed that he “never liked [his] trachea.”
But oddly, every sign seems to point in a different direction. The former Olympian has recently divorced his longtime wife, Kris Jenner, and also moved out of the family house, away from his children's eyes, and the eyes of the cameras, since he's also appearing on the hit reality TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
Except, in order to have complete privacy, it's rumored that Bruce is going to drop out of the series in the coming seasons, despite the fact that he's making lots of money from his TV appearances. The man is clearly keen to get away from the public eye, and this is something very hard to do when you're connected with the Kardashians.
Hiding his gender change is only going to hurt Bruce in the long run
But Bruce is going about this the wrong way. The fact that he's hiding his gender transition is only spurring the media and the public to find out more about it. He should come clean and then people would simply back off him, allowing him to complete the change in peace, instead of chasing him around town.
Gender change is a complicated project on itself. Apart from the physical changes, there are also mental problems, since men and women have completely different expectations in life and different behaviors out in society. So, often patients need time to adjust.
For Bruce, this hardship is made worse by the fact that he has to do it in the public eye. Which is why it would be so much easier on him if he just owned up to the change and embraced his new personality. After all, this is part of the change, is it not?