[Commentary] [USA] Susan Pawlak-Seaman: Olympics not Bruce Jenner's greatest feat

[Stephanie Stevens]

Middleboro Gazette, MA, USA


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Susan Pawlak-Seaman: Olympics not Bruce Jenner's greatest feat

By Susan Pawlak-Seaman
sse...@s-t.com

Posted Apr. 25, 2015 at 9:19 PM
Updated at 9:32 PM


Like so many during the Summer of ‘76, I watched Bruce Jenner kick butt in the Olympics.

While I wasn’t a big fan of track and field, the decathlon was hard to ignore when it became clear that Jenner was aiming to Take It All.

Plus, it didn’t hurt that he was a good-looking guy and an amazing physical specimen. At 23, I could appreciate that. (At 62, I still can.)

Not surprisingly, the World’s Greatest Athlete ended up on a Wheaties box. In other words, Instant Celebrity.

After those Olympics, I pretty much lost track of him. Lost interest is more like it. But, for a long time, whenever I’d come across Jenner’s name or see him on television, I’d instantly conjure up the image of a Super Jock flying over hurdles or flinging a javelin or discus through the air.

The last few years, though, that image has been replaced by something else: an unrelenting series of photos showing a startling change in Jenner’s physical appearance. His features began to look more, well, feminine, and the tabloids had a field day speculating about what was going on.

At first, the buzz was that Golden Boy Bruce (now 65) couldn’t face getting older and he’d had Plastic Surgery Gone Bad. But the more pictures that came out, the more it appeared something else was happening. The tabs didn’t hold back: Bruce Jenner, they said, was becoming a woman.

On Friday night, in a two-hour special, Jenner ended the speculation and told Diane Sawyer, sometimes tearfully, that he was.

But he didn’t say he was becoming a woman. What Jenner said was that he is a woman, that from the time he was little — even as he reached the greatest heights as a male athlete — in his mind he knew without doubt that he was female.

I was moved by Jenner’s struggle and, especially, his courage in telling the truth of Who He Is. As opposed to Who We Thought He Was.

That’s the thing — while I can’t imagine what it’s like to be living a gender lie, I can grasp that it must be hard. Very hard.

Over the years, I’ve known several transgendered people, of different ages, from different places. The very first was a woman (born a man) I wrote about as a young journalist.  I was sympathetic. Reaction to the article was largely negative.

I’m hopeful things are changing. And not just because a Bruce Jenner can tell his story. Because others can, too.

Recently I learned of a young transgender, with ties to our family, who was born a girl but in adulthood has happily transitioned to a man. Word is that he couldn’t be happier. What’s more, those who love him are happy, as well.

Because for the first time in his life, he can be who he Really Is.

Finally discarding the shadows for light.


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