Transparent features transgender full-frontal nude scene

Trans actress Alexandra Billings went full-frontal nude for the new season of Transparent.

The actress is best known for her role as Davina in the Amazon series Transparent, the best friend of the show’s main character Maura.

While Jeffrey Tambor, who plays Maura, is not transgender in real life, Billings is one of several real-life transgender actresses who have appeared on the show.

In a TV first, Billings stripped fully naked for a scene in the premiere of the fourth season, which debuted on Amazon Video this month.

In the scene, Billings’ character is shown in bed being massaged by her ex-con boyfriend, Sal, when she experiences pain from HIV-related illness.

The character then rolls onto her front, briefly exposing her breasts and penis.

Billings, who has not undergone genital surgery, explained that she specifically requested a nude scene.

Netflix stars Laverne Cox and Jamie Clayton have had partial nude scenes on Orange is the New Black and Sense8 respectively, but Billings’ scene is believed to be the first time a transgender actress with a penis has had a full-frontal nude scene in a TV show.

Speaking to the Daily Beast, Billings said: “I don’t think it’s ever been done before, where you see someone who’s a trans body that was pre-op, especially of a certain age, who looks a certain way.

“I’m not built like a model. I’m built in a very specific way, and I’m at a point now where I’m OK with my body. I like it. I don’t love it, but I like it.

“I’m OK with it. I’ve made peace with what I look like. I’ve travelled through years of not only my HIV and also my silicone injections and all the things we go through in order to survive.

“I wanted to show everything, but I said I don’t want to be objectified. I don’t want to be sexualised. And I don’t want to be fetishised. It’s handled beautifully.”

She added: “I thought Jill [Soloway, Transparent creator]’s way of showing it was brilliant. Because that wasn’t my idea. I had no idea how they were going to do it or if they were going to do it. So the fact of it was extraordinary.

“I think the result, because I think that’s the great part of your question—what was the hope—the hope is that when we talk or don’t talk about surgery that it is not the foundation of our question for trans people.

“Have you had this done or haven’t you had this done? I don’t know that it matters anymore. The point is this is how I see you, this is how I receive you.

“So it doesn’t matter what’s going on with your genitalia. The important thing is how do we treat each other? That’s hopefully the conversation.”

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• Nov 29 2023

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