Jose Canseco, the former Major League Baseball star who has been almost as well-known for his post-retirement shenanigans, has announced he will live as a woman for a week in support of trans Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner. He tweeted:
I wonder what I would look like as a woman. Move over Caitlyn
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) July 30, 2015
Ugh. I'm not sure Canseco quite understands Jenner, or what it is to be transgender. This isn't about looking like a woman, it's about the external expression of internal gender. And in sharing what certainly seems like some heartfelt thoughts about his own growth on the issue, Canseco continued yesterday to refer to Jenner by the wrong gender:
"In the very beginning, I didn't understand it, so I was kind of like, against it," Canseco told the New York Daily News. "Once I watched it more and more, and realized what it really entailed, what he was going through, I started supporting him."
Canseco told the Daily News he's not yet quite sure what he's going to do, but he's sure about how he's going to promote it and take advantage of it:
"I can't say exactly how it's going to be done yet. It will be done for about a week — it will be on my Internet show called, ‘Spend a day with Jose.'"
While some of the reasoning behind it could be positive and focused on building understanding, this has "misdirected train wreck" written all over it.