The more I watch of the Caitlyn Jenner reality show, the more I become convinced that focusing on people going through transition is a really bad thing. There were some good parts to the last two episodes — the introduction of Kate Bornstein, Chas Bono working with trans kids in Los Angeles, Candis giving a shout out to Holly Woodlawn, the crowds at New York Pride — but the was also a lot of what I had feared from the show: relationship drama. Episode 4 contained various confrontations with members of Jenner’s family; and episode 5 some awkward moments with a guy who used to be a close friend of Cait’s while she was still pretending to be male.

Very similar things can be found in just about every book, comic, film and TV program made about trans people. What the authors or scriptwriters want is drama. The easiest way to get drama is to focus in on the hardest part of a trans person’s life — the point at which they are just coming out and they, their friends and family, are all getting used to the new arrangements.

The other thing about focusing on transition is that it almost inevitably shows trans people as half-and-half. They are moving from the social role that they used to inhabit to a new one; they are waiting for hormones to work their magic. Even avowedly non-binary people often don’t look their best when they are just starting transition. For binary-focused trans people, they are pretty much guaranteed to look their worst.

I’m not just dumping on Caitlyn here. You see it everywhere. It was in the recent Transsexual Stories program on BBC Scotland. From the reactions I’m seeing to the trailer it is going to be in The Danish Girl, the new Eddie Redmayne film about Lili Elbe. Transition is what fascinates cis people — writers and audiences alike.

Caitlyn’s show is at least trying. It makes a point of featuring a large supporting cast of trans women who are long past transition: Jenny Boylan, Candis Cayne, Jen Richards and the amazing Chandi who I am becoming very fond of. All of these women give a glimpse of the sort of person that Caitlyn will become in a few years time. The Scottish show managed a bit of it, with the delightful Jan and the amazing transformation of Carla. However, successful trans women are not the focus of these shows, because there is no drama in their lives.

I have no in principle objection to cis people writing trans characters. In fact I’m pleased that so many of them are trying to do so. But I do wish that they would learn to see us as people, and not just as people going through transition. If you need drama, find it in some other way, not in the fact that we are trans.