Warren Beatty's transgender son takes aim at 'misogynist' Bono

WENN, Saturday, November 19, 2011, 6:16am (PST)

By newsdesk@wenn.com (WENN Newsdesk)

• Warren Beatty and Annette Bening's transgender son has lashed out at Chaz Bono and branded him a misogynist after the "Dancing With The Stars" contestant insisted he felt like he had a "birth defect" as a guy trapped in a girl's body.

  Bono was born Chastity, the daughter of Cher and late singer Sonny Bono, and he began the two-year process for gender reassignment surgery in 2008.

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  He recently gave an interview to the New York Times, in which he claimed that being transgender was like having a "mismatched" brain and body.

  VIDEO: Beatty's Transgender Son Calls Chaz Bono a Misogynist

  He said, "For transgender people, they're mismatched. That's all it is. It's not complicated, it's not a neurosis. It's a mix-up. It's a birth defect, like a cleft palate."

  But Beatty and Bening's 19-year-old son Stephen Ira, who was born as daughter Kathlyn, has taken offense to the comparison, voicing his opinion on his blog, Super Mattachine.

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  In a blog post entitled, "Why Chaz Bono Is a Misogynist Who Does Not Represent Us," Ira writes, "I do not have a birth defect. If you feel like you have a birth defect, fine. That's how you feel. Go feel that. Do not put it onto me. Do not define me that way, and do not define other trans people that way unless they claim that label.

  "Chaz has appointed himself as the representative of a group of people who are not all like him. He has said misogynistic and prescriptivist things about gender. I take particular issue with his comments on trans embodiment and on women."

  But Ira insists he bears no ill-will towards Bono because he's convinced he's simply struggling to get to grips with his new life as a man.

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  In a follow-up post, Ira states, "He's in a difficult position and he's chosen to deal with it in a certain way. I disagree with the way he's dealing with it. I think he's got serious issues with women, and I think he's needlessly prescriptive in the way he chooses to talk about trans identity."

  And he's offered to meet up with Bono to join forces and campaign together for gay rights.

  He adds, "I would be more than happy to sit down with Chaz, have a drink, and talk with him about how he can think and talk about gender in a way that's more inclusive. He seems like an all right guy, his questionable views aside. And from what I've seen, he's really remarkably good at the cha cha."

• Ira is Beatty and Bening's eldest of four children.