Response to: Sparking Difficult Dialogues: Sam Feder and Dean Spade on Trans Documentaries.

Sam Feder and Dean Spade engage in an interview-like dialogue regarding a documentary, “Boy I Am.” From their dialogue, I realized they were keen on phrasing their questions in a manner that defines the context, gives a little background, and creates room for discussion. The questions required the interviewee to give long detailed answers that later evolved into other questions. This helped the subject to expand as the interview progressed.

This dialogue shows how one can approach a difficult topic without creating an uncomfortable environment for your interviewee. I noticed how Feder could get Spade to speak in detail about his feelings and opinion regarding the documentary. Some of the techniques I could notice; Feder did not use direct harsh questions, he just set the topic and let the interviewees ideas flow, from this he would direct the interviewee to give the answers he was looking for. He also refrained from giving his opinion. I thought this was good because it might create a bias in the interviewees answers or even make them uncomfortable. It is also important to note that Feder was not just asking questions, after receiving a response he would give a brief feedback as he changed to the next area of discussion. This made Spade more comfortable speaking out as it was more of a conversation than an interview; it also helped in giving Spade a new perspective of the subject matter as seen towards the end. Spade has a more informed opinion about the documentary.. It’s this technique that helped mask his questions into the dialogue.