Caitlyn Jenner and Louis Theroux put gender firmly on the agenda in different ways

IT might be the most talked about, but I Am Cait isn’t the only documentary shining a light on the complex issue of gender identity this week.

Caitlyn puts gender on the agenda

SINCE April, when Caitlyn Jenner — former Olympic athlete and star of Keeping up with the Kardashians when known as Bruce — announced her transition in a landmark marathon interview with acclaimed journalist Diane Sawyer, gender transition has been a hot topic.

By the time Jenner had shared her new name — Caitlyn — via a Vanity Fair cover and knocked off US President Barack Obama’s Twitter record of reaching one million followers in the fastest time ever, it was clear that debate had cracked wide open.

This 2015 image provided by courtesy of E! shows Caitlyn Jenner in the first official promotional trailer for the new documentary series, "I Am Cait," in Southern California. The show premieres Sunday, July 26, 2015, at 9 p.m. PDT on E! Jenner will be writing weekly editorials about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and issues. Jenner's spokesman, Alan Nierob, said Monday, July 6, 2015, that the WhoSay editorials are to be part of Jenner's effort to explore matters of concern to the LGBT community. (E! via AP, File)

Cue the much-publicised doco series chronicling Jenner’s journey, I Am Cait, starting tomorrow night.

Caitlyn’s story has, by necessity, been mercilessly public. Never was Jenner, who divorced from wife Keeping up with the Kardashians matriarch Kris Jenner earlier this year, going to be able transform quietly.

The eight-part I Am Cait is reportedly ‘lighter’ than the emotional Sawyer interview in which Jenner discussed in depth her decision to become a transgender woman, and the impact it has had on her family.

I Am Cait sees her learning to do make-up; lapsing into tears as she says she wants her children to ‘be proud of their daddy’; and features a supremely awkward moment when stepdaughter Kim Kardashian reveals one of Cait’s new dresses is the same as one of ex-wife Kris.

Huge awareness ... Caitlyn Jenner has put the spotlight firmly on the issue of gender identity. Picture: Splash

Jenner knows she will cop criticism. “I’m not doing it for money,” she told E! News. I’m doing it to help my soul and help other people … you don’t go out and change your gender for a television show.”

Jenner also plans to mentor transgender youth, which dovetails neatly with another doco airing this week, Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids.

STRICTLY EMBARGOED to JULY 26, 2015. SUNDAY TV GUIDE FIRST USE. Louis Theroux with one of his Transgender Kids documentary subjects. Picture: Supplied.

A far cry from the celeb-themed reality of Caitlyn Jenner, Theroux’s doco sees him in San Francisco, where a group of medical professionals are helping children who say they were born in the wrong body to transition at ever-younger ages.

“It’s a subject I had wanted to do for a while,” says Theroux of the show, which has already aired overseas.

“It seems to have struck a nerve, particularly in regards to what’s going on in the culture at the moment.

“Since it aired we’ve had Bruce transition into Caitlyn, and across the board it feels as if this is something more and more people are thinking about in a different way.”

It’s confronting viewing, with bittersweet moments. Among the most touching is when Theroux gently tells one of his young subjects that being 15 was the loneliest year of his life, too.

I AM CAIT

MONDAY, 9.30PM, E!

and

LOIUS THEROUX: TRANSGENDER KIDS

WEDNESDAY, 8.30PM, BBC KNOWLEDGE