Comments on: When It Pertains To Transpeople, Do You Media Peeps Even Read The AP Stylebook?

By: Julia

Julia — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:07:07 +0000

@ Personal Failure with regard to “Come to find out, most of the major publishing houses have moved their copy editing departments to India.”

Most Indian people I’ve met actually have a far better command of English than people born here. Our educational system has become such rubbish that there’s no need to look abroad for blame.

By: Red

Red — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:08:10 +0000

Dawn, saying that “journalists and publications should be held accountable for the rampant transphobia and should be required to adhere to all of the AP Stylebook standards” is well intentioned, but the only people who can hold them accountable are readers (and advertisers, and advocates, etc.) There is no central journalism organization that can require media outlets to adhere to AP style, and there shouldn’t be.

The AP Stylebook is influential, but it’s not doctrine except if you write for AP. For everyone else, it is just a list of suggested rules for newspaper articles that media outlets pick and choose from and follow because they want to be consistent with other media and don’t want to build a “house style” from scratch.

The way the AP treats transpersons carries weight, but as ginasf says, uses of language are “overwhelmingly… decisions by senior editors as to how specific populations will be referenced.” Individual media outlets shape their editing guidelines based on their individual values and biases. Getting more transperson representation in the media can only help.

By: jhsizemore

jhsizemore — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:36:39 +0000

As a reporter, I covered the Amendment 2 vote this past spring for The Independent Florida Alligator in Gainesville, Fl. I am a cisgendered man, but I’ve taken several college courses on sexuality and had long discussions with transgendered, and gender fluid, friends, to the point where I felt I had an understanding. I can certainly use pronouns correctly. However, some took issue with the way I explained transgendered people in my opening article on the Amendment 2 issue.

My question to you is: in a single paragraph, with the brevity of news, can you explain to the reading public the defining characteristics of a transgendered person? How is crossdressing treated in the definition?

By: queen emily

queen emily — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:47:26 +0000

Yes, it’s practically impossible a lot of the time to work out who’s what – I tend to assume the worse (most of the time I’m right) and assume that the journalists are using the wrong gender.

It’d be ace if the AP guidebook included something that said “don’t use the bloody phrase ‘real name.’” No, it’s not our *real* name, it’s our assigned name.

As a style quirk though, why do you use the combo transwoman, Monica? I personally hate the word, it feels thirdgendering, objectifying, like I’m being described as this mystic beast that’s not a real woman. Trans woman (with a space, like most other adjectives) for me, or woman if transness isn’t relevant.. Just curious..

By: Dana Lleuwelllyn

Dana Lleuwelllyn — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:53:50 +0000

Is the AP style book online somewhere?
It would be helpful to know where it is so that we can quote chapter and verse to those who do not know.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:05:04 +0000

Constintina: It is listed in my 2000 edition of the AP stylebook under “sex changes” and is in my 2007 edition under “transgender.” It would be interesting to look at older editions and see how it has evolved. I agree with you 100 percent that writers have a responsibility to seek clarification about the subject matter they’re covering. Ideally, everyone along the chain, from writers to editors to the copy desk, should be on the ball. What distresses me about the apparent cutbacks in copy editors is that they are essentially the last line of defense; anything that they don’t catch is going to go in the final version. With fewer copy editors, everyone else along that chain has to undertake more responsibility. Which isn’t bad, in and of itself, as ideally you want everyone to be responsible. I guess it rankles the pro-labor side of me that copy editors are getting the ax (axe? too lazy to look in the stylebook! told ya I was off my A-game) and everyone else has to take over their jobs with no increase in pay. They’re just grateful they still have jobs. (However, for the most part, I’m not seeing a lot of evidence that the erstwhile copy editors’ jobs are being taken over successfully by others.)

ginasf: That is completely true. Maybe I was being naive, thinking that some letters to the editor could do the trick. I guess my impulse is to assume that most people are open to new ideas, when in fact a lot of people get really defensive when people disagree with them. So — letters to the editor could be a good tool when the editorial staff is open to change (and citing the AP stylebook would give additional leverage). Unfortunately, for media folks who are more stubborn and hostile, it might be the case that we’ll have to wait until they are replaced by better people, which is a more drawn-out process and not hugely satisfying to someone seeking immediate, positive change.

By: Constintina

Constintina — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:41:33 +0000

I had no idea that this was covered in the AP Stylebook. That’s good to know, that’s a good thing for people to be able to point out if their writing or emailings news outlets to complain about their improper pronoun usage.

I hear and agree with what people are saying about cutbacks in copyediting. The other day a copyeditor emailed me to check on something in an article I’d submitted to a website I write for and I was like “Thank you, thank you for editing me! I really appreciate it!” because I really feel like some articles I write for some websites are barely glanced at before they go live. I try to turn in pretty clean copy, but really.

That said, as a writer it’s my job to seek clarification if I’m confused about my subject matter. Even if in some cases writers were honestly unsure, the AP Stylebook would be a good place to turn for answers. Or call a trans advocacy org, any single one, and just ask. Google a fucking trans FAQ. It’s really not that hard, and it’s part of your job.

That said, (second or third or w/e) everything ginasf said.

This pronoun misusage is so disrespectful and the media outlets should be held accounatble.

By: Bitter Scribe

Bitter Scribe — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:09:14 +0000

The most charitable interpretation is that the writer is afraid that referring to a person by his/her trans gender would confuse readers, although that doesn’t really make sense, because readers could be just as “confused” by references to the birth gender. The sanest way I ever saw it handled in a news story was a simple one-sentence explanation that it was that news organization’s policy to follow the individual’s preference.

By: Dawn.

Dawn. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:55:06 +0000

Great article, Monica. All the incorrect pronouns and trans panic surround every single news story concerning a trans person is sick. It’s hateful, ignorant, and I completely agree with ginasf: it’s deliberate.

It’s time to hire transgender reporters to cover these issues.

This is a really good idea. I have some reservations about it though, because I think these journalists and publications should be held accountable for the rampant transphobia and should be required to adhere to all of the AP Stylebook standards. Don’t get me wrong, I think that publications hiring transgender reporters would be awesome, considering the visible platform. I just wouldn’t want that to turn into “Look we hired a transgender person, see we’re not transphobic!” That eerily reminds me of “Look, I hired a black guy. I’m not racist!” I’m not sure if that would actually occur, but it would worry me.

By: ginasf

ginasf — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:06:54 +0000

As someone who’s done a lot of media activism surrounding trans-related stories, I can assure you these pronoun “slips” and use of birth names are not mistakes nor a function of poor proofing. Overwhelmingly, they are decisions by senior editors as to how specific populations will be referenced. I’ve contacted a number of papers and magazines concerning poorly-done trans stories and have usually been met with a lot of defensiveness and even out and out transphobic hostility from either the writer of origin but, far more often, by that writer’s boss. Often there is great deal of entitlement expressed how they are professional journalists and know exactly who they’re writing about and why they’re referring to them as they are.

Even after being contacted by GLAAD, many publications continue the same policies of referring to trans people by their birth name and assigned birth gender yet will also try to modify it by writing something like “so and so often dressed in women’s clothes and went by the name *******” (making it sound more like a masquerade or drag). In most cases of this, there’s nothing accidental about it. They have to be called on their behavior on a case-by-case basis.