Thank you for publishing my photo DailyDot (@DailyDot) in the piece referenced below.
What does transgender mean? From understanding the gender binary to being a good ally, here’s what you need to know about transitionining.
Source: What Does Transgender Mean, and How Do People Transition?
Thank you also for listening when I reviewed the piece and found that it contained non-standard, non-science-based terminology. Through a brief email exchange I discovered that the publication is using the excellent GLAAD style guide for LGBTQ issues, and was also open to removing non-scientific terminology (which was actually not covered in the style guide, GLAAD has a more comprehensive reference here). Non-scientific term is now removed from the piece and it reads much more accurately.
My hope is that other publications, like @NPR, like @USAToday will behave in a similar fashion in the future. In this recent interaction related to a USAToday front page story, I was essentially told “I didn’t have time to write an accurate front page story, so I wrote an inaccurate one instead.”
@tvandenbrook "Preferred gender"? Happy to assist with better accuracy. Science is your friend @GLAAD 🇺🇸🏳️🌈✌️ pic.twitter.com/1Vk60cU8rw
— Ted Eytan, MD, MS, MPH (@tedeytan) May 11, 2017
Click here to see the entire exchange. A review of this story a month later shows that it’s still inaccurate.
I wrote a longer piece about this and included this helpful quote regarding bias (explicit and unconscious):
Notice your defensiveness and accept the discomfort of unlearning and relearning. To be competent in this arena is the same as learning to be competent in anything else. It requires a desire to know, motivation to become informed, opportunities to practice and the willingness to correct your mistakes.
A few thoughts about gender equality and respect in the 21st Century
I believe people can do better, and they are, because the world is learning to love better, and a more loving world means more long, healthy lives. Thanks DailyDot.