Transgender or Transgendered?

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Posted at the Huffington Post

Joanne Herman

Transgender advocate and author of Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not

Posted: March 11, 2010 12:57 PM

I've increasingly been seeing and hearing the word "transgendered," and I have cringed every time. What's wrong with the seemingly subtle difference between saying "transgendered" and "transgender?" Actually, a lot.

Readers of my age and older will remember a sad time when this country labeled African-Americans as "colored people." One problem with this label was that it implied something happened to make the person "of color," which denied the person's dignity of being born that way. Today, we are somewhat more enlightened and say "people of color" instead.

Most transgender people I know have felt a gender incongruity for as long as they remember, and evolving science says we were probably born feeling like this. The only thing that changed along the way has been our awareness that there are others like us. We didn't "decide" to be transgender.

If hearing "transgendered people" is a problem for me, you can imagine how I felt when two different non-transgender friends recently told me independently that they knew a "person who had transgendered." These friends were assuming that all transgender people transition from living in one gender to living in another, just as I did. In reality, only part of the transgender population does this.

Other transgender people feel that their gender is part male and part female, or perhaps they feel gender-less. For them, a transition from one gender to another would be pointless.

I have found that whenever "transgendered" is being used, it is usually by a person who is not transgender, or by an organization wanting to be inclusive of transgender people, but not yet having a transgender person involved. I'm guessing one or both were true in the case of the Des Moines Register article that I cited in my prior post "Can One be Transgender and Catholic"?

Note to journalists: In the Associated Press Stylebook, transgender is listed but "transgendered" is not.

I find that the Media Reference Guide of GLAAD, the nonprofit organization that watches over how lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people (LGBT) are portrayed in the media, says it best.

"The word transgender never needs the extraneous "ed" at the end of the word. In fact, such a construction is grammatically incorrect. Only verbs can be transformed into participles by adding "-ed" to the end of the word, and transgender is an adjective, not a verb."

Another problematic extension of the word occurs when people refer to transgender individuals as "transgenders." Here the Media Guide advises:

"Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, 'Tony is a transgender,' or 'The parade included many transgenders.' Instead say, 'Tony is a transgender person,' or 'The parade included many transgender people.'"

Of course, terminology does evolve in everyday usage, in spite of what any media guide, dictionary, or blogger says. Perhaps "transgendered" and "transgenders" will become accepted usage one day. I hope not.

That said, I wrote this post out of a strongly held belief that people should be able to call themselves whatever they want. So while I think the Media Guide's position reflects the desire of most in the transgender population, if a particular transgender person chooses to refer to themselves as "transgendered," I have to accept that.

Yet if that person is using "transgendered" because of a reluctant belief that they must accept whatever box society wants to put them in, feeling fortunate to have any recognition at all, I have to object. We are humans; we can and should be able to speak for ourselves.

Books & More From Joanne Herman

Women's E-News: Cheers & Jeers of the Week

Base Closures Urged; Gender Violence Rampant

Run Date: 11/29/08

By Iulia Anghelescu WeNews correspondent

(WOMENSENEWS)-- Cheers The New York-based Granny Peace Brigade is campaigning to close all United States military bases around the world. Members of the anti-war group marched and sang in Manhattan Nov. 21, the Women's International Perspective reported. The demilitarization campaign started after delegates from Japan, Germany, Italy and South Korea, called for bases closures during the Women's International Democratic Federation Summit held March 6 in Caracas, Venezuela. Code Pink co-founders Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin and retired army Col. Ann Wright traveled to Iran for a week-long citizen diplomacy trip to foster peaceful ties between the United States and Iran. The anti-war women's group also launched its "War is SO over" campaign on Nov. 12 to press for an end to the war in Iraq. More News to Cheer This Week: Sheikh Fehmi Naji el-Imam, an influential Muslim cleric and the mufti of Australia, has proposed ending gender segregation in mosques, the Age reported Nov. 22. Naji el-Imam's proposal is a response to Muslim women's anger at entrenched discrimination in a country where most mosques have barriers between men's and women's sections. Ten Taliban militants were arrested for the Nov. 12 acid attacks on 15 schoolgirls in Afghanistan that also burned to death a 23-year-old teacher, the Associated Press reported Nov. 25. Desiree Rogers, 49, a Harvard-educated Chicago businesswomen, friend of Michelle and President-elect Barack Obama, and a fundraiser for the Obama campaign, will be named the first African American White House social secretary. Girls' arrests dropped over the last decade, according to a Department of Justice report, USA Today reported Nov. 24. The number of girls under 18 arrested for aggravated assault fell 17 percent from 1998 to 2007, down from peak levels in 2004, when girls accounted for 30 percent of juvenile arrests. Civil rights and racial justice should be the Obama administration's top priorities, according to three-fourths of 18-to-29-year-old women surveyed by the YWCA in a Nov. 24 report, the Associated Press reported. Younger women are more concerned than older women with health care, education, answering the loan crisis, affordable housing and HIV-AIDS. Among all 1,000 women surveyed, 92 percent said they want the financial crisis to be the No. 1 priority in Obama's first year. Jeers The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was marked by the United Nations this week to address persistent rates of gender-based violence. Around the world, 1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetimes. "Violence against women is still a huge problem all across the world," said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, in a statement. "In many conflict situations it is endemic, and still grossly neglected by almost all key actors." The number of cases of violence against women in the Philippines rose 17 percent in 2007, according to a Nov. 26 national police report. A petition with 30,000 signatures in Australia demands that the federal government concentrate on ending gender violence, the Age reported. In Canada, the YWCA is leading an effort to call on the government to develop a national strategy to end violence against women, CanWest News Service reported. International agencies and organizations also mark the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, recognizing the increasing feminization of the disease. Currently, 33.2 million people live with HIV; 95 percent live in the developing world. In 2007, 2.5 million people became infected. Women now account for half of all infected people worldwide, and nearly 60 percent of infected people in sub-Saharan Africa. One study from Harvard University estimated that the premature deaths of 365,000 people could have been prevented if South Africa had provided antiretroviral drugs to people, including pregnant women, the New York Times reported Nov. 26. More News to Jeer This Week: Out of 425 Malawi female candidates, 225 are withdrawing from races in the primary elections to select candidates for 2009 parliamentary polling. Female candidates have been victims of intimidation tactics such as shoving, insults, derogatory song lyrics and pelting stones, the Inter Press Service reported Nov. 24. The National Assembly of Burundi criminalized homosexuality on Nov. 12, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Those convicted of homosexual acts face fines and prison sentences from three months to two years. Public policy focuses too much on a woman's marital status, conclude University of Maryland sociologists in a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family. Low-income single mothers spend almost as much time--90 percent--caring for their children as married women do, the researchers found. But the current policy focus on marital status and "time-poor" single mothers overlooks their focus on children despite having fewer resources available to care for them. Lawmakers in Uruguay failed to gather enough signatures to override a presidential veto of an abortion decriminalization bill that would have ended the nation's 70-year-old abortion ban, the AFP reported Nov. 20. Yevgeny Zubov, the judge in the trial of three men accused of murdering Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya defied calls to step down Nov. 26, the Guardian reported. The petition came after Zubov closed the trial to the public and announced a 10-day adjournment before allowing journalists back in. Politkovskaya's supporters believe she was murdered for her biting investigations of the Russian government and the Chechen war. Noted: Following voters' rejection of same-sex marriage rights in California, lesbian and gay rights activists are turning their attention to other issues, USA Today reported Nov. 24. The California Supreme Court is considering a lawsuit to overturn the election result, but in the meantime activists will concentrate on passing a federal hate-crimes bill; lobbying for funding to investigate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity; and for a federal ban on job discrimination against lesbian, gay and transgender workers. Martine Aubry, the female mayor of Lille, France, since 2001, and a former minister of labor and social affairs, has been elected to lead France's opposition Socialist Party, making her a potential presidential candidate in 2012, the BBC reported Nov. 22. Aubrey competed in a tight race with Segolene Royal, who lost a presidential election to Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2007. Iulia Anghelescu is a freelance writer in New York Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.

Sobre foto en artículo: "En la Corte busca legalmente ser una mujer"

FUENTE:

ALEXANDRA BYERLY
HEALTH EDUCATOR/PROGRAM COORDINATOR
EL-LA PROGRAM PARA TRANS-LATINAS
294O 16TH STREET STE-319 S.F. CA 94110
415-864-7278

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead


Quiero dejar bien claro, que aprecio en toda su extensión,la manera tan clara, concisa é imparcial de desglosar la historia por parte del Sr. Avilés Allende, en la cual incluye el entendimiento y apoyo que la familia brindó a esta niña intersex, además de lo completo, al también incluir, a pesar de la brevedad de la nota, otros detalles de factores relacionados con casos de esta índole.

He identificado varias causas que añaden inquietud a mi malestar, la más sobresaliente es que aunque las personas en la foto son miembros de la comunidad transgénero, ni en la mas mínima expresion representan la totalidad de mi comunidad y su asociacion a esta historia es extremadamente marginal generalmente hablando, como aparentemente se ha intentado pintar a este grupo, es más, aún me atrevo también a decir, de que esas personas trangénero en la foto, están exageradamente disfrazadas, lo llamativo de sus atuendos y maquillages, presenta una imagen que en nada se ajusta a la vida diaria de la mayoría de las mujeres transgénero y que por más que trato, no puedo ver la razón de publicarla junto con el artículo.

Soy de la opinión de que lo que se intenta lograr, es inflamar los prejuicios homofóbicos y transfóbicos de la opinión pública contra una demostratión extravagante y extra-ordinaria, como se hace durante presentationes y exhibiciones celebratorias en fechas especiales ó en shows; debido a una honestidad intelectual que me disciplino / esfuerzo en tener, admito que puedo estar equivocada en mi conlusión sobre los motivos de incluir la foto, aunque en realidad no creo estarlo, porque aún con la más imparcial perspectiva que se pueda tener, no hay manera de ver siquiera un indicio de balance a lo que la foto aporta a la noticia ó a la historia en sí, otra que una imagen incompleta de un grupo marginado, excluido y abusado que lucha por sus derechos humanos básicos, como es el simplemente ser lo que se es con las garantías indivuduales y constitucionalmente otorgadas como al resto de ciudadanía.

Es de entender mi curiosidad por saber cuál fué el criterio utilizado para decidir que una foto como esta, debería anadirse al artículo, mi primer paso fué ver que otros artículos ha escrito este reportero y su temática.

Una búsqueda cursiva me dice que se especializa en temas legales, judiciales y enforzamiento policial, con énfasis en Jueces y sus fallos.

Pero entre los artículos que encontré de él, hay una entrada del 17-noviembre-2008 en el Blog del Universal, que posa la siguiente pregunta ¿Un transexual tiene derecho a una nueva identidad?, este 'post' es sobre la misma niña intersex a la que se refiere también en su reporte al que me he estado refiriendo, en lo poco que he visto sobre lo que escribe este señor, es nadamás y nadamenos que un reportero en lo que el ser uno en realidad significa, pero aún asi, me gustaria preguntarle, y lo voy a hacer, de donde salió la decision de añadir la foto que tanto he mencionado a su artículo?

Si alguien más esta interesad@ en comunicarse con él, aqui lo pueden hacer: Enviéle sus comentarios al Sr. Avilés Allende

Y esta es la foto de la que tanto he hablado:

Hay otras preguntas que también me gustaría posar, 1.) Hay en realidad todavía duda to que tod@s deberiamos ser tratad@s con igualdad? y 2.) Es sobre el uso del término Hermafrodita que abordé en mi respuesta al email de mi hermana Alejandra, la cual incluyo inmediatamente abajo.

Gracias Alejandra,

Mira, fuí a ver el artículo original y me pregunto cual fué la razon de publicar
esas fotos en el artículo? Tu creés que fué para incitar los prejuicios homofóbicos de sus lectores y del público en general? Como te digo, no puedo imaginar qué otro propósito tuvieron al hacerlo, porque esas fotos no son representativas de nuestra comunidad trangénero y mucho menos de la intersex, además tengo una objeción al uso de la palabra 'hermafrodita' que ha pasado a ser considerada deshumanizante y no definitiva, porque 'hermafrodita' se refiere más a un ser con todos los genitales de ambos sexos, lo cual es extremadamente raro de encontrar, por consiguiente, se considera que intersex define mejor a personas que nacen con un set the genitales de un sexo y también con indicios, generalmente atrofiados, del otro.

Me parece que tu tienes contacto con algunas organizationes transgénero en
México, les puedes preguntar que piensan al respecto?

Un abrazo y besitos,

Aurora

ACTUALIZACIÓN:

Me comunicque con el Sr. Carlos Avilés Allende y esta es su amable respuesta:

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Carlos Avilés Allende <carlosavilesallende@hotmail.com>

To: cihuamexica@gmail.com

Subject: RE: Sobre foto en artículo: "En la Corte busca legalmente ser una mujer"

Date: Monday, December 15, 2008 03:35:17 PM

Antes que nada una disculpa. La molestia y la indignación está más que justificada. Las fotos no tienen nada que ver con el texto. Ignoro, y voy a tratar de verificar qué fue lo que pasó. Se trata de una información que se programó para EL UNIVERSAL y que se distribuyó o otros medios en los estados, pero de ninguna manera con esas fotos.
La intención del texto, no sé si se publicó tal cual en El Diario, era presentar el caso concreto que está a juicio en la Corte, junto con un apartado con los puntos de vista de los ministros de la Corte, y no los míos, sobre el tema.
Y sí, efectivamente, es el mismo caso que abordé en mi blog, para generar una discusión en torno a la importancia que tiene y tendrá la decisión que adopté la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación.
Gracias por sus comentarios.
Saludos

Y este es el mensaje que le envie:

From: cihuamexica@gmail.com
To: carlosavilesallende@hotmail.com
Subject: Sobre foto en artículo: "En la Corte busca legalmente ser una mujer"
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:28:16 -0800

Sr. Carlos Avilés Allende,

El día de hoy publiqué un nota sobre la foto que aparece en un artículo que Ud. escribió y que fué publicado en "El Diario" Hago varias preguntas sobre el criterio usado para decidir que se incluyera esta foto y si se puede saber de donde procedió tal decision además de saber quién la hizo ó quienes la hicieron.

Espero que Ud. se interese, si es que lo ignora, en obtener las respuestas a las preguntas que presento.

Este es el post é incluyo excerptos:

Sobre foto en artículo: "En la Corte busca legalmente ser una mujer"

Esta fue mi respuesta a su respuesta:

From: aurora-grajeda@comcast.net

To: Carlos Avilés Allende

Subject: RE: Sobre foto en artículo: "En la Corte busca legalmente ser una mujer"

Date: Monday, December 15, 2008 04:43:00 PM

Buenas tardes Sr. Avilés Allende, saludos!

Una disculpa no es necesaria, aprecio mucho su manera de reportar y no tengo nada que reprocharle, al contrario, muchas gracias por difundir esta información tan importante para mi comunidad y para mí en lo personal en una forma tan clara é imparcial.

Entiendo perfectamente la situación, en una ocasión reciente, en el San Francisco Chronicle, se publicó un artículo de un reportero de mucho calibre y honestidad, el artículo era excelente y muy profesional, pero el encabezado tangiversaba en forma totalmente opuesta el enfoque del reporte, me comuniqué con el reportero, y él, lo mismo que Ud., me otorgó la cortesía de responder y me explicó que en esta publicación, los editores tienen toda la autoridad sobre el encabezado de la nota. (Creo que tiene algo que ver con el aspecto mercantil = Circulación, segun parece, alguien de la mesa editorial cree que sabe mas de esto que el reportero - ???? )

Ademas me comunicó que era un conflicto continuo entre él y los editores, pero que en el caso que le hice notar, se les pasó la mano al por mayor.

Muchas gracias de nuevo por su profesionalismo y los temas que aborda, tan importantes para mi Patria que tanto quiero y añoro.

Le deseo lo mejor.

Apreciativa y respetuosamente,

Aurora Grajeda