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General News Misuse of terminology in mainstream media

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by RainbowMan, Sep 13, 2014.

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  1. RainbowMan

    RainbowMan
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    I hate how terms are misused (and quite offensive to the trans* community) in this article, but I had to share it, because terms misused or not, it's the most hilarious thing I've read today:

    Transgender Prostitute Robs Finance Bros Who Threw Party At Boss' Penthouse: Gothamist

    First, they are mixing up the terms (and using interchangeably) transsexual and transgender (and even threw a very offensive "transvestite" in for good measure), and second, what does it matter if the prostitute was trans* or not? She's just stupid, that's all!

    But not half as stupid as the kids that hired her.

    EDIT: It seems that just the URL says transsexual. Probably an editor caught it and corrected it before publication.
     
    #1 RainbowMan, Sep 13, 2014
  2. Candace

    Candace
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    It's "transsexual" -_-.

    *warning, incoming sarcasm*

    So let's hire someone off the internet, pass out from drinking too much, and have them steal all of our stuff. SOUNDS LIKE A BRILLIANT IDEA.

    Where was the doorman in all of this?
     
    #2 Candace, Sep 13, 2014
  3. RainbowMan

    RainbowMan
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    It's not even their stuff, it's their boss's stuff in the apartment that they pretty much broke into (by getting the overly gullible doorman to give them the key - I'd love to know what transpired there)
     
    #3 RainbowMan, Sep 13, 2014
  4. DoriaN

    DoriaN
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    Sorry if this is off topic but why am I seeing a lots of asterisks next to trans?

    Ex: trans*
     
    #4 DoriaN, Sep 14, 2014
  5. Nychthemeron

    Nychthemeron
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    The asterisk basically says, "And more!"

    If you simply say 'trans,' people may take it as binary trans men and trans women only.

    However, some people put the asterisk after it so that it is more inclusive of androgynous people, genderfluid people, bigender people, agender people, genderqueer people, etc.

    What does the asterisk in “trans*” stand for?

    I personally don't use it unless I really want to emphasize something, because I believe "transgender" is already inclusive, but yeah. To each, their own.

    EDIT: Well, maybe not. But :shrug: If anyone disagrees, feel free to post a message to my wall. Don't want to derail the thread. :lol:
     
    #5 Nychthemeron, Sep 14, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2014
  6. BradThePug

    BradThePug
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    This is used to be more inclusive of non-binary identities. Basically, the * can stand for anything. So, it's the same as saying trans anything. It's a bit controversial, since a lot of people believe that the word transgender covers non-binary identities as well.

    There needs to be more education for people in the media business about transgender people. There are articles like this far too often. Things have gotten better recently in the mainstream media (thanks in part to Orange is the New Black raising awareness of transgender identities). There still is a long way to go though.
     
    #6 BradThePug, Sep 14, 2014
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