So I've just had a weird experience... I assume you all know about Austria's entry for Eurovision, 'Conchita Wurst' or 'Tom Neuwirth' depending on how they are presenting. Now I didn't actually know anything about them until today, I'd heard of them but never looked into them or anything. Basically I am under the impression (and feel free to correct if you have evidence) that they are a drag performer who uses female pronouns when presenting as Conchita. Anyway everyone and their mum is talking about Eurovision right now and my choir mates are no exception. These are people I like and respect. Then all of a sudden they are talking about Austria's entry and two people referred to them as "it". To quote one friend "Is it a beardy lady or man in a dress?". I questioned their use of the word "it" as a descriptor. That same friend then responded "Beardy weirdy" assuming I was asking WHO they were talking about. I have since made it clear I knew exactly who they meant and that wasn't what I was getting at. Anyway all of a sudden I was just overcome with SOMETHING...like for some reason I shouldn't have called them out on it? For some reason I'm left feeling bad because somebody older than me was rude about somebodies identity... I mean I don't expect to everyone to be perfect all the time but seriously, I literally spent 3 hours with these people earlier singing in a concert and all of a sudden someone who doesn't fit the binary is 'it' now? :tears: EDIT: The second friend has removed her post, so clearly she understood my objection.
I agree that your friend was being very rude but English has the big flaw of having no gender-neutral pronouns that don't cause offense and I've heard the use of 'they' and 'they're' but they're not in very common use. Perhaps your friend was trying to not be too offensive but the 'beardy weirdy' comment was just plain bitchy.
(*hug*) That's no fun, but don't feel bad about correcting them. Chin up! It's little things like that which make a difference. :eusa_clap
I've been referred to as an 'it' before, several times actually, and it is incredibly degrading. Good on you for correcting them! *high five!*:eusa_clap
Holly, as you can probably guess, my mum CERTAINLY had something to say about Austria's eurovision entry. I have absolutely no knowledge about this person and how they identify so I'll avoid using any pronouns to avoid causing any unintentional offense. I forget my mum's comment exactly. It was something like 'Look, there's a man in a dress' but in the context of the conversation, I took it to mean 'There's one of your lot.' There was a trans person on BBC's The Voice earlier this year. I believe they identified as androgynous but to my dad, this was simply a boy dressed as a girl to which he responded 'Haha! Look he's a tranny!'.
-.- *holds up banner to welcome "our lot," which appear to be more talented than a lot of other folks... just sayin'.* :dry:
On a related note, just seen this...https://uk.news.yahoo.com/playing-d...cause-he-wears-dresses-105004182.html#VbAuTSx
I love the 'it's upsetting the other kids' line of bullshit. I'm gonna sit here and complain about something that bothers me personally, but I'm not gonna take responsibility for those feelings and instead I'll blame it on the kids.......Gee-Gee (GG). Fucking bigots................
I used feminine pronouns because I thought she's a trans woman. However, my mom used male pronouns and I had to correct her a lot of times :dry:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEzWcsjZ5XI[/YOUTUBE] Nope, not a trans woman, since she's a drag queen. She also isn't trans (even says so in the interview). I really admire her message, though. It doesn't matter what you look like; you can be successful! (Man, pronouns with drag queens are a little difficult for me to comprehend, but I try my best to be polite. I am a(n) gentleman, after all.)
Apparently, and this was according to wikipedia so it could be wrong, Conchita uses female pronouns when presenting female...
It sparked some kind of debate between my parents about my mum referring to him in male form as 'he' and my dad getting... confused, i guess..
It's a pity that she isn't a woman. *looks for magic gender-changing wand and a handheld electrolysis machine* :roflmao:
