An incredible resource by qmunity: A printable card to encourage and empower everyone to be mindful of language.
Original can be found here.
Sex-Segregated Public Restrooms Are an Outdated Relic of Victorian Paternalism
“The laws that still regulate many of our public toilets are
simultaneously very old and very new: old in that they were created in
an era scarcely recognizable to a modern American, and yet new in that
the practice of sex-segregated pooping and peeing as a matter of course
is scarcely more than a century old, a tiny fraction of human history.“
Oxford English Dictionary Adds New Transgender and Nonbinary Terms to its Online Dictionary!
Oxford Dictionary has just added a slew of important trans and nonbinary terminology to its online dictionary, OxfordDictionaries.com. The following terms are now officially defined in US English:
Agender, Bi-gender, Cisgender, Cissexism, FTM, Gender Dysphoria, Gender Identity, Gender-fluid, Genderqueer, Misgender, MTF, Mx, Nonbinary, Transman, Transperson, Transphobia, and Transwoman!
Life Outside The Binary does not necessarily endorse the particular definitions nor the wording therein. Many of these definitions may be overly simplistic or use outdated terminology. It is certainly more important to understand each individual’s understanding and relationship to a given term, and to understand their history and social context, rather than to differ to a broad general definition. There are also many other important words (such as transmisogyny, binarism and other identities such as neutrois and androgyne) that definitely deserve inclusion in dictionaries.
However, this is still a huge win for transgender and non-binary people! Having words such as “cissexism,” “transphobia,” and “misgender,” (as well as several common transgender identities) defined in a reputable online language resource may represent a huge step toward developing common understanding and acceptance of trans and nonbinary people and issues.
-Lane
Yesterday my mom, my 5 year old nephew and i were hanging out, and my mom kept constantly using female pronouns and calling me by my birth-name.
finally my nephew interrupted her to say,
“He wants to be called Ben. He’s a boy now. You can’t call him a girl if he’s a boy.”and right after that, she started using my pronouns and name correctly. i guess it kind of hits you hard when a 5 year old child calls you out, cause anytime i’d try to correct her she’d keep making the excuse, “It’s hard, I’m trying.”
i am so proud of my nephew, i shit you not.
YES! on the fourth of July, my 8 year old cousin followed me around and everytime someone called me by my birth name, she whispered “Ben” behind me.
When I went home for my birthday this past week, my parents were using the right name/calling me Ben but using the wrong pronouns. When I gently reminded them of my pronouns, my step dad was incredibly defensive and yelled at me and said not to bring it up. The next day, (my actual birthday), I was alone with my 14 year old brother. I told him I was bummed, told him the story and asked if he wouldn’t mind trying to use the correct pronouns around our family to lead by example/encourage them. He was like yeah no problem dude! Layer that night, my mom used the wrong pronouns and my brother responded with “yeah, I think he would like that.” And looked at me and smiled and my mom responded using the correct pronouns.
This trickle down education bullshit clearly does not work. Younger kids are so eager to understand and accept things, and it makes so much more sense for kids to be taught and go on to educate their parents.
kids learn from example and if you’re their example, they’re more than happy to oblige
Singular ‘they’ is here to stay
I made this to clarify how to use the ze/hir pronoun set. Enjoy!
“Swedes are shaking up their language with a new gender-neutral pronoun. The pronoun, “hen,” allows speakers and writers to refer to a person without including reference to a person’s gender. This month, the pronoun made a big leap toward mainstream usage when it was added to the country’s National Encyclopedia.”
