Online Petition Against The Daily Mail

[SiobhanB]

Posted in the FtM and Mtf forums for maximum coverage:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-dehumanizing-trans-people/

Sign it, if you agree with it.

Target: The Daily Mail
Sponsored by: Jennifer P.
In a September 19, 2011 article about expanding passport gender options to include a third identity, the Daily Mail referred to "transgender people" in its headline. Placing the phrase in quotation marks negates the existence of an entire group of people.

Tell the Daily Mail to stop dehumanizing transgender people.

The article's author, James Slack, also referred to intersex people in quotes. To add further insult, the article also uses inappropriate, insensitive terms like "sex-swap" to describe transgender people. 

Sign this petition to tell the Daily Mail that transgender and intersex people deserve to be treated just like any other group of people--with respect and without quotation marks.

[Leek]

A petition...because they used quotation marks.

Sure, they imply that they're ignorant of the fact that being trans is "a thing" by doing that, but this reminds me of something someone (also trans) told me very recently: Trans people are way too sensitive. WAY too sensitive. And it's way too easy to step on our toes.

It's not surprising that there are people in media like that. But, chances are, if the author of that article is ignorant of trans issues, he's probably ignorant of all sorts of other things, too, and in that case trans people aren't particularly special. Maybe a petition for "No Ignorant Douchebags Writing About Crap They Don't Know About for The Daily Mail" would be more appropriate.

But needless to say, I think ignoring this type of stuff and not giving its author any unearned attention is the best policy, personally.

[tekla]

No Ignorant Douchebags Writing About Crap They Don't Know About for The Daily Mail

My understanding is that would leave them selling blank sheets of paper.

[Leek]

No Ignorant Douchebags Writing About Crap They Don't Know About for The Daily Mail

My understanding is that would leave them selling blank sheets of paper.

Haha. Then so be it.

[A_Dresden_Doll]

A petition...because they used quotation marks.

Sure, they imply that they're ignorant of the fact that being trans is "a thing" by doing that, but this reminds me of something someone (also trans) told me very recently: Trans people are way too sensitive. WAY too sensitive. And it's way too easy to step on our toes.

It's not surprising that there are people in media like that. But, chances are, if the author of that article is ignorant of trans issues, he's probably ignorant of all sorts of other things, too, and in that case trans people aren't particularly special. Maybe a petition for "No Ignorant Douchebags Writing About Crap They Don't Know About for The Daily Mail" would be more appropriate.

But needless to say, I think ignoring this type of stuff and not giving its author any unearned attention is the best policy, personally.

.

[TheAetherealMeadow]

I signed the petition. Scare quotes are tiny little punctuation marks with a huge meaning. Anything within scare quotes implies that it is fake, false, fraudulent, made up, etc. Our experiences are not fraudulent. Just because they're not outright using slurs doesn't mean they won't use more subtle means of demeaning us.

[Leek]

Anything within scare quotes implies that it is fake, false, fraudulent, made up, etc. Our experiences are not fraudulent. Just because they're not outright using slurs doesn't mean they won't use more subtle means of demeaning us.

Yes, those quotes are likely meant to imply those things--that being trans is made-up, etc. I'm not disputing that. I'm just saying...why care if some random person who knows nothing about trans people thinks trans people are a fraud? Even if he writes for a prominent periodical and a lot of people will read it, is he really likely to change anybody's opinion about trans people with those quotes? Unlikely. And even if he did, it wouldn't be very many people. He can only subconsciously influence so many so much with punctuation.

The only thing those quotes are is insulting to trans people at the most, which is exactly the problem: When insulted, one naturally wants to do something against the one who insults us, even if it's not productive. My point is that it's not a good habit to have and we all need to learn to let things go more. Being offended in and of itself serves no one and will not change the world. And, more importantly, feeding the things we don't want with attention is counter-productive to our cause--the energy is best spent elsewhere.

[8888]

Who cares? DM headlines always have some type of twist in them to attract viewers, they have done and can do a lot worse than this for offensive.