Sexist Comments of the Week: Transgender Shoplift Edition
Posted by Amanda Hess on Oct. 26, 2009, at 9:00 am
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2009/10/26/sexist-comments-of-the-week-transgender-shoplift-edition/Last week, two stories on the Washington Post's gender treatment for a couple of transgender shoplifting suspects (Washington Post Cross-Dressing Shoplifting Story Misfires; Transgender Shoplifting Story's Absurd Corrections) inspired confusion, transphobia, and some helpful commentary!
The story: A couple of transgender women are caught shoplifting, and end up being shot by police after a botched getaway. In a medical examination, the suspects are revealed to have male genitalia. So: The Post first reported that the suspects were women, then reported that they were cross-dressing men, and finally issued a vague clarification that the suspects were still men dressed as women, but "were not in disguise." Was the Post's treatment insensitive? Incorrect? Or the lone crusader for truth in a PC world?
