Let's take action against wrong gendering by shrinks!

[Fencesitter]

Hello,

I found a recent weird article, from shrinks, with wrong gendering again. Yes, we can whine about it, think life's unfair. But we can also take action. Let's gather complaint letters in this thread.

So here is what I wrote to the guy:

E-mail-Address: .....

Ref: Your publication "Sex Reassignment: Predictors and Outcomes of Treatment for Transsexuals - Chapter 5



Dear Mr. ....,

This is an open letter.

You were the first of the people who published the above-mentioned publications whose E-mail address I could find out.
So my E-mail does not refer just to you, but to the other people who published this article as well.

This publication is about transsexuals, so I guess you know exactly that the right pronoun etc. matters to most of them. A lot. Which should be respected even more as it's about post-SRS transsexuals, I'd have thought that it would be a matter of respect and politeness to address these people the way they wish to be addressed, even or especially in a scientific publication. As that's one of the factors transsexuality is all about - and you hopefully know that as you were a co-writer of the above-mentioned article.

However, e. g., in Page 95, you refer to Male-to-Female transsexuals as being "homosexual" when they're sexually interested in men.

Now my questions are:

1. Is it really so difficult for you all to write about trans people and refer to them in their preferred gender?

2. Why can't you bring yourself to at least this little bit of politeness and respect? The article would have worked just as well the other way around.

3. Are you sure you won't be ashamed of having addressed them this way in, say, ten years? Human rights in Europe are constantly progressing concerning gender identity, and addressing post-SRS transsexuals with their old assigned gender might even become illegal over time (this can already be sued in, e. g., Germany).

4. Do you also address them as men when you meet them in personal?

5. If not, why don't you address them so in personal, but address them this way in articles?

Best wishes

Robin Jacobs

P.S.: Enclosed you find the article. ((It was this one: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2002-0808-103443/c5.pdf]http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2002-0808-103443/c5.pdf ))

I've also posted my open letter to you in various international trans people forums. We are waiting for your answers.

Edit: I've changed the E-mail address, as I had gotten the wrong mail. Sorry. DON'T WRITE TO THE E-MAIL I GOT WRONG!!!

[Summerfall]

3. Are you sure you won't be ashamed of having addressed them this way in, say, ten years? Human rights in Europe are constantly progressing concerning gender identity, and addressing post-SRS transsexuals with their old assigned gender might even become illegal over time (this can already be sued in, e. g., Germany).

I think that this is such a good point, even if the shrinks don't take it to heart. I hope it does appeal to them, because at the very least they can see that they have their own self-preservation at stake, which can sadly be a stronger motivator than ethics alone.

[Calistine]

Those damn clinicians at group therapy were supposed to help me..how could they even begin when they couldn't even address me properly?

[Janet_Girl]

Once again I feel like the only sane... man?

It really is not our place to force the issue. While I go with mental/emotional gender with transsexuals, and prefer to be referred to as such, if someone feels that the sex assigned at birth is how one should be referred to, he/she is just as entitled to that opinion - and to live by it - as we are to ours.

Totally disagree.  We are paying them, whether it is thru insurance, taxes or out-of-pocket.  Therefore we have every right to demand to be refereed to by our preferred gender and pronouns.  Failure on their part should result in a complaint in their permanent record and the licensing bureau.

If it is not our place to force the issue then WHO and if not now WHEN.

[xAndrewx]

Sorry Fencesitter I don't have an email for him because I don't think I can say anything respectful yet get my point across. I can't seem to get words out right lately.

Seven,
When an doctor treats a patient who has gotten hurt/sick by doing something stupid they are expected to tell the person why it was wrong yet still act respectful. I point this out even though it's not the greatest example because our health service people are expected to treat us with respect no matter how they personally feel. Those doctors of all people realize that the GID causes us to be upset and hurt by wrong pronoun use. The person who wrote this article is a medical professional expected to use medical terms. When speaking of a transgender person if you don't use the right pronouns it should at least be expected that they use terms such as "birth sex" and "target sex". This person on his own time should be able to say what he feels yes but when writing the article I do not think he should let his personal opinion fall into it. Also when a person is post SRS they are officially their target gender so it should be expected that they are referred to correctly. 

[Janet_Girl]

I don't agree that paying for a service, be it a shrink or whatever else, buys you the right to have him/her say whatever you want for the duration. That's the province of a prostitute, not a psychiatrist.

As a medical professional they should give you the respect do you as the patent.  If they professionally disagree with your personal choices, then they can refuse service.  If that disagreement is their own personal view of you then they should excuse themselves as your care provider.

In the US, we are buying their services.  If what we seek is going to cause bodily harm then they have the right to explain that to us.  But they do not have the right to disrespect us.

I have no more respect for psychology than prostitution as a science or indeed as a worthy pursuit, but I do respect the right of every human to be freely entitled to his/her own opinion and to espouse it as loudly as he/she pleases, regardless of who or how many might be offended.

They can have can speak their options and beliefs all they wish.  But when is becomes detrimental to a patent or disrespectful to that patent, they need to keep it to themselves.

My doctor made a flippant remark when I finally settled down for a shot (had been reflexively flinching and moving); she said "good man" and that stuck with me the rest of the day, upsetting me a lot.

I would bring it up at the time it happened.  Again maybe it is an American thing, but I am paying for their service.  That put me in charge.  I don't care if they agree with me or not, but they will respect me, as a human.

I am not forcing my choice for my life down anyones throat, but if I have selected them to assist and they have accepted, I do accept them to respect me.


But I can also see that there is a very different view point of patent/doctor relationship based on regional or country culture.

[Summerfall]

Once again I feel like the only sane... man?

It really is not our place to force the issue. While I go with mental/emotional gender with transsexuals, and prefer to be referred to as such, if someone feels that the sex assigned at birth is how one should be referred to, he/she is just as entitled to that opinion - and to live by it - as we are to ours.

The use of such improper pronouns is insulting, because it is a blatant denial of who the person really is, and clearly goes against the person's basic wishes. It shows a lack of respect for the person as a human being. It is as insulting as it would be for me to refer to a person as Ms. Maiden-name rather then her preferred Mrs. Spouse's-name following an interracial marriage that I do not feel is legitimate in my bigoted eyes.

Obviously every person is entitled to their opinion, but the medical community in particular has an obligation to do no harm. As evidenced by the preferred treatment for transsexuals (transition into their desired sex in both a physical and social context), it is detrimental to a patient's well-being to blatantly deny them their preferred pronouns. Additionally, treating patients with respect and dignity, regardless of personal beliefs, is part of the tenets of medical providers. The obligations they hold to our community are not the same as those held by a random person on the street.