Trans trouble at GWU: The week in college sex
December 21, 2010 - 10:30 AM
By Amanda Hess
http://www.tbd.com/blogs/amanda-hess/2010/12/trans-trouble-at-gwu-the-week-in-college-sex-6268.htmlHE SAID, SHE SAID: Conservative George Washington University student journal the G.W. Patriot reports on Kye Allums, the transgender basketball player who began transitioning to male while playing on the school's women's basketball team this season. In the piece, reporter Erin Mew repeatedly refers to Allums as "she," though most major style guides require journalists to identify trans subjects by his or her preferred pronoun. Mew explains her bizarre pronoun choice in the comments:
"it is factually inaccurate to refer to Allums as a male at this point. Once Kye has undergone the necessary hormone treatment and medical procedures, I will refer to her as a man. I see nothing wrong with pointing out that she is still technically a female. . . . I referred to Allums as a female in this piece because unlike other writers, I do not like to distort reality or create falsehoods. The fact that Allums is a female is an objective fact of reality. Once she medically changes this, I will be more than happy to refer to her as a man." The comments just get worse after that.