BBC gets it all wrong on Brandon Teena

[jawnbc]

today is the 10th anniversary of Brandon Teena’s murder [remember the film Boys Don’t Cry]. The BBC is running a story on Brandon, but uses expressions like “ girl from Nebraska who chose to live as a boy” to describe him. And calls him “her.” Grrr...

Here’s the story. click on the Feedback link at the bottom of the page and let them know their depiction is clumsy at best.

Comments

[jawnbc]

I don't think so. An accurate story is all I ask.

10 years ago the apologists were saying similar things about gay rights in Canada. At some point, someone has to make the call that the status quo isn't good enough.

[querrelle.livejournal.com]

Beyond the fact that the story did not conform to certain conventions regarding the use of gender pronouns, did it contain factual inaccuracies?

[jawnbc]

Well, yeah. Saying someone was female when they self-identified (and lived) as a male is inaccurate, not an issue of semantics. Like if someone wrote a story about you and described you as "a bachelor who hasn't met Ms. Right yet." Inaccurate, though factually true. Trans folks I know deal with this stuff all the time.

Certainly a lot of people need a lot of educating about these sorts of questions--which is why I wrote the Beeb. Journalists in particular love to wax on about being "objective" so when this sort of thing happens, I challenge it. I don't think rudely, but clearly and unapologetically.