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

Thank you for posting this, Jawn

[kosseferal.livejournal.com]

It's surprising, but I've not seen ay mention of it in either Transnews, here at LJ, not any of the FtM communities here. Hm.



I saw Boys Don't Cry just as I was really beginning to question who and what I was, and what I was going to do about it. It made me glad to live int he Northeast instead of Bumfuck, NB, that's for bloody sure. But I still did feel rather weird going back to my car alone after watching it.

Someone posted a very interesting news item from Italy (as reported by the BBC, on an Italian transgender named Natale. Natale was born male but preferred to crosdress, and considered himself a gay man. I use transgender as an umbrella term here, meaning someone who is gender-variant, but not necessarily transsexual. Anyhow, Natale was homeless in early December after finding no work and no acceptance anyplace. Cast off and ostrasized by his small Catholic hometown. Natale was in the right palce at the right time, however, for he intervened when a group of men accosted a group of women who'd been out clubbing. It was getting ugly when Natale stepped in, but he took the brunt of the attack and the women got away.

Natale is still in a coma in the hospital. Everyone says he's a hero now, but who knows if he'll live to appreciate their kindness-in-hindsight. Doesn't seem likely to me.
I felt so awful when I read this story, a day or so ago.

PS, I wrote to the BBC

[kosseferal.livejournal.com]

We'll see what happens next, if anything.
Thanks for the heads-up.

[querrelle.livejournal.com]

I wonder if you aren't expecting too much. Many of us who simply never encounter transsexual/transgender people in the course of our daily lives wouldn't have a clue about the appropriate etiquette. Perhaps you might expect more of an International new service. But at least they gave substantive and sympathetic coverage to a story that is less than burning at the moment. Search some of the other news services and all you'll get is:

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You might *think* you don't encounter anyone trans

[kosseferal.livejournal.com]

but you might well have. There's no way to know by merely looking.

Incidentally, MOST media style sheets coming out currently emphasize that features on transpeople use the pronoun associated with the person's gender presentation.

[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.

Re: Thank you for posting this, Jawn

[jawnbc]

terrible :(

[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.

courtesy

[toneyvr.livejournal.com]

I have a tendency to agree with John. The other day someone came in to fill out an application form for our school, and the person asked "which sex should I tick?" And I just said "which do you want to called?". Though I'm ignorant of the legal conventions, it just seems courteous to refer to the person by the sex they have assumed.