Dan Savage at U of Montana - Changing Gender Pronouns

Dan Savage at University of Montana - The Question: I have recently changed my gender pronoun from the established 'he/she" to something else. What do you think is the best way to let people know? Mass e-mail? In person?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• sex
• dan savage
• gay
• lesbian
• gender
• love

[dafttool]

I liked that reference about "parenting your parents." I've used that advice to people dealing with reluctantly supportive parents. And the fact is, that as you & your parents age, your roles do eventually reverse anyway.

[umusuuk]

Fucking all the time on Tumblr -.-

One thing that annoys me, but shouldn't because it's insensitive -- made up pronouns like ze and hir. English, motherfuckers.

[wmcassie21]

I like Dan generally but I really don't appreciate this. He didn't need to launch into an attack on people who attack others. And it's despicable for him to tell someone not to be a 'crazy tranny' or to say that he 'hates the pronoun game.' Those are not things you say if you are trying to be a good ally to the trans community.

[Fireflygamer]

@panikpapagei The difference is that when you are trans and someone calls you by the wrong pronoun its like pouring salt on an emotional wound, it physically hurts in your chest, its a reminder that you are not accepted. On top of that when you first transition your an emotional wreck, I was patient with people that made honest mistakes, but you need to be patient with us, we are doing one of the hardest things any human being can go through even with all the support in the world.

[Fireflygamer]

The reason why in my opinion Dan should not use that word is because it still implies we are dirty sexual objects like tranny porn or a tranny hooker, and the prejudiced i face has been far worse in the gay community than it has been form the straight community. I have had far more gay people put me down because i dare to be a trans woman and a lesbian, apparently I'm not allowed in the club.

[Snoep76239]

"Cast-iron uterses in the basement from IKEA"

ROFL!!!

[Snoep76239]

God, why do people make such a big issue out of gender? People are who they feel they are, not what kind of plumbing they have....

[panikpapagei]

faggot, faggot, faggot...breeders, BREEDERS :D

gotta love dan~♥

but srsly be patient. with your allies and still with someone coming out and costantly blowing up. cause we've all been there, coming out of the closet, being super-protective with something nobody seems to understand& also something we thought it's the fundament to our personality. LGBT or straight, everybody was at this point somehow&later figured out that's just one point of a whole person one is.

love yourself the rest'll follow

[TrueFriction]

@sixtysac I suppose it's a question of whether you care more about combating trans-phobia or feeling pleasantly self-righteous. Loosing your sh*t on a well-intentioned person who makes a slip or uses the wrong term by mistake is a sure-fire way to make sure that they don't actually listen to you and modify their behaviour for the next trans person they encounter. People don't respond to self-righteous anger. Do that next trans person a favour - have a "teachable moment" and don't be an a**hole.

[poolerboy0077]

@poolerboy0077 Lashing out at anyone and everyone who doesn't conform to such political correctness is going to willfully places themselves in a situation where they have no close friends because of their hostile attitude.

[poolerboy0077]

@sixtysac It's shocking to see someone call others "oppressors" for merely using gender binary pronouns when many transgender people conform to teh gender binary! One the one hand, they're against the gender binary and believe people should be themselves and not conform to societal ideas of what constitutes acceptable behavior for males and females. On the other, they seem to be going to great lengths to conform to just such an idea, rather than acting in a way that comes naturally to them.

[texjoy86]

Ze goggles do nothink!