It is not the first time that Dutch media have blundered in their reporting on transgender people. For example, in 2015
de Volkskrant went wrong with an article in
Volkskrant Magazine in which the dehumanizing word 'conversion' was mentioned several times. The editor-in-chief's response to the subsequent fuss
showed a profound lack of understanding . In 2017
, De Wereld Draait Door discussed Caitlyn Jenner's coming out without inviting a single transgender person to the table or respecting Caitlyn's current name and gender. And
De Gelderlander reportedin the autumn of 2017, stigmatizing about trans woman Bianca, who was murdered in Arnhem while working as a sex worker. Better reporting on trans people starts with a better understanding of the terms gender, sex and gender.
GENDER, SEX OR GENDER?
A person's gender generally refers to their gender identity and gender expression. That is the realization of your own masculinity or femininity (or the absence thereof) and how you express it in clothing and behavior. Gender itself, however, is a broad concept, and relates to everything from the identity and appearance of persons to behavior, objects, colors and all other things to which we attribute the trait male or female.
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SEX IS THE ASSIGNMENT OF MALE OR FEMALE GENDER TO BODY CHARACTERISTICS
Sekse wordt begrepen als de lichamelijke biologische kenmerken die een mens of dier mannelijk of vrouwelijk maken, van genen tot hormonen (en hun invloed op het lichaam) tot genitale kenmerken. Zo bekeken is sekse dus eigenlijk de toewijzing van mannelijk gender of vrouwelijk gender aan lichaamskenmerken van mensen en dieren. De biologie van voortplanting speelt hierin een grote rol.
Sex is often used as a synonym for sex, but in fact only refers to genital sex characteristics. They determine, for example, which gender will appear on your birth certificate. This means that intersex persons, whose genital characteristics cannot be clearly assigned to one sex, can have the gender registered on the birth certificate as 'cannot be determined
' . It still happens that doctors perform operations on intersex babies (who cannot consent to this) because of the need to assign a gender anyway. This makes it clear how far reaching the norm is to know and derive gender from physical characteristics. It is not without
reason that the intersex movement in Europe sees this as genital mutilation .
CULTURALLY DETERMINED
Views on gender, and thus on sex and gender, differ per culture and are therefore also changeable. In our current Western culture, the idea of gender and gender is limited to men and women. In parts of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and indigenous cultures of the Americas, gender was not limited to men and women. In South Asia, for example, the
hijra is part of the local culture, in Samoa this applies to the
Fa'afafine , and some indigenous peoples of North America even knew five genders.
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TRANS PEOPLE HAVE NOT OPTED FOR THE ASSIGNMENT OF A SPECIFIC GENDER, OR FOR THE COERCIVE SOCIALIZATION AS A BOY OR GIRL
If the combination of your gender identity, gender expression and body characteristics does not fit within the prevailing cultural idea of gender and sex, you will automatically become an exception. Transgender people are such an exception. Their gender identity does not match the gender assigned to them at birth. But it is good to remember that transgender is a concept and is not seen as an identity for granted. Trans people in the Netherlands also identify themselves with other terms, such as person with a trans history, transsexual, genderqueer, agender or non-binary.
A CISGENDER LENS
Trans people are generally viewed through a cisgender lens in the media. Cisgender people have a gender identity that matches the gender identification assigned at birth based on their genital characteristics. That lens makes journalists see trans people as people 'who were once cisgender', hence the focus on the transition and unfortunate phrases like: 'She used to be a man' and 'He was born a woman'.
The media overlooks the fact that trans people have not chosen to be assigned a specific gender, nor for the almost imperative socialization of children such as boys and girls. Small children have an idea of what a boy or girl should look and behave before they can write and judge each other accordingly. In doing so, they actually hold up a mirror to society.
Trans people also hold a mirror up to society in their own way. For example, they show that gender identity and thus gender is not a matter of body characteristics. There are transgender people who experience that they were "born with the wrong body." It is an understandable explanation for cisgender people if you have undergone a medical transition, but it is by no means a universal experience among trans people. Their gender diversity actually shows that the body is not decisive for gender.
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INSTEAD OF QUESTIONING THE CULTURAL PHENOMENON OF GENDER, THE MEDIA PUTS TRANSGENDER PEOPLE UNDER A MAGNIFYING GLASS
The realization that sex and gender are effects of gender is unfortunately too often lacking in our society. Sex and gender are seen as something biological rather than mental, and therefore immutable. The media now realize that this is not always the case, but they only link this insight to the 'phenomenon' of transgender people instead of to the cultural phenomenon of gender. As a result, gender is hardly ever questioned, and instead transgender people are put under a magnifying glass.
The cisgender lens therefore overlooks the fact that things like the given birth name and old photos have a negative connotation for trans people. A charge that is further reinforced by the stigma of the exception, with all its consequences.
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GOOD REPORTING PUTS THE MAGNIFYING GLASS ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT CAUSE SOMEONE TO BE BLACKMAILED
Mentioning the given birth name of transgender people who are now known by their self-chosen name (be it formal or informal) is called
deadnaming . Well-known poignant examples of this come from the American media, which refer
to murdered trans persons in a manner that is not appropriate with the given birth name . Their identity was thus taken away after their death. This diminishing of identity also happens with living trans people, as happened last week to Nikkie de Jager.
Good reporting therefore does not put the magnifying glass on the transgender person and their transition, but on the circumstances that make someone have to come out or be blackmailed. For example, Matthijs van Nieuwkerk should not have asked his guests about their previous gender on January 15, but should have asked himself why he is so fascinated with it. For example,
De Gelderlander should not have simply quoted Nikkie de Jager's former teacher who mentioned her deadname, but should have pointed out to him how dehumanizing that is. And so De Jager should never have felt compelled to come out, but the people who blackmailed her should have respected her private life.