Trans Journalists Association Style Guide- what can/cannot be said

[Winesalot]

I have linked an archive link so I hope it works.

This is where the state of journalism ‘should be’ in the eyes of this association. I can see a lot of areas that are problematic here.

• don’t mention criminal history unless transperson agrees to have it released
• don’t dead name or ask previous names (mmmm... way to hide said past transgressions)
• don’t mention women unless it means transwomen as well
• don’t even say ‘identifies as’ just say ‘is’
• and don’t give a platform to terfs, truscum (I hate that word) or trans medievalists.
• don’t give misinformation about sports (ummm.... there is plenty of peer reviewed information that proves there IS issues but they say ignore it)
• don’t give emphasis on detransistioning

If you talk to terfs never call them feminists.

There is so much wrong here. There are some relevant points too that would apply when talking about anyone else. I have to pop out but thought to quickly put this up for those who may not have seen it.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200705235423/transjournalists.org/style-guide/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20200705235423/transjournalists.org/style-guide/

Women who question trans ideology are called terfs and transexuals who question trans ideology are called truscum. I wonder what lovely term of enderment they'll come up with for detransitioners.

The who thing stinks to hell.

I honestly don't understand why they are doing this - no proper journalist with any credibility would look at that list and think 'yes, that constitutes good journalism'. They are just making themselves look like a group that are not to be taken seriously. Whhhhyyyyyy?!

trans medievalist - someone who believes they still lives in medieval times and we should all respect this as it literally erases their identity if we declare its 2020 and women are not owned by men nor burned at the stake, slavery is no longer an acceptable practice and peasants should merely do what their local landowner tells them, accept his unfair and harsh judgment in legal matters and should passively accept abuse, poverty and hunger without questioning it because its the Good Lords Way and enduring it is part of religious teaching.

don’t mention women unless it means transwomen as well

Even if you are a believer, this is concerning.

Not only does this mean you cannot for instance write an article about why black women have a higher mortality rate in childbirth than white women, or about managing menopause in the workplace, you also couldn't write an article about these issues even if you included females who identify as trans - transitioning teens are thrown into the menopause when they commence hormone treatments and could easily be shoehorned into an article about managing the menopause in the workplace. And becoming pregnant and giving birth while identifying as trans may also bring medical challenges the rest of us don't face, so could be mentioned in an article about differing outcomes for different groups of women in childbirth.

It's not hard to see whose interests are foremost in this guide, is it?

FAOD, no, shoehorning an only tangentially related issue into an exposé about another issue is not what I was taught constitutes good journalism, even though it is a tactic beloved of zealots. But then again, I don't think the author(s) of this guidance are overly concerned with good journalism. It's utterly bizarre to me of course, as this is the kind of style guide used in the totalitarian state I grew up in.

Only mastectomy, a surgery performed on those observed female at birth, is euphemised (as "chest masculisation"). Who benefits from and who suffers because of this obfuscation?

chest masculisation

I have never heard of this term. Do they think women who have mastectomies for cancer should call the same operation this too? Are there any other operations that have a different name depending on whether it is treatment for a deadly disease or to change someone’s appearance?

Owen Jones has retweeted the Trans Journalist Association. I wonder if he has read this Style Guide?

Calling trans people 'truscum'? How very inclusive Owen....

@Winesalot

What is a "trans medievalist"?

Immediately thought of the serf scene in Holy Grail since John Cleese is also topical.

So we have serf and TERF, @Winesalot!

Ahhhh! The old serf and terf skit has made my day. And made me hungry....

One tries one's best, @Winesalot. And sorry!

Yes SonEtLumiere quite.

If the trans experience requires so much spin doctoring the reality must be falling short. But hey, let’s perpetuate the lie and focus only on shiny happy people’s experiences.

”Or is only centering trans people permitted?“

Yes, @SonEtLumiere - the brave and stunning trans people must be centred in everything. HTH.

Women - know your place. Sorry - menstruators and cervix-havers - know your place.

I saw this 'Style Guide' on Twitter and read through in disbelief. Who on Earth thinks these are acceptable guidelines for media outlets? Is it an American organisation? How damaging to argue that discussions of men's health and women's health are offensive and transphobic! Also, let's sweep under the carpet those pesky detransitioners who are no longer part of the ideology. They don't look great for us trans people so please don't report their painful experiences. I'm fairly new to this but it makes me so uncomfortable to see GC feminism labelled as a hate group. Are we allowed to ask for sensitivity readers too? According to this we deserve no platform and aren't even worthy of the label 'feminist' - because we support women!

They are from the USA. It definitely Seems to be the antithesis of good investigative journalism or even just good accurate reporting.

”While there’s no good data, a Swedish study found only 2.2 percent of participants who sought gender-affirming medical care regretted their transition.” — It wasn't 2.2% who regretted transition, it was 2.2% who asked for further surgery to reverse their transition. That's very different. I can imagine many more may have regretted allowing their bodies to be mutilated, without wanting to subject themselves to further mutilation

Don’t you realise that correcting false statements is literally killing people, FallenIn?