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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is a "dead name"? 
[/quote]

"Deadname" is the term for the original name of a transgender person pre-transition. For example, Caitlyn Jenner's "deadname" is Bruce. It's called a deadname because it represents a painful portion of the transitioned person's past.

Using someone's "deadname" could be harmful because by referencing a trans person's former name in front of someone who doesn't know they're trans, you're outing them. But beyond that, activists say it is harmful to use a person's former name in any context. To return the the Caitlyn Jenner reference, activists also say that articles about Jenner should [i]not[/i] use the phrase "formerly known as Bruce Jenner," or anything along those lines. The name Bruce should never be referred to again. For example, some say that when Jenner first publicly announced that Caitlyn would be her new name, articles should not have said "Caitlyn Jenner, Formerly Bruce, Introduces Herself." It should have only been "Transgender Olympian Announces New Name," with no mention of "Bruce" anywhere in the article or headline.

Caitlyn Jenner, by the way, doesn't agree with this- in her recent memoir, she says that Bruce existed for 65 years and she won't erase that. It's an individual thing, I suppose. But the activists say it should never be used.

Recently, there was controversy over an article published in the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia for this very thing. Because the writer, a philosophy professor, mentioned that Caitlyn Jenner was previously known as Bruce, there was a (successful) petition created to get the article removed, accusing the author of violence, deadnaming, and transphobia. The article was retracted and an apology was issued by the journal. An article on the controversy from New York magazine: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/transracialism-article-controversy.html[/quote]

The last paragraph is when I feel like we are running amok with this whole gender obsession. If I decide to become a man, yes I want to be addressed and seen as male and probably by a new name (in my case because my name is very female). However, the fact that you are now  presenting in the way that you feel you're meant to be doesn't erase history. You were not born a male. You were born female. I have seen a trans friend try really hard to recreate/ edit childhood pictures so that she looks like a girl. Honestly it just looked like she was hurting her mom when she burned all these pictures of herself as a boy. I get that it is about the trans person wanting to be perceived the way they feel, but there are other peoples lives involved as well. Shaming your friends/family for messing up or saying something unintentionally insensitive is really obnoxious as well. [/quote]

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