Trans women are women. #pycon2016
tldr; say “women”, not “identify as women”
“Things that are hard to say are usually the most important.” I am not sure who said this, but I came across this early this morning when my friend Tyrone Grandison shared the comic from Stuff No One Told me. This is why I am writing this post.
Today, during the Pyladies lunch at PyCon 2016, while celebrating women, I said the following, “The majority of the new 2016–2017 Python Software Foundation board members do not identify as men.” The words I had used impacted trans women in the audience in a way that others them. This was brought to my attention, and I sincerely apologize for the words that I have used.
Today, I learned that the word ‘identify’ is problematic in this context, because it sounds like code for ‘pretending to be’, implying the possibility of delusion. To some trans women, this feels like gaslighting.
Trans women are women. A better way for me to say what I said would have been to say, “The majority of the new Python Software Foundation board members are women.”
I learned about the poor choice in words through a few conversations and emails. All of these were done on a 1-on-1 basis. I am glad that all the individuals who reached out felt comfortable to do so. This means a lot to me. While I don’t know what it is to be transgender, I imagine it is tiring to have to educate individuals when they make such errors. We should all be able to live in a world where we are able to just be without having to explain our existence.
The individual conversations have help me. However, by standing on stage and using the wording that I had, others may unknowingly continue usage of the language just by mirroring my behavior. To help create a world where others are using the best language they can be, I wanted to write this blog post so others can learn from my error. Furthermore, I wanted to let those that did not raise a concern to me to know that you have been heard, and I hope you accept my apology.
Lastly, I wanted to say, thank you to those who made time today to help me edit this post. I really appreciate it. ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
