There was once a phrase that read “Watch your language.” The directive is still around but the meaning is quite different in the present.
For those who aren't aware, the Associated Press Stylebook has long been a guide to writing for news agencies. The Stylebook is updated regularly and has brand new rules that aim to tackle the issue of gender identities.
In the Transgender Coverage Topical Guide, sexual desire is not an actual reality that can be present at birth. Instead the person who is thinking of an idea, and they ask the child to accept the idea for the rest of their lives:
The gender and sex of a person is typically determined at birth by parents or by attendants and could turn out to be incorrect.
The manual claims that gender that it's not limited to males and females. Of course, this is true: “Gender” is a new invention by men. This is why cake gender and bird gender.
Do we all have to accept society's new concept of “gender”? The answer is yes.
Experts believe that there is no gender-specific definition of gender, not a binary construct composed of males and females, which is different across societies and changes over time
More from National Review:
The guide advises writers to address subjects according to the gender they prefer to identify with. The guide does not recommend ‘deadnaming' or even referring to the person's prior name because it “can be like using a slur, and could create feelings of gender identity dysphoria to come back.
If a man identifies as female, then that is the woman. Writers should be able to focus on the following:
The guide suggests that the term “identify” can be useful; however, a different phrase “like ‘is a woman' is more to the point than ‘identifies as a woman.'”
Additional concision:
The guide…advises the writers “avoid terms like ‘biological male,' which opponents of transgender rights sometimes use to oversimplify sex and gender, is often misleading shorthand for ‘assigned male at birth,' and is redundant because sex is inherently biological.”
In the case of surgeries and medications designed to physically bring people to their ideal appearance, the Stylebook refers to these as “gender-affirming care” and “gender-confirmation procedures.” Employing “can improve psychological well-being and reduce suicidal behavior” (see the opposite assertion here).
The AP informs us the World Professional Association for Transgender Health “recently decreased its recommended minimum age at which to begin gender-transition treatment, which includes “sex hormones” as well as surgery. It states that hormones can be initiated at age 14 and certain surgeries can be performed at the age of 15 and 17.”
Conservatives, according to the Stylebook, have been firing weapons at the vulnerable youth:
“Beginning in 2020 the conservative-leaning U.S. state legislatures began looking at a flurry of transgender-related bills aimed at young people. Some political experts believe the laws are being employed to motivate voters through creating false impressions that children are in danger.”
Sex-separate sports is especially sinister:
In the two years following, over a dozen states passed laws that banned transgender athletes from specific teams of sports. The opposition says that the rules are unfairly targeting a previously marginalized group as well as that the regulations and oversight within individual leagues and conferences are sufficient to make such legislation unneeded.
Males may have an advantage in athletics over females? This doesn't seem to be the case:
The supporters of transgender athletes claim in addition to the fact that people are different, sweeping rules overblow the widespread nature of the issue and that it's simply not possible to pinpoint exactly what characteristics give any particular athlete, whether transgender or cisgender, an advantage.
And what exactly is a woman?
The broad term “pregnant people” is the preferred way to describe those who are expecting. It also includes minors, transgender people, and people who are nonbinary. It is best to use the expression “pregnant women” only when this term is applied to anyone who identifies as women.
The AP is the mainstay of many news organizations. Therefore, if you thought some publications were referring for “pregnant people” and “sex assigned at birth,” anticipate that the number will increase.
Language is changing rapidly. As we progress along the newly-paved path, things are bound to become increasingly sophisticated. What happens when you're writing about multiple individuals with various gender identities and neopronouns? The story of reproduction might result in “Jane had her (f)are the sperm count tested, while Dick was assessed for her eggs. However, George claimed that ze was not the reason Bob could not impotently conceive xyrs due to the fact that he was injured while playing soccer for women. In the meantime, with regard to Demon, Ruth, xenogender Xena, Mystery and birthing individual Paul it was a matter of timing between beeself, self, xemself, eirself, and bunself. Poor Paul -He's was born with a perpetual period.”
The AP Stylebook catches up with the zeitgeist, and news reporting will adopt an interesting style.
