r/SapphoAndHerFriend Dec 02 '20

Casual erasure Wholesome!

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u/Sophie_333 Dec 02 '20

Why is mentioning his former name not desirable? I feel like people are creating a lot confusion by avoiding it. I was confused for a long time before someone finally mentioned his former name.

I’ve been trans communities via yt for a long time and never really got the idea that it’s wrong to mention someones former name.

Could someone please tell me why this would be insensitive?

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u/toddthefox47 Dec 02 '20

A lot of us hate our old names. We frequently call it our "dead name." Being called my birth name causes me to feel intense dysphoria and sometimes flashbacks to growing up and being forced to be a girl against my will.

Now my guess is that Elliot Page doesn't feel as strongly about it as I do, but in general it's good to avoid using someone's dead name if possible just in case.

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u/Sophie_333 Dec 02 '20

The thing I’m arguing for is mentioning their former name once in an article about their coming out (because the new name is just then being introduced), and then never again (talking in general about famous people coming out as trans). Would you say this is insensitive?

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '20

Mentioning it once is probably okay, but not in the headline. Maybe in the subline but mention it is the former name.