Articles to read and potentially add:
- https://techpolicy.press/understanding-targeted-misgendering-and-deadnaming-as-hate-speech/
- https://hellogiggles.com/laverne-cox-twitter-essay-misgendering-deadnaming-trans-people-violence/
- https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/what-is-deadnaming
Deadnaming is the act of purposefully or accidentally referring to a transgender or nonbinary person by the name they used before transitioning. A "dead name" is often the name assigned to a person at birth or is their legal name.[1][2][3] The act of dead naming stems from the idea that the person someone once knew is "dead", but the "new" person is alive, so their current name should be used.[2] Deadnaming, however, can be unintentional, especially if the name change is recent. It takes time for people to adjust to a new name, especially for parents. The difference between accidental deadnaming and intentional, is that intentional deadnaming is used to mock, deny, or invalidate an individual's gender identity, while accidental deadnaming is done because of automatic thinking and habit; not malicious intent.[3][2]
Regardless of intent, deadnaming can be detrimental to mental health, as it gives the impression that their new identity isn't respected. It may bring back negative feelings such as gender dysphoria.[2] It can also unintentionally (or intentionally) "out" someone to those who aren't aware of the individuals status, putting them at an increased risk of verbal or physical harm, discrimination, and undue stress.[3][4] It is classified as a microaggression by certain institutions, authors, and studies.[5][6][7][8]
Etymology
The term deadname joins two words, "dead" and "name", together to imply that the given name of a person is dead or no longer used by its bearer. It originated around 2012 in online transgender message boards, blogs, and Twitter. Its popularity surged after prominent LGBTQIA+ writers s.e. Smith[note 1] and Robin Tran used the term in 2015. Online dictionary service "Dictionary.com" officially added the term to its pop culture section.[9] A term can only be added when it has a wide-spread use, a generalized understanding of the definition, longevity, and usefulness.[10]
Community
For some individuals, including but not limited to transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, changing their name is an important and affirmative step in the transitioning process. It can help them begin their lives as the gender they identify with, and shed discomfort with the name assigned to them at birth.[3] The term "dead name" however, is not universally accepted amongst its community, as it implies that transitioning is a form of death.[11]
One study looked at 129 transgender and gender nonconforming youth from three US cities. The group of transgender youth that used their chosen name, showed fewer symptoms of mental health crisis, including suicidal ideation and depressive behavior. Being able to use their preferred name affirmed their gender identity, which directly correlated with lower mental health risks. Mental health risks were lowest when chosen names were used in all four presented contexts.[12]
Distinction
Misgendering
Deadnaming is similar to misgendering in the way that both terms relate to the use of persons gender identity. However, misgendering happens when you use the wrong pronouns, while deadnaming is using an individuals former name. Both are harmful and can be done accidentally and purposefully.[13]
Controversy
Social media guidelines
In 2021, company Ultra Violet published a Social Media Report Card that claimed corporations such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit, profited from hate and extremism against women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ people. Ultraviolet laid out suggested policies for social media platforms to adapt to reduce harm. They asked the companies to "ban and explicitly include cyberstalking, sexual harassment, revenge porn, deadnaming and misgendering, gendered and radicalized disinformation, and other means of virtual sexual exploitation as forms of misogyny and hate speech."[14]
In 2021, GLAAD planned to to give each social media platform a grade as part of an inaugural social media index. It opted not to give individual grades after they determined all the leading sites received a failing grade. GLAAD gave broad recommendations on how each platform could improve. They hoped to work with these sites to improve policies and issue more formal grades the next year.[15]
In July 2022, GLAAD published their yearly "report card" that gave marks to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok based on the protections they had in place to protect LGBTQIA+ users on their platforms. The five platforms they selected "play an outsize role in this ecosystem of hate and misinformation." They all failed with marks below 50/100. Instagram at 48.38, Facebook at 46.3, Twitter at 44.7, YouTube at 45.11 and TikTok at 42.51. While the corporations got points for the policies they had in place already, they lost points based on limitations and taking action to uphold their policies. At the time, Twitter and TikTok were the only platforms to directly ban misgendering and deadnaming of transgender people.[16]
GLAAD's 2023 report card gave updated marks and recommendations to the five major social media sites. This year showed increased marks in all recipients, except Twitter, which had the first decrease in SMI history. Instagram at 63, Facebook at 61, TikTok with 57, YouTube with 54, and Twitter with 33. The most consistent feedback was for the sites to "make an express policy commitment to protect transgender, non-binary, and gender con-conforming users from targeted deadnaming and misgendering." [17]
We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals. Research has shown that some groups of people are disproportionately targeted with abuse online. This includes; women, people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual individuals, marginalized and historically underrepresented communities. For those who identify with multiple underrepresented groups, abuse may be more common, more severe in nature and have a higher impact on those targeted.
In late October of 2018, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, updated its terms of service[18], more specifically its hateful conduct policy[19] to include protections for trans individuals against misgendering and deadnaming. The update was noticed on November 23, 2018, and acknowledged the harm that deadnaming and misgendering had on individuals mental health and well-being. They had conducted research that showed some groups of people are disproportionately attacked with abuse online, which included the LGBTQIA+ community.[18]
The hateful conduct policy labeled misgender and deadnaming as harassment and abuse tactics. A Twitter spokesperson insisted that targeting another use for their gender identity was always a violation of their Hateful Conduct policy. The updated Terms of Service was just them being more specific with types of speech and how they would better enforce them. The policy, however, encompassed more than just the LGBTQIA+ community. It banned sending "media that depicts victims of the Holocaust" and "media that depicts lynching's" to other users. It also banned hateful imagery including, "images depicting others as less than human, or altered to include hateful symbols, e.g., altering images of individuals to include animalistic features." At the time, it was unclear how Twitter planned to implement the ban on deadnaming.[19]
Twitter came under fire after it suspended high-profile political radicals from the platform for violating their Hateful Conduct policy.[19] One of the suspended individuals wrote a commentary piece outlining her issue with Twitter and argued it was a violation of free speech and went against what Twitter claimed to represent as a company that promoted communication, debate, and idea sharing. She called the company hypocritical for not banning other content and implied it was a political move.[20] Another individual who was banned for hate speech called the company's latest moves an attack on right-winged politicians.[21] Other high-profile individuals shamed Twitter for ignoring "scientific fact". On the other side of the aisle, the National Center for Transgender Equality praised the update and called it "a great step forward for inclusivity and safety online." They were joined in praise by several trans users, activists, and allies.[22]
It was later reported that the punishment for breaking any of the Hateful Conduct policies would depend on the severity of the violation. A first-time offender may be asked to remove content or be "locked" out of tweeting for a limited period. More egregious offenses could result in permanent suspension of an account.[22]
Twitter was the only social media company praised by GLAAD's 2021 Social Media Index for their inclusion of rules against dehumanizing, including their police against intentionally misgendering and deadnaming transgender people. They did urge the company to better enforce this policy. Twitter responded by saying, "We welcome GLAAD’s initiative and the opportunity to better understand the experiences and needs of the LGBTQ+ communities on our service," Twitter said in a statement to Axios. "We’ve engaged with GLAAD to better understand their requests and are committed to an open dialogue to better inform our work to support LGBTQ safety."[15]
In July 2022, GLAAD posted their 2022 Social Media Index. This time, the organization gave official grades to social media sites. Twitter ranked third out of the five major sites, with a score of 44.7/100. Twitter and TikTok both got credit for their polices prohibiting users from misgender and deadnaming trans people. However, GLAAD found the training given to content moderators was lacking on all the social platforms. Twitter responded in a statement saying, "At Twitter, we know the public conversation only reaches its full potential when every community feels safe and comfortable participating. We’ve engaged with GLAAD to better understand their recommendations and are committed to an open dialogue to better inform our work to support LGBTQ safety."[16]
Twitter's Hateful Conduct policy against deadnaming and misgendering lasted until 2023, when the corporation was bought by a new CEO.[23] On April 8th, 2023[24] Twitter announced it would only put warning labels on tweets "identified as potentially violating our rules around Hateful Conduct letting you know that we've limited their visibility."[25] Previously, these hateful conduct posts were removed and not just hidden. Within the policy update, Twitter deleted the singular line prohibiting deadnaming. This left many users feeling unsafe on the platform and they planned to leave altogether.[23] GLAAD spoke against the change and called on the company's top advertisers to accept "nothing less than a safe platform for their brands."[24]
It subsequent reversal and changes made to the platform earned it a startling 33 in GLAAD's 2023 Social Media Index report card. This was a 12 point decrease from 2022, and the first decrease in SMI history. GLAAD recommended the company reinstate its policy to commit to protect users from targeted deadnaming and misgendering.[17]
TikTok
GLAAD's 2021 Social Media Index, a "report card" issued to each social media platform that rated safety for LGBTQIA+ users. TikTok, and every other major site, received a failing grade. TikTok responded by saying, ""TikTok is committed to supporting and uplifting LGBTQ+ voices on and off the platform and we care deeply about fostering a welcoming and supportive experience for everyone. We share GLAAD's dedication to the safety of the LGBTQ+ community and will continue working with GLAAD and other LGBTQ+ organizations to help inform and strengthen our work.""[15]
This includes deadnaming, misgendering, or misogyny as well as content that supports or promotes conversion therapy programs. Though these ideologies have long been prohibited on TikTok, we've heard from creators and civil society organizations that it's important to be explicit in our Community Guidelines. On top of this, we hope our recent feature enabling people to add their pronouns will encourage respectful and inclusive dialogue on our platform.
TikTok[26]
TikTok announced on February 8, 2022, that after months working with UltraViolet and GLAAD,[27] that it had updated its Community Guidelines to expressly prohibit misgendering, deadnaming, or misogyny. They acknowledged they had heard from creators and civil society organization on the importance of explicit Community Guidelines. It also enabled a new feature for users to add their pronouns to their profiles.[26]
The update adopted recommendations in GLAAD's Social Media Safety Index to raise the standard for LGBTQIA+ safety online. It also coincides with the Ultraviolet's Social Media Report Card, which has specifically recommended that TikTok implement an explicitly policy to prohibit misgendering and deadnaming.[28][27]
In July 2022, GLAAD posted their 2022 Social Media Index. This time, the organization gave official grades to social media sites. TikTok ranked fifth out of the five major sites, with a score of 42.51/100. Twitter and TikTok both got credit for their polices prohibiting users from misgender and deadnaming trans people. However, GLAAD found the training given to content moderators was lacking on all the social platforms. TikTok gave a statement in response saying, "TikTok is committed to supporting and uplifting LGBTQ+ voices, and we work hard to create an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ people to thrive."[16]
In 2023, GLAAD posted their 2023 Social Media Index. This time, TikTok came in third out of the five spaces. It earned a 57 - up 14 points from 2022. TikTok was the only company in the SMSI that protected transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary users from targeted deadnaming and misgendering, and the only company to provide information on how it detects violations of its policy.[17]
In 2021, GLAAD planned to to give each social media platform a grade as part of an inaugural social media index. It opted not to give individual grades after they determined all the leading sites received a failing grade. Facebook/Instagram CMO Alex Schultz responded by saying, "We believe deeply in the representation of and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community that GLAAD champions. Finding the right balance between giving voice and taking action on harmful content is hard. This is why we partner with experts, non-profits and other stakeholders - like GLAAD - to try to get it right."[15]
In July 2022, GLAAD posted their 2022 Social Media Index. This time, the organization gave official grades to social media sites. Facebook ranked second out of the five major sites, with a score of 46.3/100. Meta, the company that owned both Instagram and Facebook, responded saying, "We prohibit violent or dehumanizing content directed against people who identify as LGBTQ+ and remove claims about someone’s gender identity upon their request. We also work closely with our partners in the civil rights community to identify additional measures we can implement through our products and policies."[16]
YouTube
In July 2021, GLAAD planned to to give each social media platform a grade as part of an inaugural social media index. It opted not to give individual grades after they determined all the leading sites received a failing grade. GLAAD gave broad recommendations on how each platform could improve. YouTube responded by saying, "Over the last few years, we’ve made significant progress in our ability to quickly remove hateful and harassing content against the LGBTQ+ community that violates our policies, prominently surface content in search results and recommendations from authoritative sources and limit the spread of extreme content by our recommendations,. This work is ongoing and we appreciate the thoughtful feedback from GLAAD."[15]
If YouTube is serious about being a safe place for LGBTQA people, it is incumbant upon the platform to protect trans people from harmful misgendering and deadnaming.
An open letter to YouTube from 20 organizations.[29]
Media Matters for America published an article on August 12, 2021, after having identified several examples of high-profile right-wing YouTubers purposefully misgender and deadnaming trans people on the platform. Unlike other social platforms at the time, YouTube had no policy protecting trans people from being misidentified. Twenty organizations penned an open letter calling on YouTube to make its platform "a safer place for transgender people by updating its hate speech and harassment polices." The company identified targeted misgendering and deadnaming of teenagers, parents, and public figures. It cited GLAAD's Social Media Index as an example of how they can better protect people.[29]
Media Matters continued in an article that YouTube's hate speech policy states that the platform will, "remove content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups" based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex, or gender. Media Matters called out YouTube for not enforcing these policies consistently, and cited propaganda against trans people that remained on the platform. Amongst these behavior's were targeted misgendering and deadnaming of kids, parents, and public figures. They claimed YouTube fell behind other social media platforms' actions.[30]
On July 13, 2022, GLAAD posted their graded Social Media Index report card on on the five major social media sites. YouTube ranked fourth out of the five with a score of 45.11/100. YouTube did not comment on their grading.[16]
In August 2022, YouTube ceased advertisements and monetization on a Canadian professors videos after the professor misgendered and deadnamed actor Elliott Page. The video also included much transphobic content. The demonetization of the two videos means neither the platform nor the professor can earn income from the videos. YouTube left the videos up and continued to put ads on other videos from the creator. YouTube released a statement saying, "We set a high bar for what videos can make money on YouTube. Many videos that are allowed on YouTube are not eligible to monetize because they do not meet our ad-friendly guidelines. The videos violate our advertising policies around hateful and derogatory content, and have been demonetized." YouTube admitted to actively looking into their policies but no change had been made. While GLAAD affirmed the platform for showing the deadnaming and misgendering was a violation, they thought it shameful the company left the videos up to an audience of millions of people.[31]
All creators must follow our Community Guidelines, which prohibit content promoting hatred against protected groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.
Part of YouTube's statement about demonetization of content containing deadnaming and misgendering[32]
In June 2023, YouTube continued to take down advertisements from videos where creators misgendered or deadnamed individuals. While YouTube does not publicly list misgendering or deadnaming in their policies, they viewed it as a potential violation of their monetization policy. Under its guidelines on hateful and derogatory content, YouTube can cease advertisements on videos that, "promotes discrimination, disparages, or humiliates an individual or group of people." A Google Spokesperson confirmed that included disparagement of the LGTBQ community. He added that the policy, "may include deliberate deadnaming or misgendering of transgender individuals." YouTube later took down entire videos from a conservative pundit who had partaken in blatant deadnaming, misgendering, and rhetoric against trans and non-binary people. The conservative pundit claimed YouTube stifled her ability to state the "truth" and made it clear she viewed the takedowns of her and other creators videos as an attack.[32]
In 2023, GLAAD once again published its Social Media Index which featured a report card on the five major social media platforms. This year, YouTube earned a score of 54/100, an improvement of nine points from its previous grade. YouTube earned points for having training sessions for moderators that educated moderators on LGBTQ-related issues, their improvements made to diversity reporting, and an "Inclusion Working Group" that helps teams "embed equity into the foundation of the platform and business." However, they fell short in still not providing a policy that expressly protects users from targeted deadnaming and misgendering.[17]
California state law
- https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2021/12/transgender-students-california-deadnaming/
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB245
Perceptions and discrimination
Government-issued IDs
Healthcare
- https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-cisgender-clinicians-can-help-prevent-harm-during-encounters-transgender-patients/2022-08
- https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/transgender-patients-deadnaming-and-patient-identification
Resources
If you are in a situation in which you don't feel safe or empowered to say something, please seek support from qualified professionals and adults who can properly advise you. Helpful LGBTQIA+ hotlines include:
- Trans Lifeline (877-565-8860)
- The Trevor Project (for LGBTQIA+ youth)
- LGBT National Hotline (888-843-4564)
Notes
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