Hi gang! As you know, we’ve had the first installment of The Trans* Series, a fantastic piece by Parker Molloy, and I just wanted to touch base about a little concern of mine, and to let you know about another option for writers.
As I’ve mentioned in the comments here and elsewhere, I’m really on the fence about the concept of this as a SERIES, with a special header, because our goal is to show the wildly different topics and viewpoints and interests of trans* people, and I think that separating those stories from the rest of the site’s content can be marginalizing, though it helps get the word out that we’re looking for trans* stories and makes it easy for people to find them all in a tidy place.
This morning, I happily agreed to an author’s wish to run their story outside of the series, and I just want everyone to know that that’s always an option. If you want your story to be part of The Trans* Series, it can be, and if you’d rather have it run like any other piece, we’re pleased to accommodate that.
SO, please continue submitting, merrily, and know that you have options about how your story will appear.
The Toast: now with extra editorial handwringing!
Tags: editorial concerns, lgbt, the trans* series
I love the picture of the unique snowflake for this story.
You’re doing a great job. BIG UPS!
I guffawed at “now with extra editorial handwringing” because it describes my own place of employment so accurately. Am somewhat worried that you’re looking over my shoulder as I type this.
I know I just made a criticism earlier but I really want to stress that the amount of thoughtfulness you’re putting into this is amazing, gratifying, and I have every confidence in you, Mallory, and Nick to do this well.
Aw, thanks. We’re always going to screw shit up like everyone else, but we try not to.
Ditto on the thoughtfulness. I’ve been spreading the word to trans friends to pitch you if they feel so compelled. It’s really rad to have you three care so much about varied voices.
Editorial handwringing is a welcome treat when the rest of the world seems to rely on editorial poo-flinging.
I like it here.
Thank you for the thought you’re putting into this. It’s got to be a hard line to walk: you know your readers want to hear from authors who can speak of their rich and varied life experiences as members of a societally marginalized class*, but how do you request pieces from those authors on those life experiences without further marginalizing them?
It does seem like this clarification – that trans authors’ experiences will be published and embraced here, and not only under the umbrella of a trans series – is a good start.
*And you further know your readership includes members of that marginalized group, who want to see themselves represented.
The tags seem like a natural place to sort articles. One option would be to request trans* stories, then run them without a series header but hope that readers who want more trans* stories will know to click the “trans*” tag?
I wondered about that, too. Editors*, if you have time and inclination to expand on that, I’m curious: is there a reason these submissions are largely being grouped together under an umbrella title in addition to the tags?
I can imagine all kinds of reasons, including increased visibility for the articles/authors and for the site’s content or to foster a greater sense of community inclusive of trans members (and I imagine the former would help inform the latter), but I’m curious if there’s an established editorial intent behind this choice.
*Edited to add: And of course, authors! If you’re a writer for the trans series, or a writer not for the series who also happens to be trans, and you have an opinion on these writings being grouped together, I’m eager to hear it.
I’m not an author, but am transsexual (see disclaimer).
Personally, I don’t have any objections to trans articles being grouped together as a series. I like it shows an ongoing commitment to include the perspectives of trans* people. It’s more immediately obvious for people who haven’t necessarily seen earlier posts on trans* topics. Especially with the option of running trans* articles outside of that series (and with editors who are concerned about this issue), I don’t find it troubling.
That said, let me share my identity disclaimer: my relationship with trans* identity is weird and so my opinion on this may not be super representative or relevant. This may be a weird distinction to make, but I guess I consider myself more a man with transsexual history rather than a transman. I became really uncomfortable with some aspects of the trans* community and sort of drifted away as my transition progressed. This is completely the opposite of what I thought would happen when I was younger and still sort of makes me feel guilty.
This pointless comment was brought to you by crippling anxiety, caffeine, and procrastination.
I for one would love to hear more about this!
I can go on about this at great length, but feel weird doing so in person. I’m afraid you’ve just volunteered to receive a huge email on this topic sometime this weekend.
Send it!!
This does seem to be a site where everybody reads the tags. Then again, that’s because 99% of them are jokes. Which might getting in the way of training readers to use the tags as useful finding tools.
This is only semi-related but every time I open the editorial calendar I am struck anew by how much I love everyone’s names in this series. BROOKE. LIAM. AUDREY. SYDNEY. I am getting so many crushes.
ALSO a verbatim conversation Nicole had to have with me about this series:
ME (after reading through a bunch of the pitches): Wow, these articles are so great and well-written and funny, and these writers are all so cute and queer. Would it be unethical for me to–
NICOLE: Yes.
Wait until my wildly popular upcoming submissions call: “Make the Case for Being the One to Drag Mallory Out of Her Glorious and Terrible Witch Solitude.”
“I’ll go out with you, but only for an hour, and then I’m going to want to go home.”
I still think you and the waitress from Ruth’s Diner have a future together.
(Mallory and I stopped for lunch at Ruth’s Diner, which is in Utah’s Emigration Canyon, on our way to hit up Pride together, and we were just two normally-dressed ladies trying to fit as many biscuits in our faces as we could manage, and the waitress was cute and said “are you guys on your way to Pride?” and everyone had a moment, and then more biscuits.)
I <3 Utah. I do. For years I used to go there for work every month, to the crazy conservative far north and south and also the less so middle, and had 99% good times with people, most *wildly* unlike myself.
Also I went on a picnic to a creek in Emigration Canyon with The One Who Got Away. *sigh* Miss you, UTie.
I know this is NOT the point, but as Ruth’s diner has both the nicest waitresses and the BEST BISCUITS in the Salt Lake City area.
EXACTLY THIS. I was just recently saying that dating and love and stuff are all well and good, but all I really want in life is to be somebody’s Witchy Maiden Aunt.
Witch Solitude Solidarity! I can’t tell you how many people I’ve dated I’ve told this to. Oh wait, yes I can. IT’S ALL OF THEM. I just turned 35 this year and I feel I’m finally old enough to claim the title spinster aunt. I’ve been waiting for this day for years, I tell you. YEARS.
*blush* witch solitude is the best though. I think she just needs a coven
This is the inappropriately personal question that I wish I could ask–how did you decide on your new name? I am totally fascinated with the idea of a grown up choosing their own name (also applies to teenage/adult cis people who wholesale change their names by picking a new one).
Based on my friends, it seems like they choose a name they like the sound of, or that has meaning to them. It’s largely the same way that parents choose a name for children. There are similar patterns of timeliness – so a lot of the same names end up coming up often. Some of the trans guys I’ve known are likely to have -den as the end of their name.
I can’t speak for myself though – I lucked out and my parents named me Brook
I have been asked questions that are far, far more inappropriately personal than that.
I chose my name when I was around 16. A friend and I read through baby name websites to make a list of options that we liked. Over the next couple of months, I gradually pared down the list until there was only one option left. I’m happy with it, but I do sometimes wish I had chosen something that my non-English-speaking relatives could more easily spell and pronounce.
I am a cis-person who changed her name wholly: I didn’t hate my birth name, it was fine, only I wanted a better, fancier name, like people have in books. (I also at the same time decided that although I didn’t hate my life, I wanted to craft a better, fancier life, like people have in books. I have moderate, but not total, success with this). After some thought (and a brief experiment with an extravagant fantasy princess name), I decided I wanted a name that made me sound like a private detective (having a gender neutral name also really appealed to me).
As a result of this I am very, very good at immediately switching to calling people by a different name if they want. One of the services I can offer to friends and acquaintances is to help them try on a different name, for as long or short a period as they feel like trying it, by addressing them and introducing them by it.
My name is McKinley Valentine, by the way.
Gender Neutral Private Detective! I love it.
It’s a really good sign about any sort of publication that the editorial department, no matter how big, takes care to get its stories and details as correct and accurate as possible. I understand the handwringing, and while you may think it’s uncomfortable, it makes me feel more confident in my choice of letting this website warm my cold, cold heart.
On “Trans*” vs “Trans” – I’m personally pretty unlikely to ever use the asterisks. Both because of the odd pronunciation “trans star”? and also because I find that trans is usually shorthand enough to be encompassing. I usually see trans* used more by non-binary DFAB trans men/genderqueer folks.
I think whenever someone generally liberal is in doubt, they will err on the side of the way-more complicated name because they don’t want to unintentionally exclude anyone. This is how you get well-meaning straight people into saying things like “LGBTQIAA,” which nobody in real life has ever said out loud.
Queer seems to cover those bases well- or at least in the realms I inhabit.
“Quiltbag” is a never term though
If only my parents had had the sense to hyphenate my little sister’s last name her initials would have been LGBT. Alas their commitment to being well-intentioned but somewhat clueless liberals ended at having a lot of “sassy gay friends” in the 80s.
I am a cis-person who changed her name wholly: I didn't hate my birth name, it was fine, only I wanted a better, fancier name, like people have in books. (I also at the same time decided that although I didn't hate my life, I wanted to craft a better, fancier life, like people have in books. I have moderate, but not total, success with this). After some thought (and a brief experiment with an extravagant fantasy princess name), I decided I wanted a name that made me sound like a private detective (having a gender neutral name also really appealed to me).
As a result of this I am very, very good at immediately switching to calling people by a different name if they want. One of the services I can offer to friends and acquaintances is to help them try on a different name, for as long or short a period as they feel like trying it, by addressing them and introducing them by it.
My name is McKinley Valentine, by the way.
Witch Solitude Solidarity! I can't tell you how many people I've dated I've told this to. Oh wait, yes I can. IT'S ALL OF THEM. I just turned 35 this year and I feel I'm finally old enough to claim the title spinster aunt. I've been waiting for this day for years, I tell you. YEARS.
I look forward to series contributors explaining how they each prefer to be identified, as I am 4,000 years old and lived at a time when even “tranny” was acceptable to say without fear of giving offense, at least among friends. I would never do it now, but the asterisk just makes me look for a footnote, and that in itself seems a little mean.
I look forward to series contributors explaining how they each prefer to be identified, as I am 4,000 years old and lived at a time when even "tranny" was acceptable to say without fear of giving offense, at least among friends. I would never do it now, but the asterisk just makes me look for a footnote, and that in itself seems a little mean.