Misgendering is the act of labelling others with a gender that does not match their gender identity. Misgendering can be deliberate or accidental; common examples of misgendering a person are using the wrong pronouns to describe someone, calling a person "ma'am" or "sir" in contradiction to the person's gender identity, using a person's previous, pre-transition name for them in place of their current name (a practice called "deadnaming"), or insisting that a person must adhere to the roles or norms assigned to their sex assigned at birth rather than the ones that align with their gender identity; for example, using a bathroom designated for males even though the person identifies as female.
The experience of being misgendered is common for all transgender people before they transition, and for many afterwards as well. Transgender people are regularly misgendered by doctors, police, media and peers, experiences that have been described as "mortifying", hurtful, cruel, and "only making our lives harder". A 2018 study of 129 transgender and other gender-expansive youth, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that "for each additional social context in which a youth's chosen name was used, there was a statistically significant decrease in depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behaviors." Deliberately misgendering a transgender person is considered extremely offensive by transgender individuals.
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This article was written by Roy Tan.