This rule might sound self-evident, or even nonsensical, but this is why it’s important: Press releases contain pronouns. It would be nice if they matched the gender of the person you were referring to.
We recently received a release about s hairdresser with a unisex name (I’ll leave off the real name to protect the guilty — let’s just say it’s “Pat”). The release goes on to extol “his” great designs, and suggest we might want to interview “him.” One of our editors replied, “If [Pat] is gay, bi or trans, we’d be happy to consider an interview.” Then came the response from the publicist: “I just found out that [Pat] is a female, not a male, and not gay, bisexual or trans.”
If I were Pat, I might ask for a refund.
6 Comments
What I find nonsensical, is the content of this article Arnold, in fact it is just plain IGNORANT !!! Poking fun at someone’s gender and corresponding name by you and the Dallas Voice editors tells the public that you all over there are not very sensitive or even educated about gender variance and the issues of pronoun difficulty that accompanies it, becase if you had to deal with this issue in reality on a daily basis, you would have thought twice about writing such a insensitive comment.
Its no wonder why the Dallas Voice is getting such a bad rap these days from its readership………………….
Your joke is NOT funny !!!
What I find nonsensical, is the content of this article Arnold, in fact it is just plain IGNORANT !!! Poking fun at someone’s gender and corresponding name by you and the Dallas Voice editors tells the public that you all over there are not very sensitive or even educated about gender variance and the issues of pronoun difficulty that accompanies it, becase if you had to deal with this issue in reality on a daily basis, you would have thought twice about writing such a insensitive comment.
Its no wonder why the Dallas Voice is getting such a bad rap these days from its readership………………….
Your joke is NOT funny !!!
What I find nonsensical, is the content of this article Arnold, in fact it is just plain IGNORANT !!! Poking fun at someone’s gender and corresponding name by you and the Dallas Voice editors tells the public that you all over there are not very sensitive or even educated about gender variance and the issues of pronoun difficulty that accompanies it, becase if you had to deal with this issue in reality on a daily basis, you would have thought twice about writing such a insensitive comment.
Its no wonder why the Dallas Voice is getting such a bad rap these days from its readership………………….
Your joke is NOT funny !!!
NOT AMUSED — I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about and clearly you don’t either. I said nothing except that the PR rep has NO IDEA what the sex of her (female) client was, and called him a man when he was not, is not, never has been, never claimed to be. That’s bad business. For instance, if I went to a doctor who called me “ma’am” I would not go back. I think people SHOULD be sensitive to the gender identity of everyone — if I were M-F transgender and wanted to be called “she,” I would be upset if someone called me “he” and think they SHOULD try to call me “she.” By the same token, if I am a biological man and my press agent calls me “she” in a press release, I’d fire her. Where’s the joke in that? Read, then think, then write.
This brings back memories of my college friend Chris, who sounds like a such a girl that he would always be called ma’am by the drive-thru operator. He got so used to being called ma’am that he eventually embraced it and would always pick up his drive-thru order with a wink and a smile.
that’s some funny ass shit!
people be confusing me for a prostitute sometimes, when im clearly a lady of the night