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trans2007-04-26 10:20 pm
shemale.livejournal.com) wrote in trans2007-04-26 10:20 pm
(no subject)
On the women's radio show 51% today, there was a brief biographical recount of Dr. James Barry's life (sorry, Wikipedia was the best thing I could find at the moment for those who aren't familiar with him, although there's another article here).
After talking about the rest of his life (which was introduced as "a gender-bending story"), the person telling his story reached the point at which, following his death, the person examining his body discovered his genitals. At which point she (the radio commentator) started referring to him as a woman and using feminine pronouns, claiming he'd been "pretending to be a man."
"Barry died in England in 1864. The woman who prepared his body discovered that the good doctor - was female. James Barry's real name is thought to have been Miranda Stuart. She took on the male persona to gain entrance to medical school in 1809, when it was practically impossible for women to become physicians - let alone enter the military. For the next 56 years Miranda Stuart pretended to be a man .and was, in fact, a top rate physician."
I'd like to email them about it, but I'm not sure I know enough about Dr. Barry or the standards of style on word usage for people who died a century and a half ago and may or may not have been trans, although I do know that the AP Stylebook says that journalists should "use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly."
Does anyone have any more info on this that might be helpful?
After talking about the rest of his life (which was introduced as "a gender-bending story"), the person telling his story reached the point at which, following his death, the person examining his body discovered his genitals. At which point she (the radio commentator) started referring to him as a woman and using feminine pronouns, claiming he'd been "pretending to be a man."
"Barry died in England in 1864. The woman who prepared his body discovered that the good doctor - was female. James Barry's real name is thought to have been Miranda Stuart. She took on the male persona to gain entrance to medical school in 1809, when it was practically impossible for women to become physicians - let alone enter the military. For the next 56 years Miranda Stuart pretended to be a man .and was, in fact, a top rate physician."
I'd like to email them about it, but I'm not sure I know enough about Dr. Barry or the standards of style on word usage for people who died a century and a half ago and may or may not have been trans, although I do know that the AP Stylebook says that journalists should "use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly."
Does anyone have any more info on this that might be helpful?