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accessHealthNews.net
February 2022
Volume 8 | Issue No. 54
I
n an age where more transgender people are
living openly, many well-meaning individuals,
including health professionals, may shy away
from engaging with the trans community
because of anxieties about offending or
disrespecting someone. For trans people, this
often means there are even fewer physicians in
their area who are comfortable treating them,
which further complicates their ability to access
health care.
Fortunately, these anxieties are easily resolved
through learning and familiarizing oneself with
the unfamiliar. This article will address some of
the most common concerns and questions
about interacting with trans people to enable
more health professionals to feel capable and
confident caring for trans patients.
PRONOUNS
Pronouns are a frequent scapegoat for why
interacting with trans people is supposedly
riddled with pitfalls. In reality, pronouns are an
essential part of everyday language, a part
of speech that takes the place of a name
or names. Words like "we," "you," "I," "she,"
"our," "him," "theirs," and other variations of
those words are all pronouns. Everyone has
pronouns. As such, pronouns are obviously not
a new phenomenon—nor is the use of singular
"they." In fact, the use of "they" as a gender-
neutral term to refer to one person
goes back
centuries, and most people regularly use singular
"they" in everyday speech, whether or not they
realize it.
The proper use of pronouns is both a matter of
grammatical correctness and basic respect.
When someone requests that a certain set of
pronouns be used to reference them, ignoring
that request is equivalent to denying that
person's right to exist altogether. After all, if
someone's pronouns are he, him, and his, but
another person insists on calling him "she," the
other person may as well not be talking to him at
all; they are talking to an imaginary "she."
However, while respecting pronouns is a matter
of human decency, making mistakes is a simple
matter of human error. Showing goodwill and
respect by apologizing tactfully after making
a mistake and then carrying on normally is
all that's necessary to recover from such a
blunder. Excessive apologizing, such dragging
an apology into a tangent or a soapbox, is
inappropriate and will make the trans person in
question more uncomfortable. Simply correcting
the mistake and offering a discreet apology is
the best way to handle making a mistake with
someone's pronouns.
Using unfamiliar pronouns for someone for the
first time is often difficult. Practice is the best
method to become familiar with using a set of
pronouns.
Asking someone's pronouns is best undertaken as a natural part of
conversation. A question as straightforward as "What pronouns would you
like me to call you?" succeeds by indicating understanding and respect.
