Correction

I submitted an opinion article to the Statesman and it was published with a change that means something different than I intended. My article was “Another Suicide” (My Heart Hurts) and the word “trans*” was altered to “transexual*.”

I found the change inappropriate. As well I would like to include a short explanation about the issue I had with the change.

The word transexual means transitioning between sexes or across sexes (typically – it is a self-identifier and could potentially mean something different to anybody who applies it to themselves). For some people it has a negative connotation due to its meaning and medical association.

The word trans* is an umbrella term, meaning it is a word that means a lot of other words. Hypothetically the words trans* could mean transexual, but the relationship doesn’t go the other way. Trans* could mean transexual, transgender, agender, bigender, genderless, genderqueer, and many more. Transexual doesn’t mean trans*.

By changing trans* to transexual there is an implication that the article is excluding the rest of the trans* spectrum.

I appreciate your time,

Cody Hancock.