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So, the November issue of Seventeen magazine came out and there was a story in there that was suprising to say the least. The story was "My Boyfriend Turned Out to be a Girl!" It was a story about a girl who fell in love with her boyfriend who just happened to be, big twist, transgender. Derek, the boyfriend in the story, was accused of being a liar and a fraud because he didn't share with the narrator that "he used to be a she."
Well, a good friend of mine wasn't going to let it go. Ariel Bustamante has started a Facebook group, "Letter Campaign to Seventeen Magazine":
So I suppose a letter like this would suffice.The November issue of Seventeen Magazine featured a story entitled "True Life Drama: My BOYFRIEND turned out to be a gir!l"
Rather than use this opportunity to educate readers about transgender issues, it never once even uses any terminology (well, unless you consider the slur "he-she" -_- ) but instead furthers the common transphobic assumption that someone who's gender does not match their sex assigned at birth is a deceptive liar and even compares them (at the bottom) to perverts, drug addicts, and older dad's trying to get someone young w/o disclosing their parental/age status.
Please read the article (follow the link) done in poor taste with a terrible accusatory tone from the get-go and write a letter to the editor (mail@seventeen.com) expressing your opinion about the article, the implications it has, and ask them to put an apology in one of their next 2 issues.
The more responses they receive about this the better! Even if you don't read the magazine, it's important to send the message that articles like this will not be tolerated and that we don't want this hateful message being sent to young people who read it. Please invite anyone you can to write a letter, too
This is a response to your "True Life Drama: My BOYFRIEND turned out to be a girl!" article in the November issue of Seventeen magazine. I feel that the story's editor did not consider the implication that it would have on the transgender community and the readers who may or may not understand transgender people. The inappropriate use of terminology and the insensitivity on the matter in the story continues the cycle of transphobia in our community and confuses uninformed readers even more. I ask that you make a correction to your magazine in the next issue and apologize to your readers, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, male,and female, for furthering the transphobic assumption that someone who's gender does not match their sex assigned at birth is a deceptive liar comparable to perverts and drug addicts. By keeping these ideas in your magazine and promoting them, you create a divide between all of your readers that will end up harming many people and creating a stigma attacked to people who are transgender. I hope that in the future you will learn to be more sensitive to issues concerning the GLBT community and that articles concerning to the latter will be taken in a more serious note.
Sincerely,
Adrian Pedroza
Get the full article here and write to Seventeen magazine to make sure homophobia and transphobia never touch the pages of the magazine again!
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@ StufQueerPeopleNeedToKnow I contacted GLAAD through their media incident report form.
I found it rather strange. I guess I'm so used to transgender individuals that the story wasn't shocking in the least. A lot of the accusatory things said I believe were spawned from the age of the individuals. "Derek" would have been more comfortable in telling this girl had they been older and he could legally be on testosterone. But in pre-adulthood, these issues get blown out of proportion, and I found the article disorganized and disrespectful.
I don't buy/support these magazines as it is, and they'll definitely be hearing from me. I'll also be posting this as a link on facebook because I know several friends will want to have their say, too.