OK, how should we react to the recent Twitter suspensions of Jordan Peterson and then David Rubin for deadnaming and misgendering Elliot Page when referring to “their” past?
If a trans adult person, who has transitioned (or declared such) is a public figure, then it is perfectly legitimate to refer to the person’s pre-transition life with the pronoun and name in effect then. It is simply referring to public historical fact.
So referring to the star of Juno (2007) as Ellen Page is perfectly legitimate. (Was also in 'Inception' as I recall).
Likewise, it would be legitimate to refer to Chelsea Manning’s activities in the Army before transition as Bradley. (Since Chelsea has had issues with refusing grand jury subpoenas, accuracy in reporting seems all the more appropriate.) And Caitlin Jenner's life as Bruce (and Olympic athlete) as such. Of course, when referring to them in the present, their desired names, pronouns and gender designations should be honored (as on Twitter). It's almost a grammatical rule.
The Internet has made it more likely that someone is a public figure. I would say if someone (as a social media influencer) has a large volume of followers, that counts. Someone who is a business owner and publicly known as such, yes. Someone with smaller volume of followers or income (not self-sustaining) but claiming political influence (as with me on gays in the military in the past), yes. An ordinary wage-earning worker with no substantial public presences, well, no.
With a private person, divulging the prior name and gender might be a privacy violation. When you see a clothed person in public, you're normally not entitled to know for sure what their private parts might look like (without explicit consent, anyway). Of course, cisgender adults (especially white males) are often conspicuously so anyway. With others, there might be a little doubt on sight, but who cares. It isn't 'your' business.
With minors, I've followed a lot of reputable literature in the past months. Parents and local school systems should be able to handle the relatively rare situations of full dysphoria in younger children without bombastic state laws (sometimes a supervised social transition is appropriate, just not very often). As for bathrooms, well, if there are only stalls, well, you don’t see anything anyway. School systems would have design locker room policies for P.E. and sports carefully. It’s not one size fits all. But there is problem with faddism in teens, especially some teen girls, which have blown the issue wide open in some places (see books reviewed here on June 9).
So, unlike David Pakman, I don’t have a problem with how The Hill handles the question. Public figures aren’t entitled for as much attention to their 'feelings'.
Visual privacy, of course matters. As an elderly man, I never wear shorts. A few jobs might recommend them (like post carrier). But I would feel it indecent to wear them. I recall a carpool conversation back around 1971. 'A lot of guys go bald in the legs'. Can also be a sign of artery disease, for that matter. I, like many elder Americans, despite having escaped COVID so far (as far as serious disease) am far from optimal in health.
Trailer for Juno:
(Posted: Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 3 PM EDT)