Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/04/gender-law.html
…
4 Likes
Why does it need to be reflected on death certificates? I’m all for gender fluidity, but wont’ this cause difficulty for researchers studying mortality rates that rely on accurate death data?
Honest question…
If you are mourning your transgender wife, you probably don’t want her to be referred to as him in the official documentation. For example.
23 Likes
OK, but if you are an actuary looking at male/female mortality rates you probably do want her referred to as a him. Right?
“Won’t someone think of the actuaries??” is a unique bit of concern trolling, I’ll give you that.
27 Likes
If you’re looking at mortality- why leave out data on transgender people?
16 Likes
I’m an actuary. Can’t help it… I use that data so of cousre i think about that stuff.
Seriously, if the person is dead why should they care how the data is recorded? Being transgender is all great and well. i just don’t understand why the death certificate should be modified.
1 Like
Can you explain why you think it would be better for the data to misgender somebody?
14 Likes
What I worry about under Trump - you have a Passport under your original birth certificate- you transition and amend your bc to reflect reality.
You go to renew your passport and can only provide your amended bc - they will only give you a certified copy of your now legal bc.
They won’t give you a passport renewal & deport you to god knows where.
9 Likes
Let’s say i want to look at life expectancy from birth for females. I need to know what age previous females died at, regardless of whether they identified as male in order to make an accurate estimate.
2 Likes
Because otherwise we will get inaccurate estimates of life expectancy. It’s probably a small enough error that it rounds out, but i don’t see why we should make it less reliable.
What does data about a transguy who’s been on male hormones since puberty tell you about women who weren’t?
As a trans woman- I can tell you that my risk of prostatic cancer is quite different from my brothers- as is my risk of breast cancer and heart disease.
22 Likes
Except you’re assuming that a trans woman has the same life expectancy as a cis man, which is probably inaccurate. As I understand it, a trans person who’s been on hormones for a while is more likely to deal with health concerns of their actual, rather than assigned, gender.
12 Likes
Yeah, i think that’s the exact issue im pointing out. Those estimates come from this data and assume that someone who identified as a man was born a male.
I don’t follow your argument. There are certain health risks that are associated with men and some that are associated with women. According to my endo, transitioning essentially means that I’m trading one for the other.
8 Likes
Are you sayiing an M2F woman should have the same life expectancy as a cis woman?
More or less. Obviously there are complicating factors like age of transitioning and such, but as a trans woman, I’m more likely to die of health problems that are statistically associated with women.
10 Likes
How have you accounted for intersex people?
And how has your profession not addressed this issue till now - kinda shoddy workmanship.
15 Likes
Interesting. I would not have expected that. If so, then the data would be fine, but I must admit I’m surprised.
Aside from what goes on the certificate, I really wish that we could just do away with gender markers on driver’s licenses altogether. I’m not 100% sure what purpose it serves. I’m sure it does get used, but I kind of doubt there are much in the way of what I would consider good purposes.
9 Likes
