The appropriate language in the media to talk about gender identity, sexual orientation: the interview

The media bias at play here often puts women who are already the most vulnerable in society at even greater risk. This often includes women of color, immigrant women, women involved in the justice system, lesbian and bisexual women, poor women, and victims of the sex trade (who are often just girls, not yet even women).

For example, the myth that there is an “epidemic of violence against trans women,” specifically “trans women of color” and “black trans women” has been repeated in almost every major media outlet. This is untrue, since FBI crime data reveals that people who identify as “transgender” are less likely than the general population, men or women, to be victims of murder. However, being Black in America or victimized in prostitution (both of which are often at play in these cases), do put individuals at a much higher risk for murder. By obscuring the violence of the sex trade and race in America behind an unrelated identity, like “transgender,” the realities faced by black women and the inherent violence of the sex trade are hidden.