More confusion about the deadnaming taboo. How could I, as a mid-career academic, possibly handle my gender transition without permitting deadnaming? I've got over a hundred papers and a couple million dollars of grant funding under my given name. I *need* to explicitly refer to that history every single time I apply for a grant or a promotion, and every time I give a student a copy of an old paper. Deadnaming just feels like an unavoidable necessity to me. What am I missing here?
@danielle nothing, it is. Being able to entirely avoid deadnaming is a privilege everyone doesn't have (or need).
@CobaltVelvet I think that's my concern: I personally don't want to disavow my given name, and in my case it would be disadvantageous to do so. I absolutely agree with the idea that "no deadnaming" should be the default, but ultimately it's the decision of the person in question. Deadnaming *me* isn't offensive because I am not offended and I have publicly declared that this is so. It bugs me that other trans folk have decided to get angry at cis people on my behalf when I don't care myself.
