AP Stylebook Issues Guide for Transgender Coverage
The Associated Press Stylebook, which for decades has served as the default style manual for most news organizations, has issued a “Topical Guide” for transgender coverage that encourages writers to not give a platform to non-'woke' claims and sources in an attempt to balance a story by including all views.
The guidance appears to explicitly embrace the language and claims of transgender activists, a move likely to steer newsrooms away from objectively framing the issue.
The AP Stylebook has issued prior guidance related to gender and sexuality, and some of that is repackaged in the Topical Guide. But it does include some updates, together providing an extensive reference for journalists.
The Transgender Coverage Topical Guide encourages writers to refer to subjects according to their preferred gender identity. The guide condemns referring to a transgender person’s previous name.
The guide explains that the word “identify” can be useful, but “‘is a woman’ is better than ‘identifies as a woman.’”
The guide describes the term “sex” by explaining “a person’s sex is usually assigned at birth by parents or attendants, sometimes inaccurately” and further advises writers to “avoid terms like ‘biological male."
The guide criticizes efforts to maintain sex-specific sports and denies that men have an athletic advantage over cisgender women.
There is updated guidance on characterizing pregnancy as well. Previously, the AP Stylebook had endorsed the gender-neutral framing “pregnant people,” explaining that “the inclusive term ‘pregnant people’ is preferred when describing people who are pregnant. It takes into account pregnant men and nonbinary people.
In 2017, AP Stylebook embraced “they” as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun.
The guidance appears to explicitly embrace the language and claims of transgender activists, a move likely to steer newsrooms away from objectively framing the issue.
The AP Stylebook has issued prior guidance related to gender and sexuality, and some of that is repackaged in the Topical Guide. But it does include some updates, together providing an extensive reference for journalists.
The Transgender Coverage Topical Guide encourages writers to refer to subjects according to their preferred gender identity. The guide condemns referring to a transgender person’s previous name.
The guide explains that the word “identify” can be useful, but “‘is a woman’ is better than ‘identifies as a woman.’”
The guide describes the term “sex” by explaining “a person’s sex is usually assigned at birth by parents or attendants, sometimes inaccurately” and further advises writers to “avoid terms like ‘biological male."
The guide criticizes efforts to maintain sex-specific sports and denies that men have an athletic advantage over cisgender women.
There is updated guidance on characterizing pregnancy as well. Previously, the AP Stylebook had endorsed the gender-neutral framing “pregnant people,” explaining that “the inclusive term ‘pregnant people’ is preferred when describing people who are pregnant. It takes into account pregnant men and nonbinary people.
In 2017, AP Stylebook embraced “they” as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun.
