{"id":136608,"date":"2021-09-30T15:07:37","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T14:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=136608"},"modified":"2021-10-28T10:44:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T09:44:38","slug":"this-is-where-we-all-can-make-a-discernable-difference-accessmatters-with-cassius-naylor-proud-ft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/this-is-where-we-all-can-make-a-discernable-difference-accessmatters-with-cassius-naylor-proud-ft\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This is where we all can make a discernable difference\u2019 \u2013 accessmatters with Cassius Naylor, Proud FT"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the UK PR, comms and media industries are making efforts to improve on inclusivity<\/a>, one marginalised group in particular is the focus for Cassius Naylor in his work as chair of the Financial Times employee network Proud FT. Empowerment, support and protection of transgender and nonbinary people working within the FT structure, and fair representation of the community in the press, is a passion for Cassius, who shared his experiences and advice in our latest accessmatters<\/a> session.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch the full accessmatters session with Cassius Naylor here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Proud FT is working to lead the way and model how the UK media should be supporting transgender and nonbinary people. As Cassius highlighted during the session, the reporting of transgender and nonbinary-related issues in the mainstream UK press right now needs to change, very drastically and very quickly.<\/p>\n

‘This community is the most at-risk and marginalised<\/a>, yet we\u2019ve all seen how trans issues are being reported in the UK right now<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

Those who work with the media can make a difference – especially those who engage with the public to drive opinion and tell stories. What can the PR industry do to fight transphobia and better represent transgender and nonbinary people?<\/p>\n

The inclusion of pronoun information on social media is particularly popular among Generation Z \u2013 \u2018Gen Z are getting queerer and more liberal because they\u2019re plugged into others\u2019 experiences. Culturally, with my younger brother, for example – it\u2019s like he\u2019s from a different planet. He came out at the age of 15 – if I had, I wouldn\u2019t have got through school\u2019. Pronouns frequently receive scoffing comments on social media platforms. Is pronoun information on social media useful and worth adding?<\/p>\n

\u2018Absolutely,\u2019 says Cassius.<\/p>\n

\u2018We need to engender a place where pronouns are as normalised as sharing names. “Not seeing gender” is not helping to dismantle structural transphobia. It\u2019s like those who say “I don\u2019t see race” – that\u2019s not helpful, at all\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m a bisexual man and secondly a disabled man, but I\u2019m still learning the lessons of inclusion, too \u2013 I\u2019m still trying to get better at this. There\u2019s nothing wrong with getting it wrong \u2013 it\u2019s okay to be on a learning curve. Yes, pronouns are very important.\u2019<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a small thing that can help with your outward-facing communication, but what about within the workplace? Gendered language seeps into work speech without us even realising it \u2013 starting a meeting with ‘Ladies and Gentleman\u2019 (that does not cover everybody) or \u2018Guys\u2019 (sometimes used as a gender-neutral term, which it obviously is not).<\/p>\n

\u2018There are many non-gendered alternatives \u2013 I go with “Hi everyone” or “Hi all”,\u2019 says Cassius. \u2018Those are easy to adopt – just adjust and move on. Practice, practice, practice.\u2019<\/p>\n

The recognition of phrases that are used to disempower \u2013 dog whistles \u2013 are also worth listening out for and actively questioning. \u2018Recognise where that kind of language \u2013 “gender critical”, “biological female”, etc. – is being used; it\u2019s insidious and it\u2019s subtle.<\/p>\n

\u2018Listen to your transgender and nonbinary colleagues \u2013 don\u2019t talk over them, don\u2019t talk for them. Cisgender people can use our privilege to create spaces of safely for our trans colleagues. If you see someone being dogpiled on Twitter, a simple DM or tweet of support can change things for people – it\u2019s a real battle ground out there.\u2019<\/p>\n

If this conversation is new to you and you want to learn more, there are many resources you can engage with to empower yourself with the right information to go on and empower others. Influencers are already sharing what you need to know \u2013 \u2018There\u2019s so many people out sharing insight,\u2019 says Cassius. \u2018The internet is both a wonderful and occasionally terrible thing. It\u2019s given us access to the breadth of human experience\u2019.<\/p>\n

Cassius advised following Abigail Thorn<\/a> – \u2018look up the speech she did at Trans Pride this year \u2013 an inspiring moment of defiance against transphobia\u2019, Kat Blaque<\/a>, and Jay Hulme<\/a>. Groups like Gendered Intelligence<\/a>, GenderGP<\/a>, Stonewall<\/a> and the Citizen\u2019s Advice Bureau<\/a> have even more information.<\/p>\n

\u2018Take a holistic view of this. It\u2019s a worldwide struggle to be intersectional while making sure we treat everyone\u2019s experiences as individual. Filling your space with the richness of other people\u2019s experiences helps.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s an endless web, a massive community,\u2019 says Cassius. \u2018Make sure you\u2019re not just absorbing white voices and male voices. Go out there and absorb and amplify the multiplicity of experience.\u2019<\/p>\n

For more from our accessmatters session with Cassius Naylor, read our write up for journalists on the ResponseSource blog<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to watch the full session and catch up with past accessmatters videos? Check out the accessmatters hub here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proud FT is working to lead the way and model how the UK media should be supporting transgender and nonbinary people – our latest accessmatters session was with its chair Cassius Naylor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":136609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7401,7272,3725,3729],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136608"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144815,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136608\/revisions\/144815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}