Confused Language Leads to Confused Thought
29th October 2022
A Vermont middle school soccer coach and his daughter were suspended allegedly for complaining about a trans female in the girls’ locker room.
Reading the story is very confusing, as the reader has to continually do mental gymnastics to keep in mind what the writer means by “trans female.”* The reader would have a much easier time understanding the story and its background controversy if the writers had just used clear, concise language: “A Vermont middle school soccer coach and his daughter were suspended allegedly for complaining about a boy in the girls’ locker room.”
The article writer could then explain that the school thinks the boy should be allowed in the girls’ locker room because the boy thinks he’s a girl; that the school believes the boy deserves for everyone to agree with his thinking that he’s a girl; and that the girl and her father need to be punished for their bigotry in objecting to allowing the boy who thinks he’s a girl to enter the girls’ locker room. Simple. Clear. The writer later summarizes the father soccer coach pointing out that the person coming into the girls’ locker room to change clothes is male, but until then a reader who is not up on the latest trendy lingo is left in confusion about why there’s a problem.