Talk:Harry Dodge

COI edits

I have just reverted a long run of edits that began with the edit summary "Changed biography to reflect artist's wishes." I did this because it violates our WP:COI policy, and also because the edits destroy many, many good sources that were properly referenced inline. If the artist or their proxy wants changes made to the article, they can be requested on this page via the request edit template, which is described on the above COI link, or via the request edit wizard.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 03:41, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

Edit request to change pronouns from "they" to "he" per sources

Dodge was born female. We have the current article using "they" pronouns. Recent reporting in RS says he uses "he". The Statesman uses "he" in this source. A 2008 New York Times article says "Ms. Dodge, who was born Harriet but now goes by Harry and says she does not identify as “either male or female particularly..." This is a bit out of my scope of experience so I will ask around for another more experienced editor to change the article to reflect the above, unless a capable editor can do it based on sources after seeing this. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 06:01, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

The NY Times also uses "he" in this 2015 review. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 06:21, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

A person's own identification trumps sources. See MOS:GENDERID. If they are in agreement, there is no issue. I note that there are no pronouns either on the home page, or the CV page at harrydodge.com. Who is arguing in favor of "they", here? Mathglot (talk) 06:36, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

@Mathglot: Nobody! They is just where we are at at the moment. Do you feel like doing the edits? I'm not Entirely sure about the right way to neutrally say they were born female but now prefer "he", and perhaps the points in between? That material should probably be included in the personal life section, as it is widely reported on in depth (E.g. in this book review in the Guardian, and in the book itself).ThatMontrealIP (talk) 06:39, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Here's a possible complication: if we don't know what pronoun the person themself prefers, then it gets tricky; see this discussion. A possible point of comparison, is Leslie Feinberg (and the talk page). If you feel it merits it, just go ahead and be bold; getting it right isn't hard, just they -> he, them -> him, and so on.

Another approach, is to attempt to do what Dodge seems to do, afaict, which is to avoid pronouns entirely. At first, this seems an almost impossible task. Iit does takes a bit of thought and work, but actually it's workable, and easier than it seems at first. See for example, Albert Cashier. I don't believe there's a single pronoun referring to Cashier in the entire article. It wasn't always like that—see its talk page if interested how it got that way, but that was the consensus in that case. Since Dodge seems to avoid pronouns, the best way to honor the letter and spirit of MOS:GENDERID, in my opinion, would be to follow Dodge's lead and drop all the pronouns. There are only eleven pronouns in the entire article, so it would not be that difficult to do this. Look at Cashier for clues. There may be some additional repetition of Dodge's name, just like at harrydodge.com/bio/, but that's the price you pay. That would be my recommendation, but if there are stakeholders here who might not agree, you should get buy-in on it first. Mathglot (talk) 06:55, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

thanks so much for your insight about the way to get this right. To tell you the truth the scope of the problem exceeds my interest. so I am hoping someone who can take care of this within guidelines will drop in and fix it. I very much appreciate your comments. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 07:05, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

I just went ahead and turned all instances of "they" into "Dodge". The extremely well documented gender fluidity does merit inclusion in the article somewhere, but Iwill leave that to someone else.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 07:10, 6 February 2020 (UTC)