If you don't understand why using her name — Caitlyn Jenner — matters, this should help.
It's just not that hard to do the decent thing.
As you surely know by now, Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself on the cover of Vanity Fair.
And wow, does she look ah-ma-zing!
Just in case your Internet was down, here's a quick recap: The former Olympian, who then went by Bruce Jenner, came out as a transgender woman at the end of April in an ABC special with Diane Sawyer. At the time, Jenner said the preferred pronoun was still "he" and was still using the name Bruce.
Fast forward to June 1, 2015, when Vanity Fair released the cover of its July issue with a stunning photo of Jenner. The caption reads, "Call me Caitlyn."
So, it's pretty clear here that Jenner's name is Caitlyn.
There's even a hashtag that's trending on social media.
If you read the Vanity Fair post or pretty much anything anyone has written about the story, you'll know Caitlyn is her name. In addition, you'll know that Jenner's preferred gender pronoun is now "she."
And if you didn't know, now you do! Boom! Easy.
So simple! So straightforward!
Yet, there are those people who insist on being unkind.
"Sorry... still calling you Bruce," a former child star tweeted in response to the news. It's not just semi-used-to-be-famous people who are making immature and unkind remarks, though. Go to any Facebook comment thread about Caitlyn's Vanity Fair cover and you'll see it happening several times.
Why?
It's not funny — it's mean. It's not about political correctness — it's about respecting someone's identity.
What's the point of being ugly and hurtful?
In a new video, vlogger Nicola Foti (aka soundlyawake) says the things that need saying about intentionally misgendering someone.
Caitlyn's transition might not make a lot of sense to people who don't fully understand gender identity yet. That's OK. It can take time to fully understand something new.
Here's a good rule of thumb:
And listen, nobody's perfect. This is a learning process for so many people. That's what makes Caitlyn Jenner's openness pretty cool. We all have an opportunity to gain new knowledge here.
So if you make a mistake, keep Foti's advice in mind:
"Also, if you mess up — but your intentions are there — if you accidentally call Caitlyn 'Bruce' and someone calls you out on it, don't be defensive or dismissive. But if your intentions are true, great. That's perfect.
But impact is still more important than intent, so if someone is upset that you made a mistake, just apologize for your mistake. Just say, 'I'm sorry. I messed up. I'm still learning. Thank you for letting me know.'
WHOA! SO EASY!"
I highly recommend this awesome commentary on why the "I'm still calling you Bruce" line is pretty much the worst. It's funny and it's true.
Watch the video here:
At the end of the day, there is so much good that will come from this.
While no one person represents an entire group of people, my hope is that the transgender community will have more visibility because of Caitlyn's openness and that we can continue to move toward a place of understanding and acceptance.
I'd say that with a response like this, it's happening.



A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva


An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.