Nov. 18, 2020, 5:52 p.m. by Anna
To Whom it May Concern,
I’m writing in hopes to bring to light a grievance I have.
Currently, when a customer picks up their prescriptions, their sex is listed as “gender” on the prescription in question. This is harmful for clients who are transgender and/or intersex. I believe there are protocols that Kroger could consider implementing in order to better service the medical needs of the entire community.
As I’m aware, Kroger services most, if not all, of the United States. The UCLA lists that there are 1.4 million transgender people in the USA, and many experts believe that number to be much higher. According to the Intersex Society of North America, intersex individuals equal about 1 in 100 people (the same percentage as the amount of redheads). By listing people’s assigned sex at birth as their gender, the company distances itself from its customers. The amount of people who may feel dysphoric or be incorrectly identified is not an insignificant amount of your potential customer base.
As medical professionals, I think it is incredibly important that the company recognizes the scientific basis of gender and of sex. Stanford medicine says “Sex is a biological trait that is determined by the specific sex chromosomes inherited from one’s parents… Gender, on the other hand, is socially, culturally, and personally defined. It includes how individuals see themselves (gender identity)”. Stanford professor of medicine, Marcia Stefanick, PhD., says “We don’t know how to measure gender. Sex is generally assigned at birth, based on external genitalia, after which a broad range of biological, particularly reproductive, sex differences are assumed.”
Across a wide range of peer-reviewed articles, the scientific consensus is the same: gender and sex are not the same, and the psychological benefits of correctly gendering transgender people cannot be understated.
I would argue that because most people are assigned a sex based on external appearance of genetalia as an infant, many intersex people have been assigned a sex at birth which is not accurate. While Kroger could simply change the prescription documentation to say “Sex” instead of “Gender”, it still may not be accurate scientific information since most people have not had their sex verified through chromosomal and physiological analysis.
What my friends and I have noticed is that Kroger’s competitors do not list identifying information such as sex or gender on prescriptions. Having a customer’s sex or gender listed on their printed presciption documentation is something that is not required, otherwise this issue would be more commonplace. To be sure I contacted my doctor reference, who is in agreement with me. At the moment, Kroger’s practice stands out as medically inaccurate and unnecessary. For me, this is an automatic reason for taking my business to your competitors instead, even given additional cost.
Transgender and intersex people face a disproportionate amount of barriers in seaking medical treatment, which leads to a lot of people to decline medical care. There are some practices Kroger could adopt to help mitigate the harm that happens, such as as offering an optional pronoun section so pharmacists and techs can correctly and personably talk to their customers, and encouraging pharmacists to avoid gendering people they don’t know (ie: “thank you” vs “thank you, sir”). I could see how it would be helpful for pharmacists to know if a customer may be pregnant or breastfeeding, in which case I wonder if it would be possible to have sex be noted in electronic documents. I also think it would be beneficial to consult experts who may be able to educate the company about additional measures that could be taken to best meet the needs of a diverse client base.
I hope this letter finds you well and is helpful for implementing change which will benefit your company. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Click here to see the complaint and comments
