Sex, gender and the BBC

Resources and plausible deniability

My previous post, about bias by omission at the BBC, looked at the reasons why the churn of stories we see everywhere else about this issue doesn’t make it to BBC platforms. There were two I did not mention: mainly because in my experience no one has had the audacity to plead them. They are ‘lack of resources’ and ‘ignorance’.

Just to address ‘lack of resources’: no, there is no shortfall of resources that leads inevitably to bias. There is story choice, and that is all. The BBC has specialised LGBT and identity correspondents and a producer, health correspondents and producers, education correspondents and producers, home affairs teams, a live and continuous TV news channel, live radio news programmes, a large and expanding US team, a website hoovering up copy from agencies and reporters, sports correspondents and producers obviously, and a big politics operation. In all of these fields, the sex and gender story falls.

This week for example the BBC has opted to devote resources to gender affirmative coverage of funding for an Islamic centre in Indonesia for trans-identified men (front page of the BBC website, natch) and has opted not to devote resources to the Kathleen Stock/Oxford Union story. Or compare like with like: domestically it’s covered a trans-identified male racing driver rather than Stock, and internationally it’s covered the Indonesian story rather than the growing disquiet in the US over medical transition of children. These decisions are choices, of which senior editors have oversight - not natural events or happenings.

And when you’re making that kind of choice, and covering stories like Indonesia and the racing driver, you really don’t want to be defending bias by omission on the grounds that a story about sex and gender is ‘niche’.

So this resource argument is very, very weak: though resources of courage and critique could certainly do with a boost.

Then, ‘ignorance’. The ‘we can’t be across everything’ defence.

When you have specialised correspondents and producers, you should be across most things. Health, Identity and Education here are particularly under the microscope - over the last 18 months or so, gender affirmation in UK policy has been generating a rising number of really significant stories with good general public awareness and interest. Some of the correspondents are immensely talented, but it’s a huge, huge patch. So large, and so disparate, that it’s obviously well beyond the ability of the current set up, and structurally-new thinking is needed to bring in a correspondent who will cover this issue, and this alone.

The most impressive and inspiring journalism on this has come from Hannah Barnes, from Newsnight, author of Time to Think https://swiftpress.com/book/time-to-think/ - and it would be wonderful if the BBC deploys more of her meticulous and impartial approach.

However, reality-based BBC journalism on this issue is largely marked by its absence - so with that in mind, and to biff off any suggestion of ‘how could we know’, here’s an (incomplete) list of the stories I pitched/suggested to all sorts of correspondents and outlets at the BBC. Strenuous efforts were made to expand our coverage. All email responses and meetings are confidential, but look at the lack of output.

Impact of transition on families/parents/siblings

Children being 'transitioned' by professionals outside the home eg teachers without the knowledge of parents

Gender identity theory taught in schools and colleges - multiple pegs for this story - examples: database published of academics who report targeting and harassment,  universities dropping / sidelining events, multiple examples, schools dropping 'Trans Tool Kits', Stonewall Champions Scheme launch for schools and colleges - what are the implications, what do schools have to do to score well etc

Surgery regret - penis and breast amputation - case studies of young people living with pain, sterility, loss of sexual function and on lifelong medication

Physical impact of hormones and puberty blockers long term

NHS change in guidance on irreversibility of puberty blockers

Informed consent - families angry that NHS fails to inform them that advice on irreversibility is changed

Gender Identity analysis as part of 'Conversion Therapy' consultation launch

Psychologists' concerned that a 'conversion therapy' ban may prevent people accessing care for comorbidities such as depression, trauma, abuse survival etc. Interviews with mental health professionals

Open letter from approx 180 psychologists to British Psychological Society expressing concern over affirmation and calling for a review of guidelines

Single sex prisons, sharing showers and cells etc (pitched for years before Isla Bryson)

Prison service disciplinary threat (including of extended sentences) if female prisoners do not use 'preferred pronouns' for male trans prisoners

Specific legal case and proceedings of female prisoner assaulted by trans identified male prisoner

Potential discriminatory and intimidating impact of pronoun use and enforcement, plus growing resistance to same

Multiple stories of cancellations such as for eg a young male musician whose gig was cancelled because of his wife's views, children’s’ author leaves publishing completely after harassment and abuse around ‘My Body is Me’ book

Abuse and threats towards women on social media

Social media bans of women and men who do not subscribe to gender identity theory

Physical attacks on women's meetings, multiple pegs, including bomb threat

Reality Checks on Sex and Gender, the physical impact of medical and surgical transition, transgender suicide data   

Reality Check on the EA 2010

Reality Check on FAQs such as 'do I have to use pronouns' 'is it illegal to ask someone for a GRC' 'is it a crime to misgender someone' etc etc 

Single sex wards - trans males sharing with women - fears over privacy, assault, recovery

Mental Health mixed sex wards by default due to trans patients - some women suffering severe trauma and survivors of male abuse having to share with males

NHS executives and senior regional leaders publicly announcing they will refuse to follow the EHRC guidance about the Equality Act 2010 and single-sex care

Lived experience and case studies: older transexuals who don't want gender law reform, older trans person about the physical impact (not a detransitioner)

Multiple court challenges over census and ONS data collection

Group of parents of transitioning children urged then Health Secretary to impose complete moratorium on puberty blockers and hormones for minors

International approaches: impact of full self ID in countries such as Ireland, Argentina

Sweden U turn on transitioning and fall in referrals to children's GI services 

Launch of a further GRA inquiry and consultation

Young female abuse survivors campaigning for male-free spaces, and the growth of ‘radical feminism’ among very much younger women on social media

Multiple court cases, often involving grassroots crowdfunding raising massive amounts - more than a dozen cases - what does this mean for GR and legal clarification going forward. Cases included Katie Alcock, Susan Evans, James Caspian, Ann Sinnott’s challenge to official guidance on the law and about half a dozen others

Multiple whistleblowers (some crossover with court stories - Sue Evans, Kirsty Entwhistle)

Any BBC editor would say ‘but this is such a one-sided list’. It is, but then it’s a response to a one-sided output. This is a taster, and needs to be set against what the BBC did cover. For example, it didn’t cover the abuse of women on social media, but it did cover the abuse of trans people on social media. It didn’t cover attacks on women’s meetings, but it did cover the launch of Marvel’s first transgender superhero. The list of such uncomfortable juxtapositions is long.

The BBC’s hands are not tied. These are active and conscious choices, to cover or not to cover. But that means there’s hope: it means this bias is not inevitable. Different choices can be made, and the BBC needs to start making them soon.