BBC ‘altered gender in trans rape claim’
The woman referred to her alleged rapist as “him” but insiders said that her words were changed to avoid “misgendering” the abuser in an article on the corporation’s website.
The BBC article replaced every reference to “he” or “him” with “they” or “them”. A source said the quote was the subject of heated debate prior to publication. Some journalists argued that the quote should remain intact, while others said it should reflect the trans woman’s preferred she/her pronouns.
It comes amid growing concern among BBC staff that an internal diversity team is influencing what journalists can report, preventing them from covering gender identity issues accurately and impartially.
The victim’s quote was published last year in an online BBC News article about lesbians being coerced into sex with transgender women.
The article, which was the subject of thousands of complaints, cited a self-selecting social media study by Get The L Out, a lesbian campaign group, which questioned gay women about their sexual experiences with trans women.
An anonymous participant told researchers: “I was too young to argue and had been brainwashed by queer theory so he was a ‘woman’ even if every fibre of my being was screaming throughout, so I agreed to go home with him. He used physical force when I changed my mind upon seeing his penis and raped me.”
“They were originally all male references but the woke bros at the news website wanted to make them female because of misgendering,” said a person with knowledge of the matter. “It’s quite shocking. I can’t think of any other situation where we would change the words of an alleged rape victim.”
The BBC said: “It’s routine to have editorial discussions about different stories. Our only intention when deciding on language is to make things as clear as possible for audiences.”
Senior journalists said the edited quote was an example of where the BBC’s style guide, which dictates that stories adopt an individual’s preferred pronouns, conflicted with the BBC’s duty to accuracy and impartiality.
They claimed that the BBC’s 14-strong central diversity team had influence over the style guide, making suggestions to boost inclusive language.
A report produced by the BBC in 2018 appears to support this, suggesting that diversity executives support “all content areas and editorial policy” to “review the guidance on language” used in LGBT stories.
The BBC did not deny that the diversity team had input on the style guide, but a source said final decisions were made by the news division. Diversity executives have long maintained that the department has no involvement in the BBC’s journalism.
The style guide — in-house rules governing the use of language in BBC reporting — was updated in November 2020 with the diktat: “Where possible, use the term/s and pronoun/s preferred by people themselves, when they have made their preferences clear.”
An internal document, seen by The Times, goes further in stating that the BBC should “normalise” the use of pronouns both “explicitly and implicitly” through programming.
Angela Wild, co-founder of Get The L Out, said the BBC was wrong to change the quote in her study. “It’s really unethical and disrespectful to the victim,” she said. “It’s a form of gaslighting for a woman who has already been through sexual violence.”
The BBC News website piece was published last October under the headline “We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women”. It quoted three anonymous lesbians who said that they had faced backlash for stating that they were attracted only to women who were born female.
More than 20,000 people, including BBC employees, signed an open letter describing the story as “deeply flawed” and “incredibly dangerous” for the trans community.
The BBC’s executive complaints unit is expected to rule imminently on whether the story broke editorial rules.
Source: The Times
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