Two outwardly unrelated stories about the NHS, cropping up in the last couple of days, maybe provide some insight into the way in which public, press and, yes, trans community, too, deal with issues in the media spotlight.
Let’s start with some special privilege awarded to a group whose gender creds (and orientation) might just be considered by some members of the public to be ever so slightly dubious. I mean, of course, dancers. Read the rest of this entry »
Speaking, yesterday, to a journalist, who is likely to be writing up yet another “incisive” inquiry into trans issues at the weekend – for the Daily Mail, doncha know! – I was amused by one question, one angle he seemed determined to get back to.
Paraphrased – since he definitely didn’t put it this way – it seemed to boil down to: shit! Where are all these trannies coming from? Is it some sort of evil plot by political correct fascistas and money-grubbing clinicians to turn us all gender queer? Read the rest of this entry »
Concern that the Sun newspaper may have taken its enthusiasm for breaking a news story a step too far found political expression today with the tabling of a parliamentary Early Day Motion condemning its behaviour by Brighton Green MP, Caroline Lucas. Read the rest of this entry »
Those that live by the blog, shall die by the blog – though it is to be hoped, in the case of the trans guy just outed by the Daily Mail, that the end is not quite as literal as that.
He’s been outed – the guy who gave birth to a baby, last year – and it was the Daily Mail that done it. Read the rest of this entry »
The Sun newspaper hit back yesterday at claims that it had failed to mend its ways in respect of its treatment of the UK’s trans community, defending its attempts to locate the trans man who had given birth as being “in the public interest”.
Speaking exclusively to Jane Fae, for Pink News, Interim Managing Editor David Dinsmore asserted that restrictions on reporting in this case were in danger of shackling the freedom of the press to report. Read the rest of this entry »
As pressure to identify the UK-based trans man revealed by press at the weekend to have had a child, Trans Media Watch today stepped into the fray with a sharp warning to the tabloid press to back off – and to respect the rights of the individuals concerned. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes – whisper it low – even tawdry rags like the Sun can do minorities a favour. Nah. Not by coming out in favour of, well, coming out. But by giving issues a good airing – or perhaps, more accurately, public kicking – and in the end moving debate and attitudes on.
So it was recently with their front page shock! horror! exposé to the effect that a woman who claimed over 1,000 sexual partners was actually… a man! Read the rest of this entry »
Oh dear. Waking this morning to a super, sensational (and mostly unnecessary) piece on the front pages of the Sun about a woman who’s over 1,000 sexual partners and – eeek! – she “used to be a bloke”, i couldn’t help wondering if i hadn’t somehow contributed to that.
No! Not sexually. But by being polite to the This Morning programme. Read the rest of this entry »
For all those claiming that careless words don’t make much of a difference to anyone, i give you just one small piece of fall-out from the Sun’s New Year welcome to the trans community.
Remember? Its the one about how the MOD are spending a staggering £7,400 over two years out of a budget of £42bn to support individuals seeking to transition.
Mis-gendered in Morrisons. (Sounds like the title of a radio 4 pLAY!). But there i was, just paying for my lottery tickets, and the helpful lady behind the counter who nonetheless wasn’t paying much attention turned to another assistant and asked them to print out a receipt for “the gentleman”.
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