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28-10-2021, 08:29 PM
More than 16,000 people have signed an open letter calling on the BBC to apologise for an online news article about trans women and lesbians.
The piece, published on Tuesday, quoted lesbians who felt "pressured into sex by some trans women".
The letter described the article as "incredibly dangerous" and said it had used a "deeply flawed study".
The BBC said it must "ensure debate and make sure a wide a range of voices are heard".
It is understood the BBC has also received a number of appreciations from audience members about the article in addition to the complaints.
The open letter was published earlier this week by a campaign group called Trans Activism UK.
"The implications proposed by this article suggest that transgender women generally pose a risk to cisgender lesbians in great enough numbers that it is newsworthy, and something the general public should consider as a common occurrence rather than a matter of incredibly rare, isolated experiences," the letter reads.
"It is vital that the BBC, which is a government-endorsed public service that claims to be committed to achieving impartiality with the output of it's content, rectifies this act with a sincere apology, amendment of the article to clarify the falsehoods and damage within, and commits to realigning with their original mission statement."
In response, a spokesman for the BBC said: "The article looks at a complex subject from different perspectives and acknowledges it is difficult to assess the extent of the issue.
"It includes testimony from a range of different sources and provides appropriate context. It went through our rigorous editorial processes.
"It is important that journalism looks at issues - even where there are strongly held positions. The BBC is here to ensure debate and to make sure a wide a range of voices are heard."
In the article, journalist Caroline Lowbridge explained she had explored the issue after several people contacted her about pressures to "accept the idea that a penis can be a female sex organ", adding that she wanted to discover how widespread the issue was.
The women quoted in the piece said they had received a backlash for stating that they are attracted only to women who are biologically female.
The article attracted both praise and criticism on social media, and the article was trending on Twitter after publication.
"The BBC has published one of the most insidious, disgusting and toxic anti-trans pieces yet," said Ryan John Butcher of Pink News.
But the hashtag #IStandWithLesbians also began trending, and Shahrar Ali of the Green Party said it was an "insightful article not for faint-hearted, admirably exploring viewpoints from all sides".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59074096
and here is the article the bbc published
Warning: Story contains strong language
"I've had someone saying they would rather kill me than Hitler," says 24-year-old Jennie*.
"They said they would strangle me with a belt if they were in a room with me and Hitler. That was so bizarrely violent, just because I won't have sex with trans women."
Jennie is a lesbian woman. She says she is only sexually attracted to women who are biologically female and have vaginas. She therefore only has sex and relationships with women who are biologically female.
Jennie doesn't think this should be controversial, but not everyone agrees. She has been described as transphobic, a genital fetishist, a pervert and a "terf" - a trans exclusionary radical feminist.
"There's a common argument that they try and use that goes 'What if you met a woman in a bar and she's really beautiful and you got on really well and you went home and you discovered that she has a penis? Would you just not be interested?'" says Jennie, who lives in London and works in fashion.
"Yes, because even if someone seems attractive at first you can go off them. I just don't possess the capacity to be sexually attracted to people who are biologically male, regardless of how they identify."
I became aware of this particular issue after I wrote an article about sex, lies and legal consent.
Several people got in touch with me to say there was a "huge problem" for lesbians, who were being pressured to "accept the idea that a penis can be a female sex organ".
I knew this would be a hugely divisive subject, but I wanted to find out how widespread the issue was.
Ultimately, it has been difficult to determine the true scale of the problem because there has been little research on this topic - only one survey to my knowledge. However, those affected have told me the pressure comes from a minority of trans women, as well as activists who are not necessarily trans themselves.
They described being harassed and silenced if they tried to discuss the issue openly. I received online abuse myself when I tried to find interviewees using social media.
One of the lesbian women I spoke to, 24-year-old Amy*, told me she experienced verbal abuse from her own girlfriend, a bisexual woman who wanted them to have a threesome with a trans woman.
When Amy explained her reasons for not wanting to, her girlfriend became angry.
"The first thing she called me was transphobic," Amy said. "She immediately jumped to make me feel guilty about not wanting to sleep with someone."
She said the trans woman in question had not undergone genital surgery, so still had a penis.
"I know there is zero possibility for me to be attracted to this person," said Amy, who lives in the south west of England and works in a small print and design studio.
"I can hear their male vocal cords. I can see their male jawline. I know, under their clothes, there is male genitalia. These are physical realities, that, as a woman who likes women, you can't just ignore."
Amy said she would feel this way even if a trans woman had undergone genital surgery - which some opt for, while many don't.
Soon afterwards Amy and her girlfriend split up.
"I remember she was extremely shocked and angry, and claimed my views were extremist propaganda and inciting violence towards the trans community, as well as comparing me to far-right groups," she said.
Another lesbian woman, 26-year-old Chloe*, said she felt so pressured she ended up having penetrative sex with a trans woman at university after repeatedly explaining she was not interested.
They lived near each other in halls of residence. Chloe had been drinking alcohol and does not think she could have given proper consent.
"I felt very bad for hating every moment, because the idea is we are attracted to gender rather than sex, and I did not feel that, and I felt bad for feeling like that," she said.
Ashamed and embarrassed, she decided not to tell anyone.
"The language at the time was very much 'trans women are women, they are always women, lesbians should date them'. And I was like, that's the reason I rejected this person. Does that make me bad? Am I not going to be allowed to be in the LGBT community anymore? Am I going to face repercussions for that instead?' So I didn't actually tell anyone."
Hearing about experiences like these led one lesbian activist to begin researching the topic. Angela C. Wild is co-founder of Get The L Out, whose members believe the rights of lesbians are being ignored by much of the current LGBT movement.
She and her fellow activists have demonstrated at Pride marches in the UK, where they have faced opposition. Pride in London accused the group of "bigotry, ignorance and hate".
"Lesbians are still extremely scared to speak because they think they won't be believed, because the trans ideology is so silencing everywhere," she said.
Angela created a questionnaire for lesbians and distributed it via social media, then published the results.
She said that of the 80 women who did respond, 56% reported being pressured or coerced to accept a trans woman as a sexual partner.
While acknowledging the sample may not be representative of the wider lesbian community, she believes it was important to capture their "points of view and stories".
As well as experiencing pressure to go on dates or engage in sexual activity with trans women, some of the respondents reported being successfully persuaded to do so.
"I thought I would be called a transphobe or that it would be wrong of me to turn down a trans woman who wanted to exchange nude pictures," one wrote. "Young women feel pressured to sleep with trans women 'to prove I am not a terf'."
One woman reported being targeted in an online group. "I was told that homosexuality doesn't exist and I owed it to my trans sisters to unlearn my 'genital confusion' so I can enjoy letting them penetrate me," she wrote.
it's a long read, more at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385
The piece, published on Tuesday, quoted lesbians who felt "pressured into sex by some trans women".
The letter described the article as "incredibly dangerous" and said it had used a "deeply flawed study".
The BBC said it must "ensure debate and make sure a wide a range of voices are heard".
It is understood the BBC has also received a number of appreciations from audience members about the article in addition to the complaints.
The open letter was published earlier this week by a campaign group called Trans Activism UK.
"The implications proposed by this article suggest that transgender women generally pose a risk to cisgender lesbians in great enough numbers that it is newsworthy, and something the general public should consider as a common occurrence rather than a matter of incredibly rare, isolated experiences," the letter reads.
"It is vital that the BBC, which is a government-endorsed public service that claims to be committed to achieving impartiality with the output of it's content, rectifies this act with a sincere apology, amendment of the article to clarify the falsehoods and damage within, and commits to realigning with their original mission statement."
In response, a spokesman for the BBC said: "The article looks at a complex subject from different perspectives and acknowledges it is difficult to assess the extent of the issue.
"It includes testimony from a range of different sources and provides appropriate context. It went through our rigorous editorial processes.
"It is important that journalism looks at issues - even where there are strongly held positions. The BBC is here to ensure debate and to make sure a wide a range of voices are heard."
In the article, journalist Caroline Lowbridge explained she had explored the issue after several people contacted her about pressures to "accept the idea that a penis can be a female sex organ", adding that she wanted to discover how widespread the issue was.
The women quoted in the piece said they had received a backlash for stating that they are attracted only to women who are biologically female.
The article attracted both praise and criticism on social media, and the article was trending on Twitter after publication.
"The BBC has published one of the most insidious, disgusting and toxic anti-trans pieces yet," said Ryan John Butcher of Pink News.
But the hashtag #IStandWithLesbians also began trending, and Shahrar Ali of the Green Party said it was an "insightful article not for faint-hearted, admirably exploring viewpoints from all sides".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59074096
and here is the article the bbc published
Warning: Story contains strong language
"I've had someone saying they would rather kill me than Hitler," says 24-year-old Jennie*.
"They said they would strangle me with a belt if they were in a room with me and Hitler. That was so bizarrely violent, just because I won't have sex with trans women."
Jennie is a lesbian woman. She says she is only sexually attracted to women who are biologically female and have vaginas. She therefore only has sex and relationships with women who are biologically female.
Jennie doesn't think this should be controversial, but not everyone agrees. She has been described as transphobic, a genital fetishist, a pervert and a "terf" - a trans exclusionary radical feminist.
"There's a common argument that they try and use that goes 'What if you met a woman in a bar and she's really beautiful and you got on really well and you went home and you discovered that she has a penis? Would you just not be interested?'" says Jennie, who lives in London and works in fashion.
"Yes, because even if someone seems attractive at first you can go off them. I just don't possess the capacity to be sexually attracted to people who are biologically male, regardless of how they identify."
I became aware of this particular issue after I wrote an article about sex, lies and legal consent.
Several people got in touch with me to say there was a "huge problem" for lesbians, who were being pressured to "accept the idea that a penis can be a female sex organ".
I knew this would be a hugely divisive subject, but I wanted to find out how widespread the issue was.
Ultimately, it has been difficult to determine the true scale of the problem because there has been little research on this topic - only one survey to my knowledge. However, those affected have told me the pressure comes from a minority of trans women, as well as activists who are not necessarily trans themselves.
They described being harassed and silenced if they tried to discuss the issue openly. I received online abuse myself when I tried to find interviewees using social media.
One of the lesbian women I spoke to, 24-year-old Amy*, told me she experienced verbal abuse from her own girlfriend, a bisexual woman who wanted them to have a threesome with a trans woman.
When Amy explained her reasons for not wanting to, her girlfriend became angry.
"The first thing she called me was transphobic," Amy said. "She immediately jumped to make me feel guilty about not wanting to sleep with someone."
She said the trans woman in question had not undergone genital surgery, so still had a penis.
"I know there is zero possibility for me to be attracted to this person," said Amy, who lives in the south west of England and works in a small print and design studio.
"I can hear their male vocal cords. I can see their male jawline. I know, under their clothes, there is male genitalia. These are physical realities, that, as a woman who likes women, you can't just ignore."
Amy said she would feel this way even if a trans woman had undergone genital surgery - which some opt for, while many don't.
Soon afterwards Amy and her girlfriend split up.
"I remember she was extremely shocked and angry, and claimed my views were extremist propaganda and inciting violence towards the trans community, as well as comparing me to far-right groups," she said.
Another lesbian woman, 26-year-old Chloe*, said she felt so pressured she ended up having penetrative sex with a trans woman at university after repeatedly explaining she was not interested.
They lived near each other in halls of residence. Chloe had been drinking alcohol and does not think she could have given proper consent.
"I felt very bad for hating every moment, because the idea is we are attracted to gender rather than sex, and I did not feel that, and I felt bad for feeling like that," she said.
Ashamed and embarrassed, she decided not to tell anyone.
"The language at the time was very much 'trans women are women, they are always women, lesbians should date them'. And I was like, that's the reason I rejected this person. Does that make me bad? Am I not going to be allowed to be in the LGBT community anymore? Am I going to face repercussions for that instead?' So I didn't actually tell anyone."
Hearing about experiences like these led one lesbian activist to begin researching the topic. Angela C. Wild is co-founder of Get The L Out, whose members believe the rights of lesbians are being ignored by much of the current LGBT movement.
She and her fellow activists have demonstrated at Pride marches in the UK, where they have faced opposition. Pride in London accused the group of "bigotry, ignorance and hate".
"Lesbians are still extremely scared to speak because they think they won't be believed, because the trans ideology is so silencing everywhere," she said.
Angela created a questionnaire for lesbians and distributed it via social media, then published the results.
She said that of the 80 women who did respond, 56% reported being pressured or coerced to accept a trans woman as a sexual partner.
While acknowledging the sample may not be representative of the wider lesbian community, she believes it was important to capture their "points of view and stories".
As well as experiencing pressure to go on dates or engage in sexual activity with trans women, some of the respondents reported being successfully persuaded to do so.
"I thought I would be called a transphobe or that it would be wrong of me to turn down a trans woman who wanted to exchange nude pictures," one wrote. "Young women feel pressured to sleep with trans women 'to prove I am not a terf'."
One woman reported being targeted in an online group. "I was told that homosexuality doesn't exist and I owed it to my trans sisters to unlearn my 'genital confusion' so I can enjoy letting them penetrate me," she wrote.
it's a long read, more at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385