Yesterday’s Telegraph story confirms the worst - systemic bias favouring pro-trans narratives over a decade. Change is happening, but is it fast enough?
Excellent; passionate. Thank you to all the journalists working on the inside, and I do understand those who keep their heads down. I have a complaint to the ECU pending - can’t wait to see the flannel I get back.
I think though, that the BBC is ultimately f….ed, and I used to feel sad about that but not really any more. They deserve all they get.
Keep going, push hard now as they are weakened. Pour energy into everything you are doing as there is an open window that won’t stay that way if you let them close it.
You are doing such valuable work. Now is a real chance to change things permanently. Good luck!
Thank you so very much for everything you’re doing. It has meant a great deal to me personally and I’m so very grateful for your tireless work.
I’m the mother of a trans identified adult (female) who bought into this ideology hook, line and sinker a decade ago - and now has a beard and no breasts to show for it.
Our experience as parents and family are not unusual - we’ve been estranged by our daughter (and wider family pitted against us) for 8 years now because, while we supported and loved her, we had concerns about some of the issues…health risks, single sex spaces, the importance of facts and evidence based reality.
The BBC, our paid-for national broadcaster, has provided the backdrop to this most painful decade, with a slew of output viewed only through a transgender lens. The single message coming into our home night and day from these programmes is one way traffic - constantly painting our concerns and reality based views as bigotry, transphobia and parental cruelty. It’s shoehorned into everything: television, radio, website, children’s programming, content aimed at women, news, features, religious content. No part of BBC output has been free from this gaslighting and dishonesty.
It has been distressing and mentally draining, compounding our grief, and any complaints we’ve made have gone nowhere.
Of course it’s important to represent and reflect all strands of society via different viewpoints. But it has all been one sided. No one has ever represented the views of a mother in my position or a young woman who has decided to detransition. Vital stories of huge interest and importance - medical, human, scientific, safeguarding - have been missed. I used to love the beeb, now I feel only contempt for those who have debased it so thoroughly. For shame on them.
The propagandising the BBC has done directed at children, young adults and teachers via its programmes, News reports, website and teacher training guides is unforgivable. I am so very sorry for what you are going through. I left my job in education because I was not willing to unquestioningly 'affirm' a young child.
Young women and their families have disproportionately borne the brunt of this 'cult'.
Thank you Jo - and for your courage in not going along with the affirmation narrative. This ideology is misogynistic in the extreme and it breaks my heart that so many young women are being encouraged to hate and reject their female bodies.
Thank you for sharing your story. The BBC has a huge responsibility for sharing this social contagion. A painful decade indeed. They can’t walk away as if nothing happened.
And the biggest takeaway from your story is just that. A decade. You, like many, many others have been living with this for too long. A generation lost. The numbers are NOT small
Thanks for sharing this. A friend is currently facing the same challenges with her teenage daughter. Her horror when she discovered that there was another side to the issue that she had been unaware of thanks to the BBC and The Guardian was indescribable - she felt utterly betrayed. Now she fears that her initial approach was ill-informed and harmful - hopefully it isn't too late.
Thank you for sharing your experiences which are heart-breaking and enraging in so many ways. A friend has had a similar family situation, with all the distress and difficulties you describe. I heard a short piece on Radio 4 which I sent her and she found helpful. It is no longer available on BBC Sounds (strange that) but I have found this: https://www.bayswatersupport.org.uk/mother-and-daughter-evan-davis-radio4/
Thank you for sharing this. Of COURSE it's not available on BBC Sounds! It is precisely the sort of story that is, and has been, censored! Quite ironic that near the end, Evan Davis says, "trans supporters don't really like to hear stories like this." Huh!
These are careerists using contradictory zealotry which infact denies based humanity im sure those men who denied women the vote, or those for whom maternity wards require agency and dignity ? I am sorry for the trauma you and your child have suffered :https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dP_IlFquX5s&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1BVQ%3D%3D
No mention of LGBT+ (except as a tag at the end). Nor queer. The headline accurately refers to 'same-sex relationship' and the word lesbian is used in the article. Reading this felt like we're finally seeing some of the nonsense roll back. Or as a better connected, sharper pal suggested: 'Looks like Josh Parry has been to a fact-based training workshop at last'.
I think that's just a sop. The activists are still in there and I don't see much evidence of a mea culpa from the top. We shouldn't let down our guard for a moment.
And now, in a staggering piece of timing, complaints against newsreader Martine Croxall have been upheld by the ECU because she made a facial expression when, off her own bat, correcting 'pregnant people' to 'women' on a news report. It was seen as taking a side in a 'controversial matter'* N.B. 'Pregnant women' was also what the author of the report had used, but whichever blue-haired loon wrote the script changed it to 'people'.
So, let me get this straight: in Alice in Wonderland World 'pregnant people' is an utterly ordinary, well-understood way of referring to gestating women, but using the word 'woman' is what is 'biased'. I have never had any of my complaints about rapists, murderers, faeces-smearing fetishists, gun-building, paedophile men being referred to as 'women' and 'she' upheld.
That was my understanding also. We know, don't we, that many, many organisations and institutions are using ideological, not factual language. Seems very likely to me that a press officer would be one such person.
Just today the BBC have UPHELD over 20 complaints against Martine Croxall over the 'pregnant people' revision, to the word woman. Oh, and because she rolled her eyes.
Good article that details the overview of the BBC’s failures in reporting gender issues and the adverse impact of gender ideology on truth and reality.
It like the old adage of “it’s not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning” and I think this battle will continue to be fought for some time before sanity returns
Excellent. I'm looking forward to reading Prescott's leaked report in full when it becomes available (I think the Telegraph are publishing it later today).
The way that the BBC manipulates the visibility of negative online news reports about trans-identifying people and Pride by not using the "Transgender People" and "Pride" tags for them is one of the subtle ways it exercises its power. (Of course, we're told that it is local news teams that make these decisions, hence reports on cat-killer and murderer "Scarlet Blake" are simply tagged "Oxford" and buried in the local news section.)
Well done with your hope that the BBC can be saved but, after the Telegraph dossier including the splicing of Trump's speech and the upholding of the complaints against Martine Croxall, I just want to see them sink beneath the waves. I will be cheering if that happens. Let honest, independent , reliable journalists and broadcasters get on with the job. F*** off, BBC!
I’m not sure if Grok was hallucinating (I haven’t been able to find it elsewhere), but the full quote was “I’m not wearing that fucking badge. I’m a woman, he’s a man, she’s a woman, that’s it. End of discussion.”
Thank you for this! Quality reporting, long overdue. It seems the journalistic equivalent of trying to pry a particularly sticky clump of dog poo from the sole of one's (their) shoe..
I’m incredibly frustrated today to see that all the headlines about Tim Davies’ registration are over the Trump speech! What about the 10 years spent propping up deeply regressive gender ideology and censoring any and all reporting that questioned it? So much for the Telegraph supporting gender critical women - it’s all just a handy weapon against the Been to them.
Excellent; passionate. Thank you to all the journalists working on the inside, and I do understand those who keep their heads down. I have a complaint to the ECU pending - can’t wait to see the flannel I get back.
I think though, that the BBC is ultimately f….ed, and I used to feel sad about that but not really any more. They deserve all they get.
Fabulous.
Keep going, push hard now as they are weakened. Pour energy into everything you are doing as there is an open window that won’t stay that way if you let them close it.
You are doing such valuable work. Now is a real chance to change things permanently. Good luck!
Thank you so very much for everything you’re doing. It has meant a great deal to me personally and I’m so very grateful for your tireless work.
I’m the mother of a trans identified adult (female) who bought into this ideology hook, line and sinker a decade ago - and now has a beard and no breasts to show for it.
Our experience as parents and family are not unusual - we’ve been estranged by our daughter (and wider family pitted against us) for 8 years now because, while we supported and loved her, we had concerns about some of the issues…health risks, single sex spaces, the importance of facts and evidence based reality.
The BBC, our paid-for national broadcaster, has provided the backdrop to this most painful decade, with a slew of output viewed only through a transgender lens. The single message coming into our home night and day from these programmes is one way traffic - constantly painting our concerns and reality based views as bigotry, transphobia and parental cruelty. It’s shoehorned into everything: television, radio, website, children’s programming, content aimed at women, news, features, religious content. No part of BBC output has been free from this gaslighting and dishonesty.
It has been distressing and mentally draining, compounding our grief, and any complaints we’ve made have gone nowhere.
Of course it’s important to represent and reflect all strands of society via different viewpoints. But it has all been one sided. No one has ever represented the views of a mother in my position or a young woman who has decided to detransition. Vital stories of huge interest and importance - medical, human, scientific, safeguarding - have been missed. I used to love the beeb, now I feel only contempt for those who have debased it so thoroughly. For shame on them.
The propagandising the BBC has done directed at children, young adults and teachers via its programmes, News reports, website and teacher training guides is unforgivable. I am so very sorry for what you are going through. I left my job in education because I was not willing to unquestioningly 'affirm' a young child.
Young women and their families have disproportionately borne the brunt of this 'cult'.
Thank you Jo - and for your courage in not going along with the affirmation narrative. This ideology is misogynistic in the extreme and it breaks my heart that so many young women are being encouraged to hate and reject their female bodies.
Thank you for sharing your story. The BBC has a huge responsibility for sharing this social contagion. A painful decade indeed. They can’t walk away as if nothing happened.
And the biggest takeaway from your story is just that. A decade. You, like many, many others have been living with this for too long. A generation lost. The numbers are NOT small
Thanks for sharing this. A friend is currently facing the same challenges with her teenage daughter. Her horror when she discovered that there was another side to the issue that she had been unaware of thanks to the BBC and The Guardian was indescribable - she felt utterly betrayed. Now she fears that her initial approach was ill-informed and harmful - hopefully it isn't too late.
💔
Thank you for sharing your experiences which are heart-breaking and enraging in so many ways. A friend has had a similar family situation, with all the distress and difficulties you describe. I heard a short piece on Radio 4 which I sent her and she found helpful. It is no longer available on BBC Sounds (strange that) but I have found this: https://www.bayswatersupport.org.uk/mother-and-daughter-evan-davis-radio4/
I do hope you have better years ahead 💝
Thank you for sharing this. Of COURSE it's not available on BBC Sounds! It is precisely the sort of story that is, and has been, censored! Quite ironic that near the end, Evan Davis says, "trans supporters don't really like to hear stories like this." Huh!
Thank you 💛
These are careerists using contradictory zealotry which infact denies based humanity im sure those men who denied women the vote, or those for whom maternity wards require agency and dignity ? I am sorry for the trauma you and your child have suffered :https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dP_IlFquX5s&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1BVQ%3D%3D
Thanks so much for this, and all your work to get the BBC to be the world class media organisation it can be.
Re: chinks of light indicating change is afoot, I'd like to flag up this piece about Mary Earps from BBC News a few days ago: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c620lyx5p17o
No mention of LGBT+ (except as a tag at the end). Nor queer. The headline accurately refers to 'same-sex relationship' and the word lesbian is used in the article. Reading this felt like we're finally seeing some of the nonsense roll back. Or as a better connected, sharper pal suggested: 'Looks like Josh Parry has been to a fact-based training workshop at last'.
And no tags on the BBC News App, just straightforward links to other articles about her.
I think that's just a sop. The activists are still in there and I don't see much evidence of a mea culpa from the top. We shouldn't let down our guard for a moment.
And now, in a staggering piece of timing, complaints against newsreader Martine Croxall have been upheld by the ECU because she made a facial expression when, off her own bat, correcting 'pregnant people' to 'women' on a news report. It was seen as taking a side in a 'controversial matter'* N.B. 'Pregnant women' was also what the author of the report had used, but whichever blue-haired loon wrote the script changed it to 'people'.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3epwz08ewzo.
So, let me get this straight: in Alice in Wonderland World 'pregnant people' is an utterly ordinary, well-understood way of referring to gestating women, but using the word 'woman' is what is 'biased'. I have never had any of my complaints about rapists, murderers, faeces-smearing fetishists, gun-building, paedophile men being referred to as 'women' and 'she' upheld.
*whether women give birth
Thanks for your support always. Upholding complaints against Martine is an act of extreme contempt. Appalling
The original LSHTM press release did say "pregnant people" (quoting Dr Malcolm Mistry). There's nothing in the fuller analysis about particular groups by age or sex. https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2025/nearly-600-heat-related-deaths-expected-uk-heatwave-researchers-estimate
Dr Mistry then referred to "pregnant women" in the following interview, though.
Sounds like the press release wasn’t quoting him in that case - that it was the LSHTM press office putting the phrase in his mouth.
That was my understanding also. We know, don't we, that many, many organisations and institutions are using ideological, not factual language. Seems very likely to me that a press officer would be one such person.
Dr Mistry did not use the phrase "pregnant people" originally - it was added by the person who wrote the press release https://x.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1986691202603712867/photo/2
You are so right to emphasise that this is not the exposure of historical problems, this is ongoing right now. It's shameful.
You are absolutely marvellous. Thank you so very much.
Excellent. More power to you.
Just today the BBC have UPHELD over 20 complaints against Martine Croxall over the 'pregnant people' revision, to the word woman. Oh, and because she rolled her eyes.
Good article that details the overview of the BBC’s failures in reporting gender issues and the adverse impact of gender ideology on truth and reality.
It like the old adage of “it’s not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning” and I think this battle will continue to be fought for some time before sanity returns
Excellent. I'm looking forward to reading Prescott's leaked report in full when it becomes available (I think the Telegraph are publishing it later today).
The way that the BBC manipulates the visibility of negative online news reports about trans-identifying people and Pride by not using the "Transgender People" and "Pride" tags for them is one of the subtle ways it exercises its power. (Of course, we're told that it is local news teams that make these decisions, hence reports on cat-killer and murderer "Scarlet Blake" are simply tagged "Oxford" and buried in the local news section.)
Here it is: https://archive.ph/F5K38
Thanks for this excellent piece.
Well done with your hope that the BBC can be saved but, after the Telegraph dossier including the splicing of Trump's speech and the upholding of the complaints against Martine Croxall, I just want to see them sink beneath the waves. I will be cheering if that happens. Let honest, independent , reliable journalists and broadcasters get on with the job. F*** off, BBC!
Will cross post in due course.
Dusty
Have cross posted
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/flash-gordon
Keep up the great work
I am now going to make a transphobic facial expression😊
Dusty
BBC Bitezise
CURRICULUM materials included the 49 genders in 2009
on a page that primary age children accessed while doing homework
the page is gone
the damage is embedded into every group that includes people aged 20 to 28
Grok tells me that Sharleen Spiteri told the BBC in 2021 exactly what it could do with its pronoun badges
That's encouraging, I've always liked Sharleen.
I’m not sure if Grok was hallucinating (I haven’t been able to find it elsewhere), but the full quote was “I’m not wearing that fucking badge. I’m a woman, he’s a man, she’s a woman, that’s it. End of discussion.”
Respect.
Thank you for this! Quality reporting, long overdue. It seems the journalistic equivalent of trying to pry a particularly sticky clump of dog poo from the sole of one's (their) shoe..
I’m incredibly frustrated today to see that all the headlines about Tim Davies’ registration are over the Trump speech! What about the 10 years spent propping up deeply regressive gender ideology and censoring any and all reporting that questioned it? So much for the Telegraph supporting gender critical women - it’s all just a handy weapon against the Been to them.