The Guardian... Blind Date 23 November

" but of course it was a fake Harry look alike"

may have been a better option

I assume they fill out a form saying what type of person the like to go out with. How far off the mark can they be - 40%, 50%, waaaaaay off?

Toot yy exactly. If Jen had't publicly complained then no-one would have read their tweets where they said they didn't declare they were trans.

Way to miss the point TheGuardian . Regardless of whether Anna enjoyed the date or not, they need to be clear that their matching policy is now based on TWAW and (presumably) TMAM and that's how they'll be matched regardless of the other person's sexuality.

It’s kind of like that reality show on the US where the women thought they were doing to win a date with Prince Harry (yes they were that daft) - but of course it was a fake Harry look alike.

And the Guardian dragged them into the spotlight when they took advantage of what appears to be a non consenting lesbian woman to push a political agenda in a controversial way. Did either Jen or Anna consent to that bit?

Of course Jen would go to the press to whinge. I’m sure they feel absolutely entitled to do this and play the victim. I’m also sure that Anna can’t say what they think.

Jen is obviously XY. The Guardian must have known this the second the laid eyes on Jen.

If they had asked Anna whether she was happy to date an XY trans person before the blind date, which any ethical publication would, they could clear things up by saying so.

Whether or not Anna did have a problem with it is irrelevant. She, and every other lesbian, has the right to know the sex of a date in advance, especially if that date is going to be written up in a newspaper.

Both women have asked us to make clear that they would prefer not to be dragged into a wider debate on social media as a result of agreeing to be part of Blind Date.

Except that Jen is the one who took to social to complain that Anna cancelled their second date.

My dear old lesbian sister is a Gruniard reader. I’ll ask her what she thought when I next see her - and probably cackle a bit as she takes the mickey out of my woman’s rights rants.

Even though she whinged for months (I swear every time I picked up the phone she was on the other end still ranting) when she first came across I showed her an article about the assertion that a lesbian could be homophobic for saying ‘penis, Madame? Mais non Merci!’

I've had a response from the Readers' Editor's office:

^Thank you for your email about last weekend's Blind Date.

I made the Weekend team aware of your comments and they provided me with the following response to pass on:

We have spoken to both women in the last 24 hours. Both say they had a good time, as they said in the column, and Anna has asked us to make it very clear that she has no issue whatsoever with Jen being trans. She does not agree with some of the assumptions that have been made about her experience.

We match people on dates because we think they will have an enjoyable evening together.

Both women have asked us to make clear that they would prefer not to be dragged into a wider debate on social media as a result of agreeing to be part of Blind Date.

Yours sincerely,

June Sheehan
Assistant Readers' Editor^

Jen is a transwoman, not a woman and not a lesbian.

And of course Ann would say that, wouldn't she? She wants to keep her job and not have a thousand TRAs calling her a transphobe in public.

Note that by declaring Jen to be a woman they manage to skate over all the questions I asked about safeguarding and the appropriateness of sending a lesbian on a date with someone who isn't female.

Quite apart from the ethics, the lack of professional curiosity beggars belief. If you work for the press and you don't notice anything untoward about a woman with an Adam's apple, and/or you don't want to ask questions because it might prove awkward then quite frankly you're in the wrong job.

In terms of safety, it's not really much different to meeting people off the internet. They meet in public, after all
I'm not sure it is the same tbh. If you meet someone off the internet, you know their name and chat to them beforehand. You can research them and decide whether you're happy to meet or not. You can also get a friend to call and give you a reason to escape if it's going badly.

Blind Date doesn't allow opportunity for the research or chats/messaging and it's much harder to walk out on a date that's going to be published in a national newspaper.

In the juxtaposed picture of the two of them, they appear to have made the female face larger even though she is 'behind' - the trans woman's wig is in front of her. So that points to a deliberate attempt to feminise the transwoman to avoid contrast.

I wonder why the restaurant really asked them to move on? Taking an hour over their time to eat the meal sounds a bit tenuous, especially when this date was to be publicised.

then perhaps at the shoot people weren't sure/didn't like to ask because it's such a loaded question.
I would have thought that, if you work in the mainstream media, then asking loaded questions would kind of be part of your job.

LGB Alliance tweeted about it here: twitter.com/alliancelgb/status/1199233580037267456?s=21

What nonsense is this? No one has to date any person they don't want to. No one has to give reasons and any reason is valid. "I don't want to" is reason enough. Attraction is a very specific thing. No one should feel forced. They just did not click. Like most of these blind dates!

How do you decide which pants to buy?

fallingirl I really don't think they would have time to do much checking with one blind date to organise a week and the pressure of deadlines. They have to work pretty fast to keep up. I think in this case they got caught out by Jen not declaring her status as trans, and then perhaps at the shoot people weren't sure/didn't like to ask because it's such a loaded question.

In terms of safety, it's not really much different to meeting people off the internet. They meet in public, after all.

Being a gender non-conforming cis gay man born in a woman’s body I’m tempted to write in myself.

When are they setting up a date between a gay man and a trans man then?

Didn't you know that not wanting to sleep with a transwoman is transphobic?
Riley Dennis did a piece on it.

Yy I'm surprised at the lack of safeguarding especially as iirc there was a discussion years ago around the column's approach to it.

The Guardian has covered #MeToo extensively, it understands consent.

For certain parts of the Left, whether consent from a woman is necessary seems to depend on who the man is.