Trans Media Watch Twitter

[Charliethefeminist]

If you haven't already seen this account, take a look.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=twitter.com/TransMediaWatch%3Fref_src%3Dtwsrc%255Egoogle%257Ctwcamp%255Eserp%257Ctwgr%255Eauthor&ved=2ahUKEwizvdXA-cvdAhULXsAKHa3PDyoQ6F4wAHoECAYQAg&usg=AOvVaw0RCt_0wwtpmUUKSvwKeWns" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trans Media Watch Twitter

How very helpful that news round up is .

It collates mentions and links to trans stuff across the world, but with its own quirky take, like:

The Times has more on that student journal sacking its transphobic editor

The Echo has a video of the Mayor of Liverpool's speech condemning the intimidation of trans people

GSN looks at how, in response to the Australian prime minister's recent transphobic comments, it's now possible to buy 'gender whisperer' merchandise

The comments below some of the tweets don't always agree with the interpretation

Lolol

I like the way you can catch up on all the stuff that men are stealing from women. Also the bizarre trigger warnings for mentions of pregnancy in news stories.

If the Transcult and Trans ideology take over, then this is what the Guardian's tweets will look like.

trigger warnings for mentions of pregnancy in news stories

Helpful

Yes it's quite a useful feed.

tash sultana

It's a bit like eavesdropping on a news communication stream from North Korea. So much spin on each item you'll wonder if you have a vestibular disorder.

We should start a Feminist Media Watch account and just tweet all the same stories from a women’s rights viewpoint instead.

Trans Media Watch have considerable influence.

In March of this year they submitted a report to the Home Affairs Committee on hate speech.

James Kirkup wrote about the Home Affairs Committee session at the time and a key element was the interviewing of newspaper editors.
'Why are some MPs trying to shut down the transgender debate?'
Kirkup concluded:

"Surely a bright, thoughtful chap like [Stephen Doughty MP] didn’t mean to imply that it was his job as Member of Parliament to tell newspapers what they can and cannot write? Surely he had no intention of acting as if it is in any way appropriate for a politician to decide what is and is not acceptable for journalists to say, and how they say it? And I can only hope that it was by a simple accident that he singled out by name a female journalist and suggested that her employers stop her saying the things that she thinks – because Doughty happens not to like her saying those things?

As I say, I must assume that he meant none of these things, that he had no such moronic and bullying intent when he spoke and acted as he did. I assume that Doughty is an honourable politician determined to do his job in a democracy and ensure that matters of public policy are debated fully and honestly, whether or not some people find such debate offensive. Because, as I am sure Doughty knows, there is no right not be offended and if we ever let hurt feelings stop us discussing matters of public interest on the basis of the facts, everyone loses.

And it is because I am sure that he is wholly committed to such debate that I decided to write this article. Thanks for everything you’re doing to encourage the free press and open debate, Mr Doughty."

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/why-are-some-mps-trying-to-shut-down-the-transgender-debate/

Mumsnet were identified by TRans Media Watch discussed in thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3238618-Trans-Media-Watch-has-written-to-parliament-saying-trans-identified-male-can-be-considered-as-hate-speech-and-that-Mumsnet-users-referring-to-penises-are-being-transphobic

also previously in 2016, TRans Media Watch's lobbying of MN was discussed:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2783139-Trans-media-watch-are-lobbying-mnhq

Background to formation and intentions of Trans Media Action & Press for Change discussed in 2013 article in THe Guardian:
(extract)

"In 25 years, [James] Barrett has seen trans people become "a networked bunch" – more so than other people, he thinks – thanks to the internet. Lees, who also works for Trans Media Action, says social media is the "essential catalyst" for the transformation of trans people in society. "Society is in transition and we've woken up from the operation and there's no going back. We can't pretend that trans people don't exist any more," she says. "People have been taking the piss out of trans people for 60 years. The narrative on trans issues has been controlled by people who have no understanding of them. Social media is about us grabbing the narrative back and telling our own stories – this is our reality, this is what we go through and this is what matters to us. We're here, we're in your face, we definitely exist. That's the most important thing – realising we exist."

www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/22/voices-from-trans-community-prejudice

Wiki
'In September 2011, Trans Media Watch and On Road Media launched the Trans Media Action initiative, with support from the BBC and Channel 4. Trans Media Action comprised a series of workshops and other initiatives designed to facilitate understanding between transgender people and journalists. Trans Media Action is now known as All About Trans.'
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Media_Watch

Wiki extract from Trans Media Watch page (link above)

"In April 2010, TMW published 'How Transgender People Experience the Media', which describes the findings of a study conducted between November 2009 and February 2010 to learn how transgender people in the UK feel about the media portrays them. The research concluded that humiliating and demeaning characterisations of trans people in the media play a significant role in encouraging societal prejudice and abuse towards the community.

Memorandum of understanding
In March 2011, UK broadcaster Channel 4 became the inaugural signatory of TMW's memorandum of understanding (MoU), a document which calls for better media representation of trans people. In May 2011, Women in Journalism became a signatory, acknowledging the killing of eminent human rights lawyer and trans woman Sonia Burgess, and its subsequent prejudicial media coverage, as stimulus to do so. The Observer newspaper also took notice of TMW due to Burgess' death, saying there is a "need for sensitivity and respect" when dealing with transgender stories.

At the MoU launch, held at Channel 4's London headquarters, Lynne Featherstone, the junior Minister for Equality, said "Congratulations to Trans Media Watch for this brilliant initiative and to Channel 4 for being the first (hopefully of many) broadcasters to sign up."

Leveson inquiry contribution
In December 2011, Trans Media Watch made a submission to the Leveson Inquiry into the "culture, practice and ethics of the press," in which it described the "unethical and often horrific and humiliating treatment of transgender and intersex people by the British press." In February 2012, a TMW representative gave evidence in person."

We should start a Feminist Media Watch account and just tweet all the same stories from a women’s rights viewpoint instead.

Genius idea

I’m confused, 60 years ago were there no trans people or did people just not take the piss out of them?

Gender non-conforming people and people with fetishes have always existed. Then along came feminism and men saw a way to exploit GNC, enjoy their fetish and put women back in a box all at the same time. Serendipity saw medical advances help with the physical disguise, while the Internet appeared right on cue to disseminate the faith in gender identity. Perfect storm.

So Paris’ basic complaint is that people are taking the piss out of people with a fetish? Otherwise known as kink shaming?

What next? Will we be campaigning for people in animal masks to participate in their human right of ‘dogging’ in the middle of crowded shopping centres on a Saturday afternoon?

2012 New Statesman article for context:

'The turning of the tide:The media's monstering of transgender people is finally being challenged.'
BY
JULIET JACQUES

(extract)
hatever the long-term results of the Leveson inquiry, one appearance may prove a turning point for an increasingly visible and (hopefully) decreasingly vulnerable population. When Helen Belcher presented Trans Media Watch's submission last week, explaining the largely negative practices and consequences behind more than a hundred news items about transgender (but mainly transsexual) people, it felt like a turning point for a group no longer prepared to tolerate the media intruding into and sensationalising their personal histories." (continues)

"This was another fine example of transgender people using the internet to challenge a media that has objectified and excluded them for years. On Friday, Millivres Prowler launched a stable-mate to Gay Times and lesbian/bisexual publication Diva, aimed at the transgender population. Meta, an online magazine catering to female-to-male and male-to-female people will likely reach a larger readership than any other trans-related journal. Its editor, Paris Lees, appeared on BBC Breakfast last week, alongside Livvy James, to expose transphobia in the media to a terrestrial television audience. Now, there's a sense that the excuses that gatekeepers of mainstream liberal and left-wing spaces have previously used to keep out transgender perspectives that the issues are too complicated, or that transsexual people somehow undermine feminist or socialist politics are finally becoming untenable.

Above all, there's an understanding that transgender experiences illustrate a wider point: the tabloid habit of interfering with the privacy of non-public figures when they think it will sell can potentially damage anyone. Leveson's grilling of Dominic Mohan about the Sun's mean-spirited "Tran or Woman" quiz, and Mohan's sheepish admission that "I don't think that's our greatest moment," happened before Trans Media Watch gave their evidence. This is a sign that, slowly, people in power are not only allowing transgender people to voice their concerns but also listening; and that whatever happens to our tabloid press, the situation can never be quite as hopeless again." (cont)
www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/02/transgender-media-transsexual