An Open Letter. Dear BBC

[thecompletenonsequitur]

Dear BBC
cc ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, Global, etc

We are bog standard people.

The sort of people who do not have playdates with unicorns and mermaids and have not been enchanted by the mind altering capacities of glitter dust. The sort of people who are aware that chromosomes determine sex (even in intersex conditions). We know that the moment that pesky sperm breaks into the egg, sex is set. We know this from biology at school, and we've seen it on the telly.

Some people believe in a thing called Gender Identity. They are entitled to believe in it. They are not entitled to demand that everyone else believe in it.

It is noted that quite a lot of people in the media truly believe that the great unwashed are all on board with 'transwomen are women', 'transmen are men'. Why, only this very week were our jaws dropped by #Jeremy Vine and #Iain Dale.

We have great sympathy for people who are suffering from gender dysphoria. But 'woman' does not equal 'man who´s been getting excited in the dressing up box' (please see Stonewalls' expansive trans umbrella).

We must ask, where are your programmes/dramas/discussions/documentaries about the following?:

Detransitioners,
People suffering from the side effects of Lupron (puberty blocker),
Children having their puberty blocked, resulting in a failure of brain developement and lowering of IQ
Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) and it´s causes (eg childhood sexual abuse, social contagion)
Links between autism and GD
'Y factor' women maintainting male pattern offending rates.
Autogynephilia and paraphilias in many transwomen.
The forgotten 'transexuals' who are not on board with self ID and current trans rights activism.
Why has 'T' non sequitously been tagged onto LGB ($£€)?
(We could go on. Please do get in touch if you need more program ideas.)

It is your job to interrogate all this. Where is your critical thinking? It's embarrassing.

And what mental acrobatics must be performed to believe that transwomen have a place in women's sports? We are already seeing transwomen taking prizes that belong to women. Curiously (or not) we are not seeing transmen achieving similar in men's sports.

Pause woke. Wake up, grow up, wise up. You have been groomed. Just like you were with Savile. You have let them control you. And now you are scared of them.

We remain un Stonewashed,

Bog Standard People of Mumsnet

Am I too late to join the signing party?

What a load of rubbish!

Scaremongering and ignorant.

The drug used in the uk is triptorelin. Same class as Lupron.

Here’s some other things the beeb might like to investigate.

• the lack of due diligence shown by government that has lead to a convicted rapist being invited to the HoC as an advisor
• the lack of due diligence that has allowed a Green Party member to continue to use a man accused (later convicted) of child rape and torture as an election agent
• the lack of due diligence in the advising of bodies such as the nhs, police and schools which has lead to groups who advocate things that include children having autonomy from five years old, confidential disclosure and removal of parental rights being allowed to propagandise unopposed
• the lack of due diligence which has lead to someone who is an advocate for extreme (physically permanent damage) porn and younger actors in that porn being used as a safeguarding advisor for the girl guides

Gosh I could go on. But that’ll do for now.

How so, oopster?

Do you think someone who has campaigned for younger actors to be allowed to make physically damaging porn is a good safeguarding advisor for the girl guides?

I'd be very willing to sign too.

I'm imagining the response on R4 feedback already though. We asked the BBC for a response, but no one was available for comment. ...

It's the satire that writes itself,

My comment was posted before the comment about advocating for under age porn actors, but, they can campaign all they like, it’s not going to happen.

Stonewall rules the roost at beeb now. Its like the Stonewall PR arm.

oopster

Unfortunately this individual has been listened to - now girl guides have this bizarre position where if a female leader has a male child, even a very young one, attending camp they must adhere to strict separation (sensible.) but a male who simply says they’re female escapes those rules. Bit only can they share tents and showers the parents are ACTIVELY not told.

That’s a huge safeguarding loophole. Brought in on the back of advice from someone who campaigned for extreme porn and younger actors in it. And has told young people to ‘get tits early and suck dick.’

I don’t think this is scaremongering- there are serious questions that need to be asked.

The Saville comment strikes a particular cord with me.

I had a non-sexual, but nonetheless troubling encounter with him as a young student. I didn't report it as a) I didn't see it for what it was at the time and b) the establishment.

If I could turn back time and offer my 18 year old self any advice it would be to have made that complaint and talked publicly about what happened.

I'm not keeping quiet this time.

I heard about what this person said at the time, I hoped it was taken out of context, that they just trying to make a point. As for girl guides having what I assume is transgirls among them, I’m sure that relevant checks and due diligence does take place. Assuming that transgirls are a risk to other girls shows a lack of understanding of the situation.

Saville was a clever manipulator of people and situations. Who would suspect someone of what he did when look at all the good work he did for charity?

Don’t beat yourself up for not reporting him at the time, it was a different time with different attitudes, and you may not have been believed. Maybe we were more naive then, which is a blessing and a curse. Thankfully, with things like anonymous reporting on the internet, something like this might be caught and stopped earlier, but then there’s still the same reasons like shame and fear and all their other emotions that no doubt will be a factor that may prevent people telling others.

Assuming that transgirls are a risk to other girls shows a lack of understanding of the situation

Where does it say anyone assumes trans girls are a risk?
And what checks do you think happen?
Not like anyone can ask anything, or your a [banned word]
What due diligence? If a male child of a leader has to jump through hoops but a trans girl can simply join in and be treated as a girl, where is due diligence?

To OP I sign and will help pay for it to be a full page ad.

That is a really good letter. Cathartic to read. fist bump

That’s the assumption I made, and I’m sure others have made due to the language used, but, how many actual boys are going to want to join the guides? Are there any that have? If they were too, then obviously showering together is out, sleeping options will have to be looked at, there has to be common sense applied, but, you get wildly varrying points in debates like this, and there’s always someone who comes out with the tabloid style headline to shock without backing up their claims, because all they want to do is stir the pot to get their way.

If I’ve gotten the wrong end of the stick them I’m sorry, but I’ve seen and experienced ignorance regarding trans issues far too often.

oopster with the greatest respect, your post is the epitome of ignorance.

Just because something hasn't happened yet isn't a reason not to put safeguarding procedures in place against the possibility of it happening, and not dismantle the barriers that already exist. (And SO MANY things that 'would never happen' are unfolding before our eyes every week that we can't afford to be naive.) The things you mention - showering and sleeping together - are exactly what will be allowed without question in the GG, because in an ideology that accepts transgirls are the same as girls, why wouldn't they be?

Girlguiding has already asked leaders to resign for asking what they are meant to do to risk-assess teenage boys sleeping with teenage girls.

They have also clarified that the Guide leaders should not be informing parents that a male child has joined the unit or will be on camp.

If they didn't mean either of those things, it's time they said so.

I’m not being naive. Transgirls are girls and should have the same rights as other girls. Sleeping in the same tents shouldn’t be an issue, showering may lead to them feeling uncomfortable, and that should be planned for.

oopser

What is a 'transgirl' and what makes them a girl?

When I first posted the letter on here, I thought this was open enough. But I realise that although someone at the BBC is bound to have read it, they can all wilfully pretend they haven't.

I thought I would perhaps contact the Board of Trustees, but thats gone and has been replaced by The BBC Board. I'll let you scroll through.

Still can't see how to contact them in any simple way. Perhaps R4 Feedback - but as has been noted, reponses are usually brush offs.

You're no doubt aware of this excellent article from James Kirkup (August 2018) about a BBC report (link in article) regarding the Fairplay for Women transgender prison report.

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/is-the-bbc-scared-of-the-transgender-debate/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

The Beebs 'Reality Check' was found to be substandard on the issue, unable to provide an accurate description of what was actually happening.

Let's hope if they respond to the open letter there will be an improvement in their factual presentation of the issue...

Well this is an interesting development

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/11/the-guardian-view-on-thinktanks-come-clean-on-the-cash?CMP=share_btn_tw

The Guardian view on political dark money: thinktanks must come clean
Editorial

After the tumult of the Brexit referendum, thinktanks should disclose their funders in order to participate in public debates, especially on the BBC

Its amazing that the Guardian SUDDENLY manages to come up with this in [checks year] 2018.

Welllllll..... about that....

What took you so long to come to this conclusion, The Guardian?

Bangs head on the table repeatedly

TV has a feedback programme. They interview editors about their decisions.

Oops I don't think anyone is saying transgirls are a safeguarding risk because they're trans, it's because they are male bodied. Safeguarding rules operate in the way they do because making case by case risk assessments is difficult, resource intensive and often affected by bias, conscious or unconscious.

The reason that we segregate male and female sleeping arrangements on overnights or school trips is for privacy, dignity and underlying this is the additional risk of getting someone pregnant. No matter how much a transgirl asserts they are female, they remain biologically male and this is therefore a relevant safeguarding consideration around girls.

Sleeping in the same tents shouldn’t be an issue

Do you think that teenage transgirls are asexual, without desire or curiosity for physical, sexual intimacy? That a transgirl having sex with a girl might not lead to babies? That for the protection of both girls and transgirls it might be useful to consider how all the young people might best be safeguarded?

Or do you think GGs policy of denial, lack of transparency and an institutional belief that normal safeguarding must be suspended when it comes to trans guides and leaders, is the best way forward?

So no one in gg has ever been intimate with another member of gg? Also, you’re assuming the sexuality of the gg in question, and don’t you think risk assessments are taken for every trip / event already? Have you never been on an overnight trip yourself as a child? I know I have a few times over the summer and that was in the 80’s and there was still checks done then to make sure no “funny business” went on. Let kids be kids, stop sexualising them.