Radio 4 Friday 2:15 Drama

[TeenTimesTwo]

A drama by Mark Lawson exploring sport and the gender identity landscape

Male teen tennis player wants to switch to ladies tennis

ooh sorry didnt see this!

Here's the link:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000615s

Carefully written so that both sides were represented and transphobia knocked firmly on the head, but clearly GC. Feels like a ruddy miracle: would have taken someone of Mark Lawson's stature and reputation to push it through, I bet.

It's about a young trans (male to female) tennis player and the issues involved with testosterone etc. The tennis association adjudicator calmly and factually dealt with all the mother's accusations of transphobia very well. Will have been very informative for those who aren't really aware of the issues.

Does this mean the BBC is finally beginning to acknowledge the madness of those who decide they need the world to change to accommodate their niche beliefs?

It was much better than I was expecting.

Pretty well balanced in my opinion. I was surprised.

would have taken someone of Mark Lawson's stature and reputation to push it through, I bet.

Not to mention, someone of Mark Lawson’s sex.

Have any of the recent dramas about trans been written by women? The ones I remember touching on the subject are Russel T Davies (Banana), Tony Marchant (Butterfly) and Jimmy McGovern (Accused).

Thanks for the heads up, was avoiding as I felt it would be very anti GC. Will catch up later.

Oh that was really interesting. I've just noticed Mark Lawson doesn't have a Twitter account - I wonder whether he suspended it?

I've just come on, because I knew there would be a thread.

I started listening, but, to be honest, assumed that I would be shouting at the radio before long.

I really, really enjoyed it, thought it was very balanced, and fair

Before anyone else remembers, I'll say that Lawson used to be the presenter behind Front Row but left under something of a cloud in 2014 after being accused of bullying young freelancers, a claim which he's denied. Make of that what you will.

In this drama he has taken apart the sports debate forensically. The mother of transgirl runs through all the arguments used to persuade people that transwomen have no advantage over women and each is refuted quickly and cleanly — that Joanna Harper's 'research' was a tiny sample and didn't take into account declining prowess due to age and so on. It was actually full of details that made me wonder is he lurks here.

I was going to start a thread on this, but saw this one.

I just thought it was the BBC being very woke again, and journalist caching by gleening a few arguements from articles.

So yes it was "balanced" but actually avoided the main issue.

ie that sex and gender aren't the same. eg the speech from the lesbian (steroetype) sprots coach about being lesbiandidn't mention the basic issue of same sex attraction.

ie the whole thing had sort of been rinsed through the BBC Stonewall training programme!

Was going to google later today to see how transactivists are responding to it.

(But admittedly not nearly as woke as that week they had five days of afternoon plays about identity and gender fluid. There was a thread but not worth searching for.)

I thought it was better than that - I didn't think it was woke at all. I thought the mother couldn't handle it when she realised there were all those other initials and she clearly didn't think much of them. The trans athlete wanted special treatment which was denied her and reasons were given. They covered what would happen if someone just decided to say they were female - I didn't know they couldn't compete as the other sex for four years and still don't know why four years was decided on.

I'm about 10 minutes in, very bored and I want to slap PJ.

I caught the end of it and was delighted that it appeared that facts were being presented rather than pomo wokeshite.

I doubt that it would have been broadcast 12 months ago.

It was good - a primer for anyone who isn't thinking about these issues already. I think it was essentially GC - especially when the mother was advocating trans children pre-puberty at the end of the drama.

I thought it was excellent, surprisingly unbiased by the BBC.
It does seem silly to have used a female actress to play PJ though especially a PJ was featured before and in very early transition. PJ would have had an ordinary boy's voice. Interesting no girls in it complaining.
I was about 10 minutes in before I realised PJ was supposed to be male. I thought it was a weird mixed tennis match or featuring a transboy