The Guardian & Stonewall again 🤔

[Wondersense]

Today, the following sentence caught my eye whilst reading about Stonewall's new position in the Guardian of Men.

“What you see instead is that the overwhelming majority of people [83%] don’t see themselves as transphobic and don’t agree with transphobia. And the majority position around things like bathrooms is that women feel fine about it."

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/27/stonewall-new-boss-gender-transgender-rights-nancy-kelley

I thought that was very innaccurate claim to make, but hey that's just my opinion. It was interesting that a link was provided. Usually, links are provided to back up a point, to educate the reader further in something, to provide a piece of evidence, to insinuate that an opinion is actually based on something of substance. So, unlike many people skim reading that piece, I clicked the link because I
fancied being educated further about something I was dubious about.

The link doesn't lead to any kind of official research done on the attitudes of British women. Instead, it links to another Guardian article on women in Iceland. Not only does it not relate to the U.K, it also doesn't cite any robust research about women's attitudes in the country itself nor does the piece mention ANYTHING about women's toilets, bathrooms or women's spaces! I double-checked and searched the page for words like 'bathroom' 'toilet' and 'spaces' and got nothing.

Quelle surprise

"Instead, it links to another Guardian article on women in Iceland"

The article in question is an opinion piece by Owl Fisher, one of those who last week quit the Blair Partnership because it represents Rowling.

Wondersense I did the same including the head scratching!

Bathrooms.

They just lift the text direct from American commentators. I'm getting more and more tired of having to explain that 'Scotland' is not an extra state, and things are different here. I was actually told on fb the other day that I ought to preface my posts with my location, so Americans wouldn't get confused.

Because it'all about Americans XD If they don't understand, then why bother existing!!?? Actually the Guardian has really gone down that root. I don't know why they bother reporting on the U.K anymore because they seem to be a semi-American newspaper these days. @ScrimpshawTheSecond

Yep. It makes sense, for a struggling news outlet - the US market is just so enormous compared to the UK.

But the US slant just doesn't always translate here - I expect the same is true in reverse. Different culture, context, history and issues. Divided by a common language, as ever.

The word "bathrooms" is in the quote from Kelley, so that's not the Guardian's choice of terminology. The choice of link to a piece by Owl Fisher is bizarre, so perhaps it's a mistake. Or perhaps they couldn't find an article that actually offered evidence for Kelley's assertion (probably because it's not true) so they just stuck another one in instead and hoped no one would notice.

The timing is interesting. The article has been written for the Observer yet published Saturday lunchtime, just when Allison Bailey's fundraiser was getting a lot of traction. Coincidence?