Cheryl Hole on LGBTQ representation

[ArabeIIaKarenScott]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-66513419

'Cheryl has promised to "bring the glamour" to the kitchen but has also been "cooking my little Essex bum off" in preparation.
She added like every Essex girl she is a lover of a chippy at the end of a night out and always had a hankering for a battered sausage or saveloy.'

I'm hoping for a lecture on the history of drag too

And pantomime, no doubt.

Yes. I really want them to wheel out the stuff about boys playing women in Elizabethan times too.

My money is on the definition of legal name changes and how the bbc does not regulate the legality of people's names.

Well, so far they've steadfastly avoided even mentioning the name issue, despite that being the headline of my complaint to them.
We'll see.

Yes the one I eventually got evaded the issue:

…We appreciate you taking the time to read the article and share your thoughts with us.

The focus of our report is on comments made by Cheryl, her spokesperson and the BBC, in response to negative reaction and abuse direct towards her for appearing on Celebrity MasterChef.

Whilst we appreciate your concerns around comparisons to Dame Edna and Lily Savage, and reference to drag in mainstream entertainment, these were the words of Cheryl Hole’s spokesperson and they’re presented as such.

Nonetheless, we acknowledge you may continue to object to their inclusion in our report.

???

Why have the BBC used feminine pronouns? AFAIK Luke Underwood-Bleach doesn't pretend he's actually a woman or "living as a woman".

(If anyone still cares) I got a response from the Executive Complaints Unit, having exhausted the initial BBC complaints procedure

Short version: there is no breach of standards, because my interpretation that the name of the artist is by definition offensive and demeaning is not accepted by the artist themselves. And Cheryl Tweedy/Cole herself apparently finds it flattering.
Full version below.
I'm going to have to contact Ofcom, aren't I? Otherwise I'm just giving up. Which is what they want.

'Thank you for your email to the Executive Complaints Unit, in which you raised your concerns about the inclusion of the drag queen Cheryl Hole in the above programme. You say their name is a “crude reference to women’s genitalia” via a word commonly used by misogynists to refer to women in a sexual sense, and is therefore inappropriate for inclusion in the show.
This unit considers complaints that BBC output has failed to meet the standards set out in the editorial guidelines. Those which are most relevant to your concerns are the guidelines on Harm and Offence/Portrayal, which say BBC output may reflect, but should not perpetuate, prejudice.
I have reviewed the programme with this and your complaint in mind. I appreciate you consider the name of the drag artist is by definition offensive and seeks to demean women. However, as you may know, that is not accepted by the artist themselves, who considers their work celebratory rather than mocking or objectifying. I appreciate you do not consider their rationale is relevant to your concerns, but it is also a fact that the act for whom they are named, Cheryl Tweedy (formerly Cheryl Cole) did not apparently perceive it as you did but considered herself flattered by their act and choice of name. While I can see it is open to the interpretation you have placed on it, it might reasonably be argued the second word (and any sexualisation connected with it) refers to the drag artist, who has previously made comedic references along those lines, rather than to Ms Tweedy. That would seem to reflect their self-mocking humour. I recognise you consider it a matter of fact this must refer to a woman’s body, but in light of the above it seems to me this falls some way short of being definitively sexist/objectifying. The fact a misogynist may use the word in the manner you set out does not show this is what happened here.
I hope this explains why, although I am sorry for the offence caused to you, it does not seem to me their inclusion in the programme would serve to perpetuate prejudice against women, which is the test set out in the guidelines. I do not therefore believe you have identified a breach of standards.'

my interpretation that the name of the artist is by definition offensive and demeaning is not accepted by the artist themselves.

An interesting basis for a judgement. How would that work if applied more generally, I wonder?

Well, quite. I wonder how much and to what scenarios the BBC apply it. I'l be putting that in my pointless Ofcom complaint.

A celebratory 'Hole'?"

'it might reasonably be argued the second word (and any sexualisation connected with it) refers to the drag artist, who has previously made comedic references along those lines, rather than to Ms Tweedy. That would seem to reflect their self-mocking humour. I recognise you consider it a matter of fact this must refer to a woman’s body, but in light of the above it seems to me this falls some way short of being definitively sexist/objectifying. The fact a misogynist may use the word in the manner you set out does not show this is what happened here. '

Makes no fucking sense. He's mocking women. He's mocking a specific woman. He's not fucking mocking himself. The lying bastards.

Well done, Mark/c, for pursuing this so indefatigably.

I know. If he went round calling himself Luke Underwood-Hole, then sure.

Well, if you were very confused, so confused that you've bought in to the idea that the artiste really is a woman and is not just someone celebrating or parodying women, then I guess you could make the BBC argument. Maybe.

But I'd be surprised if they apply the same argument to a white person who wears blackface on stage and goes by the stage name NameOfFamousBlackPerson N* (fill in the gaps). I don't quite see how that would be self mocking but maybe the BBC could enlighten us. Or Ofcom.

And well done for persistence @MarkWithaC I'd given up.

God, I hadn't even thought of that. Are they actually starting from the premise that Cheryl Hole is a real person and a woman, with a woman's anatomy?!

Are they actually starting from the premise that Cheryl Hole is a real person and a woman, with a woman's anatomy?!

No, I think they're confused about drag and trying to be terribly PC and disappearing up their own bottoms. They're not seeing it as just a stage persona, nor the same kind of stage persona as any other.

Thanks for your persistence.