alexbrett | Action point: complain to the BBC

Trigger warnings for binarism, sexism, and cissexism apply.

The News Quiz (BBC|Wikipedia) is, as the BBC says, a "topical panel quiz show, taking its questions from the week's news stories."

This week one topic of discussion was Storm, a Canadian child whose parents are allowing Storm to make their own choice about when to disclose their sex and gender. I'm not going to link to news articles, because it's easy to find more information, and the family has explained that they are feeling overwhelmed - but I will note that, as the excellent blog Sociological Images points out, this isn't new.

The News Quiz, alas, got it very badly wrong.

The following transcript is taken from Series 74, episode 7, starting at 19:46. Panelists were Susan Calman, Jeremy Hardy, Andrew Maxwell and Paul Sinha; the chair was Sandi Toksvig. The episode is available on iPlayer until the third of June.

[Sandi Toksvig] Who said "No sex please, we're Canadian?"

[Paul Sinha] Erm... a Canadian couple, who have made news across the globe. They're from Toronto, and they've got a four-month-old child called Storm, and they've decided they're not going to tell anyone what gender this child is. They call it a "tribute to freedom and choice", but there's no freedom and choice on the part of the child whatsoever - the poor child is called Storm, is what, gonna a, be bullied and b, be expected to have mutant powers, which is not an easy [audience laughter] - which is not an easy childhood to have. Erm. But again, I'll bring my medical expertise - fourth-year medical school, I remember this very well - boys have willies, and girls don't! [audience laughter] And eventual-

[Andrew Maxwell] They have more than just /not/ a willy - they've got a whole different set of equipment!

[PS] Well, well absolutely, I just didn't want to get too technical. [audience laughter] I have total support for people who struggle with their identity - men who think they're women, women who think they're men. I'm a gay man who likes football and has a beer gut, I consider myself a gay man trapped in a straight man's body [audience laughter] but I don't understand how you could force this on a child. It's beyond me. The child has no choice in this -

[ST] But apparently they give the child a choice in everything else, because they believe in something called "un-school-ing", which is a radical form of home schooling which the child is allowed to decide, what he - or she [laughing] - learns.

[AM] Dear oh dear.

[ST] How many lessons do you think there'll be called "Putting Nemo on again" or - [audience laughter] How often is the child going to say "Please! All I want to do is learn about the instability of the Weimar Republic!" That's, er [audience laughter]

[AM] It's weird, man, it's creepy. Like, children, I've got one of each gender -

[ST] Are you sure?

[AM] Yes! Boys like boys' things and girls like girls' things. You can't have a toy -

[Susan Calman] Weeeell...

[AM] - that's unisex! What are you going to give them - a pink dinosaur?! [panel laughter]

[SC] But the thing is, the thing is, I would disagree. I don't have any children, I have cats, [audience laughter] but I was a child myself at one point. And so, even though I was kind of told to be really girly, I wasn't, I think children find their own kind of way in life -

[AM] Well of course they will, anyway.

[SC] - depending on genetics, it's nature not nurture.

[PS?] It's very fashionable to say everything's genetics now, [plummy voice] "oh, because it IS all genetics" and you say, yeah, but you know, you can't separate out nature from nurture, cause they're intertwined, they say [plummy voice] "no, but I saw this amazing documentary about twins, you know, and the twins had this amazing kind of empathy, it's almost telepathy" - that's because you saw ONE documentary about ONE set of twins, and Channel 4 are not going to BOTHER to make a film called "The twins who were nothing like each other"! [audience laughter, applause]

[ST] A couple in Canada have decided to raise their new baby Storm without gender and aren't telling anyone whether it's a boy or a girl. Storm has two older siblings named "Jazz" and "Kio", names which don't particularly say "boy" or "girl" but really *scream* "affordable car". [audience laughter] Storm's father, David Stocker, said "If you really want to get to know someone, you don't ask what's between their legs." [audience laughter] There must be some exceptions to that - you know, I mean, if they're riding a dragon, for example! [audience laughter]

[AM] If David Stocker, is so convinced of this, why has he kept with the normal name David Stocker?

[?] Yeah.

[AM] Why hasn't HE changed HIS name to "Moonbeam [raspberry]"? [audience laughter] He like, why don't *you* give your *children* normal names, and YOU walk around in a post-gender freakzone? [audience laughter]

[JH] Yeah, but you can have gender-free names - you could be Sandy, for example -

[PS] Thank you very much.

[JH] - Lesley, John Wayne's real name was [crosstalk] Marian, and, er, Vinny Jones' real name is Louise - [audience laughter] I can take him! [audience laughter]

[PS] Once more, knowing full well he's not listening, Jeremy.

[ST] Two points to Paul.

There's a lot in there to deconstruct.

I can't do all of it, but feel free to contribute in comments. Off the top of my head:

"No freedom or choice on the part of the child" - a gross misrepresentation. Allowing a child the choice to disclose their own sex is potentially extremely empowering: reactions to babies are measurably different depending on their perceived sex: this even begins before birth.^[1] Taking away the ability to pigeonhole a child's personality based on a binary label means people will actually have to get to know the child rather than prescribing and suggesting its behaviour: sounds like freedom to me.
"Boys have willies and girls don't!" This is sexist, in that it defines women as lacking; it is cissexist, in that it erases the existence of trans children, and equates people's gender with their genitalia. Note the follow-up: vaginas are described as too technical. (It's also a gross and binaristic oversimplification, because of course It's A Bit More Complicated Than That.)
"Boys like boys' things and girls like girls' things." This is a harmful and sexist attitude, and a self-fulfilling prophecy: children are extremely sensitive to gender policing. It's also ridiculous, particularly given the example of a pink dinosaur: as Sociological Images points out, pink is a manly colour - or at least was constructed as such until the 1950s! Restating this idea contributes to the problem.
"Why don't you [David Stocker] give your children normal names, and YOU walk around in a post-gender freakzone?" Andrew Maxwell here suggests that "normal" doesn't include non-binary people; he minimises the difficulty of changing one's name; he overlooks the fact that David's gender is (presumably) male, which accords with his name, whereas Storm's gender is as yet unknown; and he is quite explicit that he views people outside the gender binary, or people trying to challenge gendered assumptions, as "freaks" to be mocked: which is exactly what already-marginalised groups don't need.
"Men who think they're women, women who think they're men." This is a significant misrepresentation of trans* people, and suggests that e.g. trans women are "really" men. It is harmful and inaccurate and bigoted.

Action
I am appalled that the BBC chose to endorse the harmful and bigoted views expressed in this segment. Let's let people know how disappointed we are.

Complain to the BBC - and, if you're comfortable, please share your wording in comments!
Contact The News Quiz directly.
Contact TransMediaWatch at transmediawatch at googlemail.com.

More ideas? Please leave them in comments. Thanks! Want more references? Ask me and I'll dig them out.

[1] Kane, 2009. 'I wanted a soul-mate:' gendered anticipation and frameworks of accountability in parents' preferences for sons and daughters. Symbolic Interaction, 34 (4), 372-389.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks - this is really good, and I really appreciate you sharing your response :-)

I'd just like to note for other people intending to use this wording that it might be better to replace "Dear Sir, Madam" with "To whom it may concern" (or some other wording that doesn't assume the person reading the complaint identifies within the gender binary).

Thanks again!

Action point: complain to the BBC

Re: Sample letter