"Don't believe women," the theme of the Pink News article attacking the BBC on trans harassment of Lesbians.
The Alphabet Soup isn't Our Friend. a fussilade of smear tactics.
UPDATE 1: BBC has rejected the attacks on its reporting. This is reported in the Guardian, a left newspaper in the UK and with a global Anglophone audience. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/nov/01/bbc-rejects-complaints-that-it-published-transphobic-article
UPDATE 2: Email has been leaked on how Stonewall tried to suppress the BBC report on transwomen sexual harassment of women. https://timesnewsuk.com/uk-news/stonewall-brands-lesbians-sexual-racists-for-raising-concerns-about-sex-with-transgender-women/
UPDATE: 3 Link to pdf by Stonewall in the UK on them wanting to change the laws regarding sex by deception because, “This leaves a great many trans individuals at risk of prosecution for a criminal offence.” This obviously contradicts the denial that trans pressuring people for sex is a problem. https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/a_vision_for_change.pdf See my review of Stonewall UK’s position on Sex by Deception via the link at the end of this article.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
In response to a recent British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) article, ““We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women’”, Pink News published both an attack on the article and the BBC as being transphobic.
This is important to review for multiple reasons.
1. Gay men are subject to the same types of harassment as reported in the BBC article and how the Alphabet Soup establishment responds to Lesbians being harassed tells us how the Alphabet Soup will likely respond to Gay complaints.
2. It shows the rhetorical tactics of the Alphabet Soup in shutting down dissent. In particular the misleading aspects of the Pink News article will be examined. Essay 2 in my series of essays is about the debating tactics of the Alphabet Soup and this article is a good example of these tactics. In reviewing this article will show how to breakdown their rhetorical tactics.
3. It shows how the Alphabet Soup media is not the friend of Lesbians or Gays and quite willing to sacrifice the interests of Lesbian and Gays to the Alphabet Soup agenda.
4. There is an example of how initialism works to claim Lesbians and Gays communities as being supporters of an agenda.
5. It shows a weakness and a blindness of the Alphabet Soup and where the Alphabet Soup is vulnerable.
These are the links to the two articles:
1. The BBC article is at this link. Title: ‘We’re being pressured into sex with by some trans women’
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-57853385
2. The Pink News response is at this link. “Cis Lesbians condemn BBC for ‘transphobic campaign’ after shameless attack on trans women.”
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/10/27/lesbians-bbc-transphobic/
The article starts and continues with just a series of accusations and name calling.
The title says it is a “shameless attack.”
The subtitle is, “Prominent cis lesbians have accused the BBC of amplifying a ‘transphobic campaign’ and contributing to a ‘baseless moral panic.’”
The article then claims that the BBC has been transphobic in the past. It may have been, but that is attacking the article’s content by attacking the BBC itself. This is called “poisoning the well” in debate. Using this tactic Pink News can cast suspicion on the report rather than reporting whether it is true or not. The BBC is accused of “amplifying” the agenda of the Alphabet Soup as if the media is supposed to be a public relations firm for them. Again avoiding whether the report was true or not. It is called “biased” and “harmful” by Linda Riley, publisher of DIVA, a “magazine for LGBT+ women and non-binary people.” There is lots and lots of name calling and accusations in the first four paragraphs, but not discussing whether the report itself was true or false.
It isn’t until the fifth paragraph that the content of the BBC is discussed. Riley, DIVA magazine publisher is quoted as saying:
“During all my time as the publisher of DIVA magazine and indeed as a member of the community, I have never heard from a lesbian saying she has been pressurised into having sex with a trans woman.”
Is the slogan of Riley now, “Believe Some Women?”
It doesn’t occur to Riley that her statement might show that she is out of touch with the Lesbian community. Riley is assuming that what happens in her particular class, her sphere of friends and activities, is representative of the total experience of the Lesbian community. Rather presumptious. If you were an acquaintance with Riley how sympathetic or annoyed do you think she might be if you tried to broach the topic with her. I don’t think Riley wants the Alphabet Soup mob enraged with her.
If you were a victim of a trans campaign of coercion, would you consider contacting a person like Riley who doesn’t appear to be very likely to be sympathetic?
Then it is reported in Pink News, somewhat in contradiction to Riley earlier statement where she is quoted as saying earlier in the article the following:
Riley, who is also the founder of Lesbian Visibility Week, made clear she is “not saying” the accounts of women featured in the article “are untrue”. However, she is “reiterating that this is not a common experience in our community”.
Since Riley had just stated she had never heard these complaints before why does she think that she knows that these harassments are, “not a common experience in our community.”
More importantly how frequent does this problem have to be before Riley is concerned? Typically, feminists are fairly resolute about sexual harassment and not tolerant of any sexual harassment at all, but in Riley’s response, this sexual harassment isn’t an issue until it is a “common experience.”
Lisa Power, a co-founder of Stonewall, an “LGBT+ charity,” is quoted:
“I’ve been a lesbian for almost 50 years. I’ve known trans women, mostly lesbians, all that time.
“None have ever ‘pressured’ anyone into sex that I know of. This grubby fantasy is identical to the straight sex fears of the 80s about gay people.”
By declaring it a “fantasy,” she essentially saying the testimony of the women in the BBC article is untrue. The slogan “Believe Woman,” evidently doesn’t apply to Lesbians reporting harassment by trans women. Again, as with Riley, it doesn’t occur to Power that given her social circle, the sphere she lives in, that she and her friends might not be in touch with the experiences of the general Lesbian community or that this statement shows that she is out of touch.
Note the use of the term “grubby” as if the reports of the Lesbians harassed by transmen are unclean. This is blaming the victim, a tactic of which you think a feminist would be aware. There is also the attempt to conflate the issue with homophobic prejudice. The strategy is to throw in a lot of unrelated stuff. The article plays a lot of games to try to smear the BBC report.
Folk singer-songwriter Grace Petrie makes reporting trans harassment of Lesbians competitive with other issues. This is known as whataboutism.
She states:
… the real issues lesbians face are rarely covered by the media, and that the BBC is contributing to a “baseless moral panic” against queer women, while ignoring “the real threat of a culture of violence against women”.
So, reporting real life accounts of harassment of Lesbians is somehow invalid, not a “real” issue, and somehow taking away from dealing with violence against women, stigmatizing the reporting of this type of harassment as contributing to violence against women. This is to deflect attention for the original topic of the BBC article by bringing in another topic.
Petrie also states that she has never hear of this happening. Evidently “Believe women,” doesn’t apply to these reports of harassment.
A “cis lesbian Amy,” is quoted as saying:
“It’s also anti-lesbian,” she said, “because this narrative does not fit with the majority of lesbians. It does not speak for me or any lesbians I know.”
So, a minority Lesbian opinion, merely by being a minority Lesbian opinion is “anti-lesbian.” What way to stifle dissent. In the introduction of the article, we are told that “10,000 people,” have signed a petition against the BBC. This is to let readers know that there is a large angry group to denounce reports of trans harassment in case any other Lesbians might want to report similar type harassment and to make it clear that the tolerating of the mere reporting of this harassment is very much a minority “LGBTQ+” opinion. Also, does Amy presume that she and her circle of friends’ experiences are representative of the entire Lesbian community?
Amy also does another whataboutism.
Amy also said that as a survivor herself, she wishes the BBC “would instead chose to spend our money on holding the police and CPS to account on tackling sexual violence and the horrifically poor conviction rates, …
Somehow reporting trans harassment of Lesbians is detracting from dealing with rape. Again, This is to deflect attention for the original topic of the BBC article by bringing in another topic.
Amy then throws out a lot of accusations. Reporting trans harassment of Lesbians is an attack on trans, and a misrepresentation of Lesbians.
She also states:
The obsession with women’s genitalia in the mainstream media is bizarre and dehumanizing – if you don’t want to date someone, you don’t have to, it’s simple.
The tactic here is to throw in a lot of inflammatory statements that aren’t relevant to the issue at hand. Lesbians are being harassed by trans women and how this is related to the media and genitalia isn’t made clear. Also, she again is denying the reports of Lesbians being harassed by trans, it evidently not simple, since they are getting harassed.
The Pink News article tries to conflate different things to discredit these Lesbians who recounted their being harassed such as what the supposed media obsessions are or an anti-trans activist’s activities.
However, Amy’s statement about obsession is very similar to an argument among some trans that Lesbians and Gays are supposedly overly concerned about genitals when approached by trans who hope that Lesbians and Gays might overlook that and date them.
The article repeatedly makes reference to the LGBT+ as a body which has a unified opinion on this. Here “G,” the Gays get dragged into being supposedly supporting this attack on the BBC article.
Not being a Lesbian, the author can’t talk much about Lesbian experiences, except to repeat what Lesbians are saying themselves, but as a Gay man the author is very aware that there are complaints by transmen that Gay men won’t accept them as potential sexual partners. Lil Nas X received a great many attacks as being transphobic when he stated, “No, I just like dick.” Even though this attack involved a lot of people denouncing him on twitter and Lil Nas X is perhaps the world’s most well-known Gay celebrity, these attacks weren’t reported in Pink News or any other major Alphabet Soup media. So I think that what is happening to Gays is likely happening to Lesbians. (See my reports on the two major attacks on Lil Nas X by trans.)
HOWEVER, for purposes of argument, suppose that this type of harassment is not very common, and suppose that the BBC does have a anti-trans agenda or is irresponsible editorially.
The Alphabet Soup establishment should and could condemn any such harassing trans behavior, with some qualifying statment like, “if and when it occurs.” Or “though uncommon, any incidence is unacceptable.” They can condemn it without asserting that it is frequent or common. They could also decide that they need to look into this. It would be a benefit for if there are trans who are harassing Lesbians their activities could be shut down or diminished. If an anti-trans media is exploiting this problem, then shutting it down would eliminate that exploitation.
Also, if the general everyday Lesbian and Gay community is concerned about this, whether it is common or not, the Alphabet Soup shouldn’t be dismissing their concerns but providing support in stating they are against this.
However, nowhere in the Pink News article does anyone go on record saying, that if some trans women are doing this, it is wrong. They can’t condemn it since that would be to acknowledge that it is an issue. If it is an issue, it would require further inquiry.
Further it would lead to the issue when trans aren’t upfront about their identities and Lesbians and Gay men only find out their identities after spending sometime and resources on a potential relationship which they wouldn’t have done had they known upfront.
Also, if it is an issue, then the simplistic statement, “a trans woman is a woman,” would break down since it seems some trans women are a problem and have a penis and are demanding that Lesbians have sex with them. Also, essentially, in other situations Lesbians and Gay men are being catfished. So, the choice is to not defend Lesbians against this new form of harassment because acknowledging it would breakdown an ideological agenda.
Also, there is among some trans a demand that Lesbians and Gays are transphobic if they won’t have sex with them. There are online websites where transmen are instructed how to deceive Gay men. The Pink News article side steps this question by just reporting claims that it doesn’t happen often if at all. If they condemned the trans harrassment reported in the BBC, this trans ideology of demanding sex might surface and that would really be a problem.
The Alphabet Soup media has not been reporting on the issue of trans complaints that Lesbians and Gay won’t have sex with them. However, the issue has gotten to the point where it has impacted enough Lesbians that it has become news for the general media. The strategy of the Alphabet Soup is to see if they can shut down this news reporting by hurling a lot of accusations. Censorship seems the first and last tool in their armament against dissenting opinions.
What the Alphabet Soup fails to realize is that this type of response is likely to be very alienating to journalists who routinely have to stand up against pressure attempting to censor their reports. This is a major issue in their profession. Dictatorships, corporations, politicians all work to censor media everywhere. The Alphabet Soup tactics are crude name calling. A lot of journalists, though they might be silent, are alienated by this. Similarly, with those concerned about free speech, or those who have dissenting opinions regarding issues entirely and totally unrelated.
Also, the Alphabet Soup is separating itself from the Lesbian and Gay communities. As the Lesbian and Gay communities experience this type of harassment and find that their complaints regarding it are denounces and they themselves are denounced by the Alphabet Soup, the Alphabet Soup will find a Lesbian and Gay community alienated from it and find itself discredited with those two communities.
The general membership of the Lesbian and Gay communities will then be looking for new leadership.
It is precisely issues like this in which the neoliberal management of desire, the dominance of the Alphabet Soup can be challenged.
FINAL NOTE: There are some idiots who do fake identities as off the wall trans. This empowers the Alphabet Soup.
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