BBC Altered Rape Victim’s Quote to Prevent ‘Misgendering’ Her Transgender Attacker: Report
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The BBC altered quotes from a female rape victim in its reporting so as to avoid misgendering her transgender attacker, a report claims.
The Times of London reported the BBC previously quoted a woman who said she was raped. Her quotes were part of a report last year about lesbians who had been “coerced into sex with transgender women.”
On Oct. 26 last year, the BBC published a story about a lesbian campaign called “Get the L Out.” The campaign had asked gay women to describe their sexual and romantic experiences with transgender women.
Three women ultimately spoke to the BBC for the story, which was originally headlined “We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women.”
One woman who spoke to the outlet explained she had been raped during an encounter.
The Times, citing “insiders” at the BBC, reported:
The woman referred to her alleged rapist as “him” but insiders said that her words were changed to avoid “misgendering” the abuser in an article on the corporation’s website.
The BBC article replaced every reference to “he” or “him” with “they” or “them”. A source said the quote was the subject of heated debate prior to publication. Some journalists argued that the quote should remain intact, while others said it should reflect the trans woman’s preferred she/her pronouns.
The woman reportedly told the BBC: “I was too young to argue and had been brainwashed by queer theory so he was a ‘woman’ even if every fiber of my being was screaming throughout, so I agreed to go home with him. He used physical force when I changed my mind upon seeing his penis and raped me.”
The woman’s quote in the BBC report reads:
“[They] threatened to out me as a terf and risk my job if I refused to sleep with [them],” she wrote. “I was too young to argue and had been brainwashed by queer theory so [they were] a ‘woman’ even if every fiber of my being was screaming throughout so I agreed to go home with [them]. [They] used physical force when I changed my mind upon seeing [their] penis and raped me.”
One of the Times‘ sources blamed “woke” ideology on the decision to remove male pronouns from the quotes.
“They were originally all-male references but the woke bros at the news website wanted to make them female because of misgendering,” the person said. “It’s quite shocking. I can’t think of any other situation where we would change the words of an alleged rape victim.”
The BBC’s diversity team is blamed for having too much influence over the outlet’s style guide and news division.
Get The L Out co-founder Angela Wild accused the BBC of “gaslighting” a rape victim.
“It’s really unethical and disrespectful to the victim,” Wild said. “It’s a form of gaslighting for a woman who has already been through sexual violence.”
The BBC said, “It’s routine to have editorial discussions about different stories. Our only intention when deciding on language is to make things as clear as possible for audiences.”
