BBC denies telling staff to describe trans women as ‘biological males’

The BBC said it had not given instructions on the use of the phrase.(Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The BBC denied giving any specific instructions or instructions to its editorial staff about using the term “biological male” when discussing trans women in articles.

In recent weeks, many have pointed out that the BBC appears to have started using the phrase “biological male” in its copy to refer to trans women, a common dog whistle in gender-critical circles.

for example, Recent BBC coverage Graham Linehan’s harassment and criminal damage trial found him guilty of the latter and not guilty of the former, but the victim, Sophia Brooks, was described as “biologically born male, but identifies as female.”

Brooks was 17 years old in October 2024, when the two sides faced off at London’s Battle of Ideas festival.

Another example of this term is Recent coverage of the Sandy Peggy court by the BBC. “[Peggy]claimed that having to change clothes next to her transgender colleague Dr. Beth Upton, who is biologically male but identifies as female, amounted to unlawful harassment under the Equality Act,” the BBC wrote.

There has been a lot of debate on social media about the BBC’s representation, with US-based transgender journalist Erin Reid saying: publish your work Writing on this topic on his blog, Baum describes the BBC’s use of the term “biological male” as “unscientific and derogatory rhetoric surrounding transgender people”.

The changes were made following the resignation of director-general Tim Davie and amid allegations that the BBC is being taken over by so-called “pro-trans” bias. This followed leaks of memos written by former journalist Michael Prescott while he was an adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, suggesting that BBC reporters were “censoring” coverage of LGBTQ+ issues as part of a so-called “trans-friendly agenda”.

However, as Pink News’ correspondent Amelia Hansford has outlined, the BBC’s long history of transgender and broader LGBTQ+ coverage does not qualify as ‘professional’ for discerning readers.

In fact, the most infamous example of the BBC’s coverage was in 2021. article The paper, titled “Lesbians Feel Pressured to Have Sex and Relationships with Trans Women,” claimed that cisgender lesbians are “pressured and coerced to accept trans women as partners.”

Currently available to the public as of Friday (November 28th), the BBC style guide has a long section with information on how to feature the LGBTQ+ community in different contexts.

The style guide states that “using appropriate language is an important part of how people are portrayed in stories” and that “protected characteristics such as sexuality, race, ethnicity, or disability should not be mentioned unless relevant to the subject matter.” In addition to this, if an aspect of a person’s identity is mentioned, “we must ensure that it does not define that person”.

When specifically referring to gender, and by extension transgender people, the style guide outlines that journalists should “use sex to refer to a person’s physical development and use gender to describe how they identify themselves” because gender is “how people feel and express themselves, distinct from biological sex or sexual orientation.”

It goes on to say, “We should recognize that the concept of gender identity is contested by some people.” “Gender is “recorded” or “observed” at birth. Use of “assigned at birth” should be attributed. ”

The guidance states that when discussing transgender people, it may be appropriate in some stories to “reference their previous identity” or refer to someone’s transition to “help the audience understand” and “understand the meaning of some stories”.

“Transgender, or trans, is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from their birth sex. A person who was born male but lives as female is usually referred to as a ‘transgender woman,’ and the pronoun ‘she’ is used. And vice versa.

“Unless there is an editorial reason to do so, we typically use the person’s preferred terminology or pronouns. If you are unsure, please apply whatever fits in with the person’s public life.”

“When reporting on a person who has publicly transitioned, it may be appropriate to mention the person’s previous identity to help the audience understand.

“To understand some stories, it may also be appropriate to mention transitions. ‘Intersex’ or people with differences in sexual development should not be included as part of this group.

Separately, the guidance on reporting regarding non-binary people states: “Non-binary is an adjective used to describe someone who does not identify as exclusively male or exclusively female, or as both. It is becoming increasingly common for non-binary people to use the singular pronoun ‘they.’

“We should not ascribe a gender to non-binary people.

“However, for clarity, you may need to explain to your audience about the use of ‘they’ as a singular pronoun.” However, this can also be done without explicitly mentioning their gender (e.g. [First name surname] – People who use “they” and “them” as personal pronouns – are…)”

“There were no instructions.”

PinkNews contacted the BBC for comment on the issue, asking whether any specific guidance had been given to staff or whether the news organization’s style guide had been updated internally.

In response, a spokesperson said: “No directive has been issued and there is no separate internal version of the BBC Style Guide.”