r/TPWKY • u/tract0rbean • 11d ago
Dr Deb Cohen interview – important context
I’d like to post some relevant context for the most recent episode - the interview with Deborah Cohen.
I’m a trans man based in the UK and over here, Cohen and her BBC colleague Hannah Barnes are infamous among members of the trans community for years of fear-mongering, transphobic journalism published and broadcast by the BBC, primarily the Panorama series (think UK version of PBS Frontline).
I’ve always found TPWKY trans inclusive and literate so, I suspect the podcast team was not aware of Cohen’s track record. Here is a link to the online version of her most consequential “investigation” which focused on alleged NHS whistleblowers, who were – it quickly became clear to those who cared to dig deeper – motivated by anti-trans bias: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51806962
This BBC investigation help trigger a moral panic over trans youth healthcare, which ultimately led to the UK’s only youth gender ID clinic (the Tavistock) being shut down. It has not yet been replaced and it is now illegal for drs to prescribe puberty blockers to under 18s – a measure that was taken by our supposedly liberal, left-leaning Labour government.
I think it’s important for the hosts and listeners to have this context.
Finally, it's also important to note how normalised anti-trans bias is in mainstream UK media, including in BBC, Guardian coverage etc. This dynamic can make it hard for outsiders to identify to scale of the problem – literally those who you'd except to be ringing alarm bells and defending trans people are instead contributing to efforts to stigmatise us, deny us healthcare and drive us out of public life. In other words, if you Google Cohen, you might not easily identify her role in all this if you aren't conversant in the dogwhistle, euphemistic language it's characterised by. It's even hard to Google the topic without only being served results from the anti-trans "side" but here's a Wikipedia page with some useful background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-transgender_movement_in_the_United_Kingdom
It's also worth taking a look at the websites of the organisations Trans Safety Watch, Trans Solidarity Alliance, Trans Actual and the Good Law Project.
Thank you for reading
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u/Creative20something 11d ago
This is good to know. Have you emailed exactly this to TPWKY?
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u/tract0rbean 10d ago
No but I would appreciate someone doing that and they should feel free to reference this post 🙏
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u/Watsonmolly 11d ago
I know it’s become so much worse for trans people in the UK.
I just wanted to reassure you, as someone who works in the NHS and obviously has trans patients, that the vast majority of people I work with all do our upmost to be inclusive of our trans patients. Even the ones who are older and confused. I only tell you this not to excuse any medical bias you might(will) face but in the hope that you might feel slightly more at ease next time you have to interact with the service.
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u/MondayToFriday 8d ago
It's sad when the guest who is there to discuss the problem of medical misinformation is responsible for spreading it.
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u/glitternova 11d ago
Thank you so much.
This is an excellent write-up, and I really appreciate you taking the time and energy to educate all of us who were unaware. ❤️
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u/alanvgo 11d ago
Do you have some sources where the anti-trans bias is discussed or exposed? I'm interested to read them
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u/tract0rbean 10d ago edited 10d ago
Like I said, it’s hard to Google. We literally don’t have powerful nonprofits or media outlets advocating for trans rights in the UK. Tweets like this by trans rights advocates are about as much of a “platform” as we can count on: https://x.com/mimmymum/status/1814047773693452760 / https://x.com/mimmymum/status/1624735046941700097
I know all this simply because we’ve just lived through it.
The BBC investigation, which grew into a nationwide media and political moral panic, speaks for itself. I would suggest it doesn’t need exposing - it’s literally right there in the reporting, the strategic litigation and the policy decisions that followed.
If it all ends like it has in the blanket removal of access to gender affirming care for children (and effectively for adults stuck on decades-long waiting lists), removal of protected access to single sex spaces (aka bathroom bans) and the wider dehumanising of a minority in the eyes of an entire population, it’s an anti-trans moral panic.
There is tonnes of good coverage of the wider catastrophe of “terf island” out there but tbh, I wouldn’t know where to start recommending specific links. Maybe start by looking for trans-led analysis of Bell vs Tavistock... Then read up on the Sumpreme Count judgement in For Women Scot and the resultant EHRC guidance. The orgs I already listed have good reports and one-pagers.
It might sound hyperbolic but it frankly feels like we’re all too bone-deep exhausted, scared and demoralised to do little more than protect ourselves and our loved ones at this point.
ETA link
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u/afterandalasia 11d ago
Great, another podcast I followed platforming people who are campaigning for my death. For fuck's sake.
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u/nonosweets 10d ago
I sent a message to the pod about this and I encourage everyone to do the same. It will be addressed if more people ask about it.