When it comes to antipathy towards the transgender community, the media has always played a significant role. Misguided, often openly hostile, coverage of trans issues not only influences public opinion, but also politicians who create legislation with the potential to negatively impact our lives. The UK and the US know this better than most (but especially the UK).
Locally, The Australian has joined in on the anti-trans push, which shouldn’t surprise anyone, but even our public broadcasters have fallen victim to this trend. Late last year, the ABC came under fire for attacking trans issues under the guise of “impartiality” and SBS recently platformed anti-trans rhetoric and harmful transphobic stereotypes within a discussion ostensibly on political correctness. This growing trend was perhaps best demonstrated last month, when a Tasmanian newspaper published a fake letter specifically designed to fuel anti-trans sentiment. Great work, guys.
Most frustrating to me, as a trans female writer and activist, is that this coverage appears to be fuelled not by malice, but by the failure of cisgender journalists to properly understand the culture war they’re engaging in. In my view, this was on full display in the reporting around the recent horrific events in Melbourne, when a far-right, anti-trans rally attracted neo-Nazis.
According to one report, the event had been “hijacked” by white supremacists. To me, this description ignores the reality that the Nazis were there, like the other organisers and participants, to spread transphobia. Queer people have always been a primary target of Nazism too, but journalists and politicians across Australia seemingly forgot that fact, even though it was staring them directly in the face.
This lack of due diligence highlights the importance of Own Voices media and direct consultation in journalism. When writers and journalists neglect to consult with marginalised people, pieces often miss important details or they’re skewed by stereotypes, and in many cases they can turn out to be directly harmful, even when designed to be supportive.
One of the most pronounced examples came once again from the ABC, when a sports journalist wrote that there were only 100 trans women in Australia. This was later corrected, but the fact that this laughable statistic was published at all shows the level of ignorance of the trans community within the ABC. Exact statistics for Australia are hard to come by, but the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says eight percent of Australians are gender diverse and the 2016 census came up with 1260 (while admitting that the estimate was “expected to have been substantially under-reported”). Either way, that “100” figure is ridiculous — and avoidable.
Reporting is my job, yes, but when it comes to issues affecting trans people, suddenly there’s a blur … I’m not writing purely for a job anymore, I’m writing for my rights. I’m writing for my life.
Perhaps even more damaging is the fact that this ignorance comes out when journalists also try to report on the struggle for our rights. Last year, when Katherine Deves’ transmisogynistic comments were making headlines, the ABC failed to denounce the falsity of her claims, which included that gender reassignment surgeries were performed on minors. Most of the time, the ABC even neglected to allow trans women a right of reply, which should be standard practice in an article heavily referencing a marginalised group.
There are few things more demeaning than having false, intrusive, and harmful claims about your community parroted uncritically in the media. But worse than that is being a journalist from that community and seeing the work of journalists totally ill-equipped to handle this issue. Transgender journalists simply don’t have the platform that cisgender journalists have, because of obvious gaps in privilege, education, income and mental health; and this means that if a cisgender journalist accidentally reports harmful information about us, there is usually nothing we can do to respond.
The more informed someone is of the truth around trans issues and trans lives, the more likely they are to support our rights. There is a clear line between the media and the fight for our rights, and a clear responsibility for the media to have integrity when reporting on issues that could mean life or death for us.
There is a genocide against trans people happening in many countries of the world right now, including parts of the United States. In the UK, the government blocked a law designed to make it easier to legally change gender in Scotland and trans people don’t feel safe. An anti-trans rally in Melbourne led to the Nazi salute being performed on the steps of Victorian Parliament. The transgender rights movement is a pro-women’s rights movement that affects everyone, and everyone is harmed when journalists misreport on it.
So what is to be done to solve this problem? Well, for starters, we all need to learn how to spot disinformation when it hits. The anti-trans lobby is relying on ignorance and harmful stereotypes to spread its propaganda, and the greatest weapon we have against that is the truth. Jackie Turner wrote a wonderful piece on this very subject earlier this year which I urge everyone to check out.
Otherwise, the easiest solution is to uplift transgender voices. It’s a no-brainer that the people who are the most affected by this issue should have the largest say in it, right? This extends to more than just journalism. Own Voices literature and media needs to be uplifted too. We need our stories, written by us and no one else, to be given space to shine.
As a trans writer, the frustrations I feel about this have less to do with ignorance of trans issues, and more to do with an ignorance of how much this means to me. I’m a journalist and reporting is my job, yes, but when it comes to issues affecting trans people, suddenly there’s a blur between my job and my life. I’m not writing purely for a job anymore, I’m writing for my rights. I’m writing for my life.
“Trans rights are human rights” is a slogan that we’ve probably all seen so much that it becomes white noise. That doesn’t make it any less true. While I understand the frustration that a lot of people feel when “fringe issues” like this overtake discussions, especially while climate change and the threat of global war bubble away in the background, you need to understand that trans people are feeling that frustration a million times more than you. Believe me, I want to write about climate change, human rights, and cool video games. I’m more than just my demographic. But too often, I have to be a demographic — or less, a bias — in a debate that I never asked for and don’t want.
The more integrity the media can put into its reporting, the more we uplift trans voices and get the facts right on this exhausting debate, the sooner we can put this behind us and focus on “broader issues”. Let’s do better, not just for my community, but for all of us.
Natalie Feliks is a writer, activist and critic from Melbourne. Follow her on Twitter at @nataliesqrl.