Recently released research by Sex Matters in the United Kingdom has highlighted what we all know – those who challenge gender identity get harassed, bullied, silenced, and their livelihoods threatened.
This particular research led Matilda Gosling for Sex Matters and SEEN in Publishing is titled ‘Everyday cancellation in publishing: The costs and legal risks of discrimination against gender-critical staff and authors’.
Sex Matters is a advocacy group committed to biological reality and protecting the human rights that flow from this. SEEN in Publishing is a network of those working in the publishing space, including authors, and who also believe in biological sex.
The research clearly lays out how authors and publishers who hold gender critical views are abused, harassed, and frequently find it difficult to have their books published. If published, the research found that promotion of such books was significantly lower than books celebrating gender identity. The research also noted that ideology appears to be driving various publishing houses rather than commercial imperatives – that is, books supporting gender identity are being published even though few people read them. The research also points out that mainstream media compound the problem, ignoring or undermining gender critical authors while gushingly promoting trans and gender identity believing authors.
As the research notes: “gender-identity beliefs have become dominant in publishing, and the silencing of opposing views has created a false impression that few people disagree with them. This belief system has created a working environment that has throttled plural perspectives and truly diverse commissioning. Discrimination towards and harassment of gender-critical staff, authors and agents have had tangible, negative effects on people’s health, safety and livelihoods.”
The research particularly noted a concerted effort by gender identity advocates to influence the publishing of children’s books, painting a rosy picture of transitioning and never engaging in the harms. The research’s author notes that children need to be supported in their bodies and for who they are, not have an increasing array of publications “paint[ing] a shiny, sparkly world of trans identities that supposedly fix deep-seated underlying challenges, resolve bodily hatred and create enduring joy in the form of “trans euphoria”.
As we at Family First can see, these experiences in the publishing space are echoed across almost all professions. As with this research’s findings, it is often highly motivated and vocal minorities (often junior staff) pushing this aggressive agenda within their workspace. The author of the research suggests, strong leadership is needed in these organisations and a commitment to reality, human rights, and also supporting the place of free speech.
You can read the research HERE
