Dear Dr Shah and Mr Davie

We call on the BBC to embrace accuracy in its coverage of ‘transgender’ issues and adopt an editorial policy of accurately describing sex. 

The BBC has a unique responsibility to deliver accurate, impartial, and transparent reporting to its diverse audience. The current default, of using preferred pronouns and the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ according to a person’s ‘gender identity’ is at best highly misleading and at worst a betrayal of the BBC’s public service remit.  

The adoption of self-identification of sex has eroded trust and harmed vulnerable groups. Reversing it is essential to upholding journalistic integrity and foster informed public discourse.

Scientific Truth

Biological sex is an objective reality defined by gamete size, determined by chromosomes and resulting in two distinct body types with specific physical traits relevant to reproductive anatomy. Sex cannot be changed. This is indisputably true: hormones and surgery can lead only to a superficial resemblance to the opposite sex.  

Gender identity, while deeply personal, is subjective and distinct from sex.  The words man, woman, boy, girl - and their equivalent in other languages - evolved to describe people with these two distinct body types. They did not evolve to describe people with ‘gender identities’ and it is misleading to use them in that way.  

There is no evidence to support the claim that a person can be the opposite sex or no sex at all. This is an ideological position that the BBC should report on, but not adopt.

Impact on Women and Minors

The adoption of self-identification of sex - that is, the loss of accurate sex descriptors in journalism - has profound consequences across a range of sex-based and safeguarding rights. These are stories the BBC cannot report impartially if it has embraced one ideological position - that of gender identity - over biological accuracy.  In contrast, clear language fosters informed debate without dismissing the experiences of trans-identifying individuals. 

Reporting typically male crimes such as indecent exposure, sexual assault and murder as being perpetrated by women - even when prefaced by ‘transgender’ - misleads the public. Women’s safety is recognised as part of the universally accepted rationale for having single-sex spaces and services. It is undermined by BBC reporting that ‘women’ are committing these crimes with increasing frequency.  Public understanding is being distorted.  When the BBC describes violent males as ‘she’, it contributes to the push to remove single-sex provision.

Impact on Children, Young People and the Vulnerable

Routine use of opposite sex pronouns and promulgation of the concept that being male or female is the result of someone’s gender identity, rather than sex, is profoundly harmful to young people. They may embark on a journey of medicalisation in the belief they will ‘become’ - and be accepted as - the opposite sex.  One is never true, and the other is highly unlikely.

Children of ‘transitioned’ adults suffer an often hidden damage when the world colludes with their formerly trusted parent. These are stories it is impossible to tell without accuracy. 

It is becoming increasingly clear that there are significant physical risks associated with opposite sex hormones and surgery, including infertility, anorgasmia, lifelong urinary problems, vaginal atrophy and erectile dysfunction. The Cass Review noted that social transition is never neutral. The BBC should want to do all it can to avoid encouraging minors into possible lifelong pharmacological dependency.

Impact on lesbian, gay and bisexual groups

The BBC’s insistence that men can be lesbians and women can be gay men is homophobic. Its use of ambiguous terms risks erasing the specificity of same-sex attraction, has already alienated some audiences, and places public pressure on lesbians and gay men to include the opposite sex in their ‘dating pools’.  The BBC must start to respect the lived realities of same-sex attracted communities by returning to biological descriptors, ensuring that discussions of identity do not override sexual orientation.

Legal Framework

Sex is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010, which covers every circumstance in which discrimination might arise. The Supreme Court judgment (For Women Scotland vs Scottish Ministers 2025) made it clear that ‘sex’ means biological sex at birth.  It affirms that sex-based rights cannot be overridden by self-identification of gender, by the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, or by possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate.  

Trans-identifying men are no type of women, and trans-identifying women are no type of men. 

It is time for the BBC to acknowledge that equality law in the UK reflects sex-based reality, and to default to biological descriptors. This will ensure its audience is fully informed, across coverage of contentious issues such as access to women’s prisons, domestic violence shelters, or competitive sports, and public and private services. 

The ideological viewpoint that people can change whether they are male or female has been adopted across all output by the BBC - rather than the legally sustained belief in the materiality of sex. 

The BBC has a duty to ensure that it is not captured by any ideological viewpoint, including gender identity ideology. The belief and understanding that biological sex is binary and unchangeable, and that it matters, are not only legally protected, they are based on fundamental truths.  Yet the BBC persists in telling its audience the opposite. This is a dereliction of the BBC’s Charter responsibilities. 

The Path Forward

The BBC was persuaded to adopt self-identification of sex at the request of activists, without giving any serious consideration to its harms. The Supreme Court judgement offers the opportunity to revise its Style Guide to prioritise biological sex pronouns in all relevant content, using ‘male’  and ‘female’ as defaults and adding clarification when ‘gender identity’ is referenced.

Similarly it must abandon its current definitions of ‘transgender woman’ and ‘transgender man’. They are not well understood, and not accurate. 

People see the word woman and believe they know what it means. No descriptor in front of it changes that. Surveys show how up to 40% of people think a transgender woman is a woman who identifies as a man. For the sake of public comprehension, accurate biological terms must prevail.

The BBC has already made clear it is permissible to offer clarification with the term ‘biological male’ - now it must ensure that this clarity is always due and offered to the audience. It must also acknowledge that ‘biological’ and ‘born’ are redundant adjectives. Both imply that sex change is possible. 

The BBC can no longer pretend it is ‘kind’ or ‘respectful’ to comply with self-identification of sex.  It is unkind, disrespectful and harmful to every cohort other than transgender advocates: and it has a devastating impact on public understanding. 

The BBC is  failing its audience and losing trust. It can no longer justify its continued use of non-accurate ‘preferred’ pronouns, and we urge it to default to biological sex descriptors and pronouns. Only this approach can meet public expectations of  truth, fair representation, impartiality and legal compliance.  

Thank you for your attention

Seen in Journalism

Supported by 

For Women Scotland

Women's Rights Network

LGB Alliance

Sex Matters 

Transgender Trend

Fair Play For Women 

Biology in Medicine

Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender

Children of Transitioners

Conservatives for Women

Filia

Freedom in the Arts

Gay Men's Network

Genspect

Human Gay Male

Labour LGB

Labour Women's Declaration

Lesbian Labour

Liberal Voice for Women

LGB Christians

Lord Toby Young

Merched Cymru

Our Duty Group 

Protect and Teach

Scottish Lesbians

SEEN in the City

SEEN in Health 

SEEN in Sport

SEEN in HR

SEEN in Stem

SEEN in the CoE

Women of Surrey

Women's Policy Centre