The donation Mermaids, which provides support to transgender youth and their caregivers in the UK, was again portrayed as a reputable source of information and advice. But this had changed by 2022.
Our most recent study revealed that the charity’s bad reputation peaked in 2022, a year in which American papers frequently published articles that contributed to the perception that young people were in danger from mermaids.
Our research demonstrates how some internet sources have implied that those who support transgender young persons are unreliable by portraying Mermaids negatively. Such claims have raised the possibility of using the organization as a tool against the very individuals it is attempting to assist.
According to a study commissioned by Mermaids and conducted by grammar teacher Paul Baker, media focus on transgender individuals and the issues that affect them has significantly increased over the past ten years.
Studies have also demonstrated how these media portrayals of transgender people frequently dehumanize them, disregard and reject their identities, and portray them as either villains or victims.
Fresh trans people have typically been portrayed in more positive or at least neutral ways. However, news articles frequently argue that their efforts to change, such as through the choice of a new brand or garments, shouldn’t be supported.
Growing curiosity
According to our research, media attention on mermaids increased significantly in late 2022. News reports and opinion pieces at the time were questioning the foundation’s legitimacy and authority, paying particular attention to how it supported young peoples’ choices and preferences regarding titles and clothing. In the fall of 2022, The Times and Telegraph published a number of articles that referred to young people’s exposure to Mermaids’ practices as “dangers.”
For instance, the Daily Telegraph reported in October 2022 that Mermaids “gave potentially dangerous chest-flattening devices to 14-year-olds against their parents’ wishes” in an article titled “Trans charity helping 16 year olds legally change names in secret.”
Chest binders were the subject of several reports. According to our study, posts about mermaids used the word “binder” significantly more frequently in 2022. Some transgender and gender-questioning young people wear binders, which are form-fitting clothing items, to lessen gender dysphoria and claim their gender identities.
Binders are characterized in many articles as dangerous, potent systems that are hazardous to young people. They concentrate on physical health issues brought on by uncomfortable or uncontrolled binding, such as spinal and breathing problems.
The damage that gender dysphoria or attempting to constrict the breasts without adult supervision can cause is not generally acknowledged in the posts. According to studies, if young people try to conceal their binder use from adults rather than talking about how to use one securely, the potential for health dangers may increase.
Mermaids clarified in response to the Telegraph content that they are attempting to lessen damage for children. “Comprehensive safety suggestions from an experienced member of staff are preferable to the good alternative,” they say. Even if you’re dealing with gender dysphoria, Mermaids’ advice advises it’s important to heed safety advice like limiting use as much as possible in warm weather.
Changing viewpoints
Over the years, Mermaids’ services have largely remained the same. But, when we looked into how Mermaids were portrayed in British papers, we discovered that there hadn’t generally been quite a high level of unfavorable attention.
There was hardly any interest in Mermaids’ activities between 2015 and 2016, during their first year of operation as a charity. The firm was typically portrayed as a useful aid service wherever it was mentioned.
After Butterfly, a Television play about a trans young man and their family, debuted in 2018, media attention skyrocketed. The Big Lottery Fund will support Mermaids’ work with a grant of £500,000, which was announced by the National lottery in the same year.
Newspapers continued to recommend Mermaids as a source of information and support at this time, but there was also opposition to the foundation’s expanding notoriety. For instance, the Sunday Times reported “an outcry” in response to the Big Lottery announcement, questioning the worth of Mermaids’ work as a public service.
The regularity of reports about Mermaids increased once more between 2019 and 2022 as a result of unfavorable press coverage of the company’s operations and the management of former CEO Susie Green. With four times as many posts published as in the year before, 2022 saw the most notable increase in interest.
These shifting depictions of mermaids are consistent with Britain’s overall changes in the environment for transgender young people. The long-awaited advice on gender-questioning babies for schools and colleges in England was released by the Department for Education of the UK government just before Christmas.
The advice to teachers to take a restrictive method to transgender students’ social change at school is provided in the direction, which is currently undergoing public assessment and is not legally enforceable. Similar to section 28, which forbade the conversation of same-sex relationships in American schools between 1988 and 2003,
the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall claimed that the guidance “has the ability to have a pretty cold effect.”
The general public’s attention on transgender names has increased recently, and referrals to gender identity services have significantly increased. The possibility of dread is frequently mentioned in media coverage of trans young individuals.
However, a 2021 US investigation found that post-surgery dread costs are 0.3% for the vast majority of younger people who socially transition into adulthood.
According to Paul Baker’s analysis, companies like Mermaids might be targeted because they are easier to identify and criticize than actual trans young people. We had concur.
Without violating media rules for reporting on trans people and children, journalists can issue and resist young people’s gender identities by discrediting the organization rather than the people.
A growing culture of fear and suspicion surrounding trans young citizens and those who support them has likely been influenced by the powerful perception of Mermaids as a harmful and contentious business.
The American media has strongly planted the seeds of suspicion in anyone who upholds their identities and choices, despite the fact that almost a negative term has been directed at transgender young people.
Presented by The Talk
Under a Creative Commons license, this essay has been republished from The Conversation. Read the article in its entirety.
Citation: How the tide changed for transgender support charity Mermaids (2024, January 25) was retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2024-01-tide-transgiver-charity-mermaiden.html on January 25, 2024.
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