Oxfam accused of depicting JK Rowling with ‘terf’ badge in Pride cartoon
Oxfam #Oxfam
Oxfam was accused of attacking JK Rowling over her views on transgender issues in a controversial Pride cartoon.
The charity on Tuesday cut a section of a social media video which appeared to reference the author, depicted by a woman with a similar hairstyle and outfit wearing a “terf” badge.
Kathleen Stock, a gender-critical feminist and academic, suggested the figure was supposed to resemble Ms Rowling, although a spokesman for Oxfam denied any similarity was intended.
The charity, which aims to combat global poverty, uploaded a Pride Month animation depicting three characters staring angrily at rainbow-coloured silhouettes designed to represent LGBT people.
The figure likened to Ms Rowling wore a badge saying “terf”, which is short for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” and generally used as a derogatory term for those who believe self-identified gender is different from biological sex.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for Oxfam said: “In efforts to make an important point about the real harm caused by transphobia, we made a mistake. We have therefore edited the video to remove the term ‘terf’ and we are sorry for the offence it caused.
“There was no intention by Oxfam or the film-makers for this slide to have portrayed any particular person or people. We fully support both an individual’s rights to hold their philosophical beliefs and a person’s right to have their identity respected, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.”
A voiceover which accompanied the graphic referred to “LGBTIAQ+ people” being “preyed on by hate groups online and offline”. It went on to stress the need to “stand together with queer folks online, at work, in schools, in sport, through laws, everywhere”.
Social media users were quick to point out the apparent likeness. While Ms Rowling has not commented directly on the row, she has “liked” a series of tweets criticising the post, one of which read: “Astonishingly, this is still up. Oxfam, speak to your lawyers.”
She also liked a post which read “women are 51 per cent of the world, Oxfam, you can’t bully us into silence with cartoons”, and a further tweet reading: “Not even a mention of actual gay people and a misogynistic slur against women – here depicted in the most ugly way as ‘hateful’.”
By Tuesday lunchtime, Oxfam International had deleted its original tweet, writing: “We have removed the post because of concerns raised with us. We will re-post shortly #ProtectThePride”.
Rishi Sunak supported the removal of the video on Tuesday afternoon. Asked about the row, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “I understand they’ve deleted the video after the concerns were raised. Obviously, that seems like the right approach.
“More generally, you’ll know what the Prime Minister said on this issue, and as I said, I think the starting point should be treating people equally on all sides of the debate with fairness and compassion.”
In addition to its statement, Oxfam posted a shorter, updated video which did not include the scene with the three animated figures.
MPs and gender critical feminists were among those to express anger at the advert.
Miriam Cates, the Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, told The Telegraph: “It’s deeply concerning that Oxfam is using its resources – money donated by the public for the alleviation of poverty in the developing world – to demonise individuals who campaign for the safety and rights of women.
“Trans rights activism has revealed itself to be an intolerant, aggressive and misogynistic movement that does not have popular support and so it is unclear why a charity would want to align itself with such a divisive campaign.”
Rosie Duffield, a Labour backbencher who has been shouted down by her own colleagues while giving gender critical opinions in Parliament, described the video as “vile”.
Sharing a screenshot of the character labelled a “terf”, Prof Stock – whose Oxford Union talk last month was interrupted by a transgender protester – wrote on Twitter: “This has shocked me… a still from an Oxfam video, made in support of Pride month.”
Maya Forstater, a tax expert who won a landmark appeal against an employment tribunal after claiming people cannot change biological sex, said after the video was deleted: “The thing is no one in the chain of command who signed this off or who saw it internally raised concerns.
“Either they didn’t see the misogyny, they approved of it, [or] they were too scared of being labelled a ‘terf’ to say anything. This is the culture bad EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] has built.”
Earlier this year, a guidebook issued by Oxfam urged its staff to avoid using the terms “mother” and “father”, instead calling for the universal use of “parent”, as part of its Inclusive Language Guide.
The guide, which was initially circulated internally but then published online, also featured a trigger warning for words and phrases that could be considered “discriminatory” or “that have been used historically to oppress certain people or groups”.
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