Complaint to Ofcom regarding "Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?"
Complaint to the BBC and Ofcom
In the article “Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?” there is an excerpt from somebody called “Natacha Kennedy”:
Natacha Kennedy, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London who researches transgender issues, has examined the results of a survey of 97 parents of young people with gender-related distress that took place following the puberty blockers ban. She believes that puberty blockers should be an option available for young people questioning their gender and that many will not accept being part of a placebo group in a trial.
"These parents are desperate and if [they] get to a trial and it turns out their child is not being given the actual puberty blockers, then there is no point in them being there," she says.
"There may be some parents who would… find another way [to obtain the drugs]."
The reader might assume that Natacha Kennedy is a woman, who lectures in medicine, who is neutrally advocating for puberty blockers: “She believes that puberty blockers should be an option available for young people questioning their gender”.
This could not be further from the truth.
Natacha Kennedy is a man, who has no medical background, and lectures on education. Furthermore, Kennedy appears to be a man with “late-onset gender dysphoria”, which starts in males at the onset of adolescence, not “early-onset gender dysphoria”, which is apparent in early childhood.
This would mean that Kennedy is advocating for children to receive puberty blockers, who would mostly just grow out of what they are experiencing, and do not share the same type of “gender dysphoria” as he does (in my complaint below, I go into more detail regarding what the DSM-5 says about the different types of gender dysphoria).
The BBC seems oblivious to the fact that featuring Kennedy appears to be a continuation of the problem long-recognised by actual experts, of men with “late-onset” i.e. autogynephilic gender dysphoria, using their own irrelevant experience of “gender dysphoria” to advocate for medical treatments for children:
Yet a number of vocal transgender activists who have histories typical of autogynephilic gender dysphorics do not hesitate to pressure parents, legislators, and clinicians for acquiescence, laws, and therapies that do not distinguish among types of gender dysphoric children. Moreover, they not infrequently claim inside knowledge based on their own experiences. Yet their experiences are irrelevant to the two types of gender dysphoria that they don’t have. (“Gender dysphoria is not one thing”)
When I explain the full context of who Natacha Kennedy is, the reader is made aware of a potential great conflict of interest. It’s not good enough that the BBC kept the reader in the dark about this.
Below is my complaint first to the BBC, and then to Ofcom.
3rd April 2025
26th March 2025
Dear Ofcom,
Please could I ask for a substantive reply from Ofcom, that address the points I have raised in my complaint regarding the impartiality of "Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?", namely that there is a conflict of interest in the BBC not informing the public that Natacha Kennedy is not a female (Puberty blockers complaint, paragraph 10) but is rather a transsexual, i.e. male, and therefore part of a cohort, that as actual experts caution, has a long-recognised conflict of interest in advocating for medical treatments for children who identify as the opposite sex. (Puberty blockers complaint, paragraph 12 [PDF and text available further down this article]).
I have attached my original complaint for reference. I know that I am raising well-founded points regarding impartiality and conflict of interest, as I received the following reply from a medical professional, when I explained to them the full context of who Natacha Kennedy is:
“I'm intrigued by your point that the BBC (amongst many others) is ignoring autogynephilia with the Natacha Kennedy example of irrelevant ‘lived experience’ being an adult claiming to speak on behalf of children with a different condition!!”
Previous complaints to the BBC
I note, that in rejecting my complaint, that the BBC has relied upon its previous ability to avoid its requirement to cover a diversity of opinion. My complaint to the BBC regarding the Cass Review (also attached) notes the false narrative that the BBC creates by suggesting there are "transgender" people whose "gender identity is not the same as the sex recorded on their original birth certificate", whilst omitting all context to why this cross-sex identification happens, in particular autogynephilia. (Cass Review complaint paragraph 58).
The repetition of the narrative that there are supposedly a class of "transgender" people who have a "mismatched gender identity", whilst omitting why this happens, arguably serves to recreate the well-known, and false, narrative known in this field as the "feminine essence narrative", which suggests that “Male-to-female transsexuals are, in some literal sense and not just in a figurative sense, women inside men’s bodies" (historically, male-to-female transsexuals being the most common). [1]
Tregear arguably relies on this false narrative in order to reject my complaint, saying he "does not agree it was necessary to make a reference to her [Kennedy's] gender identity" (Puberty blocker complaint paragraph 27).
Tregear apparently believes that Kennedy is in some sense, the same as any other woman, whose opinion should be treated as such. The BBC has to appreciate, that I, and others, do not believe that transsexuals like Kennedy have a supposedly female "gender identity" or are in some way any sort of woman, and that accordingly, it is necessary that the opinions of Kennedy should be judged in the context of who Kennedy actually is, namely a transsexual, with apparent late-onset gender dysphoria and autogynephilia.
It is therefore necessary to make reference to Kennedy being a transsexual or "trans woman" (if that is preferred), as as I have said, this would inform the reader about a conflict of interest, as Kennedy is part of a cohort, that as actual experts caution, has a long-recognised conflict of interest in advocating for medical treatments for children who identify as the opposite sex. (Puberty blockers complaint, paragraph 12).
The BBC is failing in its requirement to handle this issue impartially. The BBC suppresses a diversity of opinion regarding this important topic, which the BBC then subsequently relies upon to justify conflicts of interest go unaddressed.
[1] Blanchard, R. “Deconstructing the Feminine Essence Narrative” Archives of Sexual Behavior July 2008.
Yours Orlando Woolf
25th March 2025
Dear Orlando Woolf
BBC News website, 9th December 2024. Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?
Thank you for your email of 21 March 2025 to the Corporation Secretary, which has been forwarded to the Ofcom Standards Team as the group responsible for fielding your query at the first stage of our internal complaints process.
We can confirm that your complaint was one of the ones which was reported not upheld in Issue 51 of Ofcoms Bulletin for complaints about BBC online material, published on 17 March 2025. While Ofcom does not normally correspond with individual complainants regarding the outcome of their complaints, in line with our published complaints procedures for BBC Online Material, given your request we have provided some further explanation.
Our assessment
As set out in our BBC Online Material procedures, unlike our role regulating the standards of BBC broadcasting and on demand programme services, the BBC Agreement does not require Ofcom to resolve complaints about standards in the content of BBC online material and Ofcom has no related enforcement powers.
Our role is to consider and give an opinion on whether the BBC has observed the relevant editorial guidelines in its online material. Ofcom will first consider whether a complaint about the editorial standards of BBC online material raises potentially substantive issues under the relevant editorial guidelines which warrant consideration by Ofcom. Ofcom will do so by reference to the gravity and/or extent of the matter complained of and whether it considers the BBC reached an appropriate final view on the complaint.
We carefully reviewed the material you were concerned about, your complaint, and the BBCs final response to you on it.
You complained that the BBC failed to meet due accuracy and due impartiality by not disclosing that Natacha Kennedy is a transsexual, which you considered to be a clear conflict of interest in this context.
Ofcom noted that the BBC had complied with its complaints procedures in this case. In terms of the article, in a context where Dr Kennedy was presented as an alternative view to that of the Bayswater Group on the subject, Ofcom did not consider the lack of reference to her being trans impacted on due impartiality or due accuracy, and did not therefore raise substantive grounds for Ofcom to accept the complaint.
We realise this decision is likely to come as a disappointment to you, but hope this letter makes clear that we considered the concerns raised about this material carefully.
Yours sincerely,
Ofcom Standards Team
20th February 2025
Dear Ofcom,
I would like to raise a complaint regarding the BBC’s article “Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?”
Specifically, that the BBC is failing to meet “due accuracy” and “due impartiality” by featuring Natacha Kennedy, without informing the audience that Kennedy is a transsexual.
I will explain why.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) which defines “gender dysphoria” notes that there are two broad types of male gender dysphoria (p. 455):
“In both adolescent and adult natal males, there are two broad trajectories for development of gender dysphoria: early onset and late onset. Early-onset gender dysphoria starts in childhood and continues into adolescence and adulthood; or, there is an intermittent period in which the gender dysphoria desists and these individuals self-identify as gay or homosexual, followed by recurrence of gender dysphoria. Late-onset gender dysphoria occurs around puberty or much later in life.”
In the case of what the DSM-5 calls “early-onset” gender dysphoria, this is marked by cross-gender behaviour, i.e. remarkably feminine boys. For the “early-onset” cohort, persistence rates of gender dysphoria into adulthood are around “2.2% to 30%” (p. 455). The majority will grow up as homosexual (p. 455).
In the case of what the DSM-5 calls “late-onset” gender dysphoria, this has the characteristic of coming out of the blue in otherwise typically masculine adolescent boys (p. 455). The DSM-5 notes that in this cohort a phenomenon called “autogynephilia” increases the likelihood of gender dysphoria (p. 703). This is a word used to describe the propensity amongst some otherwise typically masculine heterosexual males to be attracted to the concept of themselves as women.
I am aware of the “two broad trajectories” of gender dysphoria, as I personally come under the second trajectory; the “late-onset” gender dysphoria trajectory, and have autogynephilia.
I have written a short single-page memo to illustrate the phenomenon of autogynephilia in more detail. Please could Ofcom read it when assessing my complaint. The memo can be found here:
https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
The BBC presents Natacha Kennedy as expert source, and as a female who is neutrally advocating for children to receive puberty blockers: “She believes that puberty blockers should be an option available for young people questioning their gender and that many will not accept being part of a placebo group in a trial.”
However this is anything but the case, and severely misleads the reader. Natacha Kennedy is not a female, expert source, but rather a man, who appears, to follow the “late-onset” path of gender dysphoria, likely connected to autogynephilia, just as I do.
Natacha Kennedy furthermore appears to fit the well-recognised archetype of an activist that professionals caution against. Ray Blanchard, who served on the gender identity disorder subcommittee of the DSM-4, and who is one of the world experts on gender dysphoria, notes:
“… a number of vocal transgender activists who have histories typical of autogynephilic gender dysphorics do not hesitate to pressure parents, legislators, and clinicians for acquiescence, laws, and therapies that do not distinguish among types of gender dysphoric children. Moreover, they not infrequently claim inside knowledge based on their own experiences. Yet their experiences are irrelevant to the two types of gender dysphoria that they don’t have. And even with respect to autogynephilia, these transgender activists are nearly all in denial.”
It is therefore evidently important context for the reader to know that Kennedy is a transsexual, as there are recognised conflicts of interest regarding this matter.
“Late-onset” gender dysphorics, who appear to be in denial regarding their own psychology, should be arguably the very last people that the public listen to, when it comes to this debate. Especially when they appear to project their apparent denial onto children with “early-onset” gender dysphoria; the aetiology of gender dysphoria that they do not share.
As my excerpt above from the DSM-5 notes (paragraph 6), there is no rationale for children with “early-onset” gender dysphoria to receive puberty blockers, as most boys with “early-onset” gender dysphoria will grow out of what they are feeling if just left alone.
The BBC says that I have “disregarded” the contributions that Kennedy has made regarding trans issues (paragraph 27). To this I answer, of course I have disregarded Kennedy’s contributions, as Kennedy evidently has no wish to talk factually about the trajectories and causes of gender dysphoria. It is rather the BBC that disregards and never addresses the expert comment in my complaint (paragraph 31).
Furthermore, Kennedy does not have any requisite qualifications in this field, Kennedy’s qualifications are a BA in Modern Languages, a Postgraduate Diploma in Science Education, a MA in Education and a PhD in Sociology. Kennedy’s entire insight into this issue appears that they are a “late-onset” transsexual, which as Blanchard notes is irrelevant to the matter at hand, which is how “early-onset” gender dysphorics should be treated.
The BBC has failed in its responsibility to portray this issue with “due accuracy” and “due impartiality” to the public. Its content poses a risk to children, namely children with “early-onset” dysphoria, who are being threatened with puberty blockers, for a condition that they will likely grow out of, if just left alone.
This issue, is, of course, a massive scandal.
I do not believe the BBC is naive regarding this issue, as I have raised this matter before. I think that rather, there are some people at the BBC who have come to believe in a particular ideology, namely that there are some people who have been literally born with the “gender identity” or “essence” of the opposite sex, (discussed more in the memo mentioned on paragraph 9) and so the BBC has come to impose this ideology on the public.
I think it is likely that many who believe in this ideology do so because they have “transitioned” their own children under this false belief. This ideological capture is why the BBC is not interested in facts and expert opinion, which contradict this ideology. I think that this will prove an existential issue for the BBC. Certainly, I am not the only person who has noticed that the BBC are ideologues regarding this matter.
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
19th February 2025
Dear Mr Woolf
I am writing to let you know the outcome of the Executive Complaints Unit’s investigation into your complaint about the above article on the BBC News website.
The article includes a contribution from Dr Natacha Kennedy and I have understood you to say it should have stated Dr Kennedy is, to use your words, “a transsexual” because “it shows that Kennedy is not unbiased when it comes to recommending puberty blockers for children”. You also said Dr Kennedy is “not professionally well placed to discuss this medical issue” because of their academic qualifications.
As you may be aware, the role of this Unit is to decide if the content of the article met the BBC’s editorial standards and values. These can be seen in full in its Editorial Guidelines. In this case, the most relevant sections of the guidelines would appear to be those on Accuracy and Impartiality. These say BBC content should meet the requirements for “due accuracy” and “due impartiality” where the term “due” means adequate and appropriate to the output when taking account of the subject and nature of the content.
The guidelines also say readers should not be materially mislead. There is a specific section in the Impartiality guidelines (4.3.12) which refers directly to the way contributors are described: We should not automatically assume that contributors from other organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities and think-tanks) are unbiased. Appropriate information about their affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context.
As you can see, the aim is to ensure members of the audience are given appropriate information so they can make an informed assessment of what is said and who has said it. In this case, the article included a range of views on conducting clinical trials to establish whether the potential benefits of puberty blockers outweigh the potential harms. This included the ethical issues of conducting trials on children and young adults.
Dr Kennedy’s contribution appeared under a section with the sub-title “What parents say”. It included comments from a parent called Annabel who expressed her concerns about any long-term physical and psychological health impacts on children involved in a clinical trial and was immediately followed by the contrasting views of Dr Kennedy who set out why she believes puberty blockers should be an option available for young people questioning their gender.
She was described as “a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London who researches transgender issues” and someone who has “examined the results of a survey of 97 parents of young people with gender-related distress that took place following the puberty blockers ban”.
Readers would, therefore, have understood she is an academic who has studied and researched trans issues and is concerned about the potential effect on children who might be part of any placebo group. It seems to me this gave readers sufficient information to make an informed judgement of what she said and would have understood she was expressing a view based on her personal experience and knowledge, in precisely the same way as the other contributors who were quoted in the BBC article.
I do not agree it was necessary to make a reference to her gender identity or to her academic qualifications; bearing in mind her contribution, I can see no reasonable foundation for concluding readers would have misunderstood what she was saying or been unable to make an informed assessment of her background and experience. I note you have said Dr Kennedy’s “only insight into this issue appears to be that they are a transsexual” but, despite citing her profile on the Goldsmith’s website, you appear to have disregarded the work she has published on trans issues.
I hope I have been able to explain why I do not propose to uphold your complaint. There is no further right of appeal against this decision within the BBC’s complaints process. However, you can ask the independent regulator, Ofcom, to consider your complaint and the BBC’s decision on it. If Ofcom thinks your complaint raises a potentially substantive issue, it will give an opinion on whether the BBC has observed its own editorial guidelines.
Yours sincerely
Colin Tregear
Executive Complaints Unit
29th January 2025
Regarding my complaint about: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyd2qe5kkjo
The BBC writes, "We included the views of WPATH and Dr Natacha Kennedy, quoted in her capacity as a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London with expertise in transgender studies, who was professionally well-placed to examine the results of a survey that concerns parents’ perspectives of young people with gender-related distress."
You still neglect to mention that Kennedy is a transsexual. This is in the public interest, as it shows that Kennedy is not unbiased when it comes to recommending puberty blockers for children. Ray Blanchard, who served on the DSM-4 subcommittee for gender identity disorders, notes that "a number of vocal transgender activists who have histories typical of autogynephilic gender dysphorics do not hesitate to pressure parents, legislators, and clinicians for acquiescence, laws, and therapies that do not distinguish among types of gender dysphoric children." [1] Kennedy arguably very much fits the description of such an activist. I can see this, as I have autogynephilia myself.
Furthermore, Natacha Kennedy's is not professionally well placed to discuss this medical issue. Kennedy's qualifications are: BA (Hons) Modern Languages, MA in Education, PhD in Sociology. [2]
Natacha Kennedy's only insight into this issue appears to be that they are a transsexual, which the BBC does not mention, and as I mention, biases their opinion on this matter. The BBC isn't supposed to be acting as a mouthpiece for activists, who are entirely unqualified to be talking about this issue. It is supposed to be an impartial public service broadcaster.
[1] https://4thwavenow.com/2017/12/07/gender-dysphoria-is-not-one-thing/
[2] https://www.gold.ac.uk/educational-studies/staff/kennedy-natasha/
29th January 2025
Reference CAS-7984624-F0R2F3
Dear Mr Woolf
Thank you for getting in touch with your further comments about the BBC News article “Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?”.
We would like to highlight that the article does not attempt to examine and debate the pros and cons of puberty blockers. Rather, it aims to explain all the complex challenges and issues involved in making any trial viable, ethical and scientifically valid.
We understand the importance of representing a range of perspectives and sought comments from organisations representing trans youth and/or their parents. We included the views of WPATH and Dr Natacha Kennedy, quoted in her capacity as a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London with expertise in transgender studies, who was professionally well-placed to examine the results of a survey that concerns parents’ perspectives of young people with gender-related distress.
While some will not agree with some of the views and organisations quoted, we stand by their inclusion, and took care to explain when their standpoint was self-described, as in the case of the Bayswater Group. While we believe the article made clear the group’s standpoint, for additional clarity we have since expanded the description to reflect that the group “has welcomed a government ban on puberty blockers”.
We are committed to representing statistics accurately and responsibly, and acknowledge that usually, the most up-to-date figures should ideally be used. Nevertheless, we believe it was appropriate to use a graph included in the Cass Review and stand by the accuracy of the information provided about a ’rapid rise in referrals’ to Gids over the last ten years.
We greatly appreciate you getting in touch – we listen carefully to audience feedback and the issues raised have been circulated widely on our complaints reports and discussed with the relevant team.
If you remain dissatisfied and believe there may have been a potential breach of our published standards or other potentially significant issue to investigate further, it is open to you to contact the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to escalate your complaint. For full details of our complaints process you can visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/.
If you did wish to contact the ECU please write to it within 20 working days of receiving this reply, using the bespoke link below. Please quote your reference number.
How to contact the ECU:
We’ve provided a unique link for you in this email. This will open up further information about how to submit your complaint. You’ll be asked for the case reference number we’ve provided in this reply. Once you’ve used the link and submitted your complaint, the link will no longer work.
27th December 2024
YOUR COMPLAINT:
Not addressing very specific point in complaint
You have not addressed the very specific point I made in my complaint
Dear Mr Woolf
Thank you very much for getting in touch about the BBC News article: “Puberty blockers: Can a drug trial solve one of medicine's most controversial debates?”.
We would like to assure you that reporting impartially is of the utmost importance to us. Across all of our output, we strive to present a range of voices and perspectives. In doing so, we take care to clearly attribute any quotes included. In this instance, we believe that the piece makes clear the Bayswater Group’s position, as “a collection of parents with children who are questioning their gender who say they are ‘wary of medical solutions to gender dysphoria’”.
As with any other source quoted, their inclusion does not mean that the BBC supports their position.
We also include a range of other contributors, including Dr Kennedy, who has examined a survey of parents of young trans people and “believes that puberty blockers should be an option available for young people questioning their gender”.
While the focus of the piece is to explore how a puberty blockers trial might work, we provide background information for context. We believe it is accurate to explain that “Over the last 10 years… there has been a rapid increase in referrals”. In addition to the graph, which reflected Gids referrals made 2009-2016, this rise is also shown by more recent data published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/gender-identity-services-advocacy-children-young-people): “In 2021/22 there were over 5,000 referrals into the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in England. This compares to just under 250 referrals in 2011/12.”
While we believe that our reporting here meets our editorial standards, we greatly value your feedback - we have shared it directly with the InDepth team and it has also been added to our complaints reports, which are circulated widely to journalists, editors and senior management.
Thank you again for taking the time to write to us.
Kind regards,
BBC Complaints Team
13th December 2024
Case Number CAS-7984624-F0R2F3
YOUR COMPLAINT:
Natacha Kennedy bias
Dear BBC,
You write "Natacha Kennedy, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London who researches transgender issues", yet neglect to mention that Kennedy is a transsexual.
This is in the public interest, as it shows that they are not unbiased when it comes to recommending puberty blockers to children.
Ray Blanchard, who served on the DSM-4 subcommittee for gender identity disorders, notes that "a number of vocal transgender activists who have histories typical of autogynephilic gender dysphorics do not hesitate to pressure parents, legislators, and clinicians for acquiescence, laws, and therapies that do not distinguish among types of gender dysphoric children." [1]
In this case, Kennedy appears typical of one of these activists.
The BBC should be aware that there different types of gender dysphoria in the DSM-5, namely early-onset, which is connected to high likelihood of homosexuality, and late-onset, which is connected to autogynephilia.
I know this as I have "late-onset" gender dysphoria, apparently like Kennedy.
It is the early-onset cohort who will be harmed by puberty blockers, not the late-onset cohort, apparently like Kennedy, or me.
[1] https://4thwavenow.com/2017/12/07/gender-dysphoria-is-not-one-thing/