Mick Hartley

“The paper wanted to add a sentence saying UK murders of trans women are disproportionately high… I said ‘but this is not true!’ and he said ‘no, but people here feel very uncomfortable with not saying that’” @polblonde in Q&A with @JoPhoenix1 @ProfAliceS https://t.co/ftfEiystE8 pic.twitter.com/fdtVUaTWu3

— Outspoken Women (@women_outspoken) March 29, 2023

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Joan Smith:

1) In my years as a journalist, I’ve never previously been asked to add something that wasn’t accurate to an article. The FT piece I’m referring to was a 500-word book review, which made the situation even more amazing. I’d written that murders of transwomen are rare in the UK.

— Joan Smith (@polblonde) April 1, 2023

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The rest of the thread:

2) That’s true. I was asked if the paper could add that they’re disproportionately high compared to their actual number. That isn’t true & I said so. I was then told that people at the paper felt the word ‘rare’ was pejorative. Honestly, I’d love it if murders of women were rare.

3) I stood my ground & wouldn’t agree to words being added to state something I know to be wrong. In the end, the reference to transwomen was removed from my copy. The entire conversation, conducted by phone on a summer evening while I was in a bar in Rome, was surreal.

4) I decided to speak about this because it shows the influence of people pushing a trans agenda. I don’t blame the editor I was dealing with, because it’s not a subject he’s familiar with. I will just add that this was a year ago & I haven’t been asked to write for the FT since.