Whose balance? GRS: There is an opposite of "regretter."
Posted by Natacha at 22:07
http://uncommon-scents.blogspot.com/2011/03/whose-balance-grs-there-is-opposite-of.htmlBalance is not a one-dimensional, black-and-white issue, it is complex and requires a good deal more thought by broadcasters, especially when dealing with marginalised groups such as trans people.
One of the issues raised over Channel 4's inclusion of trans people in its 4thought slot was the decision to include a "regretter" (someone who regrets their Gender Reassignment Surgery, or GRS) in the line up, as their commitment to "balance" in reporting. Yet including someone who regrets his gender reassignment surgery in this context does not achieve balance. As Christine Burns quite rightly suggested in her blog recently, the idea of balance in reporting appears to have been considered a simplistic and unproblematic area from the point of view of those commissioning and creating television programmes and urgently needs rethinking.
