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Male-Run ‘Pink News’ at Odds with the Lesbian Community…Again

PinkNews, a male-run publication, has a history of coming under fire with the lesbian community. Yesterday, it happened yet again…

Lesbians are the most silenced within the alphabet and within the mainstream media. We’re pathologically misrepresented.

The mainstream media (including the ‘LGBT’ mainstream) are male-dominated (like everything else)… Even lesbian organizations and media are controlled by non-lesbians and male-money-Parent companies or advertisers that ultimately control what we can and cannot say. Mainstream media is like the creepy uncle who shows up at your lesbian dinner party, uninvited, holding a bouquet of d*cks. PinkNews has been called out on social media, time and time again, for what lesbian readers view as biased reporting, anti-lesbian sentiment and misogynistic viewpoints.

PinkNews has a tumultuous relationship with the lesbian community, to say the least. When lesbian leaders have publicly called out PinkNews, for their lack of coverage on issues concerning lesbians, it’s rarely dignified with a response.

 

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December 2017 through January 2018, PinkNews came under such a firestorm from the lesbian community, that they published the following statement: “UPDATE: This article has been updated following feedback from PinkNews readers to include a wider range of figures.”

What the statement should’ve said was: UPDATE: This article has been updated following a firestorm from the lesbian community to include lesbians. PinkNews excluded lesbians from the New Years list they published to honor “LGBT+ people.” It wasn’t the first or last time they received backlash from the lesbian community, but one of the only times the backlash was big enough to be deemed worthy of a response from PinkNews.

Even men complained on behalf of lesbians…

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Yesterday, PinkNews ran an article on Irish writer/director Graham Linehan. In the article, PinkNews painted Linehan (a vocal ally to the lesbian community) in a distorted light, while quoting Dr Adrian Harrop (someone who lesbians consider extremely anti-lesbian) as though he’s an ally. This added to an already long list of complaints the lesbian community has about PinkNews-So many complaints in fact, lesbians quite often refer to the publication as “Penis News”.

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When PinkNews writes on lesbian topics and issues, it’s often from a male point of view. In January of 2018, PinkNews added a woman to their staff. When asked online if she was a lesbian (multiple times, by lesbians in the community), there was no response.

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AfterEllen is currently the only mainstream lesbian publication that still exists-The one (and only) mainstream lesbian publication that focuses on issues as they specifically pertain to and affect lesbians. Take a pause. Let this sink in: We have ONE mainstream lesbian publication still remaining (something I’ve written about a few times before). One. In a sea of male-dominated publications. When PinkNews comes under fire, it’s in part because they’ve tacked us on to their mission statement- Claiming to represent the interests of the lesbian community, while, all too often, sanctioning our abuse.

ϼ?ê?ä?èϺ Ï»?èϺ?åϺJD Robertson, is an award-winning author, and a contributor for Huffington Post and AfterEllen-A first generation Arab-American, who grew up between worlds, and currently resides somewhere in the middle with a bird’s eye view.

 

PinkNews has also been routinely called out for sanctioning anti-lesbian slurs. The use of an anti-lesbian slur serves to endorse abuse against lesbians (including threats of violence against lesbians for innate same-sex attraction). PinkNews wrote an article defending the use of a slur that’s currently used against lesbians for being… well… lesbians. And in that same article admitted the slur was… well… a slur.

While publications like The Daily Beast point to media misrepresentation of lesbians, saying lesbians are “…a group that still feels ‘unwelcome and invisible’ in 2016,” in 2018 it seems lesbians feel more invisible and unwelcome than ever.

PinkNews states they are a publication that “covers politics, entertainment, religion and community news for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the UK and worldwide.” If they don’t want to represent lesbian views, with honesty and integrity, then they should change their mission statement. That would be fair enough. They are not obligated to write on our behalf, and, as a male-dominated publication, they shouldn’t be writing on our behalf. They’re not obligated to include our perspective, but they are obligated to be accurate and honest with their readers about their distinct exclusion of lesbian voices.

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AfterEllen is currently the only mainstream lesbian publication that still exists-The one (and only) mainstream lesbian publication that focuses on issues as they specifically pertain to and affect lesbians. Take a pause. Let this sink in: We have ONE mainstream lesbian publication still remaining (something I’ve written about a few times before). One. In a sea of male-dominated publications. When PinkNews comes under fire, it’s in part because they’ve tacked us on to their mission statement- Claiming to represent the interests of the lesbian community, while, all too often, sanctioning our abuse.

ϼ?ê?ä?èϺ Ï»?èϺ?åϺJD Robertson, is an award-winning author, and a contributor for Huffington Post and AfterEllen-A first generation Arab-American, who grew up between worlds, and currently resides somewhere in the middle with a bird’s eye view.

 

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