An American CNN journalist interviewed me about the differences between TERFs and radical feminists, and I thought the interview went really well. Unfortunately, the UK version of CNN took the story and apparently reinterpreted what I’d said to the US journalist and, the end product was, at least to my eyes, near incomprehensible.

Below is a review of what CNN said that I said (which doesn’t seem to make sense) and a corrected version:

Forstater and Rowling have been dismissed as TERFs by their critics. The acronym stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, and it is considered a slur by many.

According to Cristan Williams, the founder of Transgender Foundation of America and transgender historian, TERF boils down to belief in the gender binary: Man and woman.

It should be: “…TERF boils down to belief in sex as a body binary: male and female.”

There is no in-between or deviating from one’s assigned sex in trans-exclusionary feminism.

It should be: “For TERFs, phenotypic body attributes only come in a discrete binary set and can never change, and there can be no in-between in trans-exclusionary feminism.”

In the ideology, women are reduced to their “essential attributes” or the feminine phenotype, she said.

It should be: “In TERF ideology, “woman” is reducible to one “essential genotypic or phenotypic attribute”, she said.”

Williams said the belief that transgender activism harms women and lesbians is rooted in the feminist movements of the ’60s and ’70s, which emphasized the importance of women’s bodies in informing their gender.

It should be: “Williams said the belief that transgender activism harms women and lesbians is rooted in the new age feminist movements of the ’60s and ’70s, which essentialized “woman” as her so-called “creative potential” in reproduction.”

Feminists began to split into factions during this time, though mainstream feminists still largely defended transgender rights, Williams said. The term was popularized in 2008 by feminist Viv Smythe to distinguish between transgender exclusionists and the larger swatch of radical feminists who supported transgender people.

It should be: “Feminists began to split into factions during this time, though radical feminists still largely defended transgender rights, Williams said. The term was popularized in 2008 by feminist Viv Smythe to distinguish between TERFs who obsessed over trans people existing and the larger swatch of radical feminists who supported trans women, because they supported the liberation of all women.

I think it’s possible that the UK version of CNN tried to dumb down important concepts like gender, sex, phenotype, and genotype so that people wouldn’t have to think very much about the issue. The problem with such editorial decisions is that it’s a choice to stop readers from understanding an issue.