NPO/Human Medialogic documentary: "The battle for transgender care" is now available with English subtitles (2021)

Argos Medialogica Battle for Transgender Care

In Dutch with English subtitles here

Last summer, the transgender community protested against the problems in Dutch transgender care. Activists are given space in the media to express their concerns and grievances about this. They argue for a fundamentally different design of healthcare. But according to critics, there is little room in the Dutch media for possible downsides or trade-offs within this theme.

Argos Medialogica decided to investigate transgender care following an opinion piece in the NRC Handelsblad. Media sociologist Peter Vasterman argued that journalism does not report broadly and critically enough, for example about the possible role of social influences in young people's choice to transition. A discussion that, according to Vasterman, is being held abroad, but receives little attention in the Netherlands.

According to trans activists, the media spread trans hatred by paying attention to these critical questions. To what extent does this mean that as a journalist you should not publish about it? Shouldn't a scientist do research into it? Medialogic delves into the transgender dossier and investigates whether there is indeed more going on in transgender care than we see and hear in the Dutch press. And whether an open discussion about this is actually possible.

Documentary makers: Myrthe Buitenhuis and Martine Braam

Sunday, December 26 at 9:49 PM on NPO 2

In Dutch with English subtitles here

Human Mediastorm: Needle Spiking krijg veel media-aandacht maar waar is het bewijs?

In de media verschijnen steeds meer verhalen over Needle Spiking, waarbij jonge vrouwen tijdens het uitgaan zouden worden gedrogeerd met een injectienaald. Maar waar is het bewijs? Gesprek hierover met journalist Marieke Kuypers en mediasocioloog Peter Vasterman. 

Kijk hier deze uitzending van Mediastorm van 4 juni 2022. 

Lees ook: 

R.E. Bartholomew: The British Needle-Spiking Panic Social panic amidst reports of British women being surreptitiously injected. In Psychology Today, February 20. 2022.

Tom Chivers, There is no spiking epidemic. Women don't need more reasons to feel afraid. Unherd November 9, 2021.

Burger, J. P., & Vanderveen, G. N. G. (2010). Drugs in je drankje. Schuldattributie en genderstereotypen in nieuwsberichtgeving en online discussies. Tijdschrift Voor Criminologie, 52(4), 411-421.

Hier staat het uitgebreide onderzoeksrapport dat in opdracht van de Britse House of Commons is uitgevoerd: House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, Spiking, Ninth Report of Session 2021–22 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 20 April 2022

"No-one knows how prevalent spiking is, whether by drink, drug or needle, and no-one knows what causes perpetrators to do it. Anecdotal evidence suggests the practice is widespread and dangerous, and that many people, particularly young, particularly women, are affected by it and are afraid they will be spiked on evenings out. An absence of accurate data makes it impossible, however, to judge accurately just how widespread, how dangerous spiking is. Policy initiatives to reduce both spiking and the fear of it cannot be well-founded or well-targeted without reliable evidence." p.10/11