BBC News misleads the public about ‘conversion therapy’

Communications Manager Paul Huxley shows how a BBC News article fundamentally misleads the public on a matter of public interest.

Today, BBC News put out a long article detailing how many people were subjected to Electric Shock Aversion Therapy from 1965 to 1973.

It says the therapy, which took place in NHS hospitals, was intended to change their sexuality and gender identity, causing much harm. The article says that some of these people also did not give informed consent.

Aversive therapy is indeed unhelpful – but also irrelevant

Electric shock therapy is a form of aversion therapy which is intended to link a desire (like same-sex attraction) with pain, provided by the shock.

The article is perfectly justified in pointing out that these attempts at treatment were ineffective and harmful in the long run. Our FAQ about the subject has made clear for years that we reject aversive methods.

But the BBC article quickly jumps from these past mistakes to current plans to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’.

Near the top of the article it says:

“The British Psychological Society has abandoned its use of ESAT but conversion practices in the UK are still not illegal.”

And lower down it directly pivots from forced electric shocks to the current calls for a ban:

In 2017, NHS England and the Royal College of Psychiatrists pledged to stop practising conversion therapy, including electric shock treatment.

“Yet conversion practices still remain legal in the UK and continue to take place in private homes, churches, and through some counsellors or therapists.

According to campaigner Saba Ali: “People are still tortured and hurt in the name of conversion therapy.”

The government has promised to draft a bill to end conversion practices by the end of this year, but it has not happened as yet.”

The problem is this: no one whatsoever in the UK is doing or supporting these practices. The stories the BBC tells are utterly irrelevant to the political issue at hand.

I’ve closely followed all the therapists and counsellors who have sought to help people with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender distress for over 15 years. I have never seen any of them support aversive methods or coercion – quite the opposite.

You don’t have to take my word for it either. When the Conservative government under Boris Johnson was planning to ban ‘conversion therapy’ it commissioned research from Coventry University to understand its present-day extent. Even though the research was biased towards a ban, the report was clear: “Aversive techniques were not reported by interviewees.”

None of the 30 people spoken to had experienced aversive techniques. No one advocates for it. It was NHS hospitals that previously did it – but the BBC article misleads the reader to think it’s still going on today, using it to build support for a ban.

Isn’t the BBC meant to be politically neutral?

The NHS is still converting people

The bad mistakes of the NHS in the 1960s are, in fact, far more closely related to the quack gender medicine still being practised today.

It was only two weeks ago that a new UK trial would test out puberty blockers on gender-questioning children. These drugs have all kinds of permanent, harmful effects on how their bodies develop, but the NHS is still attempting to ‘convert’ confused children with them.

No puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or reassignment surgery will ever convert a boy into a girl or vice versa – it’ll only harm them and affirm them in a lie.

Conversion therapy bans would actually cause harm

There is ample evidence, even if it is much-ignored, that talking therapy and forms of pastoral support are generally helpful to people who want to reduce their same-sex attraction.

Even when unsuccessful, it does not lead to harm.

Dr Andre van Mol wrote in 2021 that a proposed ban in fact “puts already at-risk youth at further risk by prohibiting what the child and family need most.”

Just think about it. Imagine you’re a teenager with unwanted same-sex attraction. A conversion therapy ban means that no one is allowed to try to help you to diminish those feelings, or not act on them. No one’s even allowed to tell you how you might go about reducing those feelings, because that is also banned.

What are you most likely to try?

My guess is that you are going to try hurting yourself when those feelings bubble up. You will punish yourself and try the exact kinds of aversive approaches that this BBC article rightly decries.

A conversion therapy/practices ban would almost certainly drive more people to these kinds of wrongheaded attempts.

Complain

I believe that this article is materially misleading the public on a matter of real importance.

The BBC has long suppressed stories of those who are grateful to have moved out of gay or trans identities, but this is a step further.

Please consider making a complaint to the BBC to stop them poisoning the public debate on ‘conversion therapy’ with this misleading portrayal.