Silver Haired Bias
By @edent
· BBC fact check fake news · 1 comment · 600 words · read ~205 times.
I was unreasonably annoyed by some media commentator on Twitter complaining about the BBC. So I decided to use data to prove someone wrong on the Internet.
In a recent article, the BBC described Christine Lagarde thusly:
The role is likely to test the silver-haired 63-year-old, who has admitted before that she lacks economic experience.
The commentator was disgusted that she'd be described as "silver-haired". He wondered out loud "I bet the BBC don't refer to men in this way!"
Luckily, we can test that claim by searching BBC news for that phrase. Here's what I found (restricting myself to stories where the reporter described the subject as "silver-haired", and where the subject was a prominent figure.)
| Person | Gender | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Christine Lagarde | F | 2019 |
| Christine Lagarde (again) | F | 2019 |
| Joe Biden | M | 2008 |
| López Obrador | M | 2018 |
| Sven-Goran Eriksson | M | 2018 |
| Uri Avnery | M | 2018 |
| Nikolaus Ziegert. | M | 2015 |
| Robert Mueller | M | 2018 |
| Phillip Schofield | M | 2017 |
| Jean Cody | F | 2017 |
| Nick Hewer | M | 2010 |
| Michel Barnier | M | 2017 |
| Robert Kilroy-Silk | M | 2004 |
| Bernie Sanders | M | 2016 |
| Jeremy Corbyn | M | 2016 |
| Tom Jones | M | 2010 |
| Robert Coulter | M | 2007 |
| Andrei Makarevich | M | 2010 |
| Des Lynam | M | 1998 |
| Louis B Susman | M | 2011 |
As you can see - the majority of the first 20 results are male. Lagarde is unique in being mentioned twice.
But don't just take my word for it! Run the search yourself and see.
Now, there are some obvious caveats. The BBC (probably) runs more stories about men than women - so the small number of women may be disproportionately targetted. The BBC's search engine doesn't let you specify the order of results - so I may have missed some stories.
I also didn't check whether it was male or female reporters who used the term. Feel free to explore that yourself.
The commentator quickly apologised and deleted his Tweet before it had hit peak virality in its outrage.
All that said, there are lots of outdated and weird sexist tropes that infect the media. Women are often described in a way that a man wouldn't me. Men are rarely "leggy blonds" or "ditzy". They never have "ample curves" or "flawless skin and dazzling eyes".
Language matters. When we reduce people to their mere looks, we do them a disservice. Reporters should avoid these cliches like the plague.
But... We live online. It's up to you to fact check your own assumptions.
When I’ve heard it in relation to men, it tends to be when someone is described as a “silver fox” or “silver haired fox”.