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We’re used to casual LGBT discrimination from tabloid rubbish like The Sun and the Daily Mail, writes Milly Shaw, but who would expect it from the usually thoughtful, liberal Guardian newspaper?

Every Saturday, the Guardian’s Work section has a business problem explored in a picture format. It’s meant to be amusing first and helpful second, and questions usually cover topics as likely as ‘you come in one morning to find an employee asleep under his desk. what do you do?’

This week’s problem, published on Saturday 31 May 2008, was breathtakingly insulting: ‘Your most senior project manager comes in one morning dressed as a woman and demanding to be called Melissa. Personally, you are fine with his gender reassignment, but are not so sure that your construction industry clients will feel the same way. What do you do?’

(Don’t worry if you can’t read the captions too well in this image - they’re repeated below)

Firstly, look at the illustration for this ‘problem’. It is appalling. Melissa is made to look as goofy and ridiculous as possible. Extreme lipstick and eyeshadow, conspicuously huge hands, muscly legs in a manly hands-on-hips stance: a clown of a man in a frock.

Incredibly, the accompanying text is even worse. Absolutely no respect is shown to the character of Melissa with regard to her gender identity; she is consistently referred to as ‘he’ despite making it clear she wants to be identified as female. And she has the nerve to demand to be called Melissa - how dare she!

Everything about the problem and solution is skewed towards the comfort of everyone but the person who is affected most. We’re told that we, in the role of the employer, are fine with Melissa’s gender reassignment - as if mattered what the employer’s personal prejudices were. We’re apparently mostly worried about how the clients will feel. But what about Melissa? What about how she feels? The message is who care! HE’S the one causing the chaos after all…

a, b, c: the solutions

[a] Tell him the situation is unworkable, send him home and prepare for a legal backlash.
The language used in [a] reveals a lot. “Prepare for a legal backlash” tells us that we the employer can do what we like, but unfortunately the law seems to be on the side of the troublemaker. It won’t be ‘justice for the victim’, it will be a legal backlash.

[b] Buy some time by telling your clients you’ve hired a drag act for their entertainment.
[b] is obviously meant as the joke answer so I won’t go into how awful it is at face value. But again, look a little deeper. It seems to be an easy mental slide for we, the employers, from ‘gender reassignment’ to ‘drag’ - it yet again reinforces the impression that Melissa’s transformation is more about silly entertainment than a massive life change.

[c] Suggest he take it slowly - maybe just starting off with a bit of lipstick and taking things from there?
This is the ‘correct’ answer, apparently. Here’s why, according to Karren Brady: “As an employer you have a duty of care to all your employees. Suggesting that he takes things slowly will not only let colleagues adjust, but will give him the chance to get used to the different reactions he will experience from colleagues and clients. Bear in mind too that certain logistical considerations will need to be discussed, such as the use of toilet facilities, to ensure the transitional period is managed sensitively.”

Of course [c] is also entirely wrong. The employer would be completely out of order to suggest ‘maybe starting off with a bit of lipstick’. It is wholly inappropriate for Melissa’s employer to say what she should and shouldn’t be wearing as part of her gender reassignment, it’s no one’s decision except hers how and when she decides to dress as a woman. It’s also rather insulting to suggest that she hasn’t considered ‘taking it slow’. Again, the assumption is that this is just a foolish man thoughtlessly playing dress-up.

The entire piece is incredibly transphobic. Yes it’s fiction, but it’s profoundly insulting to anyone who might be dealing with a similar issue in their own workplace. It’s extremely disappointing for a newspaper that seems to pride itself on its liberal attitudes.

If you’d like to tell the Guardian your thoughts on the issue, you might be interested to know that you can email Karren at work@guardian.co.uk.

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