Parents attack CBeebies show over gender-neutral raccoon
In the episode of Hey Duggee, an award-winning show, which is aimed at five-year-olds, a racoon called Wren and 'their' siblings are introduced.
The gender-neutral language has been criticised as 'inappropriate' and 'confusing' for children still learning how to speak.
Hey Duggee, produced by Studio AKA in association with BBC Studios, features Duggee, a cartoon dog, who runs a clubhouse with five 'squirrels': Bettie, Roly, Tag, Norrie and Happy.
In the episode Sibling Badge, first shown last year, Roly discovers he is getting a new brother or sister.
The squirrels then meet different animals and their siblings. Dog Arlo is shown with 'his' siblings, monkey Lucy with 'her' siblings, yak Rami appears alongside 'his' siblings. It then adds: 'And this is Wren and their siblings.'
The words 'they' and 'their' are commonly used as gender-neutral pronouns, particularly for those who identify as non-binary.
The episode by Jo Clegg, the writer behind dozens of episodes as well as popular shows Go Jetters and Pip and Posy, has now come under question.
Shelley Charlesworth, researcher for Transgender Trend, a UK-based campaign group, described the episode as 'so inappropriate'.
She said she felt the use of the word 'their' for the last animal was subtle but not an error.
Ms Charlesworth said: 'Its target audience is still learning to speak and this only confuses. Language skills and accurate grammar take years to learn, most children are still making mistakes up to the age of eight.
'There is no way that a child of three to five can understand non-binary they/them pronouns, and using these neo-pronouns takes no account of child development.'
She accused the BBC of breaking its accuracy and impartiality code, adding the language 'stems from adult political activism'.
One parent who saw the programme accused the show's language of 'sounding weird', adding: 'The use of their in that particular bit just stuck out to me. There was no reason to use it as all the pronouns before were gendered.
'It just sounded weird. I don't think it was an accident.'
A BBC spokesman said: 'We take our responsibility to our young audience and their families very seriously and take great to care that all content is appropriate. Everyone is welcome at CBeebies and in this case Wren the raccoon is not a non-binary character.'
Hey Duggee was previously criticised for using the term 'fireman' by the London Fire Brigade after a veteran female firefighter had to explain why the term was wrong to a young relative.
The BBC said at the time 'CBeebies strives to avoid stereotyping and looks to celebrate strong female role models'.
A spokesman added: 'Within the wider context of the Hey Duggee Dressing Up Badge episode, animated characters are shown dressing up in costumes depicting roles such as a plumber, pirate, knight and farmer but these roles are occupied by girl characters as well as boys, is done without comment and infers these roles are all gender-neutral.'
In 2023, the BBC was accused of trying to brainwash children after telling them male fish could become female.
CBeebies broadcast a segment about how some species can go from 'being a boy fish to a girl fish'.
Campaigners claimed it was trying to normalise sex-swap ideology at a young age.
A BBC spokesman said at the time: 'While this segment aired at the start of June, it was not produced specifically for Pride month.
'CBeebies 'Everyone's Welcome' ethos supports inclusivity and we air segments on a range of related topics throughout the year.'
Grant Orchard, the series creator, said he ignored gender altogether in a 2017 interview.
'The way we treat characters on the show, we don't think about gender at all,' he said.
He added 'It wasn't a conscious decision to make it a gender-neutral show', adding 'kids' personalities are not allocated by their sex'.
'Only when we started talking to distribution and marketing people about the show, and they were discussing what kind of show it was and whether it would be placed in a boys or girls aisle in supermarkets, we became determined to keep the show gender neutral as much as possible.'
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