Fury as therapists say Northern women ‘aren’t caring’

THE professional body representing counsellors and therapists has apologised for suggesting women are emotional and caring – unless they are from the north of England.

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy was accused of using gross stereotypes for its definitions of men and women in guidelines on gender, sexual and relationship diversity. The guidance notes: ‘It is important not to assume, for example, that being a woman necessarily involves being able to bear children, or having XX sex chromosomes, or breasts.

‘Being a woman in a British cultural context often means adhering to social norms of femininity, such as being nurturing, caring, social, emotional, vulnerable, and concerned with appearance.’ But it then goes on to say that women on the autistic spectrum may struggle to express emotion.

It then adds: ‘In some northern workingclass contexts femininity is associated with strength and aggression.’

Twitter user Beverly Gibbs responded: ‘So here it is. Being a woman is not about “having XX chromosomes”, it’s about “being caring, nurturing, vulnerable and concerned with appearance”. Unless you’re autistic or Northern. Feel free to tell me if I’ve misrepresented that.’

The guidelines were written by Dr MegJohn Barker, an ‘activist-academic’ at the Open University who identifies as nonbinary, meaning they use neither ‘he’ nor ‘she’ pronouns to describe themselves. The association apologised ‘if it caused offence’.