What do these 2 big 'culture war' stories this week have in common?
1. M&S launches new underwear range 'inspired by George Floyd'.
2. St Paul's Girls' School no longer using the term 'head girl' because it's 'too binary'.
The answer is, oddly, neither is quite what it seems.
The 'George Floyd Underwear' story: The Daily Mail tweet that popularised the idea he 'inspired' it is below.
If you open the image, you can see the DM tweet says 'inspired by George Floyd' in quotes, as if M&S said that. But the article itself does not contain that quote at all
If you read the M&S press release, this is the only mention of George Floyd (bwlo).
Ie: The Daily Mail seem to have picked that up & summarised it as inspired by George Floyd, and added quotes around that phrase, which people read as if that's what M&S have actually said.
The other story, about St Paul’s Girls’ School removing the title 'Head Girl' for being 'too binary'.
The school itself says that actually they're reverting to the original title of 'Head of School', and that 17/18 year olds prefer something more 'age-appropriate and inclusive'
Maybe you could say the note there mentions the title being 'inclusive', and could infer that's about gender, but still: the headline at the top of this thread literally says they're changing it " because it's 'too binary' " (with quotes) while the school says something different
Perhaps either/both of these stories is still worth discussion, and maybe each of the organisations can be criticised for various things, but it's worth knowing what's the actual story & what's largely a controversial edge the headline/summary writers have added.
In case you're interested in the detail, here is the M&S press release:
corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-re…
And here is the full St Paul's letter explaining the name change:
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