The UK charities watchdog is assessing whether it will take action against Oxfam after receiving complaints about a cartoon published by the charity that ignited a row about transgender issues.
Oxfam International put the cartoon out on Twitter last week to mark pride month, but took it down on Tuesday after a backlash against its use of the term Terf (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) in an image depicting anti-trans “hate groups”.
Oxfam International, which commissioned the cartoon as part of its gender justice campaign strand, subsequently published a re-edited version. It apologised for the “offence it caused” and said it had “made a mistake”.
The cartoon had sparked a furore, with critics saying it was misogynist and used racial stereotyping. Some accused it of using an image resembling the bestselling author JK Rowling, a high-profile participant in the volatile and polarised debate around transgender issues.
Writing in the Daily Mail, the journalist and feminist Julie Bindel called the cartoon a “vile and misogynist” attack on Rowling, adding that she believed Oxfam had become “captured to such an extent by extreme political ideology and trans-lunacy that it is no longer fit for purpose”.
The Charity Commission said it was assessing the complaints in the context of its regulatory and risk framework, which requires it to take action if it considers a charity has undermined public trust and confidence in the charity sector.
The first part of the cartoon voiceover says: “How are you marking pride month this year? When LGBTQIA+ people around the world are deprived of basic safety? Not protected by laws, preyed on by hate groups online and offline, discriminated at work, deprived of opportunities and pushed to the margins.”
The image used to illustrate the “hate groups” line originally depicted three angry figures with bright red eyes, including a person wearing a badge saying Terf who some suggested resembled JK Rowling.
After receiving what it called a “negative reaction” to the image, Oxfam International took down the cartoon and re-edited it, replacing the three figures with a montage of social media images. The charity said there had been no intention to depict a particular person or people.
In a statement, it said: “Oxfam believes that all people should be able to make decisions which affect their lives, enjoy their rights and live a life free of discrimination and violence, including people from LGBTQIA+ communities. In efforts to make an important point about the real harm caused by transphobia, we made a mistake. We have therefore edited the video to remove the term Terf and we are sorry for the offence it caused. There was no intention by Oxfam or the film-makers for this slide to have portrayed any particular person or people.
“We fully support both an individual’s rights to hold their philosophical beliefs and a person’s right to have their identity respected, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.”
Oxfam International is an independent charity, registered in the Netherlands, which acts as the international secretariat for the confederation of 21 Oxfam organisations across the world, including Oxfam GB, which founded the charity and remains its largest affiliate.
Oxfam GB’s main mission is to prevent and relieve poverty worldwide, but its charitable objects also require it to work towards “the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religion”.
Together, the Oxfam affiliates worldwide had an income of just over €1bn (£860m) in 2021-22. Collectively they spent €950m during the year, more than two-thirds of which went on humanitarian and development programmes.
