Our thanks to Gerry for this. He writes:
They can’t bring themselves to mention a man in the headline. Which makes one wonder how many women were in the trial.
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Curiously it was a feminist “equality” training course that alerted me to this years ago. Like the headline about the man who was attacked by a drunken women stiletto, “taxi driver” is the headline. Of course we will assume the “Taxi Driver” is a man but its part of a pattern where the role or generic term (person/patient/bystander/hiker/cyclist etc.) is used rather than the fact that this is a man is highlighted. In more recent years I’ve noticed that even where there has been feminist efforts to get non gendered terms in use, still the sex it identified in headlines “female police officer” “female firefighter” “female sailor” etc. Clearly because we care a bit more and “click” if its a woman or girl. Feminists of course claim this is patriarchy, whereas in reality its gynocentrism as the effect is to elicit sympathy and gain support.