Aggressively asking for the time

The BBC has a prominently placed news item about an attack on Laverne Cox:

Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox has said “it’s not safe if you’re a trans person” after being caught up in a transphobic attack in Los Angeles.

Cox posted a 10-minute Instagram video explaining she had been walking with a friend in a park on Sunday when a man “aggressively” asked for the time.

He then proceeded to ask the friend if Cox was a “guy or girl?”

The man then physically attacked her friend, according to the star, who said she was “still in shock”.

“The guy is like hitting my friend, and then my friend is going toward him,” said Cox.

“I pull out my phone and I call to dial 911, and all of a sudden it’s over and the guy is gone.”

That sounds very unpleasant, and scary.

However. The physical attack was on Cox’s “friend,” who I’m guessing is probably male, because surely Cox or the BBC would have spelled it out if the friend had been female.

I’m just wondering how often the BBC does a big news item about such an incident involving a woman and a man walking in a park. A guy comes up, act aggressive, then throws some punches at the man, then departs the scene. Would that be any kind of news item?

Maybe if the woman were a tv star it would be…but I can’t say I recall seeing a lot of stories of that kind.

The rest of the article is about transphobia.

The 48-year-old said she had “been harassed and bullied my whole life” and felt “lucky and grateful” that her friend was there this weekend. The attack, she said, was a reminder that “it’s not safe in the world”.

“It’s not safe if you’re a trans person. Obviously, I know this well. It’s just really sad,” she sighed.

“It doesn’t matter who you are. You can be Laverne Cox, you know, or whatever that means. If you’re trans, you’re going to experience stuff like this.”

Last month, UK crime statistics obtained by the BBC showed there had been a 25% increase in reports of transphobic hate crimes in the UK.

Again – it sounds like a nasty and upsetting incident. It shouldn’t happen. People shouldn’t accost and throw punches at other people in parks. It’s a bad thing to do. But is it worse because Cox is trans? Is it headline news because Cox is trans and a tv star? Is the BBC frantic with worry about transphobic violence while it barely notices violence against women?

12 Responses to “Aggressively asking for the time”