The BBC has faced criticism for featuring a gender-neutral raccoon character in a CBeebies programme that caters to very young children.
The award-winning programme Hey Duggee, which is aimed at five-year-old's, has come under fire for an episode introducing a raccoon called Wren and "their" siblings.
Hey Duggee is produced by Studio AKA in association with BBC Studios and features Duggee, a cartoon dog who runs a clubhouse with five squirrels named Bettie, Roly, Tag, Norrie and Happy.
The controversy centres on the episode titled Sibling Badge, which was first broadcast last year.
Hey Duggee is an award winning children's programme
BBC
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Critics have labelled the gender-neutral language as "inappropriate" and "confusing" for young children who are still learning how to speak, The Telegraph reports.
In the episode, Roly discovers he is getting a new brother or sister. The squirrels then meet different animals and their siblings.
Dog Arlo is shown with "his" siblings, monkey Lucy with "her" siblings, and yak Rami appears alongside "his" siblings.
It then adds: "And this is Wren and their siblings."
Wren the raccoon was referred to by they/them pronouns
BBC
The words "they" and "their" are commonly used as gender-neutral pronouns, particularly for those who identify as non-binary.
Shelley Charlesworth, researcher for UK-based campaign group Transgender Trend, described the episode as "so inappropriate" when speaking to The Telegraph.
"Its target audience is still learning to speak and this only confuses,” she explained.
“Language skills and accurate grammar take years to learn, most children are still making mistakes up to the age of eight."
"There is no way that a child of three to five can understand non-binary they/them pronouns, and using these neo-pronouns takes no account of child development,” Charlesworth continued.
She accused the BBC of breaking its accuracy and impartiality code, adding the language "stems from adult political activism".
The BBC confirmed that Wren was 'a non-binary character'
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A BBC spokesman said: "We take our responsibility to our young audience and their families very seriously and take great care that all content is appropriate."
"Everyone is welcome at CBeebies and in this case Wren the racoon is not a non-binary character."
Hey Duggee creator Grant Orchard has previously spoken about gender representation in the show.
In a 2017 interview, Orchard stated: "The way we treat characters on the show, we don't think about gender at all."
He clarified that "it wasn't a conscious decision to make it a gender-neutral show", adding that "kids' personalities are not allocated by their sex".
Orchard revealed that discussions with distribution and marketing teams about whether the show would be placed in boys' or girls' aisles in supermarkets influenced their approach.
This led them to become "determined to keep the show gender neutral as much as possible."
