Hurricane in a teacup? Twitcher on back foot after critics pan 'offensive' content in his controversial first book

                                                                    

KEEN birder Gary Bagnell has pledged to rewrite sections of his first book after it came under fire on social media.

Just before Christmas, Garry Bagnell published Twitching by numbers: Twenty-four years of chasing rare birds around Britain and Ireland.

But sections of soon came under the notice of feminist Lucy McRobert who, like him, is both a birder and a writer - but on a different wavelength and at the primmer end of the literary spectrum.

She was evidently so appalled by the content and tone of some of the text that she put out a tweet (since deleted) highlighting extracts which included words such as 'knockers' and 'boobies'.

So deeply offensive did she find these terms that she claimed they made her skin "creep".

                                        

Lucy McRobert - distressed

Time was when this sort of bawdy content was commonplace in media - in classic novels stretching back to Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and probably before, then, more recently, in  so-called lads' magazines such as Loaded that sold  fabulously well at the end of the 1990s.

Innuendo and/or explicit images were also a mainstay of the Carry On and Confessions of movies that were popular in the 1980s and before. 

And don't forget the output of TV comedians Benny Hill and Frankie Howerd, not to mention the photographs that have long appeared on Page 3 and elsewhere in many a red-top tabloid newspaper?

And can anyone remember Club18-30 holidays? 

But that was then - things are different in 2022 (as they will be in 2023). 

What was once deemed saucy playfulness is now regarded as 'leering' and even 'predatory'.  

Any author who deviates from what is considered decorous and appropriate enjoys no licence - he (or she) risks being singled out and pilloried with  opprobrium.

Following Ms McRobert's influential intervention, many others have entered the fray - most to support her viewpoint but others to counter-attack on behalf of Mr Bagnell who has mounted his own spirited self-defence.                                                   

Garry Bagnell - focus of female flak

In the wake of the uproar,  Mr Bagnell (55), an accountant, of Southwater in West Sussex, has both  apologised for any upset he has caused and indicated that he now intends to rewrite his book, self-censoring the sections that have caused such offence. 

Perhaps he ought to publish two editions  - the revised sanitised version and the original, the latter to contain a  warning on the cover that some of its content may cause offence to certain readers.

One can only speculate which version would sell more copies?

The Wryneck says: Mr Bagnell is unlikely to win any awards for chivalry, but, in fairness, he did not set out to be a role model for other birders. He just sought to put down in words and pictures some of the highlights of almost quarter of a century of twitching, these accompanied by reflections on other aspects of his career and outlook on life. Some of his comments might might  strike a discordant note with certain readers, but credit to him for his endeavour - putting together an illustrated book takes a fair bit of sweat and toil. Every day, we all encounter a myriad of  things that cause personal irritation, inconvenience or even offence, but we shrug them off, look on the bright side and  just get on with life - we don't all rush to Twitter to condemn.