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Post by poster J on Jun 14, 2020 10:06:20 GMT
Make bullying of all kinds and sexual assaults unacceptable. They are, already, to most people. Yet they still happen. The sad fact is that women cannot trust that all men think that sexual assaults are unacceptable. They will never be able to trust that. So there have to be safe spaces for women where they can get away. I'm sure you must have seen the posters on the back of cubicles in bars indicating the safe word that women can give to bar staff to get them out of an uncomfortable situation. That alone tells you why neutral restrooms do not work. As a woman I feel uncomfortable with gender neutral restrooms, and that won't change just because there is increased education about how sexual assaults are wrong.
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Post by kathryn on Jun 14, 2020 10:16:02 GMT
Horrible fact: some people do things *because* they are unacceptable. Breaking a taboo is what excites them.
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Post by The Matthew on Jun 14, 2020 10:45:44 GMT
I meant go back and work out WHY people are so enraged at the idea of not just having “Toilets for everyone” and redesign it all. Talk to pupils, work out solutions. Make bullying of all kinds and sexual assaults unacceptable. Involve them in solutions. If I was a school head I would just do it (and yes, I have been a secondary school teacher at a comprehensive school) ! And yes, try and respect everyone. We are all people. The problem is that everyone has different requirements and extremely good reasons for those requirements, and there simply is no single solution that is going to satisfy everyone. To look at just one angle of it, you can't have anything that simultaneously satisfies "I want a place just for my group" and "I want a place that doesn't treat me differently from that group". Whatever you do someone isn't going to be able to get what they want, and if choices need to be made then personally I think we should fall towards the side of safety.
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Post by theatreian on Jun 14, 2020 11:20:20 GMT
I really don't see what the problem is with having separate toilets. Men and women are different. I do not particularly want to share a restroom with women, largely due to not wanting to make them feel uncomfortable. There is nothing wrong in them feeling uncomfortable either. I really do not see the need to go down the road for political correctness sake of everything being single gender.
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Post by crowblack on Jun 14, 2020 12:47:47 GMT
I genuinely don’t understand why toilets have to be for either men or women. Just get rid of the urinals and have “toilets” for everyone . We are ALL people. What exactly do women actually do in the loos that they don’t want men to see? Please explain. This is so silly in this day and age. I genuinely don't understand why you can't see this is an issue. Why do you think segregated toilets were introduced? For the protection and privacy of women. They are an enclosed space, often in the basements or other nooks and crannies of buildings, with no cctv covering, almost always without attendants in the modern era, where women could - and have been - sexually and physically assaulted. Segregated toilets are something women in third world countries are campaigning to introduce, because of rapes and assaults, to allow women working outside the home to be safe and to feel safe. Here, some people - those in charge of arts institutions especially - seem to think because we all retweeted 'Me Too' a few years back and read the Guardian, some sort of magic line was drawn, the lion can now lie down with the lamb and men are no longer predatory. This is especially ironic given the stories emerging about major figures in the Old Vic and Royal Court's past. And yes, we know it's only a tiny minority of men who behave like this, but it's not a risk we want to be exposed to. As for other things women do in toilets, well, besides the obvious there's dealing with periods and associated mishaps, including clothes changes, rinsing clothes in sinks and drying them under the dryer, an emergency place to go when having a miscarriage (probably more common than you'd think), helping children use toilets, and helping daughters dealing with their first periods, simply getting changed, adjusting clothes and making themselves look glamorous or whatever for the day, or in my case and I suspect for others too, as an anxiety sufferer who now finds being out on my own in London incredibly stressful, it's a place to go to calm down and get my head together without anyone in (say) the hip and trendy Royal Court bar looking at me funny.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 14, 2020 13:06:45 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 13:45:00 GMT
there you go everyone YOU WON!!!!
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Post by sweets7 on Jun 14, 2020 14:04:00 GMT
I genuinely don’t understand why toilets have to be for either men or women. Just get rid of the urinals and have “toilets” for everyone . We are ALL people. What exactly do women actually do in the loos that they don’t want men to see? Please explain. This is so silly in this day and age. I genuinely don't understand why you can't see this is an issue. Why do you think segregated toilets were introduced? For the protection and privacy of women. They are an enclosed space, often in the basements or other nooks and crannies of buildings, with no cctv covering, almost always without attendants in the modern era, where women could - and have been - sexually and physically assaulted. Segregated toilets are something women in third world countries are campaigning to introduce, because of rapes and assaults, to allow women working outside the home to be safe and to feel safe. Here, some people - those in charge of arts institutions especially - seem to think because we all retweeted 'Me Too' a few years back and read the Guardian, some sort of magic line was drawn, the lion can now lie down with the lamb and men are no longer predatory. This is especially ironic given the stories emerging about major figures in the Old Vic and Royal Court's past. And yes, we know it's only a tiny minority of men who behave like this, but it's not a risk we want to be exposed to. As for other things women do in toilets, well, besides the obvious there's dealing with periods and associated mishaps, including clothes changes, rinsing clothes in sinks and drying them under the dryer, an emergency place to go when having a miscarriage (probably more common than you'd think), helping children use toilets, and helping daughters dealing with their first periods, simply getting changed, adjusting clothes and making themselves look glamorous or whatever for the day, or in my case and I suspect for others too, as an anxiety sufferer who now finds being out on my own in London incredibly stressful, it's a place to go to calm down and get my head together without anyone in (say) the hip and trendy Royal Court bar looking at me funny. Exactly to women toilets can be everything and a whole lot more. And with urinals as someone who has run into male toilets in the past while drink. That's an invasion as well.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 14, 2020 14:39:59 GMT
there you go everyone YOU WON!!!! Everyone?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 14:40:13 GMT
Lots of research online about gender-neutral bathrooms, particularly in schools, but also office buildings and public spaces.
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Post by hereforham on Jun 14, 2020 15:50:02 GMT
When people talk about safe spaces do they literally just mean toilets or are there other panic rooms men don't know about?
And the idea is that if a woman is feeling unsafe or threatened they can retreat to the bathroom and if there is a symbol of a woman in a dress outside that will stop the abusive man in his tracks?
But some men are being clever and not only appealing for laws to be changed so there's less women only rooms but also just wearing dresses and pretending to be women to get past the invisible barrier?
And in every instance this is happening in public and there's nobody else of any gender around to find safety in?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 15:59:49 GMT
Mermaids is a charity that support young trans people. they wrote an open letter to JK Rowling ( found here mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/dear-jk-rowling/ ) but this is a best of from Independent “We would like to begin by offering our solidarity with you as a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse,” the letter began before going on to address Rowling’s views. “To address the core of your point, trans rights do not come at the expense of women’s rights We see no evidence that trans girls are a threat to other girls in any way. Indeed, it is transgender children who often suffer horrific bullying at school and at home.” The letter goes on to address Rowling’s concern over trans people gaining access to single-sex spaces. “Trans women are already entitled to use the facilities that align with their gender identity, and those protections have been in place since the Equality Act 2010, The Gender Recognition Act is about changing your birth certificate only, and nobody has to produce a birth certificate to use the bathroom or a changing room. Since 2010, if predators have used the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to gain access to women’s spaces, we are not aware of it, nor has evidence of such a pattern ever been cited by those who would dearly love to consolidate one of their most common attacks on trans rights. Men who prey on vulnerable women are a worldwide problem, but this has nothing whatever to do with trans people. On the contrary, trans people are generally far more worried about accessing toilets and changing rooms than cisgender women, because they fear being verbally abused or attacked by people who don’t think they should be there. !!!!! The letter concluded that Rowling’s comments are harmful because they “ conflate trans women with male sexual predators”. !!!!!
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Post by crowblack on Jun 14, 2020 16:18:34 GMT
When people talk about safe spaces do they literally just mean toilets or are there other panic rooms men don't know about? And the idea is that if a woman is feeling unsafe or threatened they can retreat to the bathroom and if there is a symbol of a woman in a dress outside that will stop the abusive man in his tracks? Women's refuges, women's prisons, women's sports facilities including bathing areas and changing rooms, shop changing rooms, examination by a biologically female doctor when visiting GP etc. if requested etc. And while toilets themselves are not covered by CCTV internally, most venues do have some sort of CCTV and patrons and bar staff and shop floor staff etc. who could prevent and report and record suspicious behaviour, like a man making a move towards a specifically woman's bathroom or specifically woman's changing room. And in every instance this is happening in public and there's nobody else of any gender around to find safety in? I generally arrive at theatres early and the loos are empty: there's be no-one to shout to for help. It's not scary in venues with segregated toilets because the women's and men's are often on separate corridors and these have FOH staff on all doors or cloakroom staff at the intersection. Because safety. Men used to ask or make jokes about "why do women in nightclubs go to the toilet together?". The answer was for security in crowded, dimly-lit venues where, in pre-CCTV days, men would sometimes follow women in to toilets, sometimes at their invitation but in the case of my onetime Kilburn local, definitely not.
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Post by kathryn on Jun 14, 2020 17:11:50 GMT
Anyone else remember how they had to introduce a whole law to make ‘upskirting’ illegal because of men using smartphone cameras to perv on women in public?
In Japan the sexual harassment on trains is so bad that they’ve introduced women-only carriages.
It’s utterly depressing, but we’re not making these concerns up. I hate that the right-wingers are the only ones who have taken them seriously - I dislike intensely that I find myself reading The Times and The Spectator on this issue. I really think the trans lobby has shot itself in the foot by branding these valid concerns transphobic, and pushed potential allies away.
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Post by hereforham on Jun 14, 2020 17:22:30 GMT
Women's refuges, women's prisons, women's sports facilities including bathing areas and changing rooms, shop changing rooms, examination by a biologically female doctor when visiting GP etc. if requested etc. And while toilets themselves are not covered by CCTV internally, most venues do have some sort of CCTV and patrons and bar staff and shop floor staff etc. who could prevent and report and record suspicious behaviour, like a man making a move towards a specifically woman's bathroom or specifically woman's changing room. I generally arrive at theatres early and the loos are empty: there's be no-one to shout to for help. It's not scary in venues with segregated toilets because the women's and men's are often on separate corridors and these have FOH staff on all doors or cloakroom staff at the intersection. Because safety. Men used to ask or make jokes about "why do women in nightclubs go to the toilet together?". The answer was for security in crowded, dimly-lit venues where, in pre-CCTV days, men would sometimes follow women in to toilets, sometimes at their invitation but in the case of my onetime Kilburn local, definitely not. There's a lot to unpack there but regarding refuges, prisons and doctors - a man pretending to be a woman would also need a whole other cover story to access those places? That's a lot of hoops to jump through to commit abuse when it could just as easily happen, like the awful story here, in the women's department of a store or in a park?
Opposing trans rights entirely because it would allow a very small number of people to satisfy an outlying desire seems extreme, paraphrasing kathyrn whatever laws are in place for anything there will be people who get a kick out of breaking them, even down to something as simple as 'keep off the grass'.
So back to toilets and as a fellow quiet toilet or nervous unisex user, isn't the answer simply all purpose cubicles with a toilet, sink, mirror and lockable door or an attendant inside or outside any place that has a communal area? These things might be necessary anyway in a world with Covid and we can forget the Trans issue and just concentrate on a safe space for everybody.
Obviously if a man pretends to be a woman who pretends to be a toilet attendant my plan is scuppered.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 17:42:51 GMT
Anyone else remember how they had to introduce a whole law to make ‘upskirting’ illegal because of men using smartphone cameras to perv on women in public? In Japan the sexual harassment on trains is so bad that they’ve introduced women-only carriages. It’s utterly depressing, but we’re not making these concerns up. I hate that the right-wingers are the only ones who have taken them seriously - I dislike intensely that I find myself reading The Times and The Spectator on this issue. I really think the trans lobby has shot itself in the foot by branding these valid concerns transphobic, and pushed potential allies away. You should read this mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/dear-jk-rowling/
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 22:27:10 GMT
Is nobody wondering why some trans people are standing with Rowling? Debbie Hayton, Kristina Harrison - others who don’t have their profile, but who I’ve seen tweeting positively today in response to the report in The Times. Hayton certainly isn’t overly keen on Mermaids - indeed, she argued their schools toolkit went too far, and suggested a more moderate alternative. Harrison is calling out Stonewall for their stance on the whole debate too.
For my part, what I found nice about the immediate response to the Times article on Twitter was the number of natal women saying, “Great! Now we’re safe, how do we do the same for transwomen?”
Because we get that transwomen might find men threatening, and that we might share some similar experiences of assault. But you don’t make one group of people safe by making another unsafe. Self-ID would allow any predatory males to say they were transwomen - even though they weren’t - to gain access to women-only spaces. It’s the biggest aspect of what makes it unworkable. Harrison is calling for safe third spaces. Surely that’s a sensible compromise that would work for anyone but the most rabid TRAs?
What the Times report suggests is that the government is sticking to the Equality Act. So they are reaffirming rights already granted to women, under the law.
If it feels like natal women are celebrating this news - and I think that’s premature, because there’s a way to go yet and Labour could try to scupper it all - it’s because we’ve spent so long being told we don’t have the right to any opinion but blind acquiescence with radical trans activism.
It’s because those brave enough to disagree have been bullied with the most vile abuse.
It’s because people like Mermaids have gained such a hold over organisations that we daren’t disagree with some policies in the workplace, even if we’re really uncomfortable with them, in case we lose our jobs.
It’s because when people raised valid concerns with places like the Old Vic over their toilet arrangements, we were steamrollered over and it was inferred there was something wrong with us.
And all for speaking up for something that is already guaranteed to us in law. That’s shocking, and goes some way to showing the scale of the misogyny involved.
Someone finally saw us for what we are - women with legitimate concerns about losing important and valid rights. In all honesty, the mood feels more like relief than celebration.
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Post by talkingheads on Jun 14, 2020 23:00:40 GMT
Self-ID would allow any predatory males to say they were transwomen - even though they weren’t - to gain access to women-only spaces. It’s the biggest aspect of what makes it unworkable. The sad fact is that if a predatory man wants to gain access to a women's only space like a toilet, they just will.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 14, 2020 23:20:05 GMT
I very rarely make public comments on threads such as this - because the topic is such an emotive one and I do not wish to cause anyone distress.
However I am concerned with the way that a very recently constructed view of gender has become an almost unchallengeable orthodoxy. The concept of gender which is being 'enforced' is one that is rooted in a very specific set of thoughts from a narrow group of (mainly) US academics - it is not something that has grown up out of the scientific method.
Consequently there have been very few studies into the medium to long term effects of this sort of shift on the individuals or groups involved or into the effect such shifts may have on society as a whole.
Because any attempt to challenge this new orthodoxy is dismissed as being -phobic, it is almost impossible to engage in public discourse around the topic of gender.
I want everyone to be free to live their life as they see fit - free from abuse and discrimination. But I am also wary of the potential for harm with making radical shifts in policy (both in terms of society and medicine) without a fuller understanding of what could happen as a result.
There is growing evidence that there is a growth in de-transitioning. There is growing evidence that gender dysphoria is, for substantial numbers of teenagers, part of growing up and that they can grow out of it. The rush to medical intervention is not helpful in all cases. We need to understand why there are more people questioning their gender identity and why more of those who have transitioned are seeking to reverse those changes.
We also have to be extremely cautious about the growing denial of the concept of biological sex. Yes, there are those with intersex (and related) conditions who don't fit into the traditional male-female binary. But it - to my mind - is wrong to seek to eradicate the idea that biological sex is in any way important.
The issues surrounding Women-only spaces cannot be dismissed - there are genuine concerns about privacy, security and identity that need to be at the forefront of any consideration of change.
People's lives are too important to be the subject of experimentation in terms of public policy. Let us ensure that the best possible protections are enshrined in law - for everyone and let us slow down whilst we look at all of these issues in a calmer and less dogmatic atmosphere. Bad decisions are the inevitable outcome of rushed decision making processes. Look after people and give them the space to be who they are - but take more time to allow for the best policy decisions to be made so that current and future generations can grow up in the best possible society.
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Post by viserys on Jun 15, 2020 5:14:20 GMT
I can hardly describe the relief I feel about reading posts such as yours oxfordsimon and kathryn - I don't really speak out myself, partly, because things aren't aren't as extreme as s they are in the UK (yet?) partly because I also don't want to be attacked as transphobic for my concerns. What I find most shocking is how the radicals don't allow for any kind of discussion and just attack and slam everyone down who doesn't agree with them. So I'm glad both to read statements from people who dare to speak up and to read that there's finally a little backlash against the radical new orthodoxy. As a child, I was considered a "tomboy", as a teen I often wished I was male. I would write juvenile "novels" with male heroes, when I discovered musicals, I was attracted to the male roles and when the internet came along, I would often pretend to be male - not for any nefarious aims, just because I COULD be male when nobody saw me and heard my voice. Under this new radical orthodoxy I had probably been encouraged to actually become male, but luckily this wasn't a thing yet. I have since been diagnosed with Aspergers and read in a very good book that it's apparently a common trait in Aspie women to feel like having "a male part inside you" (no sniggering please) and it's probably to do with too much testosterone (which may be responsible for causing Aspergers in the first place). In trying to figure out why I so much liked to be/pretend to be male, I became very aware of the common everyday sexism against women that turned me into quite a feminist - I had just realized how much easier life as a male is. That said - I'm very glad there weren't any radicals around who might have tried to talk a young insecure me into transitioning. I'm fine now with being female and I have accepted that "male side" of me just as part of who I am and I feel everyone needs a chance and time to figure these things out. The time when you're a young insecure teenager, being overwhelmed with so much, is not it. PS: Now of course I already worry that I caused offense somewhere, so let me add that, yes, I'm aware that some teenagers DO know they are stuck in a wrong body and by all means they should receive all the help and support and safe spaces they get. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that whenever there's doubt, there's nothing wrong with taking things a little slowly and that people who say "are you really sure?" aren't automatically branded transphobic.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 7:31:01 GMT
There is no evidence to suggest any woman has been attacked by a trans women in a toilet in the last 10 years that they have been able to use them. None.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 7:32:56 GMT
And for all the concerns about radical shifts.......black lives matter?? U supported that shift didn’t u?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 7:33:44 GMT
And the argument that some trans people are standing with Rowling? Some black people are standing with trump
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Post by kathryn on Jun 15, 2020 7:34:33 GMT
I don’t think there’s many women who haven’t wished they were a man at some point - but especially when going through puberty Men just seem to have it so much easier! But it does seem that women with autism spectrum disorders are over-represented among those seeking to transition after puberty. It’s a new enough phenomenon - and the follow-up procedures are lax enough - that no-one is quite sure how high the de-transition rate really is. ‘Lost to follow-up’ isn’t the same as discontinuing transition.
Unfortunately trying to ask the question about the number of de-transitioners and what that might mean about the validity of initial diagnosis gets people called transphobic.
And there's lots of evidence that gender non-conforming children often grow up to be same-sex attracted adults rather than trans adults. That has been well established over a number of studies. The rush to declare that such children are trans and should socially transition - rather than following the ‘watchful waiting’ method - is quite concerning.
Anyway, I just poked my head in this morning because his popped up in my Twitter timeline.
I seem to have ended up following a lot of theatre folks whose views on the trans issue are diametrically opposed to my own. I don’t quite know how to get the good theatre chat on my timeline without the frankly insulting accusations of white supremacy.
It’s a relief to see from this thread that I’m not as alone as Twitter makes me feel!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 7:37:28 GMT
And to those of u that say that people could be turned by the radicals?? Honey, I been hearing that my whole life about me trying to turn straight men gay. It’s not real guys!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 7:40:26 GMT
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And there's lots of evidence that gender non-conforming children often grow up to be same-sex attracted adults rather than trans adults. That has been well established over a number of studies. The rush to declare that such children are trans and should socially transition - rather than following the ‘watchful waiting’ method - is quite concerning.
!
[/quote][br
Did you read that open letter I posted to u?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 7:59:58 GMT
Anyway this thread isn’t about fear towards trans women it’s about lgbqti+ and JK Rowling so let’s stick to that eh?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2020 8:15:42 GMT
I honestly don’t understand what JK Rowling has supposedly done, other than call out someone for not calling women, women. Maybe the journalist was being ironic, looking for a catchy turn of phrase or genuinely wanting to make a distinction between different types of women - but it doesn’t matter what the reason was: reducing women to ‘people who menstruate’ is reductive.
Now I may not be a woman, but I know of the struggles women have in this world. Men and women are sadly not equal and the road towards true equality are still being navigated. For a woman to ask for women to be referred to as women is not only okay, but outrageous in 2020.
Because the truth is that historically, women have been made to feel like the inferior sex and have had to navigate for millennia through a world ruled by straight white men. Growing up with sisters I learned long ago (to my outrage) that women have to conduct themselves based on knowledge that they might not always be safe.
So as far as I can tell, JKRowling is simply highlighting this and reminding people that at its core, the relationship women have with the world around them is based on the very fact they are born biologically as a woman, and does not want this to be dismissed. I think that’s a fair request, unless I’m missing something?
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Post by crowblack on Jun 15, 2020 8:51:56 GMT
I don’t think there’s many women who haven’t wished they were a man at some point - but especially when going through puberty Men just seem to have it so much easier! But it does seem that women with autism spectrum disorders are over-represented among those seeking to transition after puberty. It’s a new enough phenomenon - and the follow-up procedures are lax enough - that no-one is quite sure how high the de-transition rate really is. ‘Lost to follow-up’ isn’t the same as discontinuing transition. Yes, I realised what I envied was the freedom - from catcalls and threats on the way home from school, body policing, having to perch on chairs with your knees together rather than lolling in the grass or sitting with a sketchbook on your lap, "are you courting?" etc. - even being told by a family friend that my exam results were wasted on a girl! Luckily I went to an all-girls school where we were free from the 'male gaze' (apart from the perverts lurking in the park by the playing fields) and from the notion that certain interests were 'for boys' - if anything, the school was stronger on sciences than arts, we did woodwork as well as cookery and dressmaking, had a photography club, school play casting was obviously sex-blind etc.. We also had strong pop cultural tribes - punk, goth, ska, rockabilly etc. which allowed teenagers of both sexes to experiment with clothing and behaviours, and find a sort of community outside the home (btw, I recently saw goth being labelled "transphobic" because men wear make up and frills without acting femme, which of course breaks all the rules of the deeply conservative binary mindset of some trans activists!) When I was at university I knew an extremely distressed young woman who had had a partial surgical sex change, including a double mastectomy, and then realised entering her 20s she had made a mistake. This was in the 1990s, when such cases were very rare, but now we see young people, especially girls, being in effect culturally groomed into thinking non-conformity in a set of rigid, conservative stereotypes and the stresses of puberty that almost all young people experience means you're in the wrong body, and fast-tracked into the sex change process. One has to wonder about the role of the plastic surgery and pharma industries here - sex changes are big business in a way the old school manifestations of teenage body image discomfort - anorexia, self harm etc., were not. I can't help feeling, now the lawsuits and resignations are beginning, this is a period that may be looked back on as one of the big child safeguarding scandals of our era, and J K Rowling is an absolute hero to have braved the appalling flak she has been receiving to speak up about her concerns. I seem to have ended up following a lot of theatre folks whose views on the trans issue are diametrically opposed to my own. I don’t quite know how to get the good theatre chat on my timeline without the frankly insulting accusations of white supremacy Yes, I have muted or unfollowed so many 'arts' people this week who I thought would have known better, and at least bothered to read what JKR said, knowing she is a decent and humane person with a social conscience - on the other hand, I understand why so many others are keeping silent: a gay writer got death threats for writing a sympathetic children's book about a child with a trans sibling (how dare he write it when he's not trans!)., Fra Fee got abuse hurled at him by his own fans for Breakfast on Pluto, Amanda Abbingdon hounded off Twitter for supporting JKR's Tweet last Christmas - I think many in the arts aware of how precarious their jobs are anyway, how swayed by fashion the whole industry is, are keeping their heads down hoping it'll blow over.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Jun 15, 2020 9:12:06 GMT
I honestly don’t understand what JK Rowling has supposedly done, other than call out someone for not calling women, women. Maybe the journalist was being ironic, looking for a catchy turn of phrase or genuinely wanting to make a distinction between different types of women - but it doesn’t matter what the reason was: reducing women to ‘people who menstruate’ is reductive. Now I may not be a woman, but I know of the struggles women have in this world. Men and women are sadly not equal and the road towards true equality are still being navigated. For a woman to ask for women to be referred to as women is not only okay, but outrageous in 2020. Because the truth is that historically, women have been made to feel like the inferior sex and have had to navigate for millennia through a world ruled by straight white men. Growing up with sisters I learned long ago (to my outrage) that women have to conduct themselves based on knowledge that they might not always be safe. So as far as I can tell, JKRowling is simply highlighting this and reminding people that at its core, the relationship women have with the world around them is based on the very fact they are born biologically as a woman, and does not want this to be dismissed. I think that’s a fair request, unless I’m missing something? Not all women menstruate and trans men can menstruate so not all people who menstruate are women. And surely deciding that the only thing that makes you a women is your biological ability to menstruate is more reductive than calling people who menstruate just that? Besides the article barely gave a passing word to people who were not biologically female so their main concern didn't even seem to be inclusivity and was in fact just accuracy of language. I don't have all the answers. I've tried multiple times to write a paragraph explaining my position but I think the issue has too much nuance and conflicting rights or at least the perception of conflict that to come up with a solution to every issue without compromise is impossible. That being said I think a large part of why people are so quick to call transphobia is that a lot of the time arguments made imply that trans gender men and women are not 'real' men and women and that causes real world damage. I believe 2 transgender women in the last week were killed in America (and in horrific, violent ways) and I believe that if society was in a place which accepted those women as 'real' women those deaths would not have happened. Obviously I can't say for sure but knowing that people like Venus Xtravaganza (from the Paris is Burning documentary) almost certainly died because someone discovered she wasn't a 'real' woman and killed her in a rage in response leads me to believe that something similar must have happened in these cases, especially considering the manner of their deaths. So ultimately I think that if everyone came at the issue acknowledging trans people as the gender they identify as a base, then people would be a lot more open to discussion.
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