To whom you are attracted sexually is purely subjective and therefore cannot reasonably be contested by an outside observer.
Where you decide to live your life on a spectrum of superficial, stereotypical male to female attributes (and we all do) is also purely subjective and similarly cannot be questioned.
However, your biological sex reflects an objective reality which cannot be changed by your subjective personal view and futile attempts to do so can result in serious health impacts to you as well as harms to members of the sex you are impersonating (primarily women).
Others who are grounded in objective reality should never be forced to accept your subjective version of your actual biological sex.
Finally, it's past time for the LGB community to separate themselves from the trans activists who are trying to take away the rights of women to fairness in sports and to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons. They also advocate for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.
Their actions are evil and the
understandable negative reaction to the harm they are causing is spilling over to innocent people who are just going about their business, marrying and leading their lives.
Dave I am a trans man. Do I look like I belong in the women’s restroom? Will women and girls be comfortable if I was forced by law to use the women’s restroom? Absolutely not. This entire bathroom thing is idiotic as it’s making a problem out of a non issue. There has NEVER been a single case of a trans person assaulting anyone in the restroom. Trans people often wait until no one is in the restroom to use it, use single occupancy restrooms and try to get in and out as quickly as possible. To get all worked up about something that has NEVER happened throughout the history of humanity (because trans people have always existed and used the restroom they feel comfortable in) is ridiculous. Also these laws hurt cis women who “look trans”.
The average person can’t actually tell who is trans and who is not. I am seen by society as a man. I am not “forcing” anyone to label me as such.
Also, no one is taking away anyone else’s rights. We are asking for the SAME RIGHTS as everyone else. It’s not pie, we aren’t going to run out of rights somehow.
The T in LGBT belongs there. The Stonewall Riots were lead by trans women. The L in the LGBT is first because the lesbian community stepped up and helped the gay community during the AIDS crisis. And you know who else is just trying to go about their lives existing in society and marry and have a family? Yep LGBT people.
Take your bullshit somewhere else. I am more than just one of those letters. I am a gay trans man and I know my LGBT community will not tolerate that bigotry and hatred and if we have to throw some more bricks then by god we will do it again!
Men don't care who uses their restrooms. Women have an understandable fear of men in female spaces. Suffering from a gender pathology doesn't give you an excuse to violate the privacy of women (vagina havers).
Um, you give yourself away with “the stonewall foot was led by trans women”. That is a completely new propaganda item that came from nowhere about give years ago. Stonewall was led by twinks because that was the kind of bar it primarily was. First punch was
Thrown by a lesbian-not sure which woman. There WERE no trans people in 1969 - not invented yet. There may have been drag queens and butches there later in the riots - but Sylvia Rivera and Marsha Johnson were not there. And I don’t think men care about trans men in the locker room. But women do care often if you can tell.
Stonewall was an entire community riot that went on for 6 days (and kicked off the LGBTQ rights campaign and this is why we have Pride) in response to police repeatedly raiding the stonewall inn in which they would take people “dressed in clothes that didn’t fit their gender “ to the bathroom to inspect their genitalia and arrest them. There weren’t just trans people there the entire LGBTQ community was there and fought back.
There have always been trans people throughout all of human history so not sure why you are saying they didn’t exist specifically in 1969. Especially since you just referenced 2 of them who existed and fought for trans rights at the actual riots. They didn’t throw the first brick but they were there and Marsha P. Johnson even broke a police car window with her hand bag.
And of course guys don’t care that I’m in the men’s restroom, I am a dude after all, however women would very much care if I was required by law to be in the women’s restroom. So making laws about keeping trans people out of women’s restrooms doesn’t actually keep trans people out of women’s restroom’s.
No there have not been “trans”….or “gay” people through all history. There have always been people attracted to people of the same sex, And a subset of those acted or mimicked to the extent possible the opposite sex (depending on norms of the culture). If we believe what was written about Elagabalus, he dressed in women’s clothes and had sex with men but don’t know how he thought of himself. Latin didn’t even have those terms. Truth matters, not narrative. Lots of people showed up in the subsequent days but the night of the rebellion out was the denizens of a twinkish gay bar.
WillH: You certainly pose little risk to the men that you share rest rooms or locker rooms with but I don’t think from my discussions with women that they would share your views when it comes to showering with trans women (aka men).
In my opinion the worst aspect of Joe Biden's new Education Act Title IX regulations that go into effect on August 1 of this year is that boys and men will be able to to shower with high school and college girls (including my 17 year old granddaughter).
They will have no shame in doing that when it's perfectly legal. If somehow he is allowed to continue to run he deserves to lose the election on this issue alone.
Here's an analysis of the new regulations by the Foundation Against Intolerance and
Racism (FAIR):
"The Final Rule is likely to result in sex-integration of all bathrooms and locker rooms because it prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. After August 1st, if a school requires students to use facilities that align with their biological sex (which they are currently allowed to require under Federal law and regulations), a transgender student may file a discrimination complaint alleging that the school has violated Title IX by preventing him or her from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender."
True they have lesser advantage after 6 months on hormones, but they still have an innate advantage over the vast majority woman. They have superior muscle tissue which simply comes with the territory of being a man. Let them have their own league or compete against men.
Oh, please stop with the fascism nonsense. It's not conducive for anybody. Fascism has lost it's meaning because of people like you who throw it around so cavalierly.
You are free to live your own life. Please don't interfere with others eg woman and gender confused children.
Don’t pretend to care about women’s rights when the MAGA ass hats are trying to make sure that women who have a medical emergency while pregnant bleed out in the ER because doctors are too scared to treat them because of abortion laws. There are a million things that can go wrong during pregnancy. Like if an egg doesn’t make it all the way to the uterus and starts to grow in the tube instead. That is never going to be a viable pregnancy and under some current state laws a woman can’t get that abortion until it’s “life threatening “ meaning the developing egg will burst the tube, she will start bleeding out (hopefully before she dies she can get medical treatment) but they will have to remove that half of her ovaries (the part that produces eggs) when it would have been a very simple and safe procedure if taken care of early and she would have been able to keep both her ovaries. I am terrified for your grand daughter because you will be voting for this to happen to her. Can you imagine having to go to the ER and being told they won’t help her because it’s the law? Meanwhile she’s in incredible pain and bleeding out. Women should get the medical care they need when they need it and politicians need to butt out!
Also you are not understanding me when I say that laws that prohibit trans people from going to the restroom that they feel comfortable in means I will be forced to be in the women’s restroom “showering with women“ I have phalloplasty and have a dick. Gonna be really awkward because we go by what’s on my birth certificate so the bathroom ban law actually puts men in women’s restrooms. Trans men are often left out of this entire conversation because it defeats their point.
Also trans people are not going to shower in the locker room. They are going to do that at home because we feel uncomfortable. So your entire pervy fantasy doesn’t even exist.
Trans women are women and trans men are men. A lot of us have had surgeries to reflect that and are indistinguishable from cisgender men and women. Stop making problems where there aren’t any.
WillH: I am strongly pro choice so stop confusing me with MAGA assholes. You don’t seem to understand that there is complete asymmetry between the issues of trans women (men) in biological women’s spaces and sports and any issue you face as a trans man. Feel free to compete in men’s sports. No one will give a damn because you will get your ass kicked. The reverse is not true of men in women’s sports. Are you blind to reality? The same goes for women’s private spaces. As I mentioned earlier men don’t care if you are in their private spaces, but women rightfully don’t want biological men showering with them.
Well intentioned gay and lesbian people will pay the price for your intransigence.
Let me ask you something, do you understand hormones? I don’t think you do, many people actually don’t so let a trans person who is extremely experienced with that topic tell you; trans women who are on hormone replacement therapy do not have cisgender levels of testosterone (that’s the thing that makes men have muscles, more blood cells, and makes you bald) after 6 months to a year of treatment. So they do not have an advantage. Case in point trans women have been allowed to compete in the Olympics since 2004 and so far no transgender person has won a gold let alone placed in the top 3. They were out competed by cisgender men and women. So this entire advantage thing doesn’t exist. If it did a trans person would have snatched up a medal by now don’t you think?
It’s ok not to know something about a topic you aren’t well informed about. It’s a lie that was told to you without evidence (that’s how fascism works) but it’s not ok to continue believing that lie despite actual evidence.
On the contrary, anti gay activism accused gay people of preying on children. They also argued that homosexuality was unnatural or a choice or could be undone through therapy.
LGB people are broadly more supportive of trans people than the average population. Especially the L actually.
Being gay today is a choice for certain people. While there are certainly many people who are born gay, homosexuality is definitely a social contagion. It's exciting today to identify as gay or queer, you get a standing ovation and attention. Transgenderism is certainly a social contagion. It's very hard to get on board with permanently mutilating children who can't even consent to sex or get a drivers license. The suicide rate stays the same post transition. Let the kids grow up and make adult decisions. My heart goes out to anyone suffering from gender dysphoria but a more rigorous examination of the issue is necessary.
What does it actually mean though? That a child is born in the "wrong body"? That's impossible. It's just a phrase, likely based on the very real but completely subjective reporting of transexuals in the past - "I feel like I was born in the wrong body". But, we are our bodies. Our sex is determined at conception and we can't do anything about it. If someone has traits we associate with the opposite sex - masculine / feminine "gendered behaviour" - that doesn't change anything. Butch lesbians are female (women). Effeminate gay men are male (men). Children may be gender non-conforming (great!) or even confused to the point of distress (dysphoric), but can they simply BE trans? I don't think so.
I think that there are some misunderstandings here.
"Born in the wrong body" is a metaphor--one that I have issues with. It's not the literal description of trans identity. After all, the brain IS part of the body as well.
Masculine/feminine traits aren't perfectly correlated with trans identity. I am a butch trans woman, and I know many feminine trans men for example. It has much more to do with an internal perception of one's experience (which is persistent and consistent)
I don't think there's good evidence that trans children are just mistaken gay children
1. You're simply incorrect that identifying as queer gives you social capital. Being a trans child comes with serious bullying. This is well documented--even by Cass herself.
2. You're objectively incorrect about the suicide rate, and I suspect you derived that from a study that compares trans people to cisgender people.
Many studies show that transition lowers the psychological distress of trans people. There are no studies which show the opposite.
Boy, these comments really went off the rails in terms of commenting about the actual podcast and the major premise of the podcast project, that having reasonable conversations about the topic. From the looks of the comments, not very likely.
First, there are some people that are just flaming bigots that will never change their mind about anything.
On the other hand the other side, no willingness to understand that are a large number of people, perhaps a slight majority of the total population, that are perfectly fine with everybody being able to live their own lives, but have a few questions or concerns about how to reach reasonable accomodations on a few things that get labelled as bigots and transphobes for just asking questions.
So I don't see much hope.
I'm 69 so I saw society go through the change of LGB acceptance in society. Big point there was that LGB just wanted to be accepted by society and have access to what society at large had. T wants more than just that acceptance, T also wants to change society, even though they are a very small % of the population.
Man, this comment’s section. Rowling’s Twitter is transphobic and cringe, but it’s not a big deal. She’s just another famous shit head, block her and get a life. Signed a bored trans woman.
First of all, I appreciate the team taking the time to reflect on the work that they did. I sent a couple of emails over the last year, hoping Megan would take stock of just how unapologetically hateful Rowling had become.
That didn't happen here, either, as the team selected Rowling's protest of a new Scottish anti-hate-speech law (by very intentionally 'stirring up hate' against trans women) as the only example of how overtly and unapologetically hateful she's become since then. Stirring up hatred against trans is now pretty much all she does, all day, every day.
Natalie Wynn was absolutely right to point out the original "Witch Trials..." show went to great lengths to support Rowling's framing of herself. It skipped over so many incidents that would have revealed Rowling's message to trans people that she is "with [them], 100 percent" to be the obvious lie that it was.
The mask had already slipped many times before the show even started production, and she almost immediately ripped the mask off for good. Rowling was already backing UK transphobes who were attacking trans kids' safety and access to care, and now she's leading UK transphobes in trying to push trans people out of public life altogether.
That Megan, Matt, and Andy (who, by the way, continue to work for and with people whose entire careers are built around leveraging fear and hatred of trans people to get eyeballs and subscriber dollars) want to gloss over all of this as "JK's critics boo, while her supporters cheer" is not just a failure to tell the truth, it's an active lie.
Wynn is a narcissist who has never once addressed a topic in good faith. The hallmark of 'queer' activism these days is a cloying affect of victimhood among rich, vapid, and powerful people like Wynn.
This episode seems to avoid internalization of any criticism. You honestly think you did a perfect job, and that's frustrating as the minority at the center of this podcast.
You run cover for Rowling by questioning whether she's even a bigot. The ONE tweet you featured isn't even the worst things she's said. Rowling calls us "the p*nised," has denied Nazi war crimes against trans people, and even bullied an innocent trans woman for several days (Lucy Clark). You have empathy for her but cannot acknowledge that Rowling has NO empathy for trans women.
Having an understanding of Rowling's background is great, but it doesn't justify what she has said and done. There are MANY victims of SA who aren't transphobic. Not to mention, trans women are SA'd at 4x the rate of cis women, according to a UCLA study.
Finally, this show has a liberal naiveté on social change. The civil rights movement didn't persuade people, they won rights through social upheaval. Stonewall was a riot, not a gentle pleading. Changing minds is good and all, but it's wasted on Rowling, who will never change her mind.
Rowling fell down a gender critical rabbit hole, many kind people have reached out to talk to her. She refused. Rowling listens to people like Magdalen Berns (she has praised her publicly), and Berns thinks trans women are "f*cking blackface actors." If Rowling thinks Berns is reasonable, there is little point in trying to change her.
The assertion social upheaval that lead to change is an assertion lacks evidence and is a bit simplistic. The court cases of Lawrence v. Texas (decriminalizing sodomy) and numerous state-level protections for sexual minorities through collaboration with sympathetic lawmakers likely did more than any riot.
I disagree. I think I civil disobedience goes a long way. Refusing to be marginalized, forcing the issue of inclusion may have laid the groundwork for lawmakers to be sympathetic in the first place.
"trans women are SA'd at 4x the rate of cis women"
This is a disgusting attempt at couching your misogyny in emotional manipulation. Trans women participate in risky sexual behavior and prostitution at rates far exceeding actual women.
Prostitution doesn't explain those numbers, but it also doesn't excuse it. I feel like you are desperately searching for a way to blame trans women for sexual violence against them.
Rapists in prison also suffer a very high rate of sexual assault. It has nothing to do with this discussion.
It sounds like you're desperately searching for a way to elevate irrelevant concerns of biological males over pertinent concerns of actual women. Like I said - it sounds like you're desperately hiding your misogyny. Which has certainly been a hallmark of queer activism lately.
You don't even question why trans women are pushed into sex work. It's a facet of misogyny. Trans women are forced to join the black market because of employment discrimination.
It's obvious you think all trans women are evil creeps, so just leave us alone. It's obvious you see us as less than human
For the purpose of this conversation, the reason why trans women engage in risky sexual behavior and prostitution at rates so much higher than pretty much any other subsection of people *does not matter.*
If your response to the arguments and criticisms that Rowling has made of self-ID is to make some form of "but don't you see, we trans women are even bigger victims than you are!" it indicates to me that you still have absolutely no idea why women like Rowling (and myself) are so angry. And that you have made no attempt to hear what she's saying in good faith.
It does not surprise me in the slightest that you revert to "you really just hate me and think I'm subhuman" behavior, because it's the very same personality-disordered behavior I've come to expect from members of your community. It's hardly uncommon. If anyone dares to make reasonable criticisms of trans activism, they get hit with 'you want all of us dead/you don't think we should be able to exist!'
It's so tedious. Believe me, I'd love to be able to leave you all alone, but that's a two-way street.
This is where I’m at. Over the year since “Witch Trials,” Rowling’s feed has descended into full-time transphobia. The recent incident where she reports being baffled that a male co-worker was visibly uncomfortable with her explicit rant on sex organs and bathrooms during an in-person meeting shows just how far gone she is.
Meanwhile, laws on both sides of the pond continue to be passed rolling back trans people’s access to gender care and rights to exist in public.
There’s no “good-faith dialogue” to be had with transphobes when they aren’t acting in good faith.
Andy hand waived away my criticism. I lost my cool, but then again, you expect me to be calm and polite when Andy entertains the idea that my identity is fake?
Rowling is a dumpster fire of a person who drank the MAGA cool aid and rather than admit that she was wrong in the face of new information she decided not to be the bigger person and grow but to become even more bigoted and childishly subscribed to conspiracy theories and lies.
Do you even know what blackface is? I’m not going to explain that to you because as a white person that’s not my lane.
Drag on the other hand is a performance that has gone on since the dawn of theatre all over the world. It is usually (but not always) men who identify as men dressing up very flamboyantly and putting on a show. The show can range from political, comedy, LGBT issues, to very G rated reading kids stories for kids. After the show these performers return to their lives just like any other stage actors do. BOTH men & women do drag. Drag doesn’t degrade women any more than it degrades men.
Doing drag doesn’t make you transgender. Don’t confuse the two.
Rowling is a TERF. That’s how she’s harming trans people.
Doing drag shows in front of kids sounds like grooming to me.
Women are not really know for putting on drag shows. I don't really see the difference between impersonating a woman or a black person. They're both demeaning.
The first recorded gender-affirming surgery, or "sex reassignment surgery" took place in Berlin, Germany in 1931 at the Institute for Sexual Science. The institute was founded in 1919 by Magnus Hirschfeld. The Nazis burned down the institute in 1933, destroying the building, tens of thousands of books, surgery protocols, and reports on people's lives.
The “MAGA cool aid” [sic]? Good grief. Rowling had formed her opinions long before the American political right were even aware of gender identity ideology.
Say “puzzlement we let it happen,” about AIDS to someone who lived through the 80s and you get emotional discomfort and the request “can we not?” I’m sorry I called J. K. Rowling a shit head, it’s not nice to say mean things.
Grooming them for what exactly? To be a pretty princess? How is reading to them in a costume grooming? If someone dressed up as Pluto or Mini the mouse and read to them that’s not going to make them want to be Pluto or Mini (well maybe for an afternoon). A person is born LGBTQ not made, you can’t groom someone into being LGBTQ.
However, have you read the stories about how southern Baptists are grooming children to marry adults? Did you miss that? How they think it’s ok to tell a child that she has no choice and is going to marry a 40 year old man when she is as young as 16? That is grooming and it’s happening right now by the people who accuse us of grooming, sexual assault on minors is being covered up by entire communities of these so called “righteous” people.
Women, especially in the lesbian community are actually known for putting on drag shows. Drag isn’t meant to mock one or the other gender. It’s meant to be a character on stage like in a play or movie. Just because a few Karens got mad over a performance doesn’t mean it’s wrong or evil. It’s a performance and it’s a historical tradition in the LGBTQ community. You don’t like it then see another performance. LGBTQ people have a right to exist and express our culture.
I'll have to give this a listen - I assume that this is a recent interview with Contrapoints and not just what you already broadcast in "Witch Trials"? I notice Contra has an extensive rebuttal of "Witch Trials" up on her channel, where I think she makes some good and not-so-good points. The not-so-good: her seeming acceptance of illiberal silencing tactics as simply something "liberation" movements have to do to make themselves heard. CP condescendingly dismisses 'centrist' ideas about the need for free speech and debate in establishing social consensus. Also, CP implies that all previous radical movements were simply the liberal status quo ahead of their time, without admiting that much of the history of radical movements is running with some very *bad* ideas that were ultimately rejected by the larger society, with advocates of those extreme ideas often engaging in terrorist tactics and basic human rights violations in pursuit of those aims.
The stronger points Contra makes - pointing to the often reactionary and hateful side of gender-critical activism, including by people who Rowling counts as allies. This is something "Witch Trials" and The Free Press more generally downplays far too much. Also, Contra discusses the history of extremism in the feminist movement - both in terms of terrost tactics that were in some cases engaged in by subsets of the Suffragette movement (the firebombings of porn shops by a group Julie Bindel played a key role in would have been another example worth bringing up), and the extremist rhetoric of someone like Andrea Dworkin. Back to the not-so-good - CP treats this as an excuse for the often-extremist rhetoric of the trans movement. I take an opposite lesson from this than CP does - the trans movement and their ideological enemies in the radical feminist camp resemble each other a little too closely (I see them as the Antifa vs Proud Boys of feminist gender politics) and that the excesses of earlier feminist movements should be examples of what to avoid, not what to embrace.
To whom you are attracted sexually is purely subjective and therefore cannot reasonably be contested by an outside observer.
Where you decide to live your life on a spectrum of superficial, stereotypical male to female attributes (and we all do) is also purely subjective and similarly cannot be questioned.
However, your biological sex reflects an objective reality which cannot be changed by your subjective personal view and futile attempts to do so can result in serious health impacts to you as well as harms to members of the sex you are impersonating (primarily women).
Others who are grounded in objective reality should never be forced to accept your subjective version of your actual biological sex.
Finally, it's past time for the LGB community to separate themselves from the trans activists who are trying to take away the rights of women to fairness in sports and to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons. They also advocate for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.
Their actions are evil and the
understandable negative reaction to the harm they are causing is spilling over to innocent people who are just going about their business, marrying and leading their lives.
Dave I am a trans man. Do I look like I belong in the women’s restroom? Will women and girls be comfortable if I was forced by law to use the women’s restroom? Absolutely not. This entire bathroom thing is idiotic as it’s making a problem out of a non issue. There has NEVER been a single case of a trans person assaulting anyone in the restroom. Trans people often wait until no one is in the restroom to use it, use single occupancy restrooms and try to get in and out as quickly as possible. To get all worked up about something that has NEVER happened throughout the history of humanity (because trans people have always existed and used the restroom they feel comfortable in) is ridiculous. Also these laws hurt cis women who “look trans”.
The average person can’t actually tell who is trans and who is not. I am seen by society as a man. I am not “forcing” anyone to label me as such.
Also, no one is taking away anyone else’s rights. We are asking for the SAME RIGHTS as everyone else. It’s not pie, we aren’t going to run out of rights somehow.
The T in LGBT belongs there. The Stonewall Riots were lead by trans women. The L in the LGBT is first because the lesbian community stepped up and helped the gay community during the AIDS crisis. And you know who else is just trying to go about their lives existing in society and marry and have a family? Yep LGBT people.
Take your bullshit somewhere else. I am more than just one of those letters. I am a gay trans man and I know my LGBT community will not tolerate that bigotry and hatred and if we have to throw some more bricks then by god we will do it again!
Men don't care who uses their restrooms. Women have an understandable fear of men in female spaces. Suffering from a gender pathology doesn't give you an excuse to violate the privacy of women (vagina havers).
Um, you give yourself away with “the stonewall foot was led by trans women”. That is a completely new propaganda item that came from nowhere about give years ago. Stonewall was led by twinks because that was the kind of bar it primarily was. First punch was
Thrown by a lesbian-not sure which woman. There WERE no trans people in 1969 - not invented yet. There may have been drag queens and butches there later in the riots - but Sylvia Rivera and Marsha Johnson were not there. And I don’t think men care about trans men in the locker room. But women do care often if you can tell.
Stonewall was an entire community riot that went on for 6 days (and kicked off the LGBTQ rights campaign and this is why we have Pride) in response to police repeatedly raiding the stonewall inn in which they would take people “dressed in clothes that didn’t fit their gender “ to the bathroom to inspect their genitalia and arrest them. There weren’t just trans people there the entire LGBTQ community was there and fought back.
There have always been trans people throughout all of human history so not sure why you are saying they didn’t exist specifically in 1969. Especially since you just referenced 2 of them who existed and fought for trans rights at the actual riots. They didn’t throw the first brick but they were there and Marsha P. Johnson even broke a police car window with her hand bag.
And of course guys don’t care that I’m in the men’s restroom, I am a dude after all, however women would very much care if I was required by law to be in the women’s restroom. So making laws about keeping trans people out of women’s restrooms doesn’t actually keep trans people out of women’s restroom’s.
No there have not been “trans”….or “gay” people through all history. There have always been people attracted to people of the same sex, And a subset of those acted or mimicked to the extent possible the opposite sex (depending on norms of the culture). If we believe what was written about Elagabalus, he dressed in women’s clothes and had sex with men but don’t know how he thought of himself. Latin didn’t even have those terms. Truth matters, not narrative. Lots of people showed up in the subsequent days but the night of the rebellion out was the denizens of a twinkish gay bar.
WillH: You certainly pose little risk to the men that you share rest rooms or locker rooms with but I don’t think from my discussions with women that they would share your views when it comes to showering with trans women (aka men).
In my opinion the worst aspect of Joe Biden's new Education Act Title IX regulations that go into effect on August 1 of this year is that boys and men will be able to to shower with high school and college girls (including my 17 year old granddaughter).
They will have no shame in doing that when it's perfectly legal. If somehow he is allowed to continue to run he deserves to lose the election on this issue alone.
Here's an analysis of the new regulations by the Foundation Against Intolerance and
Racism (FAIR):
"The Final Rule is likely to result in sex-integration of all bathrooms and locker rooms because it prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. After August 1st, if a school requires students to use facilities that align with their biological sex (which they are currently allowed to require under Federal law and regulations), a transgender student may file a discrimination complaint alleging that the school has violated Title IX by preventing him or her from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender."
True they have lesser advantage after 6 months on hormones, but they still have an innate advantage over the vast majority woman. They have superior muscle tissue which simply comes with the territory of being a man. Let them have their own league or compete against men.
Oh, please stop with the fascism nonsense. It's not conducive for anybody. Fascism has lost it's meaning because of people like you who throw it around so cavalierly.
You are free to live your own life. Please don't interfere with others eg woman and gender confused children.
Don’t pretend to care about women’s rights when the MAGA ass hats are trying to make sure that women who have a medical emergency while pregnant bleed out in the ER because doctors are too scared to treat them because of abortion laws. There are a million things that can go wrong during pregnancy. Like if an egg doesn’t make it all the way to the uterus and starts to grow in the tube instead. That is never going to be a viable pregnancy and under some current state laws a woman can’t get that abortion until it’s “life threatening “ meaning the developing egg will burst the tube, she will start bleeding out (hopefully before she dies she can get medical treatment) but they will have to remove that half of her ovaries (the part that produces eggs) when it would have been a very simple and safe procedure if taken care of early and she would have been able to keep both her ovaries. I am terrified for your grand daughter because you will be voting for this to happen to her. Can you imagine having to go to the ER and being told they won’t help her because it’s the law? Meanwhile she’s in incredible pain and bleeding out. Women should get the medical care they need when they need it and politicians need to butt out!
Also you are not understanding me when I say that laws that prohibit trans people from going to the restroom that they feel comfortable in means I will be forced to be in the women’s restroom “showering with women“ I have phalloplasty and have a dick. Gonna be really awkward because we go by what’s on my birth certificate so the bathroom ban law actually puts men in women’s restrooms. Trans men are often left out of this entire conversation because it defeats their point.
Also trans people are not going to shower in the locker room. They are going to do that at home because we feel uncomfortable. So your entire pervy fantasy doesn’t even exist.
Trans women are women and trans men are men. A lot of us have had surgeries to reflect that and are indistinguishable from cisgender men and women. Stop making problems where there aren’t any.
WillH: I am strongly pro choice so stop confusing me with MAGA assholes. You don’t seem to understand that there is complete asymmetry between the issues of trans women (men) in biological women’s spaces and sports and any issue you face as a trans man. Feel free to compete in men’s sports. No one will give a damn because you will get your ass kicked. The reverse is not true of men in women’s sports. Are you blind to reality? The same goes for women’s private spaces. As I mentioned earlier men don’t care if you are in their private spaces, but women rightfully don’t want biological men showering with them.
Well intentioned gay and lesbian people will pay the price for your intransigence.
Let me ask you something, do you understand hormones? I don’t think you do, many people actually don’t so let a trans person who is extremely experienced with that topic tell you; trans women who are on hormone replacement therapy do not have cisgender levels of testosterone (that’s the thing that makes men have muscles, more blood cells, and makes you bald) after 6 months to a year of treatment. So they do not have an advantage. Case in point trans women have been allowed to compete in the Olympics since 2004 and so far no transgender person has won a gold let alone placed in the top 3. They were out competed by cisgender men and women. So this entire advantage thing doesn’t exist. If it did a trans person would have snatched up a medal by now don’t you think?
It’s ok not to know something about a topic you aren’t well informed about. It’s a lie that was told to you without evidence (that’s how fascism works) but it’s not ok to continue believing that lie despite actual evidence.
You have a dick? Really? Cmon.
On the contrary, anti gay activism accused gay people of preying on children. They also argued that homosexuality was unnatural or a choice or could be undone through therapy.
LGB people are broadly more supportive of trans people than the average population. Especially the L actually.
Being gay today is a choice for certain people. While there are certainly many people who are born gay, homosexuality is definitely a social contagion. It's exciting today to identify as gay or queer, you get a standing ovation and attention. Transgenderism is certainly a social contagion. It's very hard to get on board with permanently mutilating children who can't even consent to sex or get a drivers license. The suicide rate stays the same post transition. Let the kids grow up and make adult decisions. My heart goes out to anyone suffering from gender dysphoria but a more rigorous examination of the issue is necessary.
I reject the premise of a trans child, they are simply too young to understand what is going on. They might have mental health issues or just be gay.
I encourage you to read "history of the transgender child" by Jules Gil Peterson.
You have no expertise in this field and I recommend you humble yourself a touch
What does it actually mean though? That a child is born in the "wrong body"? That's impossible. It's just a phrase, likely based on the very real but completely subjective reporting of transexuals in the past - "I feel like I was born in the wrong body". But, we are our bodies. Our sex is determined at conception and we can't do anything about it. If someone has traits we associate with the opposite sex - masculine / feminine "gendered behaviour" - that doesn't change anything. Butch lesbians are female (women). Effeminate gay men are male (men). Children may be gender non-conforming (great!) or even confused to the point of distress (dysphoric), but can they simply BE trans? I don't think so.
I think that there are some misunderstandings here.
"Born in the wrong body" is a metaphor--one that I have issues with. It's not the literal description of trans identity. After all, the brain IS part of the body as well.
Masculine/feminine traits aren't perfectly correlated with trans identity. I am a butch trans woman, and I know many feminine trans men for example. It has much more to do with an internal perception of one's experience (which is persistent and consistent)
I don't think there's good evidence that trans children are just mistaken gay children
Counterpoint, read “Inventing Transgender Children and Young People”
https://cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-3638-8
I took a peak at the contributers and they're mostly TERFs.
Nope, child abuse is not ok.
Isaac, you wanna accuse me of childish behavior? This is childish. You're choosing ignorance and increasingly inflammatory language
1. You're simply incorrect that identifying as queer gives you social capital. Being a trans child comes with serious bullying. This is well documented--even by Cass herself.
2. You're objectively incorrect about the suicide rate, and I suspect you derived that from a study that compares trans people to cisgender people.
Many studies show that transition lowers the psychological distress of trans people. There are no studies which show the opposite.
Boy, these comments really went off the rails in terms of commenting about the actual podcast and the major premise of the podcast project, that having reasonable conversations about the topic. From the looks of the comments, not very likely.
First, there are some people that are just flaming bigots that will never change their mind about anything.
On the other hand the other side, no willingness to understand that are a large number of people, perhaps a slight majority of the total population, that are perfectly fine with everybody being able to live their own lives, but have a few questions or concerns about how to reach reasonable accomodations on a few things that get labelled as bigots and transphobes for just asking questions.
So I don't see much hope.
I'm 69 so I saw society go through the change of LGB acceptance in society. Big point there was that LGB just wanted to be accepted by society and have access to what society at large had. T wants more than just that acceptance, T also wants to change society, even though they are a very small % of the population.
Thanks for a great episode.
Man, this comment’s section. Rowling’s Twitter is transphobic and cringe, but it’s not a big deal. She’s just another famous shit head, block her and get a life. Signed a bored trans woman.
So bored I didn’t listen to the episode before commenting…if I want a sequel I’ll go with Inside Out 2.
First of all, I appreciate the team taking the time to reflect on the work that they did. I sent a couple of emails over the last year, hoping Megan would take stock of just how unapologetically hateful Rowling had become.
That didn't happen here, either, as the team selected Rowling's protest of a new Scottish anti-hate-speech law (by very intentionally 'stirring up hate' against trans women) as the only example of how overtly and unapologetically hateful she's become since then. Stirring up hatred against trans is now pretty much all she does, all day, every day.
Natalie Wynn was absolutely right to point out the original "Witch Trials..." show went to great lengths to support Rowling's framing of herself. It skipped over so many incidents that would have revealed Rowling's message to trans people that she is "with [them], 100 percent" to be the obvious lie that it was.
The mask had already slipped many times before the show even started production, and she almost immediately ripped the mask off for good. Rowling was already backing UK transphobes who were attacking trans kids' safety and access to care, and now she's leading UK transphobes in trying to push trans people out of public life altogether.
That Megan, Matt, and Andy (who, by the way, continue to work for and with people whose entire careers are built around leveraging fear and hatred of trans people to get eyeballs and subscriber dollars) want to gloss over all of this as "JK's critics boo, while her supporters cheer" is not just a failure to tell the truth, it's an active lie.
Wynn is a narcissist who has never once addressed a topic in good faith. The hallmark of 'queer' activism these days is a cloying affect of victimhood among rich, vapid, and powerful people like Wynn.
Transphobe. Hatred. What exactly do you disagree with her on, philosophy or the facts?
This episode seems to avoid internalization of any criticism. You honestly think you did a perfect job, and that's frustrating as the minority at the center of this podcast.
You run cover for Rowling by questioning whether she's even a bigot. The ONE tweet you featured isn't even the worst things she's said. Rowling calls us "the p*nised," has denied Nazi war crimes against trans people, and even bullied an innocent trans woman for several days (Lucy Clark). You have empathy for her but cannot acknowledge that Rowling has NO empathy for trans women.
Having an understanding of Rowling's background is great, but it doesn't justify what she has said and done. There are MANY victims of SA who aren't transphobic. Not to mention, trans women are SA'd at 4x the rate of cis women, according to a UCLA study.
Finally, this show has a liberal naiveté on social change. The civil rights movement didn't persuade people, they won rights through social upheaval. Stonewall was a riot, not a gentle pleading. Changing minds is good and all, but it's wasted on Rowling, who will never change her mind.
Rowling fell down a gender critical rabbit hole, many kind people have reached out to talk to her. She refused. Rowling listens to people like Magdalen Berns (she has praised her publicly), and Berns thinks trans women are "f*cking blackface actors." If Rowling thinks Berns is reasonable, there is little point in trying to change her.
The assertion social upheaval that lead to change is an assertion lacks evidence and is a bit simplistic. The court cases of Lawrence v. Texas (decriminalizing sodomy) and numerous state-level protections for sexual minorities through collaboration with sympathetic lawmakers likely did more than any riot.
I disagree. I think I civil disobedience goes a long way. Refusing to be marginalized, forcing the issue of inclusion may have laid the groundwork for lawmakers to be sympathetic in the first place.
But that is fine to disagree on this.
"trans women are SA'd at 4x the rate of cis women"
This is a disgusting attempt at couching your misogyny in emotional manipulation. Trans women participate in risky sexual behavior and prostitution at rates far exceeding actual women.
I cited a fact.
Prostitution doesn't explain those numbers, but it also doesn't excuse it. I feel like you are desperately searching for a way to blame trans women for sexual violence against them.
Rapists in prison also suffer a very high rate of sexual assault. It has nothing to do with this discussion.
It sounds like you're desperately searching for a way to elevate irrelevant concerns of biological males over pertinent concerns of actual women. Like I said - it sounds like you're desperately hiding your misogyny. Which has certainly been a hallmark of queer activism lately.
You're a very bad faith actor.
You don't even question why trans women are pushed into sex work. It's a facet of misogyny. Trans women are forced to join the black market because of employment discrimination.
It's obvious you think all trans women are evil creeps, so just leave us alone. It's obvious you see us as less than human
For the purpose of this conversation, the reason why trans women engage in risky sexual behavior and prostitution at rates so much higher than pretty much any other subsection of people *does not matter.*
If your response to the arguments and criticisms that Rowling has made of self-ID is to make some form of "but don't you see, we trans women are even bigger victims than you are!" it indicates to me that you still have absolutely no idea why women like Rowling (and myself) are so angry. And that you have made no attempt to hear what she's saying in good faith.
It does not surprise me in the slightest that you revert to "you really just hate me and think I'm subhuman" behavior, because it's the very same personality-disordered behavior I've come to expect from members of your community. It's hardly uncommon. If anyone dares to make reasonable criticisms of trans activism, they get hit with 'you want all of us dead/you don't think we should be able to exist!'
It's so tedious. Believe me, I'd love to be able to leave you all alone, but that's a two-way street.
Employment discrimination? Prove it.
This is where I’m at. Over the year since “Witch Trials,” Rowling’s feed has descended into full-time transphobia. The recent incident where she reports being baffled that a male co-worker was visibly uncomfortable with her explicit rant on sex organs and bathrooms during an in-person meeting shows just how far gone she is.
Meanwhile, laws on both sides of the pond continue to be passed rolling back trans people’s access to gender care and rights to exist in public.
There’s no “good-faith dialogue” to be had with transphobes when they aren’t acting in good faith.
Hoping someone other than Andy reads this comment.
Andy respectfully answered your questions and put up with your childish behavior.
Andy never called your identity fake.
Andy hand waived away my criticism. I lost my cool, but then again, you expect me to be calm and polite when Andy entertains the idea that my identity is fake?
Rowling is a dumpster fire of a person who drank the MAGA cool aid and rather than admit that she was wrong in the face of new information she decided not to be the bigger person and grow but to become even more bigoted and childishly subscribed to conspiracy theories and lies.
What conspiracy theories? In what way is she harming trans people? What's the difference between blackface and drag?
Do you even know what blackface is? I’m not going to explain that to you because as a white person that’s not my lane.
Drag on the other hand is a performance that has gone on since the dawn of theatre all over the world. It is usually (but not always) men who identify as men dressing up very flamboyantly and putting on a show. The show can range from political, comedy, LGBT issues, to very G rated reading kids stories for kids. After the show these performers return to their lives just like any other stage actors do. BOTH men & women do drag. Drag doesn’t degrade women any more than it degrades men.
Doing drag doesn’t make you transgender. Don’t confuse the two.
Rowling is a TERF. That’s how she’s harming trans people.
Doing drag shows in front of kids sounds like grooming to me.
Women are not really know for putting on drag shows. I don't really see the difference between impersonating a woman or a black person. They're both demeaning.
Exactly. Her comments on the Nazi persecution of trans people is a perfect example. Objectively wrong, but will never admit it
The first recorded gender-affirming surgery, or "sex reassignment surgery" took place in Berlin, Germany in 1931 at the Institute for Sexual Science. The institute was founded in 1919 by Magnus Hirschfeld. The Nazis burned down the institute in 1933, destroying the building, tens of thousands of books, surgery protocols, and reports on people's lives.
The “MAGA cool aid” [sic]? Good grief. Rowling had formed her opinions long before the American political right were even aware of gender identity ideology.
Jesus, and then we get to Tobias and it literally is just listening to the same damn podcast I listened to a year ago!
Yes, Tobias certainly comes off as self-important as last time, and just as uninteresting.
Say “puzzlement we let it happen,” about AIDS to someone who lived through the 80s and you get emotional discomfort and the request “can we not?” I’m sorry I called J. K. Rowling a shit head, it’s not nice to say mean things.
Grooming them for what exactly? To be a pretty princess? How is reading to them in a costume grooming? If someone dressed up as Pluto or Mini the mouse and read to them that’s not going to make them want to be Pluto or Mini (well maybe for an afternoon). A person is born LGBTQ not made, you can’t groom someone into being LGBTQ.
However, have you read the stories about how southern Baptists are grooming children to marry adults? Did you miss that? How they think it’s ok to tell a child that she has no choice and is going to marry a 40 year old man when she is as young as 16? That is grooming and it’s happening right now by the people who accuse us of grooming, sexual assault on minors is being covered up by entire communities of these so called “righteous” people.
Women, especially in the lesbian community are actually known for putting on drag shows. Drag isn’t meant to mock one or the other gender. It’s meant to be a character on stage like in a play or movie. Just because a few Karens got mad over a performance doesn’t mean it’s wrong or evil. It’s a performance and it’s a historical tradition in the LGBTQ community. You don’t like it then see another performance. LGBTQ people have a right to exist and express our culture.
All this is proving is that bigots are the only people who are fans of this show.
I'll have to give this a listen - I assume that this is a recent interview with Contrapoints and not just what you already broadcast in "Witch Trials"? I notice Contra has an extensive rebuttal of "Witch Trials" up on her channel, where I think she makes some good and not-so-good points. The not-so-good: her seeming acceptance of illiberal silencing tactics as simply something "liberation" movements have to do to make themselves heard. CP condescendingly dismisses 'centrist' ideas about the need for free speech and debate in establishing social consensus. Also, CP implies that all previous radical movements were simply the liberal status quo ahead of their time, without admiting that much of the history of radical movements is running with some very *bad* ideas that were ultimately rejected by the larger society, with advocates of those extreme ideas often engaging in terrorist tactics and basic human rights violations in pursuit of those aims.
The stronger points Contra makes - pointing to the often reactionary and hateful side of gender-critical activism, including by people who Rowling counts as allies. This is something "Witch Trials" and The Free Press more generally downplays far too much. Also, Contra discusses the history of extremism in the feminist movement - both in terms of terrost tactics that were in some cases engaged in by subsets of the Suffragette movement (the firebombings of porn shops by a group Julie Bindel played a key role in would have been another example worth bringing up), and the extremist rhetoric of someone like Andrea Dworkin. Back to the not-so-good - CP treats this as an excuse for the often-extremist rhetoric of the trans movement. I take an opposite lesson from this than CP does - the trans movement and their ideological enemies in the radical feminist camp resemble each other a little too closely (I see them as the Antifa vs Proud Boys of feminist gender politics) and that the excesses of earlier feminist movements should be examples of what to avoid, not what to embrace.