To think that JK Rowling is being very unfairly treated.

YANBU. I want and I hope we all want trans people to like safe, dignified, respected lives, with equality of opportunity. I'll respect pronouns and recognise transwomen as transwomen. But there is nothing unreasonable in what Joanne Rowling says.

JoodyBlue you what now? Tempest and her sidekick believe Strike had his leg voluntarily amputated.

There is a series of books for adults called the Vorkosigan series (written by Lois McMaster Bujold, and they are excellent) in which galactic medicine has reached the point at which it is entirely possible for a woman who is debarred from inheriting her father's title because of her sex to go to a different planet, pay for relevant surgery, and be turned in a matter of weeks and with no apparent after-effects into a man in all respects apart from genitals which are still growing to normal size. It is assumed that he will be able to breed.

It is SF. Fantasy. Not intended to be taken as true, any more than the planet where only men are allowed to live and reproduction is possible through gene manipulation and the use of uterine replicators, or the space-dwelling race of humans genetically manipulated to have four arms and no legs (Quaddies), or the race of humans genetically manipulated to have complete sets of both male and female genitals and secondary sex characteristics, and swap from one to the other at will (Herms). Quaddies and Herms breed true rather than returning to the base stock after a couple of generations, too. And that's not going into the people genetically manipulated to be water-breathers, or to be living sex-toys, or cloned so that the original rich old man has a nice new body for his brain to be transplanted into.

None of this stuff is supposed to be aspirational, is it?

The verbal (written) abuse she’s, a hugely successful, wealthy person, has received demonstrate why it’s so difficult for women to seek to retain (or get back) the word, single sex facilities and services, and sports, scholarships and so on.

Women are banned from social media for making similar, factual statements, while people verbally abusing them are not.

Some official statistics, including crime, no longer record sex. Newspapers are referring to male bodied criminals who have committed violent / sexual offences as ‘she’.

The Labour Party, SNP, Lib Dems and Greens have all implied or outright stated that is ‘transphobic’ to object to these things.

I think that there's a massive cross over between the young adults who grew up thinking they were actually magical and their Hogwarts letter was just lost in the post and those who believe that biological sex can be changed by wishful thinking.

I am seeing it too Joody.

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult and practically 90% of the harry potter fandom online has kicked her out. Even some of the actors have now spoken up against her. She made a brave choice to speak up in support of women because she knows she is in a position of privilege to have a large enough platform tp voice her opinion and concerns

Can anybody tell me what it feels like to be a woman?

Yes, I can.

It feels like being a human being.

Hath not a woman eyes? hath not a woman hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as any person is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?

I guess that might be cited as an example of it - smart - sorry "wide eyed FAUX confusion"

I don't even like her work (not knocking it - just not my thing) but it's ridiculous how she (and anyone else) is vilified for having a considered opinion on an important issue. We should be very careful how much we try to shut people up if they say things we don't agree with.

YANBU

I have never felt like a woman. I don't know what 'woman' feels like. I have birthed, breastfed (2 children, one for over 4 years) done the shitwork, gone part time, been harassed and assaulted and been called 'lesbian' and 'dyke' for opening my mouth at school (I'm straight).

Can anybody tell me what it feels like to be a woman?

She did not jump on the trans debate but did respond when they jumped on her

Get your order right

if person going through male puberty lives their life as a woman, they will just look like a man in a dress

How does somebody "live as a woman"? What specific things would they do to be classed as living as a woman?

She didn't speak out for women, she is a very clever business woman

So, her speaking out for women was her lying? And her tweet way back in November 2019 was a ‘long game’ advertising strategy for Troubled Blood.

And to inspire the abuse she got for even liking a tweet that was deemed a hateful act by people too heavily focused on her was an advertising ploy also for the same book.

I’d love to know what book she was advertising when she called out Devex for their headline then, because it also had nothing to do with transwomen.

twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1269382518362509313?s=21

I am laughing at Joanne Rowling being called a twat and making comments to advertise her book.

I didn't like her long before any of this. I don't think she's a twat because of this, I think this was clever. I think the fact that she has people rushing out to buy her book to support her is absolute genius on her part. The fact everyone who did this is 100% defending her just adds to the truth that it was a genius move on her part, and she now has thousands upon thousands of of people, who ordinarily wouldn't buy some of the stuff she writes willing to buy everything she writes to support 'the cause' and feel like they are doing something to help.

So you are accusing her of releasing the book to some trans right activists so that they could complain so she could respond in order to boost sales

That isn't what I said at all, now is it. Let's face it, everyone knows what happens when anyone jumps in on any side of the trans debate. She now has a whole bunch of people buying her stuff when they wouldn't have originally. I've seen many people online saying they will buy her book just to support her. Well played JK.

I have also reported @SionnachRua's post referencing Graham Linehan as slanderous. He is balanced in what he says. He is also pretty funny and has been hugely piled on for standing up for women, when all of his contemporaries have shown their cowardice by remaining silent. He has real guts!!

The tide on this is definitely turning as people realise that what is being asked of them is not 'I accept that some men will want to wear typically female clothing' but something actively damaging to women and children.

[quote ToadsThePeanutButterSnob]@SionnachRua why not? You're getting into things quite deeply with the OP.

Someone posted a link to JK's essay earlier in the thread. All you have to do is find a couple of views expressed by her that you find transphobic. It's surely not that difficult.[/quote]
This is a real problem in these discussions. Name call and run. It is real cowardice, and I imagine this person a glass of wine in and enjoying dragrace is quite pleased with themselves. It take real guts and courage to examine and address the issues. J K Rowling has used her entire life in support of young people, for this entitled generation to throw mud at her. Name calling without evidence is bully tactics, nothing more, nothing less and not worth anyone's time.

So you are accusing her of releasing the book to some trans right activists so that they could complain so she could respond in order to boost sales

As a marketing strategy it’s certainly ... original

They hate her because she is intelligent, eloquent and irrefutable. Not to mention terrifically rich, and therefore beyond their ability to suppress.

She's fabulous and no one I know in real life disagrees with that.

Sorry, probably should have said “children” not “young children” as the court was looking at 10 as the lower age limit.