Magdalen Berns is back!

It's brutal because Ash is encouraging girls to cut off their breasts. I'm just going to say that again in case it didn't sink in because a lot of people on this thread are being beguiled by the breathy voice and the cutesy presentation.

Seems like some people are falling for it, which is a bit worrying to see. This is not a harmless person. This is a person who is actively leading other young women into harm. The Judas Goat description was apt - if the cutesy presentation succeeds in convincing everyone that aw she's fragile we shouldn't criticize her too harshly then the end result is more girls having their breasts cut off.

loops: socialblade.com/youtube/user/heythere005

cisters - it's not kind, it's brutal. It's brutal because Ash is encouraging girls to cut off their breasts. I'm just going to say that again in case it didn't sink in because a lot of people on this thread are being beguiled by the breathy voice and the cutesy presentation.

This person is encouraging teenager girls to cut off their breasts. She wants your daughters to mutilate themselves.

She isn't kind, she isn't benign.

I found this rather heavy handed on Magdalen's part... not sure she needed to do a whole video slagging off someone else's video tbh. She could have made her point in about 30 seconds but it dragged on and on.

(She can't help the way she sounds, for example) and a lot of misinformation (she isn't rolling in cash).

Yes she can. She may very well be manipulating the way she looks and sounds. It is easy enough to do.
"Roughly, a video creator will earn $2,000 for every million views. "And then YouTube takes 45 percent," the Times notes"

I was a similar age to Ash when I finally cut my hair and stopped wearing make-up and skirt suits because it was what my employer expected of women.

Ok, that was 15-20 years ago and I would hope that attitudes have changed but they probably haven't.

I wasn't one of those women who knew how to express their non-conformity from childhood. Well, in fact I was until I went to primary school and then I was taught how girls were meant to be and lost myself. It took me until my mid-twenties to throw that off.

I think the points that Magdalen makes are completely correct re. sexism but I don't think she's being very kind or understanding of the time it takes some of us to throw off the roles society places on us.

For me, it was discovering lesbians that did it, although there was a little flirtation with a trans identity too.

I don't buy the 'trans doesn't exist' argument. Clearly it does. I wanted to be a boy as a child but am not a trans adult. But some people are. I can't see why we can't accept that Ash is trans and isn't a lesbian trying to find herself. She might be but that isn't the path she's choosing to live at the moment.

I don't want young lesbians to be encouraged to mutilate their bodies or seek special dispensation from sexist rules whilst ignoring the impact of the sexist rules for everyone else. But I also don't want to dismiss someone's felt truth about themselves.

Maybe the answer is more education and awareness raising over what it is to be a lesbian? Buy some toaster ovens and go on a recruitment drive Give young kids some more positive role models to look up to who are espousing what it is to be themselves rather than being see to attack another identity?

I'm just musing aloud really. Something about this video didn't quite sit right with me.

Orchid Pretty sure by 'livelihood' Ash meant her customer service job, the job she uses to pay bills.

Having a lot of subscribers doesn't = making a lot of money on youtube, especially now that youtube is demonetising videos deemed 'not friendly to advertisers' (and a huge number of those videos are LGBT+ content). Even if it did, Ash doesn't have a lot of subscribers, she doesn't get a lot of views, not in the grand scheme of youtube.

Almost all the middle-sized or smaller youtubers rely on income from other jobs. There's a few who are able to do youtube full-time and support themselves but most of those channels have been around since the early days of youtube, or are managed by agencies.

Think what you like about Ash's beliefs, but there's a lot of personal attack (She can't help the way she sounds, for example) and a lot of misinformation (she isn't rolling in cash).

The basis of what Magdalen was pointing out was fantastic and people like Ash should really have a listen to the key message she was getting across

A grifter like Ash who isexploiting teens on the internet is hardly likely to listen to the key message when it undermines their fame and fortune.

The only good thing about that exchange is that Ash admits that her vlogs are her bread and butter. She isn't making them out of the goodness of her heart - they are her income. I hope Gah's daughter reads those posts.

Magdalen Berns = truly the most privileged person on Youtube.

Magdalen & Ash
twitter.com/MagdalenBerns/status/1004063580562575360

Magdalen is actually in her 30s, (if the news article about the assault that was posted here before was correct) not that it makes any difference. Ash is a fully grown adult, despite her childish look and mannerism.

This "poor helpless little victim me" attitude is so common among trans activists and nb people. I feel concern about all the young girls who see these people as role models - not just because of the trans stuff/surgery but because they will learn the opposite of how to be an adult assertive woman.

Is she as annoying and narcissistic as Ash Sarkar?

Don’t think there’s much age difference between Ash and Magdalen is there ? Just M doesn’t do that silly , ironically Uber girly thing , thank the Lord. I’m laughing at her being called an “old feminist “ , surely she is in her twenties ?

“This is an activist? Fuck off.”

That was my favourite line, too.

Agree 2rebecca

I love Magdalen too. She gets straight to the essence of everything. She is brilliant.

As far as I can gather Ash identifies as non-binary but she wants to dress like a ‘man’ and have a baby with her wife like a woman (but also remove her breasts) and take And I totally lose the thread when she discusses her sexuality!

I get the feeling that infantilizing themselves is part of the appeal for people like Ash,

holly

Great post

It's striking that she resembles a 16 year old but is in fact much older

Magdalen should run assertiveness and antisexism courses for these fragile waifs. Being that scared of life isn't a good thing. It seems odd to decide to identify as a man whilst exaggerating the high voice and the "cute little old me tackling the big bad scary man" stereotype of toxic femininity.
All very silly. Pretending to be a kitten will only work for so long.

Yeah Ash does have something of the adorable puppy vibe and I can see her appeal. I totally get where you’re coming from GahWhatever She’s also done some pretty frank and ‘adult’ videos on sex toys if I remember rightly (all in the name of education). I can totally see the appeal to the younger generation - it’s all very cutesy with a plinky plonky ukulele and/or xylophone naive soundtrack (a la Alex Bertie, Jake ft Magic) but then they hit you in the face with the innocuous sounding ‘top’ surgery (double mastectomies actually) and the trials and tribulations of getting on ‘T’. And they all appear in each other’s videos and I imagine it’s totally seductive being their ‘friends’ online especially if you’re suffering alone in your bedroom. I want to show my DS this video but I won’t because I don’t want him to think it’s OK to tease any trans individuals he comes into contact with but I DO want him to get educated on Feminism as I’m having to counter some misinformation that’s he’s obviously already come across such as ‘aren’t Feminists just man-haters?’. I totally understand it would be a ‘challenging’ video to watch if you had a DD who was immersed in the trans narrative. Cruel to be kind perhaps? Don’t see Magdalene and Ash getting together anytime soon to make a video!

Gah I get that. I think you're right in the sense that a lot of teens would just dismiss Magdalen's video. I feel for you that your child is struggling.

It just makes my blood boil. Ash is 26? Ash, then, is similar to Zoella who it could be argued grooms her young fans by playing much younger on screen so teens can relate to her. Did I as a 26 year old woman want a bunch of 15 year olds to think I was their best mate and one of them and understood what they were going through? Like fuck I did. It's a strategy to make money and gain influence. Kids are not savvy enough to spot that most of the time.

Sorry pressed post too soon. My point is that your daughter has invested time, money and emotion in propping up Ash. She has been brainwashed and I don't think it will be an easy task to get her to realise that her idol is a manipulative grifter

My kids sometimes watch crap on YouTube and believe it. We rewatch it together and then take down every single bogus argument in turn. Gah - it sounds like your daughter is hugely invested in the transcult. Why don't you watch the Ash video with her and make the same arguments that Magdalen has and see if she'll listen? I bet she won't.

Well yes, that's why I said if you take the radfems, TRAs and politics out of it the basic principles are essentially similar: your sex should not limit how you present yourself or limit your opportunities.
That is the fundamental issue in both ideologies.
The problem is that while feminists accept biology but don't want the limitations of gender, plus we believe that women do need some additional protection because of long term patriarchy and male violence, the trans folk believe that biology can be overcome to some degree so that rather than being gender non-conforming you can actually change sex to 'fit' the gender you prefer and thus be 'uber-gender-conforming'.

I'm just trying to find common ground with my troubled child here.