Paris Lees on “What makes us human” R2 Jeremy Vine

There is, I think, some contradiction to Paris Lees' assertions in today's interview with Jeremy Vine and her comments in the Guardian article in 2013:

www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/22/voices-from-trans-community-prejudice

(extract)
"In 25 years, Barrett has seen trans people become "a networked bunch" – more so than other people, he thinks – thanks to the internet. Lees, who also works for Trans Media Action, says social media is the "essential catalyst" for the transformation of trans people in society. "Society is in transition and we've woken up from the operation and there's no going back. We can't pretend that trans people don't exist any more," she says. "People have been taking the piss out of trans people for 60 years. The narrative on trans issues has been controlled by people who have no understanding of them. Social media is about us grabbing the narrative back and telling our own stories – this is our reality, this is what we go through and this is what matters to us. We're here, we're in your face, we definitely exist. That's the most important thing – realising we exist." (continues)

PL is a keen journalist campaigning for the decriminalisation of sex workers.

Failing to mention that means pimps as wrll as prostitutes.....

Vine mentioned some of the praise via the Twitterati.

So inspirational.....

Paris Lees is a very engaging and persuasive speaker, I was interested to hear that her degree was English Language and Literature. So was mine.
Its often worth re listening to interviews and focussing on the actual words that are used and to what effect.

What a ridiculous soft interview that was. If Jeremy Vine is unaware of the aggressive and even violent sidelining and shutting down of women to make way for trans rights then he does not deserve his £750,000 salary. Well, he doesn't deserve it anyway imo but that's another story.

WichBitch It was an interesting mis-type!

Sorry it was ROwan who coined genderational.

Fab new word Absinthe.

Yes, ageism completely acceptable to try and dismiss our opinions - nice one. My feelz are hurt about that. Will I define it as hate speech, nah, just ignorance.

I'm a millennial, lots of us get it.

There have been a number of comments by some TRAs that this is a genderational thing and that 40+ people don't understand diversity.

Yes, it's trotted out a lot, because ageism is seemingly perfectly acceptable. ('The Olds are too stupid/busy clutching their pearls to understand.') It misses the point that the obvious explanation for the generational divide is that older people have more life experience, tend to be more widely read, are better at seeing through propaganda, are far less swayed by peer pressure to conform and less afraid of speaking the truth.

(I think you may have coined a new term in 'generational'!)

Me and my mum didn't hear that part of Paris's story. I'm obviously very sorry to hear that.

We are of different generations though and disagree about lots of thing, but not about what a woman is.

generational!

There have been a number of comments by some TRAs that this is a genderational thing and that 40+ people don't understand diversity.

No one hasn't changed sex, however sympathetic one might feel.

I think they’re coming across much better than I expected. I feel for them and their awful childhood.

Paris Lees describes the experience of being 'pimped' by an older man as a vulnerable 16 year old which led to the incident resulting in conviction and imprisonment.

Later brings up that as well as campaigning for transgender rights she is also keen to campaign for sex work, mentions advertising.

At home with mum today. She's not political and hasn't been aware or much of this but without a second's hesitation found the idea that you can change sex or be born in the wrong body utterly ridiculous.

Interesting.

PL: I just needed to be me

JV: And 'being me' meaning what? Fully transitioning to being female?

PL: (nervous laugh. Hesitation.) Well... yeah. Just being a girl.

Love Paris. She’s a terrific journalist and activist and a genuinely nice person.

Oh thanks. There was a lot of homophobia driving h** choices there, I guess.

Pratchet it's a regular slot called 'what makes us human' where prominent people read out an essay they've written (on what makes us human, surprisingly) then get their chosen record played and are interviewed afterwards.

PL's essay was good, BUT I was about the opening bit which was all about his (not misgendering - talking about PL as a small child) explicit and extreme violent fantasies of beating up his father, battering him with a baseball bat etc. As someone who claims to have been essentially female since birth, this seems highly incongruous. And contradictory. To say the least.

I think she was quoting her father when she used the word poofter.

That's homophobic