Telegraph column - not even attempting to hide AGP

I'm not saying it's exactly the same, more that it's common for people to find the good in (or after) bad situations. Much as I dislike this tale of AGP I think you can feel oppressed or dysphoric and still find the positives in how you deal with it.

That's not to say I am convinced that what is described as gender dysphoria is always something that can only be helped by having absolutely everyone fervently agree that you're a person of the opposite sex and always have been.

Facing up to real medical/physical problems is not equivalent to finding new exciting identities, just because you can.

I watched an interview with someone who had their legs blown off by a bomb saying that day was the best of their life despite losing their legs being the worst thing that'd happened to them - showed them strength of spirit, love of others etc. Dunno.

It's not uncommon to see similar comments about cancer, as if you need to get cancer to appreciate what is good about life. And I could be wrong but I think it's usually survivors who say these things. Not the ones who have recurrence and know their days are numbered.

I can’t remember when I started thinking that being trans was something special, and fun, rather than a cross to bear.

the act of fashioning a new identity can be such a fascinating, all-consuming, creative endeavour

You can't have it both ways. Either being trans makes you the most oppressed, most marginalised people in the world, so much so that the rest of us have to accept the reorganisation of society to suit your needs, or you are people who are in the privileged position of being able to choose a fun and exhilarating lifestyle.

Which is it?

I'm not too sure actually; I do find this point interesting and think it should be explored a bit more. So many TRAs on Twitter revel in the new and interesting variations on sex they're finding yet still insist they're oppressed in day-to-day life - I don't think the two are necessarily contradictory. I watched an interview with someone who had their legs blown off by a bomb saying that day was the best of their life despite losing their legs being the worst thing that'd happened to them - showed them strength of spirit, love of others etc. Dunno.

It's as though they have taken the worst of misogyny, the worst of sexism, the worst of contempt for the female sex, and distilled it into something even uglier.

This x a million.

Meh, he's a bit of a perv but not sure if he's a feminist issue tbh.

I'd imagine the mother of his children might see it differently.

Ugh. So many things.

Just reminds me of my ex husband saying 'i like women so much I want to be one'.

AGP in full swing and wanting everyone else's approval and interest at the same time.

Probably waiting for his tiny tits to grow a bit more first.

He absolutely intends to say he's a woman. The only reason he's not doing it at the moment is, presumably, he hasn't done enough to satisfy his own personal sense of what a 'woman' looks like.

...But we do get glimpses that others cannot

Presumably here he means the voyeuristic thrill of using the women’s change area at the swimming baths?

Or worse, being able to look through the sanitary bins for used towels and tampons to wear home?

Ah, but he makes it clear that he is describing the process by which he will "eventually become a woman" and in his first article in the series, he writes yearningly of the day when he will be able to stand in the queue for the ladies and the woman next to him will look at him and think "Hmm, nice handbag".

His aspiration to use the women's toilets and thus invade single-sex spaces makes this very much a feminist issue.

And if I'm the woman unfortunate enough to be standing next to him in the queue, I guarantee I won't be thinking "Nice handbag".

I learnt the term gender euphoria from a TW who tried to engage with us on here.
My take is that GD people are worthy of sympathy.
GE people are fetishists who should keep it behind closed doors. There should be no such thing as kink shaming because no-one should know there's anything to shame. Sex is a private thing. .

The author of the Telegraph piece (David Thomas) is loving his young boobs. Fair play to him. I wish he'd kept it to himself but I guess he needs to write to eat...he isn't claiming to be female...he's completely blatant that the whole thing is just a sexual buzz for him...and he isn't trying to claim that he has more need of women's spaces and services than women.
Meh, he's a bit of a perv but not sure if he's a feminist issue tbh.

But we do get glimpses that others cannot

Not only does David not get 'glimpses others cannot', David and his ilk always come across as the people who have the least understanding of and empathy for women anywhere on Earth. It is deeply creepy that David has so little self awareness David can't see this.

I feel more empathy and understanding from Tyson Fury than David.

I find being forced to witness this a form of sexual assault. They can keep their sexual proclivities for the bedroom and other consenting adults. I am not going to validate in any way a man's sexual needs.

This is the bit that grates on me:

*We trans people know something that the rest of the world doesn’t: what it is like to be on both sides of thegreat gender divide.

Of course, I don’t know it all about being female. Maybe we never knew quite what it was to be male. But we do get glimpses that others cannot.*

No, David, you don't. And no, you won't. Because for a start, you have no idea how deeply offensive this is on so many levels.

OldCrone

Good point.

I suspect this man has finally come to terms with his sexual obsession and is now determined to enjoy it, and relish the legitimacy that TRAs have managed to give it.

They had actually allowed comments on this article which they haven't for the last few however I've just checked back and they've now been removed. There were about 6 none of which were complementary

I can’t remember when I started thinking that being trans was something special, and fun, rather than a cross to bear.

the act of fashioning a new identity can be such a fascinating, all-consuming, creative endeavour

You can't have it both ways. Either being trans makes you the most oppressed, most marginalised people in the world, so much so that the rest of us have to accept the reorganisation of society to suit your needs, or you are people who are in the privileged position of being able to choose a fun and exhilarating lifestyle.

Which is it?

For most of my life, I would have said, ‘No.’ I regarded the nagging sense of wrongness, which defied all my attempts to will it away, as an unmitigated curse. It was the Achilles heel that undermined me from within. And the unintended consequences of my desperate attempts to deny and ‘cure’ it ended up costing me my marriage, my family and my home.

I hated being trans almost as much asI hated myself.But then two people showed me that there was another way. The first was Juno Roche. She is theauthor of Queer Sex, a guide tosex and relationships for trans peoplethat has opened eyes and minds in the same way that The Joy of Sex did for straight folk, many years ago. She’s also a passionate, effective advocate for transgender rights, while remaining reasonable, coherent and thoroughly likeable."

You only have to read the transwidows threads to see this in context.

To a man, the husbands vowed to reject the addiction of AGP. The escalation in porn, the overwhelming urges, and the subsequent obliteration of everything else in their lives is identical.

To maintain that a man who fetishises women to the point of uncontrollable obsession, is actually female, is not just ludicrous, it's actually quite frightening.

To only ever see women as a costume which feeds your own ego and sexual compulsion honestly makes me think that these people live an alternative reality.

It's as though they have taken the worst of misogyny, the worst of sexism, the worst of contempt for the female sex, and distilled it into something even uglier.

I suppose what I don't understand - as somebody who knew David slightly years ago - is why he had to go and screw everything up. He's a wealthy, physically able, white man. He's a decent writer - the pieces he's writing are horribly readable. Clearly he had - and probably still has even if his marriage ended - a supportive family. If he wanted to do a bit of cross-dressing, most people would have coped. If he genuinely wanted just to drop all the alpha competitive male stuff, I'm sure he'd have only a lost a few friends and gained a lot of new ones.

So it really does seem like an illness to me. A destructive obsession in much the same way that anorexia is destructive and stunning.

But why is it not framed and seen as this. Why are newspapers presenting as just another lifestyle choice for the privileged. Like going to the latest chic Cotswold restaurant or doing up one's charmingly converted Spitalfields home?

"The other person who gave me the confidence to see a positive side to being trans was the inimitable artist,cartoonist and author Steven Appleby. Steve and I first met almost 30 years ago, when I was editor of Punch magazine and commissioned work from him. Neither of us had any idea of the other’s trans identity. Back then, we might not have admitted it even to ourselves.

Unlike Juno and I, Steve sees no need to transition. He enjoys having both male and female aspects to his identity. But he has a female alter ego, Nancy, and presents as female almost all the time.

Nancy has a very cool, goth-chick look, carried off with tremendous style and self-assurance. Being with Steve in Nancy mode, I really understood that if you are at ease with yourself, then others will be at ease with you too.

Steve’s answer to That Question was, ‘I can’t remember when I started thinking that being trans was something special, and fun, rather than a cross to bear. But I do remember that it struck me as a magical, through-the-wardrobe kind of thing. It sounds pretentious, but you transform into something mythical, like a centaur, or a mermaid. But instead of being part-man/part-horse, or partgirl/part-fish, you’re part-boy/part-girl.’

I too relish the idea of being a changeling. We trans people know something that the rest of the world doesn’t: what it is like to be on both sides of thegreat gender divide.

Of course, I don’t know it all about being female. Maybe we never knew quite what it was to be male. But we do get glimpses that others cannot.

For me as a novelist, being able to identify so strongly with both male and female characters is a huge help. But Steve and I have both found that the act of fashioning a new identity can be such a fascinating, all-consuming, creative endeavour that it drains some of the energy we need for our work.

Even so, my answer to that original question is now a confident, ‘Yes.’"

"I went to stay with Juno a few years ago at her small, idyllic village house in the hills of Andalusia and we yakked like fishwives non-stop for 72 hours. She was funny, full of life and absolutely at ease with being a transwoman. Much of her life had been tough. But now she seemed fulfilled in a way she had clearly not been before she transitioned. Juno made me think, ‘Maybe I could do this…’ Her view was more, ‘You must do this.’

Sitting at her kitchen table, she pointed up at a cupboard and said, ‘I’ve got a box filled withhormone patchesin there, and if you don’t promise me you’re going to transition, I’m going to come into your room while you’re asleep and stick them all over your bum.’

When, just recently, I put the ‘Is there anything good…?’ question to Juno, she of course replied, ‘Yes,’ and then added, ‘People often don’t believe me when I say that if I had a choice, I’d always choose to be trans. But it’s the only identity that ever made sense to me. It feels aspirational. It allows me to cross borders towards a better, happier, more authentic version of me. I’m doing the best I can, to be the best I can. My trans identity enables me to do just that.’"

This is a snapshot of the article

"A friend asked me an interesting question the other day: ‘Is there anything good aboutbeing trans?’

For most of my life, I would have said, ‘No.’ I regarded the nagging sense of wrongness, which defied all my attempts to will it away, as an unmitigated curse. It was the Achilles heel that undermined me from within. And the unintended consequences of my desperate attempts to deny and ‘cure’ it ended up costing me my marriage, my family and my home.

I hated being trans almost as much asI hated myself.But then two people showed me that there was another way. The first was Juno Roche. She is theauthor of Queer Sex, a guide tosex and relationships for trans peoplethat has opened eyes and minds in the same way that The Joy of Sex did for straight folk, many years ago. She’s also a passionate, effective advocate for transgender rights, while remaining reasonable, coherent and thoroughly likeable."

www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/hated-trans-almost-much-hated-now/

Latest column here. Don't read unless you want to get cross.

I thought it was interesting that Jeffrey Epstein had a picture of Bill Clinton in Hillary's dress on his wall and I'm surprised that this hasn't been picked up on by the media in connection with AGP and the push by obviously very rich people to push this trans agenda on children especially