Michael Conroy exposes the DARVO in Izzard's teenage girl trauma

Paddington stare or a good smirk that says: you’re fooling no one.

What's the cold shower approach

Pointing and laughing? Probably not advisable though.

What's the answer to this, though?

well it's not for society (and MNHQ for that matter) to demand that women comply with the fetishistic behaviour by doing the pronoun dance and trying to make males feel welcome in spaces that are predominantly or exclusively for women

My view is that auto gynaephilia is a fetish, so it should be accorded the same latitude as other fetishes. That is, feel free to practice it safely and without coercing others, but in private and don't try to force me to participate please.

Until society reaches this conclusion (and I think the escalating behaviour means that will happen at some point), women are in rather a cleft stick unfortunately

I'm very aware that this post is the sort that attracts an insta report. let's see if my careful wording has been careful enough?

There are so many levels of fetish to that and most of them directly involve making other people uncomfortable.

Must be disappointing now that he's lauded instead of shocking. I saw him first on Have I Got News For You, long before I knew anything about trans being 'a thing', and thought eeuuuggghhhhh. Then I came across his work, and decided I'd allow someone that brilliant any latitude they wanted 😜

Ugh. The very obvious middle-aged man I saw walking round the supermarket in a skimpy summer dress was presumably getting the same kick. And this is where “acceptance without exception” has led us. We are unavoidably used as objects for men’s sexual gratification.
What's the answer to this, though?
If we call them out, they get horny.
If we look shocked, they get horny.
If we are scared, they get horny.
If we try to play along, they escalate the behaviour (and get horny)
If we try to exclude them, they sue or threaten physical violence (which presumably they also get off on).

What's the cold shower approach?

“One of the things it’s ruined for me is that I’m no longer the anonymous pervert walking down the street. Before it was quite fun being the weirdo everyone stared at”

Ugh. The very obvious middle-aged man I saw walking round the supermarket in a skimpy summer dress was presumably getting the same kick. And this is where “acceptance without exception” has led us. We are unavoidably used as objects for men’s sexual gratification.

I’m sad about Grayson. I’d seen him as mostly eccentric, with the clothing as a work of art. I hadn’t realised he’d admitted it was so directly sexual. Better than pretending otherwise, I guess.

Fame has come with costs. For him, part of the appeal of cross-dressing is the sexual kick. “Humiliation is a massive turn-on,” he says. “One of the things it’s ruined for me is that I’m no longer the anonymous pervert walking down the street. Before it was quite fun being the weirdo everyone stared at. Now I’m Grayson Perry

No you're not, Eddie love.

Whatever one thinks of AGP, Grayson Perry does not spout gender identity bollocks, lay any claim to womanhood or use women's spaces.

So you know: continue to fuck off, Eddie. Frightening teenage girls may well get you all excited. The rest of us just think you're an arsehole.

trans acceptance is going to be a problem for some people isn't it? if a male is stereotypically female clothing no longer gets a reaction what to do next? taking a sword into the ladies toilet? oh no, been done already

Yeah. I find him very creepy. He knows exactly what he is doing

He gets off on it and says it.

Yuck
And he gets money for doing it
Yuck

In a way Grayson admitting that he gets hard while wearing the most absurdly cartoonish version of ladyface just makes it worse. There are so many levels of fetish to that and most of them directly involve making other people uncomfortable.

I suppose those frilly pink dresses generate much more shock than a flashers mac?
It's the same thing isn't it? They get off on the look of fear and confusion.
Even the wokest of the woke give six foot transwomen in PVC or leopard print a double take.
Homosexual transsexuals might be dressing for the male gaze, but autogynephiles dress to provoke a reaction. I have read so much about married AGP men either trying to "outdo" their wives or trying to dress exactly like them. I'm sure Yaniv's mobility scooter falls in the same category, it's about getting a reaction. They want to be noticed.
On the other side, young women who identify as trans or non-binary seem to want to stop being seen. They want the freedom to walk around in the world as "default human" i.e.not female, not for show.

As Claire, he can dress in an outrageously flamboyant way and enjoy the reaction she causes.

So it's just attention seeking and enjoying a frisson or causing shock? I suppose those frilly pink dresses generate much more shock than a flashers mac?

I have Grayson Perry's book Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Girl and will dig it out tomorrow to remind myself and post here what he writes on the subject. I do recall reading that he gets hard when dressed like that (not necessarily in the caricaturish manner of Claire nowadays) and it made me feel uncomfortable knowing that about him, he is making others complicit in it as PPs have said.

But, I do wonder why he is applauded for this. And why he inflicts his fetish on others. Male socialisation bestows such a sense of entitlement over the expression of male sexuality and patriarchal society reinforces it.

I think some people think he's subverting the conventions of masculinity - so instead of looking butch, he's adopted an extreme version of stereotypical femininity. But I agree with you. To me, it doesn't feel as if he's subverting masculinity, it feels like he's mocking femininity. And, like you, I feel like I'm being compelled to be complicit in his sexual fetish. I don't like it.

Well he said it himself. Nobody notice him when he was wearing women’s clothes.
So he needed the attention so the biazzare women’s dresess seemed to do it for him he got the attention he wanted

Every year, since 2004. Why?
That's an awful lot of dresses for one bloke.

Yes it was Grayson Perry and yes he is very clear he is a man but I did read the below. He doesn’t think he is a woman see below
Grayson Perry has been cross-dressing since he was a child, using it to step into a fantasy world where he felt safer. He describes himself as a transvestite and for him cross-dressing has an exciting, sexual aspect but he has no desire to become a female, nor to dress as a woman full-time.

After many years of experimenting with cross-dressing and wearing conventional female clothes, Grayson became dissatisfied with the lack of reaction he provoked. In response, he developed the persona known as Claire. Claire appears in public and in Grayson’s art in a number of different guises, ranging from a little girl in a frilly dress to an adult woman. As Claire, he can dress in an outrageously flamboyant way and enjoy the reaction she causes.

Grayson has designed many of Claire’s outfits himself, but every year the fashion students at London’s Central St Martin’s take part in a competition to design new dresses for her and Grayson encourages them to make the dresses as bizarre and exciting as they can.

I know a lot of Claire's/ Clares/ Clairs and no one dresses like that.

Brilliant article by Michael.