Helen Mirren thinks she's just a point on a spectrum.

I lost respect for Helen Mirren when she claimed she never knew about Harvey Weinstein abusing women. everyone knew. There was even a joke in 30 Rock about him.

She is a prize dingbat. Can’t quite decide if she is dumb or pandering to the rainbow. As someone else said - she doesn’t need to worry about mixed wards, refuges, prisons or changing a doctor at will.

What has Juliet Stephenson said?

She was doing Caucasian Chalk Circle and she said that it wasn't a political play.

I could hear Brecht turning in his grave and I realised that she literally had no idea what the play she was starring in, was about.

Up until then I'd assumed that she was intelligent because she spoke and behaved as though she were.

Helen Mirren was on the Graham Norton show last week with RuPaul talking about her son's drag venue in America.

None of this means that the exemptions for actual single sex services in the Equality Act should be ignored and misrepresented or removed.

Why do celebrities think their opinion is in any way valid, just because they're famous? Why do people bother to listen to them and write articles about their beliefs?

The more I read about celebrities giving their opinions, the more I remember Elvis and what he answered when asked about the Vietnam war etc.

"I'd just sooner keep my own personal views about that to myself cause I'm just an entertainer and I'd rather not say".
I wish more of them would take his lead.

What has Juliet Stephenson said?

I think Emma Thompson will jump on any progressive bandwagon that suits the Emma Thompson brand:

www.heraldscotland.com/news/17472457.women-hit-back-at-archaic-and-damaging-views-on-transgender-rights-in-scathing-open-letter/

I think if you've been taught to write essays and do precis and so on as part of a rigorous education, plus you move in that world and actually Jane Austen has written much of the script for you, your script is going to be pretty good if you're half-way competent, tbh. I don't think it proves that someone is really intelligent, just ordinarily intelligent IYSWIM.

I think Emma Thompson is pretty intelligent. I've seen her interviewed a few times and she comes across well. Plus, she wrote the film script for Sense and Sensibility which has to count for something, surely.

I've found genderism to be massive in the theatre world. Absolutely uncritically accepted. I was put off one of my favourite directors, Emma Rice, when she instituted 'gender blind' casting and made Bill from Malory Towers non binary!!

Well, yes, a nice little warm up exercise in the theatre or the drama studio, but not in real life.

I'm disappointed she doesn't understand the difference between sex, and gender stereotypes. How hard is it?
I thought she was brighter than this.

Charlize Theron.

(To clarify though - I did not agree with her comments and also think they were quite insensitive to people with DSDs.)

I’m going to go against the grain here. I don’t think the article gives enough info to judge her position either way.

Anyone can say “TWAW”, but what do they actually mean? Eg, do they still believe women should have access to female-only rape crisis support etc? Do they still believe that female homosexuality is fine?

If they do - then they are saying “TWAW” as a courtesy.

I think (hope?) that Dame Mirren does still believe in women’s rights, and will be able to clarify at some point.

Don't forget that these actresses live, and mix, in a bohemian world, in which holding to certain seemingly radical notions about individuality is the norm.

A remarkable example of that is the die-hard support of a sexually abusive cult leader Gerry Healy by Vanessa Redgrave:

After Michael Banda, the general secretary of the party, publicly commented that Healy had probably sexually abused more than 26 women,[18] Vanessa Redgrave said at a press conference that "these allegations are all lies and the women who are supposed to have made them are all liars. I don't care whether it's 26, 36 or 236. They are all liars"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Healy

She seems totally confused between sexuality (which can be a point on a spectrum het/bi/homo sexual) , gender (sure, we're all 'nonbinary', it simply shouldn't be remarkable) and sex which is immutably binary.

Perhaps performers are liable to give undue weight to performance?

I feel like a lot of negative stereotypes about luvvies are applicable here. Not the most clued in group of people, on average, especially since it became mostly a profession for those who don't really need to make a living.

I've found genderism to be massive in the theatre world. Absolutely uncritically accepted. I was put off one of my favourite directors, Emma Rice, when she instituted 'gender blind' casting and made Bill from Malory Towers non binary!!

One of the things I've realised about these actors who appear really intelligent, like Emma Thompson and Helen Mirren and Helena Bonham Carter and Juliet Stephenson, is that that intelligence is part of their acting persona. It's not real\

Don't forget that these actresses live, and mix, in a bohemian world, in which holding to certain seemingly radical notions about individuality is the norm.

Oh glad you were all up and awake before me!!! I came on to post about this after seeing the headline in the DF .

And I'm with you all that she is, like many other UK actresses, someone who plays intelligent but actually is not intelligent (confusing gender and sex is something my 7 year old would not do).

The people that are most confused in all of this are TRA ideologists. They think they have discovered something new or revolutionary.

Helen Mirren is confusing sexuality/preferences/attractions with 'genderism'. I'm sure most people would not rule out being 'on a spectrum' of sorts when it comes to sexuality.

Her statements are a good example of muddled thinking.
Conflating sexuality, gender, personality and transgenderism and cramming it all into a few paragraphs. Proves you don't necessarily have to be long- winded to produce a word salad.

Agree. She makes a very good living reading aloud someone else's words and feigning emotion according to the director's requirements. Good luck to her. I'm sure spending the whole of your working life in an artificial world qualifies you to be authoritative on something but I'm not convinced this is it.

And the fact that she has a new series to promote and needs the headlines, any headlines, is pure coincidence.

An actor needs emotional intelligence and the skill of artifice so delivering statements dripping with confidence whilst based in very little understanding is what they do for breakfast. It is also profile raising and keeps the actor relevant. With it. No one could accuse HM of being a nana or mummsy.