JK new post on her reasons for writing about gender

This morning I just want to say:

*”It’s moving! Keep pulling!”

janeclarejones.com/2018/11/13/the-annals-of-the-terf-wars/

Also incredibly moved by the blog. Heaven knows we needed this.

Not to derail but I wonder - given what she has been through, what is the story behind Johnny Depp being in her movies? There must be something that never came to light surely? Is her power limited in these matters - which must have been massively stressful for her, or is he more innocent than I chose to believe?

Glad I recently bought JKRs Robert Galbraith books. Wanted something to read in lockdown. Got called a 'Karen' yesterday by a bearded young man. Who also called me cis. I'm 70 years old for heavens sake. He quickly shut up. Not one one word of hate in JKs posts. The post last night so powerful. I am a feminist and a lesbian. #IstandwithJKRowling

Outstanding post DonkeySkin

I am so thankful to JK Rowling, for her bravery and her honesty. As a woman who has experienced DV and now as a mother, raising an autistic girl, the time has come for us all to stand up for our rights. I'm desperate to join a local feminist group or something but I can't find anything locally. I need to do something! Thank you JK Rowling.

It's a top story on the BBC this morning as well. A surprisingly good article which quotes extensively from what she actually wrote, and dedicates 99% of the space to putting across her perspective. It even outlines the difference between sex and gender. Surely that's almost unheard of for the BBC?

to need, want and appreciate

Of course, you don't have to have been raped or sexually abused, or to need, wand and appreciate women only spaces when it comes to 'intimate' public facilities.

You can see and experience being a woman as a great strength and still appreciate that the realities of sex and the particular vulnerabilities of female biology mean that women are best served by single sex spaces, services and sports.

However, It is not just about safety and protection, but about the comfort and dignity of one's sex, too.

Thanks for link to article @ igneocus, i read some of the most recent comments and they were mainly supportive which was great to see.

I've got to comment again as previously I only put that I love her! But I do.
I recently gave birth to my second baby, a little girl. My birth experience with my son was very long and exhausting and ended up assisted in theatre, recovery took a long time. Second birth was totally different but so quick that it was actually quite frightening - quite maybe an underestimate. DD arrived in about an hour. I was clinging onto my husband's arm, screaming, while the amazing midwife was just telling me to push.
I think the memory of having recently given birth has made this essay all the more powerful for me.

The amount of twats on twatter who have said Eugh don't read it, it's transphobic or I won't read it

They refuse to educate themselves on what she has to say, but tell her and others to educate themselves... The hypocrisy is lost on them.

And here Janice Turner:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/70be1cdc-ab54-11ea-adef-7962e28cd764?shareToken=1f7831cd0e975df3190a13b208261505

This morning I was pondering how the whole crazy thing would make great content for a Louis Theroux documentary.

It's one of the top stories of the Times today:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/8c42979c-ab51-11ea-adef-7962e28cd764?shareToken=6ec442dc62a754553c7c22263198f5f6

I’m sure so many of the women reading this can see so much of themselves in it, as I do. I think it’s very possible I would have transitioned if there had been such an option in my youth- the dual lures of escape from girlhood and an oh-so-supportive community, which you can’t enter unless you say you’re trans. I’m so frustrated that schools and youth groups are so focused on offering support to only certain types of young folk, with such horrible strings attached, and such a limited number of options.
And she was echoing so many of our feelings too when she talked about our sense of kinship with transwomen who have suffered violence. I doubt that any of the more well-intentioned of the rainbow posse have the faintest idea...
I do hope people who are new to this give this a fair reading.

Thanks for posting this.

I enjoyed this:

Why do we do this? Why do we keep providing this cover for male dominance, instead of exposing it?

Excellent point. I wonder if JKR is thinking of young people, transmen in particular, who are vulnerable?

I have a young relative who identifies as a woman. He’s not particularly robust and has been subject to homophobic aggression in the past.

But I suspect opening the can of worms which is the fetish which dare not speak its name, might have influenced her decision to bend to female socialisation and kindness.

She was very careful and has still copped such a tsunami of hatred. I hope she has really good security.

Wow. I had little understanding of this topic until I read this but erred on the side of Jk Rowling in the recent arguments. Now I understand and am totally behind her

Rowling has been very brave, but I wish she hadn't spent a good portion of this letter covering for her abusers and reinforcing the myth that men are a type of woman who are 'vulnerable' in the same way that women and children are.

This is a huge lie, and the weird thing is that Rowling must know it's a lie, as all people who are well versed in this issue do. Yet 'GC' feminists keep repeating this myth - that men who adopt superficial markers of femininity are 'vulnerable and marginalised' and subjected to similar kinds of male violence as women - which is the very myth that is allowing men to usurp women's rights within law and policy.

Even at the same time as these men are using their immense institutional and cultural power to steamroll women's rights, destroy any woman who opposes them, and erode child protections around the world, even when women are under constant sexualised, misogynistic attack by these men, we keep repeating that they are vulnerable, that they are just like us. We keep calling them 'trans women'. We keep talking about how much we empathise with them, instead of pointing out their glaring, sociopathic inability to empathise with women - the very group they claim to 'identify' as.

Instead of correctly placing their activism and their behaviour within the context of sexism and male dominance, we pretend that they are 'gender non-conforming'. As a wise women on reddit once said: 'Gender is not your fucking lipstick or your fucking eyeliner. Gender is male entitlement to women's bodies, labour, and lives.' When a group of men insist that women have no right to a separate legal or linguistic existence from men, they aren't being 'gender non-conforming' simply because they're wearing lipstick while making these demands.

Why do we do this? Why do we keep providing this cover for male dominance, instead of exposing it?

It's really clear how many people denouncing the article have not read it. "Jo needs to educate herself" - when it's evident that this take is because she has educated herself.

I have emailed JKR my thanks.

If you are reading, Jo, thank you for being brave, articulate and a friend to all women.

I'm so sorry about what has happened to you for simply stating biological reality. I'm sorry that you have been forced to reveal the abuse you have endured in the past (which will no doubt be sneered at and belittled by the wokerati) in order to give context to your concerns. It is disgusting that women have to show they have been abused in order to prove they are worthy of consideration for basic privacy and dignity.

I'm sorry that people who owe you their careers have stabbed you in the back and dare to question your integrity. I hope they read your essay and are ashamed to their coward cores.

Please take care of yourself and rest. Don't let these fuckers damage your mental health any more than they may already have.

Thank you for having our backs. We have yours too.

JK, we love you for your courage and your brilliance. Thank you.

Piping back in to offer JK a hand hold, glass of wine/tea and a bloody big virtual hug. Plenty of supportive voices but some who haven't read what was actually written.