Rachel Rooney criticised by Philip Pulman

Boy does he look foolish!

Happily he isn’t someone I ever admired anyway, his books are pants.

I think a lot of people just don’t understand what they are wading in on. My DP’s do this face 😱 every time I explain it to them.

It’s weird cos pullman has written about women not being allowed by the magestruim not allowing women to publish articles or to pass first in exams in their world

Do you think he just wrote that because of hand maids tale so he was jus5 piggy backing on that

I don’t really remember as it’s about 10 years since I read his books

And I really loved them

But jeez Pullman don’t attack a lovely women for stuff you know fuck all about

Show some intelligence and don’t be vicious towards someone who has worked hard helping children and is a great author

So disappointed 😞

It is wonderful that an elderly rich white man is telling us awful women what to think about being women. What would we do without men like Philip to force guide us in the right direction?
I mean, without him, I might have thought it was dangerous to let an adult male get naked in a changing room with a teenage girl. But now I know that is just hateful! Thank you Philip for showing women this Christmas how unnecessary and hateful boundaries are!

If you look at the series of Clara Vulliamy's tweets, near the start is this:

It doesn’t relate to this week’s court ruling, but is in some ways adjacent, and concerns something that happened a year ago today. What happened was this.

Why rake this back up now? In a way to direct ill-feeling towards Rachel Rooney? It's telling that CV mentions the Keira Bell decision but then says her tirade is nothing to do with that. I'd say that someone's world has been shaken by the decision, and being desperate to avoid self-reflection they're lashing out.

I've just looked. I'm blocked too! Never even heard of her!

She presumably signs up to a blocklist.

I am blocked by this Vulliamy person despite having never heard of them. They have decided I'm a persona non grata because of... what?

So she's blocked at least five of us here, even though none of know of her or have interacted with her.
And she probably thinks that's perfectly normal behaviour...

But parents who bought into this at an earlier point, possibly being misled by the ideologues and lobbyists, have now got a vested interest in not admitting to anyone - least of all themselves - how far they have cocked up their child's lives and neglected their responsibilities as parents (maybe in many cases with good intentions).

I do agree with this. However, the parents were told 'better than a live son than a dead daughter' (or vice versa). They sought help from Susie Green's Mermaids who told them about brains in the wrong bodies. They went to the NHS who directed them to the Tavistock. The Tavi told them about puberty blockers, 'a harmless pause' while their child worked through their feelings. They were told about suicides of trans kids.

Parents tried to do the right thing and seek help from medical experts. They tried to be responsible.

Perhaps in some cases there was a clear dereliction of duty. In other cases they put their trust in the supposed experts. If my desperately ill child ended up in Great Ormond Street, I wouldn't be questioning the surgeons there about their competence to operate on children. Likewise, if I took my deeply distressed child to the UK's specialist centre for gender dysphoria, I would be likely to trust the people who worked there. If they said that puberty blockers were a safe, reversible form of medication, I wouldn't necessarily think to ask for evidence of that.

Ultimately, the blame lies with the people who authorised and administered these drugs.

Talking about hatefulness, I am blocked by this Vulliamy person despite having never heard of them. They have decided I'm a persona non grata because of... what?

Rachel Rooney, by contrast has over 3.4 k likes on her tweet...

I've seen it now (if I log in on public rather than myself)

well, she's a twat.

In the UK children's books world, Rachel Rooney is Persona Non Grata - all the 'right' people know that she's 'a nasty hateful transphobe'. Some of them work at or are published by PP's publisher. I imagine anyone he has contact with will have denounced her.

Self-acceptance is now 'dangerous' and 'harmful' apparently.

Corexion. Complexion.

Yeah, if you'd been persuaded to give your kids a few mgs. of lead a day to tone them up and improve their complections, you'd feel a bit crap if you discovered it wasn't a good idea.

Oddly, it's as though the Bell court case hadn't happened, or it had led to exoneration of the Tavistok.

Are there no apostates, no-one now expressing contrition and regret?

Just because some parents have made terrible choices for their children (even if they were led to think they were doing the right thing) doesn't mean we all have to or we should let off the hook those that encourage parents to make dreadful choices for their kids.

@DidoLamenting I'm the same. I have never heard of her before and I'm blocked too.

If Rachel had just published it but tied it publicly to the 'Body positivity' movement rather than the GC movement, she'd probably be facing none of this.

[quote OldCrone]I believe that this is one of the reasons for the trans lobby being so keen to get into schools and recruit as many children as possible.

Just to add to this, in case it sounds a bit conspiracy theorist. TRAs have talked about this being their aim. Here is a partial transcript of a now deleted YouTube discussion between TransYouth Family Allies executive director Kim Pearson and transgender activist Autumn Sandeen (in the US):

Autumn Sandeen: “I’ve always said there are two groups that are going to make change in transgender legislation and the “gender identity and expression” related language in legislation. It’s going to be trans youth because … they demystify it and take the sex right out of the trans experience.”

Pearson responds with: “Right. And it’s hard to say no to kids, and the needs of kids and “keeping kids safe”. And you know, “being respected in schools” and things like that. It’s really hard for people to say no to that.”

From Miranda Yardley's site.
mirandayardley.com/en/this-is-an-all-out-political-war-the-gender-recognition-act-and-beyond/[/quote]
Horrific.

But then recruiting the young into extreme ideologies has always been the modus operandi of dictatorships.

I won't name them, but I think people might be able to think of a few good 20th century examples.

@Europilgrim

I really don't understand how anyone, even the most vehement supporter of puberty blockers could have a problem with Rachel Rooney's lovely, positive book.

(I also don't get why there aren't any trans allies up in arms after the KB case because of the appalling lack of diligence that seems to have been present in the medical care of gender non-conforming children. Lack of evidence of longterm effects, poor data gathering, no following up of patients - that's what they should be furious about. These kids deserve much better).

But parents who bought into this at an earlier point, possibly being misled by the ideologues and lobbyists, have now got a vested interest in not admitting to anyone - least of all themselves - how far they have cocked up their child's lives and neglected their responsibilities as parents (maybe in many cases with good intentions).

"I dunno. Are you really sure that the human sacrifices to Amon-ho-Pek, the Great Frog, really work? Maybe the internet won't permenantly shut down if we stop them. Maybe?".

Totally agree OldCrone.

We have the book and I bought some for my DC's primary school - anonymously. God knows if they're used or were binned as they were listed as a Stonewall Champion school

I believe that this is one of the reasons for the trans lobby being so keen to get into schools and recruit as many children as possible.

Just to add to this, in case it sounds a bit conspiracy theorist. TRAs have talked about this being their aim. Here is a partial transcript of a now deleted YouTube discussion between TransYouth Family Allies executive director Kim Pearson and transgender activist Autumn Sandeen (in the US):

Autumn Sandeen: “I’ve always said there are two groups that are going to make change in transgender legislation and the “gender identity and expression” related language in legislation. It’s going to be trans youth because … they demystify it and take the sex right out of the trans experience.”

Pearson responds with: “Right. And it’s hard to say no to kids, and the needs of kids and “keeping kids safe”. And you know, “being respected in schools” and things like that. It’s really hard for people to say no to that.”

From Miranda Yardley's site.
mirandayardley.com/en/this-is-an-all-out-political-war-the-gender-recognition-act-and-beyond/

When nearly everyone has a 'trans child' in their family (if not their own child, another relative such as a nephew, niece or cousin) it makes it so much harder to argue against the ideology because so many more people are personally involved with such children.

It does, I find it very hard to speak out because a couple of women I like very much have transchildren and have fully bought into the ideology and i don't want to hurt them. :(