Eddie Izzard states he has both 'girl and boy' GENETICS?

Yes there is a claim among trans ideologues that studies show trans people’s brains are more like those of their identified “gender” (i.e. sex for the purposes of testing it!)

But so what - there may be an average-shaped male brain, and then a range that are more similar to the average female brain and others that are less so. The same goes for things like height, nose size, hip width etc. Some people will have features typical for their sex and some less typical, eg my height is taller than average male height. That doesn’t make me a man!

And if there are people with brains that are more similar to the opposite sex’s brains, who don’t ID as trans, then that shows it isn’t proof of being trans.

This argument also scuppers self-ID as presumably if your brain or genetics shows you’re trans, you don’t get to decide for yourself.

Any genetic differences between the brains of males surely just shows the range of variations possible in male brains?

It is a bizarre leap to take that one must be female because of them (I know that's not what PP was saying, but that this is possibly what EI believes). It is more than bizarre - it is homophobic, because arguments like these always seem to have a straight male in mind as default. It is also deeply misogynist to believe that, having applied one's internalised homophobia to oneself and found oneself not manly enough, one must be all or partially female. It is especially, offensively, misogynist when you consider that males are the class of humans which oppress females and always have done.

Okay so I have some genetics training and am GC ish, though I could still be talking rubbish, but hear me out ...

I think I kind of see where Eddie might be coming from. I think he said years ago that he had always felt somewhere between a man and a woman (can't remember exact words he used). I think I also read an interview years ago with Richard O'Brien where he said similar.

I think I remember Eddie mentioning the genetics thing years ago too. My understanding was that he felt that there may be a genetic element to him feeling part-masculine and part-feminine. I wouldn't be surprised if he was right that there may be genetic elements to being a feminine man or a masculine woman, just as some think there may be a genetic element to being gay.

I also wouldn't be surprised if there were differences in brain imaging between men and women, and that (for example) there may be some differences between the brain of a feminine man and that of a masculine man (I believe the jury is still out on the brain scan thing and I'm aware there are studies suggesting this may not be true).

So I guess what I'm saying is, I could well believe there may be a genetic element to being gender non-conforming or to experiencing gender dysphoria.

What I don't agree with is that this means you ARE the opposite sex. And I guess to me, transitioning is something you may decide to do, rather than something you ARE, though it may be a more likely outcome for those experiencing severe gender dysphoria.

Just my two pence worth anyway.

They should have just made him a Dame in the honours list, then at least the whole charade and pantomime would be complete!

When I see Izzard’s extreme fundraising ventures, I can’t help remembering that not all people who do a great deal for charity do so out of genuine integrity.

Some do it out of narcissism. Some, as we know, for far worse motives. My money would be on Izzard being in the former category rather than the latter, but I do think when people (not on here ) gush about how great what he’s doing is, as if it automatically makes him a wonderful person, they must have awfully short memories.

Maybe Eddie is on our side and is just trying out the most ridiculous things possible to see what people will bow down to? At this point it seems to be the only logical explanation.

I hope Eddie froze some eggs before it was too late. He is getting on a bit.

Does anyone ever think back to what life was like in, say, 2005 when before social media, nobody would know what Eddie thought about his chromosomes or desired pronouns. Unless he was interviewed or talked about in in his stand up. Either way, the audience would be so much smaller. Social media seems to feed those who crave attention. Man, I long for those simpler times.

Yes likewise - I didn't mean for a moment to suggest that identifying as another race was fine because - hey, race isn't properly defined anyway. Far from it. I totally get that it's offensive and I understand why. My point is why - given this - is a male identifying as female A-OK? And it's doubly absurd because sex - unlike race - is a category with clearly identifiable boundaries.

Cranberries I'm with you, I absolutely don't think it's OK to identify as another race, and most of all a historically persecuted race and then claim prizes, places etc that are reserved for them.

My point is just that if that's not OK, as it's clearly not, then it shouldn't be OK for sex, because race is less defined and more of a spectrum - the very arguments that TRAs use in favour of trans ideology.

I think they can see the inconsistency, or most can, which is one reason why they insist on "No Debate!" and scorn, sneer at, threaten or bully those who have questions. Because they can't answer the questions.

The "non-binary" TRA in my family just refused to answer when asked this. They initially said "because race isn't the same as gender". I pointed out I hadn't said race was gender, I'd said race is comparable to sex, not gender. They said they'd get back to me and never did. They don't have an argument.

@dumpling23
@HerselfIndoors

Sorry, yes, I agree that it's not binary and many people can be mixed race, but that identifying as belonging to a race that you clearly are not and then appropriating their spaces and culture is agreed by most people to be offensive.

Agreed @HerselfIndoors. Sex is obviously binary where race is not - it's a far more fluid and undefined category with no proper boundaries at all. YET - if people self-identify as being of a race they clearly don't really belong to this is considered to be A VERY BAD THING. Yet when men identify as a sex they most obviously are not, it's stunning and brave and we're supposed to celebrate. I don't get it. I just don't understand why people can't see the inconsistency. I'm also starting to feel very aggravated about the whole thing.

Regarding race, race is much more of a "spectrum" than sex is and absolutely not a binary. You have more genetically in common with another human of your own sex, whatever their race, then with the opposite sex.

And yet TRA arguments include that biological sex isn't real, sex is a spectrum and isn't binary. While these things don't apply to sex, they do apply to race yet it's not OK to identify as black if you're white. And they can understand why a white person identifying as black, having operations and treatments to mimic a black body, and adopting cultural stereotypes associated with black people, would be horrendously offensive. How about if you then threatened black people and hounded them out of their jobs for being bigots, if they didn't agree with you that you were black? I'm guessing that wouldn't be on. But it's OK for women?

No TRA, trans person or trans ally has ever bee able to explain this to me despite me asking.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/eddie-izzard-pronouns-gender-trans-b1797055.html

The more Eddie speaks the more Eddie sounds like Eddie has lost the plot and is rewriting history. (Or should it be herstory, don’t want to mis-gender).

@fakenina oh, I do take it seriously, especially the kite-flying about an all-women shortlist. It was more of a rant against the prats who are gushing about him in articles...

Well, Sam Smith said that they have a women's thighs and breasts and I really think that needs further investigation. Are they in the freezer? 😬

People seem to grasp that self-id doesn't apply to ethnicity (if that's what you meant by minority group). Why the same people suddenly pretend that biological sex isn't an equal but different reality to race is quite baffling.

Am I just being really dense, but what’s to stop a white male self-identifying as a minority group and taking the slot that was intended for the person born into that minority group??? White males can scoop up everything in this world view - including Eddie Izzard him/herself (pronouns depending on whether its a boy or girl mode period for Eddie). Let's see what happens with the selection to a Labour safe seat that Eddie seems to have Eddie's eye on.

I was so angry seeing him doing those marathons (I hadn't realised him on Insta). Full face of make up and a long blond ponytail? Fuck off, it's not a costume.