Just Fear of the Unknown, says Alan Cummings

Alan can bugger off, frankly.

I'm sick of men telling women what to accept and how to feminist.

A privileged wealthy white man telling women to shut up.

How novel!

Oh wait

Yeah women should wheest

Only men have valid opinions

Why is anyone supposed to be remotely interested in Cummings' opinion on this?

I'd have guessed that your comment might have been considered questionable because it talked about the author and his possible motives, but I don't see how it's "abusive" and this is acceptable:

"Thomas Donaldson
8 hours ago
Oh well I really appreciate the views of a foreigner who will never have the benefits or otherwise of Independence, why is this in The Times ? Is he the new Sir Sean who also chose to live in a foreign Country but tell the numpties back home how to vote."

Also I notice that Alan says that trans rights are like the struggles of gay men to gain equality. Clearly he didn't realise that lesbians were also a key part of the fight, or perhaps he is accurately stating that he only cares about men's rights and sod the women impacted.

Marion Calder, director of the campaign group For Women Scotland, said Cumming “should educate himself, to understand what feminists truly think”.

She added: “What he should understand is that all groups have different rights. Who attacks women’s rights? Males. Not all males, of course, but this is why we have our single-sex spaces, as a safeguarding measure. We don’t have to be educated about this, it’s understood by women from a very young age. If Alan wants any further explanation we would be happy to oblige.”

Fantastic rebuttal from Marion there.

Cummings, "might I posit: how much does it cost to make the effort to refer to someone the way they want to be referred to?"

I don’t know Alan, how much does it cost for rape victims to refer to their rapist as she? The Scots police seem to think it will cost very little in fairness they obviously don’t think at all

Alan, I am happy for trans men in my spaces. Why are you so keen that trans women don’t share your spaces?

I love it when a rich white man living in New York tells women in Scotland to give up their rights. Especially marginalised and disadvantaged women, BAME women and those who have experience of the criminal justice system.

But rights aren’t like cake; someone else getting some doesn’t mean you have any less

Try telling that to the female inmates who have been raped and sexually assaulted whilst locked up, whose right to safety was happily tossed aside because convicted rapists 'rights' to identify their way into the female estate were considered more worthy

I've never once seen anyone that tells us silly sausages to stop fretting ever acknowledge those women, has anyone else? They keep talking about toilets or ''bathrooms'' but go quiet as soon as prison is mentioned...

I disagree, I think rights are like cake. On a very simplified level, men lose the right to dominate women when women gained more rights, right to a bank account, to a divorce, to work. After that a man couldn’t “keep” his wife and make every decision about her life. It’s just that we acknowledge that that was a pretty shitty right. So yes, when a group get more rights, they are coming from somewhere, the debate has to be whether it is worth the loss of right from that somewhere.

Urgh

Yes we all want equality. But it would be handy to know what rights are currently missing.

I submitted a comment where I quoted "But rights aren’t like cake; someone else getting some doesn’t mean you have any less." and added my text:

In many situations this isn't true, sometimes rights conflict. But that doesn't bother Alan Cumming because the consequences won't land on him.

It's very easy to give away other people's rights, and very tempting when you'll be applauded for it.

It was rejected instantly by the algorithm as being abusive, it didn't even become a pending comment.

So, The Times runs an opinion piece by Alan Cummings (which is very badly researched and defended, but given that it's "Comment", I'll accept that the point is the commentater, not the argument). It's timestamped "Thursday April 22 2021, 12.01am BST".

The Times also runs another piece by Mike Wade (who I believe normally reports news and politics - I can't tell what section this is in) reporting on what Cummings has said in The Times, with no real analysis or critique except for the reaction from Marion Calder. That piece is also timestamped "Thursday April 22 2021, 12.01am BST".

So - The Times creates an "event", and then immediately reports that event as if it's news? Bit odd.

I always feel warmly towards men who tell women how they should act. What would we do without their guidance?

Ah, another man who is in no way impacted by the topic at hand rehashes the classic from the #BeKind handbook. How tedious.

But rights aren’t like cake; someone else getting some doesn’t mean you have any less

I can never understand why people use cake to demonstrate this point. Wasn't the Asher's Cake Company case all about balancing the conflicting rights of two groups both with protected characteristics?

www.thejournal.ie/readme/aoife-mcmahon-belfast-cake-case-supreme-court-4287585-Oct2018/

Great comment by Marion Calder. She really said it all.

And, of course, the complete minimization of the risk, short and long term, of transition on the female body in particular with that almost flippant remark about regret.

Sapphos, I've seen plenty of women giving women's rights away similarly without apparent care in the world.

God it's always the men isn't it? Merrily giving away women's sex based rights without a care in the world.

Excellent response by Marion Calder

We all want equality, don’t we? We should all have equal respect, equal pay, equal rights. That’s what feminism is all about...

I don't actually care what an actor thinks, but he's doing the old trick of redefining feminism and telling women they are doing it wrong.

I’m sure Alan will be able to name all the human rights trans people don’t have

*believes not bridges