Statement from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Thanks for posting OP. I've been seeing this tweet shared and wondered what it all stemmed from but reading the essay it makes sense now.

BrimfulOfBaba

I am not GC and want trans people to be safe and respected (accepting I may have my head bitten off here) but I agree with everything Chimamanda has said about the subject. It is disturbing that simply questioning how we categorise according to sex/gender is taken to be a hate act.

I fear you might by GC actually. That's basically my position too - and JKR's incidentally - but I'm apparently a hateful bigot for saying that gender identity does not automatically take precedence over biological sex.

Is it well known who the young writer is? I'm not on Twitter, so wasn't aware of this attack on Chimamanda. I'd like to avoid putting money in their pocket, whoever they are.

It's a magnificent piece of writing. Part 3 just says it all really. What an amazing and brave women.

Chimamanda is a wonderful writer and thinker.

I love Chimamanda and am horrified that one of the books I bought the other day was written by one of these people (the one who referenced Chimamanda on the book jacket). I don't think I can stomach having it in my house now. I'm trying to find out who the other author is.

I am not GC and want trans people to be safe and respected (accepting I may have my head bitten off here) but I agree with everything Chimamanda has said about the subject. It is disturbing that simply questioning how we categorise according to sex/gender is taken to be a hate act.

Twitter isn't real life and nobody will bow to their laughable demands outside their carefully shielded bubble. Like everyone else, they'll have to actually roll with the punches. We do them no favours at all by letting them think that they deserve 'safe space'.

Except that TRA demands are being carried out on a huge scale, in schools, prisons, hospitals etc and now in Scottish law, that’s why we have to fight back. And this is getting people cancelled, bullied and destroying friendships and networks in publishing. I totally agree it does no one any favours but it is happening.

I found that incredibly powerful. It reminded me of adrienne rich's 'women and honor'.
'When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her'.

I also really valued the way Adichie's piece spoke about her initial instincts and why she ignored them.

'My spirit had been slightly stalled, from the beginning, by her.'
This is incredibly relatable.
I feel like my life would be so different if I could act on this kind of feeling.

I also wonder whether political and activist circles attract a disproportionate amount of emotional vampires who try and test boundaries by pressuring you to behave in certain ways. Within feminism it feels like that is almost the norm just now.

I like the fact she’s written an essay because it can take a lot of explaining to really take apart this Puritanism and get to the bottom of it. People can make clear valid points on Twitter and just get shouted down by a facetious straw man argument or “educate yourself”. She carried me along by starting with her personal story (and why shouldn’t she be personal about someone who has used her name and publicly attacked her?) and then getting to her general rant about the whole situation. She hasn’t held back that she’s fucking furious, good for her.

It’s so true about the violence - very often the ones who bang on about GC views “killing” people are the ones who in the same breath make threats of violence and murder. It’s really noticeable how almost every accusation against feminists and GC people actually describes TRA attitudes and behaviour far more accurately.

Ooooft, part three in particular is so cutting, I need to go and find a plaster!

Powerful stuff.

Dang. She's a Goddess. Well done her for sticking up for herself. She's one of my favourite authors. I highly recommend Americanah if you haven't read it.

Fookin hell mate, that's a blistering piece. I do hope Chimimanda doesn't shame and cancel people herself.

It's the young people who ultimately lose out. Twitter isn't real life and nobody will bow to their laughable demands outside their carefully shielded bubble. Like everyone else, they'll have to actually roll with the punches. We do them no favours at all by letting them think that they deserve 'safe space'.

That is such a powerful piece. What a woman.

Making it so specific about two, quite easily identifiable people - even though they have behaved dreadfully- turns it into an online feud.

But that's the point of the piece. It isn't purely an essay, it's a statement.

Like JKR's piece, she's addressing stuff being written about her, and has taken the opportunity to turn the statement into more of an essay.

Powerful and so painful. Tragic to see women's support and friendships being tainted by an adherence to this this toxic movement.

Not the biggest fan of her writing. Left me a bit cold. However. I appreciate someone sticking their neck out and using their gift to express their views on this.

I've only read one fiction piece by her. Don't remember the title. It was a short story in the New Yorker, I think, and told from the viewpoint of Melania Trump. And it was pure genius. (Ah. Found it. The Arrangements in the New York Review of Books, late June 2016)

I've always loved her courage in tackling the TRA bullshit head on.

I get where you are coming from @everythingcrossed, but I don't agree. People have a right to defend themselves, to correct lies and untruths and it is very hard to do that without naming them.

Perhaps pre social media taking the high road, turning the other cheek, maintaining a dignified silence was an effective strategy to neutralise such bad faith actors. There was no way to endlessly magnify and amplify bad faith comments, so they would over time dissipate. Now these comments are permanent and can be reinvigorated by a few likes and re tweets. It is so so easy to destroy reputations.

Not responding means that in 10/20/30 years time, when we look back, only one very warped side would be visible and knowable. Getting her experience on the record I think is very important.

That said, part 3 stands on its own and it is blistering. I keep challenging myself, wondering if I am turning into my parents generation , spouting shit like 'political correctness gone mad' as offensive views and terminology were correctly called as such. This essay lays the new puritanism bare. This is not progressive thinking, it is regressive, and aggressive, and reactionary and ultimately very very empty.

G

Great article. She's furious, and rightly so!

I think this section:

And in a deluded way, you will convince yourself that your hypocritical, self-regarding, compassion-free behavior is in fact principled feminism. It isn’t. You will wrap your mediocre malice in the false gauziness of ideological purity. But it’s still malice. You will tell yourself that being able to parrot the latest American Feminist orthodoxy justifies your hacking at the spirit of a person who had shown you only kindness. You can call your opportunism by any name, but it doesn’t make it any less of the ugly opportunism that it is.

Could be applied to the ungrateful Potter actors word for word, the little turds.

That’s an incredible piece of writing. Part 3 is so well-articulated. The ideological purity demanded makes me so uncomfortable - puts me in mind of all previous incarnations of this type of thinking. It really raises my hackles.

The last few paragrahs really sum up to me where we are now

a massive sense of entitlement; an inability to show gratitude; an ease with dishonesty and pretension and selfishness that is couched in the language of self-care; an expectation always to be helped and rewarded no matter whether deserving or not; I think this has happened to some young people because of the 'prizes' for everyone' education they receive. The potential for toxicity is proving to be very real and should not be unexpected though NAYPALT (not all young people are like that).

Maybe that's also a reason why no-debate is so popular Me Mine trumps everything