Frances Barber Under Attack From TRAs

You know what? I wouldn't have given him the time of day. Icy put downs, a complaint to his employers and block.
But I am not Frances Barber, and I will not judge a woman for being fearsomely angry about the arrogant presumption of this man, and I really wouldn't want to be the person telling her she shouldn't be so unkind.

JKR was and always has been the most measured, compassionate writer about this, and they have just escalated to open death threats. Frances Barber, with the best will in the world, isn't nearly as untouchable as JKR.
So has she spoken with more vehemence than I would have done? Sure.
Will I support those who think a woman is obligated to be kind to people who will be no such thing to her? Not a fucking chance.

Fuck kind. Tone police the totalitarians, your scolding of those who bite back when we've had enough of it is meaningless.

She is unkind??? She wasn't the one that tried to get someone fired for holding a perfectly legitimate opinion!!!

Tell him to be kind! Tell him to stop persecuting women who won't buy into this belief system & see the damage it is doing to women!!!

Some of you might want to go look at the people who TRAs approve of and wonder if maybe they should be criticised too. Then go try it.

They're good mates apparently so the discussions would be interesting.

Not to derail but I'm very interested to see what happens, if anything with McKellen as his other good mate is Sir Patrick Stewart, supporter of women and domestic violence survivor.

McKellen will be fully aware of what this Jay has been doing. I'd love to hear his reaction and see how much support he will give Frances. I hope he sees the mountain before him he needs to climb.

If you are cheering her on here it's worth taking a step back and thinking about whether you think treating people this unkindly is okay. Even if you believe Jay is in the wrong here, you do have to admit that Frances has acted hugely disproportionately when actively threatening him.

If you want to ignore islamophobic comments, fine, but ask yourself what other beliefs and behaviours you'll excuse just because you want to agree with other people who are purportedly GC.

I’m not a Muslim and I also find Frances Barbers views and comments on Muslims offensive

I find it offensive that a Muslim taxi driver told her she was disgustingly dressed and shouldn't be out alone late at night and it appears Uber agreed with Frances.

I want to see a play with Ian and Frances discussing this issue backstage. That I'd pay to see. They're good mates apparently so the discussions would be interesting.

Frances Barber is magnificent.

There is no nuance to be found in a threat to have someone fired from their job.

There is no nuance to be found in stating a wish for a pipe bomb to be put through a woman's letter box.

Both of these come from those declaring themselves as trans or trans allies and on the right side of history.

Exactly! When as a society did we stop accepting nuance in favour of wrong think. Social media seems to have turned everyone into heroes or villains.

In real life - I reserve the right to agree with people on some things but not on others

Tribal politics. What could go wrong?

mobile.twitter.com/francesbarber13/with_replies

This guy! Schooling Frances Barber on how how should behave. What an arrogant prick. He's got no idea has he?

In real life - I reserve the right to agree with people on some things but not on others.

Her views on Muslims are racist and are not protected by law, her views that TWANW are legal and factually correct. I’m glad shes fighting back.

That's too much like hard work for some people

Thing is its much too easy to take things at face value…we all do it at one time or another

But thats why i like mumsnet, generally there are licks to articles and twitter quotes etc so even though my initial reaction on a thread may be one thing, by the time the thread ends my opinion may well have changed or been solidified

You clearly haven’t read the tweet in question. It’s not some moral or intellectual criticism. It’s a downright offensive and nasty thing to say.

I disagree. The poster was NAMALTing, which is downright tedious when men do it, no less when it's an intersectional NAMALT.

When men of any and all stripes stop killing us we can stop picking them up on their NAMALTing. Till then people will ask them to stop.

Indeed it is.

It’s good that they’re both in the same play. It means the parts were allocated on ability and being right for the part and the style the director wants to take.

It’s an usual production - McKellen is playing a role usually reserved for young male actors, and Barber is stepping in to play Polonius, also a male role, at short notice after two actors left the cast (for reasons that are either dramatic or mundane, depending on which reports you read).

Everything deserves to be read within the context of the discussion

Absolutely

Some context on previous FB tweets:

amp.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/24/actor-frances-barber-claims-uber-driver-said-she-was-disgustingly-dressed

I'm sorry you feel attacked @Megasausagehead but too often we see threads on this forum being derailed with accusations that we are aligned with racists for our GC beliefs, so it's important to stick to the topic at hand, namely FB being cancelled for her views on the existence biological sex.

It’s good that they’re both in the same play. It means the parts were allocated on ability and being right for the part and the style the director wants to take. I’m sure some here would want all those who audition to be deemed eligible with a purity questionnaire on approved views before being allowed to audition, but thankfully we aren’t there yet.

Somebody else raised the racism and I responded. It is on page 1.

In the post I made above, of which a tiny bit has been quoted, I made it clear what I thought of the TRA. I have also made it clear how I feel about her being sacked.

Any more attacks for raising genuine issues?

I think she needs some cards...