Radio 4 just now (8.47) bonkers conflation of intersex and trans

130 replies

oldwomanwhoruns · 09/11/2021 09:01

Was anyone else just listening to R4? Discussion of the history of 'trans' and the case of Ewan Forbes, an aristocrat born Elizabeth, who was challenged in court over the inheritance of a baronetcy.

About 8.45 am, on the today program (I think)

Complete conflation of intersex and 'trans', woo-woo stance of 'oh we've got it right now'.

Claiming that up to the 1960s trans had all normal rights, and that this court case took all their lovely rights away.

The worst bit (for me) was when they talked about all the poor trans people who used to get raped in prison, not like now, of course.

Contributor and presenter both clearly had no understanding of the difference between intersex (DSD) and trans.

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borntobequiet · 09/11/2021 09:31

So annoying. I’ve emailed them with some links to put them right.

Original poster

oldwomanwhoruns · 09/11/2021 09:21

And I wonder just who might have so misinformed them, I can't think of an organisation who might have done that...

They didn't even bother looking Ewan Forbes up on Wikipedia. Even a cursory search says that he was intersex.

NOTHING to do with trans.

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nauticant · 09/11/2021 09:21

The book by Zoe Playdon was reviewed in The Sunday Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-hidden-case-of-ewan-forbes-by-zoe-playdon-review-the-remarkable-story-of-the-lord-and-a-secret-transgender-test-case-2c9kcrsbl

You can find it as an archived link. But if I post the link here the post won't appear.

The reviewer, Christina Patterson, was unimpressed:

Playdon is a fan of Judith Butler, the American philosopher whose ideas about gender identity have transformed the academic landscape in recent years. She thinks that those who don’t buy into it, the so-called terfs, are malicious, transphobic and spreading a moral panic that’s “uncomfortably reminiscent of the Systema Naturae that had fuelled the slave trade” and “ultimately driven the Holocaust”. It’s certainly a point of view. And one of a number of deeply jarring notes in what could have been a terrific book.

NothingTraLaLa · 09/11/2021 09:20

And if Ewan was trans (rather than having a DSD; I agree the interviewee conflated the two so I’m not sure which applies) he would be labelled “truscum” today by the TRAs.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 09/11/2021 09:04

Contributor and presenter both clearly had no understanding of the difference between intersex (DSD) and trans.

And that would be because:
–they've been actively misinformed and in a purposeful way;
–they've not had the courtesy to read into the issue despite all of the resources available from reputable VSD organisations.

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