Guardian: Ask Phillipa Husband wants to be a woman.

I see the pronoun police are out in force on that Twitter thread.

Insight into Grayson Perry, at least he’s honest, which is more than can be said about some others:

Does he still find it sexually exciting? “Oh yes,” he shouts excitedly. “Yeah!” But there is a problem, he says, with being a very public tranny. You mean, you couldn’t be seen at the Royal Academy in a nice frock and a stiffy? He nods enthusiastically. “You couldn’t do it. If I could manage it, I’m sure I’d be thinking how to do it. But I can’t.” He pauses. “My days of a spontaneous erection are long gone, anyway,” he adds a little sadly.

https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/04/grayson-perry-dress-tranny-art-who-are-you-tv

I found the Guardian twitter thread! How long have I been gone? Who's the Prime Minister?

Lots of 'Your wife! Bigot!' And similar.

Is Grayson Perry arsed about his pronouns?

twitter.com/guardian/status/1589242548064866304?s=20&t=HiCE29FIDWcOpiXDlm19WQ

Absolutely - poor woman.

@AutumnCrow nope it doesn't mention agp or transwidows but it contains some pretty welcome insights from the guardian

tldr:
your wants & needs are as important as your husbands

you should expect and want a future relationship that contains sex fun and companionship - don't settle for a marriage where you are increasingly lonely and unvalued

you are not obliged to only think about his feelings when he clearly isn't thinking about yours.

Whether he is making a good decision the correct decision for him is beside the point, you need to make the right decisions for yourself.

When Greyson Perry is serious he makes a lot of good points.

I watched that series and he saw a man who was buying the hormones off the internet, and basically told him how wanting to change his body was a very masculine mechanical thing to do!

He makes very good points about "Default Man", which are the types of men (in my mind the predominant), who do everything in their power not to stand out, yet somehow maintain control of everything.

As far as his crossdressing is concerned, we wouldn't know his name if he didn't do it.

Part of GP’s fetish seems to be imagining that his daughter is in fact his sister, and therefore I suppose that PP is his mother. I’ve heard Phillipa on a podcast stating that Grayson and her daughter often bicker like siblings and it’s down to her to sort out the disagreements.

Even if the comments were 50/50 LTB/‘Stop misgendering your WIFE’ it would still be a massive headache for whoever is tasked with moderating (and repetitive for the reader).

Better to post the letter without comments than not post it all tho!

The first person article by a young trans widow from a few months back was absolutely trashed on trans-centric social media, despite concluding with the supposedly acceptable position of ‘I’m not a lesbian and I’m happy my ex boyfriend is now a happy transwoman’ on the basis that trans widows shouldn’t be allowed to speak from their own perspective. Bloody selfish wimm that she is, eh? 🙄

I'd imagine they're just as worried about a big GC pileon saying 'LTB' tbh.

The lack of comments may be because they don't want pro trans lobbyists piling in criticising her for even questioning his happiness. Remember the readership

I think that was a great answer. She cut through to the fact this woman is channeling her energy into worrying about him rather than her own happiness. I'm glad it was subtley mentioned that separation is a possibility.

This isn't about the rights or wrongs of taking hormones or cutting off genitalia, it's about a couple who are in a marriage only in name. In fact you could substitute trans for golf really because it's about a guy having scant concern for the person they married in essence.

If you are reading this LTB

Good answer, and if it's the Observer that explains it. Yes, it would have been wonderful if she had highlighted the Transwidows.

It’s not the Guardian, it’s the Observer. Shared website/app, very different editorial policy.

Nice answer - but there is no reason why comments shouldn’t be open on this one. The Guardian guarding the feelz of the TRAs again…

Why the need to share it with your audience?

@EndlessTea some might say it's because that's who they are. Others might say it's part of the ... thrill/enjoyment/fetish/whatever reason they do it for. I have heard that GP had his dresses designed to hide his erection (it was in his book or an interview or something) - not much point in that if he's staying in the house.

I agree.

Cue howls of anguish and calls of 'transphobia' from TRAs because Philippa has, quite correctly, used 'he' and 'husband' throughout

It has just occurred to me that I asked people to write to the Guardian to thank them for publishing the other trans widow article, so maybe that has encouraged them to cover it again so soon.

That's a great answer. Very different form the usual, "Isn't he brave, why are you not full of joy for him finally becoming his true self". It highlights the selfishness and lack of thought for others that so often comes with males transitioning.

It's a good answer, it's a shame she doesn't talk about her own experience as the wife of an AGP man but I guess that's her business.

It is a shame trans widows are not mentioned.

I assumed the first but was added by an editor!

Would’ve been good if the term ‘trans widow’ had been mentioned as that would give readers something to Google, and would side step linking to the TW voices website (still too controversial for the guardian!) but would likely get readers there anyway!

I thought that was a good answer. The first paragraph feels a bit disconnected to the rest so I wonder if it was a late add-in.

Dare I begin to hope that The Guardian is slowly 'getting it'?
I would love to resubscribe to a paper I grew up with...

From the little I can gather from watching tv G and PP seem to have a good and mutually supportive marriage. They both come across as likeable and warm people. They've had a long and apparently successful marriage and have a daughter together. I'm not surprised that she could write a decent reply on this subject.