Transwoman on being in a woman's ward

Part of the visceralness of the likes of Monty Python and Little Britain was how uncomfortable stuff was while you were laughing uproariously at it. Kind of, this is hilarious but I'd hate it if any of this became reality. You'd laugh, and then make a deep sigh of relief that is was only on your TV, and not the world around you.

Now it's jumped from the TV, like "they're here!" from Poltergeist, or the weird reality warp in David Cronenberg's Videodrome.

And instead of being a skit on the TV you could laugh at for it's sheer preposterousness, it's deadly serious as you're invited, no, expected, to not only not laugh, but go along with it.

Let me see how this will all be viewed in retrospect if we ever come out of this cloud of irrationality. Those in the media who supported David will claim loss of memory or some other ambiguousness in that they never supported the movement. Many will say they always knew it was satire, expected everyone else to be the same.

Indeed, there'll be the most almighty game of "don't blame me, blame them..."

There'll be no calling to account, no inquiry, no post mortem. Like the Russell Brand fiasco, a few figures will be marginally frank, others will say they weren't part of any complicity.

We could all point to this article in a decade, noone from the media will remember commissioning it or supporting it. And David himself will just claim it was a bit of fun, a bit of banter.

And we'll all wonder, what happened then? And what's happening now with mass denial.

So Thomas is looking for a male partner? Gay all along but homophobic? One of those gay men who hates women?

I don't think it's particularly unusual. In the 90s I worked with a man who transitioned in his 40s — full surgery. He was the outlier in a highly gendered / macho family: father and brothers in the army and very anti-gay. 'Poof' was the worst insult imaginable. Once transitioned he (he called himself Diana, idolised Princess Di) started looking for a male partner. It's the Iranian way, isn't it? Banish the gay. Very very important to look like a woman so that no one suspects you're a gay man. Reminds me of Shon Faye: a lot of emphasis on facial feminisation so that no one will guess your terrible secret. Sad.

as for his ideas about what constitutes ‘making someone a really good wife’, well, they aren’t completely based on sexist stereotypes at all are they?

How can you fail to recognise the superior wisdom of one of our modern-day Tiresias figures? Definite loss of "really good wife" points there.

I was trying to think what this ‘see this vagina? Best on the market mate. Indistinguishable from the real thing, two nurses said so’ stuff reminds me of

It’s when a bloke lashes out on something stupidly expensive and wants others to admire it isn’t it?

as for his ideas about what constitutes ‘making someone a really good wife’, well, they aren’t completely based on sexist stereotypes at all are they?

Yes. It is THAT Thomas. Who even wrote that MRA book. Who deplores feminists, well we all know why now don’t we?

Who is apparently looking forward to Prince coming along :

“Yes, I do want my prince to come. And actually I think that ultimately I would make somebody a really good wife. I love creating a beautiful home, nothing makes me happier – except possibly cooking a lovely meal or going shopping. I have worked hard all these years, I have earned my way for long enough, so yes, put a pinny round my neck and let me be a homemaker, please! There is a lot of nurturing in me that has gone to waste and there is a lot of love that is not being used up,’ she says in such a heartfelt way that I find myself tempted to give her a great big woman-to-woman hug.”

“Seconds later, though, that other Diana is back – the sharp, sassy, witty one who owes quite a lot to her former self and is determined to amuse, bemuse and entertain us all as we follow her on her journey. ‘I mean look at me – long legs, brand-new breasts, knows the offside rule and the LBW rule, and can tell a googly from a flipper and if you want to watch endless documentaries about World War II be my guest! I think I have a lot to offer any man, don’t you?’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/call-diana-columnist-david-thomas-reveals-new-life-look/

(On archive)

That about sums up Thomas really. An MRA spouting sexist twaddle!

I've only just twigged that it's THAT Diana Thomas, who used to write for the Daily Telegraph. It all makes sense now. Well, no it doesn't but you know what I mean.

Sorry not read the whole thread but just wanted to add, in case nobody else has, that the young DianaThomas attended that bastion of female privilege called Eton College. Something not quite right there ...

It is not very hard to reconcile that Thomas wrote a MRA book and yet now embodies some of the fucked up stereotypes that Thomas believes defines womanhood. Really Thomas is the poster child for the particular group of male people.

There is. There's a whole thing with porn versions of women going for an annual check up which invariably involves stripping naked and legs in stirrups No wonder girls are scared about going for their first smear!

I'm not going to google, but what's the betting there's a porn category that involves 'doctors' and female patients with their legs in stirrups? This seems to me such a stereotyped fantasy.

Stirrups definitely are used in some uk trusts during labour. I learned the hard way.

I remember seeing them on Friends etc.

'Kin clueless, init?

I could tell you all about endometriosis, repeat miscarriage, rape, daily low-level harassment, occasional more serious assault, carrying a high-risk pregnancy, EMCS, sexual harassment in the work place, being on the receiving end of stalking, and sex-based discrimination.

And absolutely nothing about male privilege.

Boils my piss, it does ...

I've never had my feet in stirrups in my life. And I've given birth.

Come now. The next thing you'll be claiming is that you've never borrowed tampons from strangers and exchanged beauty tips with them before planning a pillow fight. The way all women do.

@VWdieselnightmare
I've been put in stirrups twice. Once for assisted birth and once for a hysteroscopy. I've never had stirrups for a smear, VE or vaginal ultrasound and I've had plenty of all of those.
I may be wrong but I think they use them for smears in the US.
I strongly suspect that certain people find the idea exciting. Just as some are fascinated by tampons. Naming this phenomenon would result in the thread getting deleted.

I've never had my feet in stirrups in my life. And I've given birth.

As to the experience of a spinal fracture, I've been in this unenviable position. I was on a major trauma ward for three weeks and for at least a week was completely helpless and immobile. I had to be log rolled. For some of that time I was also off my marbles on morphine.

And when moved onto the recovery ward, the women in the female side room were still bothered by a man who walked right to the end of our corridor (past the other lavatories) to use the one at the far side of our unit. I was in the end bed by the window and had to keep the curtains permanently drawn beside my bed, as he always, always, had his tackle visible just inside his pulled-aside pyjamas.

We're talking every time he went past.

When I'm ill, in pain and vulnerable I do not want to share a hospital ward with men. Their comfort does not trump my safety.

And yeah, damned right I'm going to kick up a stink (I did so about this dude, with the usual result: plausible deniability).

Beyond sick of this nonsense. Women are not dolls to be played with or commodities for men's entertainment or validation.

Claiming to be an actual woman, indistinguishable from those of us born female, yet campaigning only for trans rights and never for women’s rights.

Oh come on, be fair, I've seen at least two write "end period poverty" on their hand and post it on Twitter. What more do you want?

Just out of interest... I've had several gynaecological exams in my time, including smears and a couple of others because of abnormal bleeding. I've also accompanied a dear friend to her examinations and been in the room while she's been examined. I've never been required to put my feet in stirrups and nor was she. Are stirrups a common experience or more the kind of thing people see on US TV series?

The author of this piece, Diana Thomas,has spent at least £40,000 on feminising treatments, including several surgeries. Thomas has been very deliberately trying to pass as a woman and using their financial privilege to do that as well as they can. But... at 6ft tall, and having been through male puberty and life as a (sexist) man for many decades, apparently with a higher than average male level of testosterone there will be only so much that can be done. Carefully cultivated solo publicity shots are one thing, daily life is quite another. Especially in a medical setting.

You missed some classic BC, although it seems the laser stare moments happened while I was out. Typical .
He's settling in for 3+ hours with the current witness so plenty more to come I'm sure.

Shit, I forgot I could have been seeing lovely Ben Cooper in action, Critical!

How about Dylan Mulvaney?
"OMG! How did I not know about stirrups before? Sisters, you just gotta get up on these, all those lovely nurses will just love us, we're all girls now!"

I have a first class pilot's licence.

I think you've managed that all by yourself, RealityFan.