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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Roberta Cowell - trans racing driver

35 replies

ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 07:51

Cowell currently being celebrated by PinkNews.

An interesting interview with him here in the Sunday Times, 1972.

www.lizhodgkinson.com/pages/journalismArticle/interview_with_transsexual_roberta_betty_cowell

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ArabellaScott · 11/05/2025 09:16

Well, people who know more than me can judge by reading his autobiography.

The reason he was being celebrated by PinkNews was because of his war service.

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PaterPower · 11/05/2025 09:01

Late war spitfires could reach 40,000 ft, so that particular bit might be true, depending on when he says that happened / if he flew through the entire war. It would be more likely if he flew reconnaissance models.

He had an RAF career, so calling him a Walt’s a little unfair. There’s more than enough shitty aspects to his personality and life story without claiming he made up his service.

HappyNewTaxYear · 08/05/2025 14:53

This person is an utter fantasist. None of this stuff should be anywhere near a year 6 curriculum.

ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 14:22

' Penny Lewis writes that false diagnoses of hypospadias were relatively widespread at the time among doctors treating transgender patients'

Edit: this comment directs to this article by Penny Lewis.

https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/article-abstract/76/4/392/6374273

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ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 14:19

The doctor who performed the orchiectomy on Cowell was this transman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MichaelDillon

The doctor who performed the penectomy was Harold Gillies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HaroldGillies

'Because operations to change gender were deemed controversial,[32] Gillies falsified Dillon’s condition in order to be able to perform surgery without scrutiny, diagnosing Dillon with acute hypospadias.[35][c] From 1946, during his holidays from medical school, Dillon travelled to visit Gillies at Rooksdown House in Basingstoke for a series of surgeries.[4] The phalloplasty surgery involved using flaps of skin from Dillon's legs and stomach to form a penis. The surgeries led to infections and difficulty walking, which Dillon would falsely claim were wounds suffered during the bombing raids of Bristol'

I seem to see a pattern emerging.

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TonTonMacoute · 08/05/2025 13:01

My DGM was good mates with Roberta Cowell and I met him several times at around the time he gave this interview. I would have been 11.

Being young and innocent I had no idea about sex changes, but all I can say is when I found out it came as no surprise at all. I think the claim about DSD was pure delusion. Not that tall but very burly, dressed manishly, man's deep voice but with this bonkers long dyed blonde hair.

ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 12:32

verityveritas · 08/05/2025 11:53

Problem is, his account of flying is so inaccurate it’s a surprise no one has checked him out, eg WW2 spitfires couldn’t have reached 8 miles high or 40,000 feet. His book is full of contradictions and inaccuracies, it’s as if he’s read Roald Dahl and Nevil Shute and based his recollection of being a fighter pilot on such works (without the skill of either author). He should have read Walter Scott “oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”.

So he's a Walt, then.

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Thatcannotberight · 08/05/2025 12:08

verityveritas · 08/05/2025 11:53

Problem is, his account of flying is so inaccurate it’s a surprise no one has checked him out, eg WW2 spitfires couldn’t have reached 8 miles high or 40,000 feet. His book is full of contradictions and inaccuracies, it’s as if he’s read Roald Dahl and Nevil Shute and based his recollection of being a fighter pilot on such works (without the skill of either author). He should have read Walter Scott “oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”.

Oh absolutely. But I doubt any teachers actually questioned the nonsense they were teaching , after having paid for an external PHSE system to save them having to set one up. Cornwall had Jigsaw foisted upon them from county, because Cornwall is captured at county level.

verityveritas · 08/05/2025 11:53

Thatcannotberight · 08/05/2025 11:23

I think they used him as the transgender example because children learn about WW2 in yr 6 and this, supposedly, is pertinent. They definitely pushed the born in the wrong body narrative when my son had this lesson a few years ago. It's all supposed to be Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner these days, isn't it? 🙄

Problem is, his account of flying is so inaccurate it’s a surprise no one has checked him out, eg WW2 spitfires couldn’t have reached 8 miles high or 40,000 feet. His book is full of contradictions and inaccuracies, it’s as if he’s read Roald Dahl and Nevil Shute and based his recollection of being a fighter pilot on such works (without the skill of either author). He should have read Walter Scott “oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”.

Thatcannotberight · 08/05/2025 11:23

I think they used him as the transgender example because children learn about WW2 in yr 6 and this, supposedly, is pertinent. They definitely pushed the born in the wrong body narrative when my son had this lesson a few years ago. It's all supposed to be Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner these days, isn't it? 🙄

LeftieRightsHoarder · 08/05/2025 11:06

PriOn1 · 08/05/2025 08:08

An increasing number of MtF transitioners are making false claims about having DSDs.

If you can lie about one thing and have no shame, you can lie about others too.

Liars will use any lie that they believe will advantage them. As women are pushing back more about men in their spaces, more men will begin to create elaborate stories about why that shouldn’t apply to them.

That makes sense. Like the claims that they are helpless and terrorised by feminists. They can never produce any evidence of this, while churning out endless death threats and sadistic fantasies about us. But liars gotta lie …

lcakethereforeIam · 08/05/2025 11:05

There's a little bit on him in the Silverstone Museum, just a couple of paragraphs and a reproduction of a photo. The original photo had obviously been touched up, possibly because he was too masculine looking?

This quote from his daughter in the article up thread is so sad

All my life, until now, I have felt like a hurt and ­abandoned child.

She was a hurt and abandoned child. I'm glad being involved in the documentary gave her some comfort.

FigRollsAlly · 08/05/2025 11:04

PriOn1 · 08/05/2025 08:30

It’s just possible they were not actually his offspring, of course, though why he wouldn’t say that is odd. It’s not like he respected his wife and children in any way.

He certainly doesn’t look like a woman in the photograph on the article about his daughter.

I wondered about that but in the interview with his daughter there is a photo of her when older which shows quite a strong resemblance to him.

verityveritas · 08/05/2025 10:56

Well he was definitely male whilst in the RAF, I don’t think there can be any doubt about that as he would have been subjected to a medical, he wouldn’t have been allowed to fly into combat situations (women could fly in WW2, but only to transport the planes, I’m not sure they could do reconnaissance flights and certainly not combat), he was also billeted in male quarters, so again, he was definitely a bloke in the 1930s early 1940s (unless he was exaggerating his RAF duties).
He comes across as an unreliable historian, which then casts doubts on his overall ability to determine fact from fiction.

NextRinny · 08/05/2025 10:55

Lying about personal medical records which can't be exposed publicly. Sheesh.
🙄

ProfessorFellatioHornblower · 08/05/2025 10:45

Once again, "living as a woman" doesn't involve any female socialisation or nurturing, or facilitating the lives of others like their own children.

pontefractals · 08/05/2025 10:43

"It's odd that it goes chronologically through his childhood, wartime experiences, and then leaps to his 'sex change' journey, with not one single mention or allusion to his wife or children. (Although he does talk about having a very strong 'maternal' instinct, on meeting a small boy on a bus)."

If the children are seen to exist, it becomes clear that he could not have been female. Either that or he was cuckolded, and I can't see this Walter Mitty person putting THAT in writing, somehow.

PriOn1 · 08/05/2025 10:35

verityveritas · 08/05/2025 09:16

I have no idea why he was used in PHSE as an ‘idol’, the man was an absolute fantasist through and through, in his biography he comes across as an angry and deeply unhappy human, who was unsurprisingly, alienated from his family at the time of his death. He stated that when flying a spitfire during WW2 he was knocked unconscious for twenty minutes…. Given that the early spitfires (used in ww2) didn’t have autopilot, it s nothing short of a miracle he didn’t crash land and die in the carnage, in other words it’s highly improbable this event ever happened. Other claims in his biography had me rolling my eyes so much I was quite impressed I was able to read it! It’s a shame the trans community couldn’t find a more inspiring individual to highlight and their cause.

The unconscious in charge of a spitfire made it onto Wikipedia as well. I also wondered how he knew he’d been unconscious, how he timed it and how the plane had flown itself. But then if you are willing to make up stuff about all kinds of nonsense, it’s hardly surprising you would also make things up to make yourself appear super-heroic.

Supposedly the FtM transitioner had phalloplasty as well. I think it’s important to bear in mind that history is rapidly being rewritten by transactivists. It is quickly becoming difficult to say what is true and what’s nonsense.

knittin · 08/05/2025 10:32

“I’d have thumped anyone who tried to send me up”

ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 10:25

From his autobiography

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.125852/page/n93/mode/2up

It's odd that it goes chronologically through his childhood, wartime experiences, and then leaps to his 'sex change' journey, with not one single mention or allusion to his wife or children. (Although he does talk about having a very strong 'maternal' instinct, on meeting a small boy on a bus).

There is a lot of detail on his theories of 'intersex' and sexuality.

Roberta Cowells Story : Cowell, Roberta : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book Source: Digital Library of India Item 2015.125852dc.contributor.author: Cowell, Robertadc.date.accessioned: 2015-07-03T13:31:04Zdc.date.available:...

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.125852/page/n93/mode/2up

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BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 08/05/2025 10:01

Wouldn't mind betting that if chromosomes were checked they would be XY. I think the xx was a lie due to the operations being illegal

ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 09:31

'Cowell also became friends with Michael Dillon, a physician who had been born female and was the first trans person to undergo phalloplasty. Dillon performed the initial operation on Cowell to remove her testicles, in 1948, which was illegal at the time. This allowed her to be certified by a gynaecologist as intersex, and for further surgery to be carried out. On 15 May 1951, she had a vaginoplasty, conducted by Sir Harold Gillies, a leading pioneer in plastic surgery.'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/it-s-easier-to-change-a-body-than-to-change-a-mind-the-extraordinary-life-and-lonely-death-of-roberta-cowell-8899823.html?r=6854

'It's easier to change a body than to change a mind': The

Cowell had been a racing driver, a Spitfire pilot and a prisoner of war – but her biggest challenge was to become the first person in Britain to undergo gender-reassignment surgery

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/it-s-easier-to-change-a-body-than-to-change-a-mind-the-extraordinary-life-and-lonely-death-of-roberta-cowell-8899823.html?r=6854

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ArabellaScott · 08/05/2025 09:22

DuchessofReality · 08/05/2025 08:23

Jigsaw PHSE lessons used to have use him as a case study for a year 6 lesson about equality/discrimination. I have heard this has changed recently. The Wikipedia page was pretty explicit about the surgery.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4249060-JIgsaw-PHSE-materials-I-have-details

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4645677-jigsaw-pshe-resources

https://www.conservativesforwomen.org/jigsaw-presents-gender-ideology-to-schoolchildren

JIgsaw PHSE materials - I have details | Mumsnet

I have had a few emails back and forth with my school and I have some details of the transgender lesson that is taught. Details to follow in the next...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4249060-JIgsaw-PHSE-materials-I-have-details

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verityveritas · 08/05/2025 09:16

I have no idea why he was used in PHSE as an ‘idol’, the man was an absolute fantasist through and through, in his biography he comes across as an angry and deeply unhappy human, who was unsurprisingly, alienated from his family at the time of his death. He stated that when flying a spitfire during WW2 he was knocked unconscious for twenty minutes…. Given that the early spitfires (used in ww2) didn’t have autopilot, it s nothing short of a miracle he didn’t crash land and die in the carnage, in other words it’s highly improbable this event ever happened. Other claims in his biography had me rolling my eyes so much I was quite impressed I was able to read it! It’s a shame the trans community couldn’t find a more inspiring individual to highlight and their cause.

TheOtherRaven · 08/05/2025 09:12

PriOn1 · 08/05/2025 08:43

The Wikipedia page is interesting. In effect, he had to get a doctor to say he was intersex because that was the only way he could legally have vaginaplasty.

“Cowell then presented herself to a private Harley Street gynaecologist and was able to obtain from him a document stating she was intersex. This allowed her to have a new birth certificate issued, with her recorded sex changed to female.”

It also has another interesting foreshadowing of WPATH as he first had orchiectomy carried out by a FtM transitioner. When those who transition become doctors, they are very willing to go beyond what’s acceptable to allow others to do the same.

Oh look, there's another loophole by which to get into women's spaces.