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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

“Heated Rivalry” author Rachel Reid on J. K. Rowling - “the bar is pretty high in how evil you have to be,” “ I’m extremely the opposite of everything she believes”

764 replies

YankSplaining · 23/02/2026 17:20

Well, this is disappointing.

”[Reid] has a keen desire not to disappoint her fans, especially when they’re sending her photos of freshly inked tattoos of her words on their skin. ‘I know of another author that a lot of people got tattoos of but then wanted them gone. Like, J. K. Rowling,’ she says. ‘The bar is pretty high for how evil you have to be, but I don’t want to let a single person down.’ I ask if she’s a TERF. ‘No, I’m extremely the opposite of everything she believes,’ she replies.”

Well, too late, she let me down. “Extremely the opposite of everything she believes,” huh? I guess Rachel Reid thinks teenage girls should be forced to undress after PE in front of naked male classmates who gawp as their dicks get hard. Or that female inmates should be locked in cells with male inmates serving time for serial rape.

I don’t expect Reid to agree with Rowling on trans issues. It’s the monstering of Rowling that I take issue with - the “evil,” and the framing of Rowling as so extreme that Reid feels the need to be extremely the opposite of everything she believes.

Edit: title should read “on how evil you have to be”

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21
Igneococcus · 24/02/2026 06:38

Why are they all in dresses (and hideous ones usually) if they don't see it as a symbol of womanhood? Why don't you ever see a transwoman in jeans and whatever Tshirt they came across first in the wardrobe that morning?

Helleofabore · 24/02/2026 06:38

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 01:09

That JK Rowling has considerable influence on both her audience & government policy is indisputable because of her reach & wealth. That she has a direct contact & influence with Starmer is not news.

And noone is suggesting she has the same influence as global media so save the strawman but she certainly contributes to manufacturing consent from the masses.

Her special 'interest' in Iran is another example for manufacturing consent for Islamophobia & regime change interventions by foreign governments not unlike the demonisation of Saddam Hussain. That's not to say human rights violations aren't happening, rather they are being weaponised for western colonial projects & resource stealing. And if you knew anything about how Iraqi women were plunged into a culture of prostitution following the war because of the poverythat ensued you would know these interventions aren't helpful to women.

If you really believe that her interest that's confined only to Iranian women is exclusively about women's rights, I have a bridge to sell you.

JKR is well ensconced in the global western billionaire elite class & acts accordingly.

What part of JK Rowling's actions in regard to Iran is not specifically about protecting female people? Are you about to tell us that she doesn't sponsor programmes which are open to Muslim women and children? Didn't she assist in helping a group of female lawyers escape from Afghanistan?

With this post you do seem to be saying that JK Rowling should STFU about anything that you, personally, deem she should not discuss. Which could be twisted to be about anything using the bad faith arguments you have used here.

'she certainly contributes to manufacturing consent from the masses.'

It really is clear that you hold her to a much higher standard than anyone else and any media agency so that you personally feel justified in demonising her. Your prejudice is clear.

Apparently, she is personally responsible for influencing Kier Starmer as well you say? Yet, somehow Starmer makes decisions that she doesn't agree with. Remarkable, isn't it? That she demonstrably doesn't seem to have any additional power that any other person in the UK doesn't have to influence Starmer who is also ultimately responsible to his constituency as well as his party members.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 06:18

hholiday · 24/02/2026 05:41

Far be it from me to get picky about pronouns (that’s not normally our cup of tea). But you can say ‘you’, not ‘they’. We are all right here. As others have said, men in a dress is an accurate description, not mockery. For some men, wearing opposite gendered clothing can give them a sexual kick. For most women it’s a straightforward preference or practicality - precisely why so many of us wear trousers, for example. So-called ‘women’s clothes’ have often formed part of women’s oppression as objects to be looked at. I’m not against men wearing dresses but I am against them doing so in a mocking or highly sexulised interpretation of womanhood and, as others have said, thinking their clothing gives them the right to enter women’s spaces. And I find it offensive and odd that a dress has come to symbolise ‘being a woman’ for so many men. For example, the Canadian shooter, Jesse van Rootselaar was initially described by police as ‘a woman in a dress’ and that was (correctly) interpreted by many as meaning a man who identifies as a woman - although this wasn’t spelled out until the following day. Had they said ‘man in a dress’, as well as being accurate, that would have been far more helpful to the people they were trying to protect, wouldn’t it?

C'mon, the motivation for usually using 'man in a dress' isn't one of just being accurate. Its crude reductive delivery is specifically designed to ridicule & diminish its subject reducing them to an oversimplified deluded perverse caricature as a tool to avoid psychological, behavioural & cultural associations to women that interestingly don't apply to trans men. Far be from me to be picky about accuracy but it doesn't usually require degradation nor inconsistency in application.

In terms of 'men wearing dresses' as a symbol of woman hood, you sound like you're projecting your own interpretation as that's not a claim being made. Rather the claim is more about common inclinations that by extension influence behavioural patterns that given them legitimacy for entering women's spaces.

That some use clothing as a form of sexual gratification isn't necessarily reflective of the whole but I get how its convenient weaponisation serves the GC movement. As I mentioned upthread, isolated instances have long been exploited to stereotype.

"I’m not against men wearing dresses but I am against them doing so in a mocking or highly sexulised interpretation of womanhood"

Many women enjoy wearing highly sexualised clothing as an extension of their own sexuality & trans women are no different that's why there's a legitimate association. Are you against their preferences too?

I appreciate patriarchy enforcing dress standards has had an influence on women's choices but to assume that's the only reason particularly in modernity is to deny women's capacity for self autonomy….a thing the patriarchy & GC ideology have in common.

Helleofabore · 24/02/2026 06:12

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 00:51

There will never be perfect reporting of those crimes, therefore we use the information that we do have. It is a failure of safeguarding to assume that a group of male people do not carry the same risk of committing sex and violent crimes as the general population.

Iv'e already demonstrated upthread different groups within the broader group don't necessarily match onto each other so a generalisation can't always apply to everyone. For example heterosexual women offend at a substantially lower rate than lesbians so its inaccurate to apply the same conclusions about their offending patterns.

You used a statement about lesbians committing more domestic abuse than heterosexual women. (By the way, would you like to think about 'why' that might be? Could it have something to do with the power difference between male and female people combined with vulnerability in domestic situations? Meaning it is rare that female people attack male partners because female people will rarely overpower that male partner. Do lesbian women have a greater rate of committing general female on female violence outside of domestic situations? And do lesbians also commit violence at the same rate as the male population in general? By all means, please show those rates.)

You didn't demonstrate anything that was useful to making safeguarding decisions. The safeguarding principles used for policies around accessing publicly accessible provisions are applied equally across the characteristic that is being segregated. Because no one using the provision at the time should have the onus of carrying out an instant case by case risk assessment if someone of the excluded characteristic enters the provision.

The point is also that even if there were sub groups within that segregation characteristic that had a lower rate of risk of committing violence or abuse towards female people, it should not also be up to female people to have to check if the male person accessing a female single sex provision is part of that sub group or not. Hence, ALL people in that segregated characteristic are excluded with no exceptions. ie. all male people above the age of about 8 years old are legitimately excluded.

The point there is 'legitimately'. Because the discrimination has to be legitimately applied. Applying the exclusion to publicly accessible single sex provisions based on sexual orientation where it unfairly excluded a group within that sex class would not be appropriate. Hence, exceptions such as excluding lesbians from female single sex publicly accessible provisions would not be legitimate.

As I also said, it is not just based on risk to safety. It is also based on privacy and dignity. That privacy and dignity does not apply within a sex class for the purpose of accessing a provision, only between the sex categories.

So, even if the statistics were wrong and male people with transgender identities were proven to commit sex crime at the same rate as the general female population, that they are male people means they are excluded based on the privacy and dignity needs of female people.

People with transgender identities have not changed sex therefore they are treated as all the rest of the people in their sex category for the purposes of being excluded from the opposite sex single sex provisions.

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2026 05:57

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:59

The indisputable evidence is group behavioural association. Most normal functioning people accept the fact associations equal group categorisation hence societies acceptance. Categorisation is a fundamental cognitive process by which humans structure, understand, and simplify the vast complexity of the world. It's the process of identifying similarities and differences, allowing the brain to group objects, people, and ideas into classes.

I'm not sure I'm really following this very convoluted point but the categorisation is a biological one. Being a woman is a biological state, not a behavioural one.

hholiday · 24/02/2026 05:41

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:06

And yet they mock trans women as 'men in dresses'. But interestingly don't mock trans men or butch women as performing 'man face'.

Far be it from me to get picky about pronouns (that’s not normally our cup of tea). But you can say ‘you’, not ‘they’. We are all right here. As others have said, men in a dress is an accurate description, not mockery. For some men, wearing opposite gendered clothing can give them a sexual kick. For most women it’s a straightforward preference or practicality - precisely why so many of us wear trousers, for example. So-called ‘women’s clothes’ have often formed part of women’s oppression as objects to be looked at. I’m not against men wearing dresses but I am against them doing so in a mocking or highly sexulised interpretation of womanhood and, as others have said, thinking their clothing gives them the right to enter women’s spaces. And I find it offensive and odd that a dress has come to symbolise ‘being a woman’ for so many men. For example, the Canadian shooter, Jesse van Rootselaar was initially described by police as ‘a woman in a dress’ and that was (correctly) interpreted by many as meaning a man who identifies as a woman - although this wasn’t spelled out until the following day. Had they said ‘man in a dress’, as well as being accurate, that would have been far more helpful to the people they were trying to protect, wouldn’t it?

DistanceCall · 24/02/2026 05:07

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:59

The indisputable evidence is group behavioural association. Most normal functioning people accept the fact associations equal group categorisation hence societies acceptance. Categorisation is a fundamental cognitive process by which humans structure, understand, and simplify the vast complexity of the world. It's the process of identifying similarities and differences, allowing the brain to group objects, people, and ideas into classes.

There is such thing as natural, or biological, kinds, you know.

DistanceCall · 24/02/2026 05:06

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:06

And yet they mock trans women as 'men in dresses'. But interestingly don't mock trans men or butch women as performing 'man face'.

It's not a mockery, it's a description. They are men, and they wear dresses. Nothing wrong with that.

The problem is when they demand that we believe they are women.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:59

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2026 04:52

People can claim all sorts of things about themselves. Them being wrong isn't the issue. It's society accepting these claims as truth with no evidence to back that up.

The indisputable evidence is group behavioural association. Most normal functioning people accept the fact associations equal group categorisation hence societies acceptance. Categorisation is a fundamental cognitive process by which humans structure, understand, and simplify the vast complexity of the world. It's the process of identifying similarities and differences, allowing the brain to group objects, people, and ideas into classes.

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2026 04:52

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:21

But most of all that they claim the identification with 'woman' is what's really the the most triggering issue. I suspect even if they only claimed to identify with women & not be women that would be equally upsetting because of the implication of female group identified behaviours.

My experience with many militant GC adherents is that they are particularly hostile to feminine identified behaviours/presentation because they themselves are gender non conforming. They will often claim their hostility is because these are the product of sexual stereotypes imposed by the patriarchy but I suspect its more of an insecurity complex hence the 'over reaction' to what are mostly organic personal preferences rooted in utero hormonal & genetic influences.

People can claim all sorts of things about themselves. Them being wrong isn't the issue. It's society accepting these claims as truth with no evidence to back that up.

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2026 04:50

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:06

And yet they mock trans women as 'men in dresses'. But interestingly don't mock trans men or butch women as performing 'man face'.

That term is used when we're being told to laud them as 'stunning and brave' ladies.

Transmen tend not to be presented in the same way

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:21

Daygloboo · 24/02/2026 02:24

Ive often wondered ...if a trans male. to female.presented in the way they did ( for example. make up, high heels, dresses ) but didnt claim female space, or female sport and didnt claim to be a woman, would they be more accepted. I dont have a problem with a male presenting that way but i do get the GC argument.

But most of all that they claim the identification with 'woman' is what's really the the most triggering issue. I suspect even if they only claimed to identify with women & not be women that would be equally upsetting because of the implication of female group identified behaviours.

My experience with many militant GC adherents is that they are particularly hostile to feminine identified behaviours/presentation because they themselves are gender non conforming. They will often claim their hostility is because these are the product of sexual stereotypes imposed by the patriarchy but I suspect its more of an insecurity complex hence the 'over reaction' to what are mostly organic personal preferences rooted in utero hormonal & genetic influences.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 04:06

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2026 03:19

Well of course. GC's aren't objecting to how people dress, but their use of female spaces

And yet they mock trans women as 'men in dresses'. But interestingly don't mock trans men or butch women as performing 'man face'.

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2026 03:19

Daygloboo · 24/02/2026 02:24

Ive often wondered ...if a trans male. to female.presented in the way they did ( for example. make up, high heels, dresses ) but didnt claim female space, or female sport and didnt claim to be a woman, would they be more accepted. I dont have a problem with a male presenting that way but i do get the GC argument.

Well of course. GC's aren't objecting to how people dress, but their use of female spaces

DistanceCall · 24/02/2026 03:00

Daygloboo · 24/02/2026 02:24

Ive often wondered ...if a trans male. to female.presented in the way they did ( for example. make up, high heels, dresses ) but didnt claim female space, or female sport and didnt claim to be a woman, would they be more accepted. I dont have a problem with a male presenting that way but i do get the GC argument.

I think most people have no problem with people presenting however they want if that makes them happy. It's males impinging on women's rights and spaces that they object to.

Daygloboo · 24/02/2026 02:24

YankSplaining · 23/02/2026 17:20

Well, this is disappointing.

”[Reid] has a keen desire not to disappoint her fans, especially when they’re sending her photos of freshly inked tattoos of her words on their skin. ‘I know of another author that a lot of people got tattoos of but then wanted them gone. Like, J. K. Rowling,’ she says. ‘The bar is pretty high for how evil you have to be, but I don’t want to let a single person down.’ I ask if she’s a TERF. ‘No, I’m extremely the opposite of everything she believes,’ she replies.”

Well, too late, she let me down. “Extremely the opposite of everything she believes,” huh? I guess Rachel Reid thinks teenage girls should be forced to undress after PE in front of naked male classmates who gawp as their dicks get hard. Or that female inmates should be locked in cells with male inmates serving time for serial rape.

I don’t expect Reid to agree with Rowling on trans issues. It’s the monstering of Rowling that I take issue with - the “evil,” and the framing of Rowling as so extreme that Reid feels the need to be extremely the opposite of everything she believes.

Edit: title should read “on how evil you have to be”

Ive often wondered ...if a trans male. to female.presented in the way they did ( for example. make up, high heels, dresses ) but didnt claim female space, or female sport and didnt claim to be a woman, would they be more accepted. I dont have a problem with a male presenting that way but i do get the GC argument.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 24/02/2026 01:58

Greyskybluesky · 23/02/2026 22:41

Aaaand...we're back to leveraging JKR to boost people's careers again.

IW does it. Other losers do it. We had a discussion about this on here a while ago.

They profess to hate her, but they need her. What would they do without her?

Yep. And a thousand self important social media nonentities.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 24/02/2026 01:52

AsTreesWalking · 23/02/2026 20:09

I've never heard of her either.
I'm a bit at a loss to understand how a woman married to a man is queer? Also, isn't it a bit appropriative of her to write about gay men? Not much of the essential 'lived experience' eh?

She sounds like a tedious Laurie Penny type.

RogueFemale · 24/02/2026 01:44

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Apollo441 · 24/02/2026 01:15

You seem to miss the point that sex crimes are almost exclusively the responsibility of males. 99%. That is all the excuse you need to keep males out of places where women are vulnerable. No group is being demonised it applies to ALL males. And transwomen are male. So unless you have evidence that the sexual offending rates of transwomen virtually disappear when they say the magic words 'I am a woman' then they get treated like all males.
Of course you don't have a fig leaf of evidence and what evidence we have shows that the decision is more than justified.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 01:09

Helleofabore · 23/02/2026 23:30

Actually, this is pretty much equating JK Rowling’s tweets with the reports and the government decisions that led to the Iraq war.

Gosh… isn’t that wildly hypocritical?

That JK Rowling has considerable influence on both her audience & government policy is indisputable because of her reach & wealth. That she has a direct contact & influence with Starmer is not news.

And noone is suggesting she has the same influence as global media so save the strawman but she certainly contributes to manufacturing consent from the masses.

Her special 'interest' in Iran is another example for manufacturing consent for Islamophobia & regime change interventions by foreign governments not unlike the demonisation of Saddam Hussain. That's not to say human rights violations aren't happening, rather they are being weaponised for western colonial projects & resource stealing. And if you knew anything about how Iraqi women were plunged into a culture of prostitution following the war because of the poverythat ensued you would know these interventions aren't helpful to women.

If you really believe that her interest that's confined only to Iranian women is exclusively about women's rights, I have a bridge to sell you.

JKR is well ensconced in the global western billionaire elite class & acts accordingly.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 00:55

Helleofabore · 23/02/2026 23:28

We are not talking about terrorism accusations. We are talking about male sex crimes and violence.

Your mention of terrorism is using a catastrophising cognitive distortion to try to support your point.

So, can women discuss male sex crimes and violence without being demonised for making male people look bad?

I have already answered that terrorism is an example of stereotyping & that male violence can be accurately discussed in terms of specific groups of offending.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 00:53

Helleofabore · 23/02/2026 23:22

So you have nothing.

You have created a special group of male people and treated them as different based on nothing.

You cannot even admit that the same under reporting is just as likely across all groups. You just regurgitated someone’s very prejudiced interpretation of JK Rowling’s tweets without critical thought and you declared that she should adhere to your personally set very high standard of adding a disclaimer about her statements that no news outlet does to demonise her.

Really, you have nothing to support your claim but emotional reasoning. Ok. Great to know.

Ah no. We have nothing in terms of conclusions about trans women offending rates which is the point that you are diverting from.

Aisha176 · 24/02/2026 00:51

Helleofabore · 23/02/2026 23:17

Your point is acruelly irrelevant for making safeguarding policies that exclude all male people above the age of about 8 yrs old from female single sex provisions. That exclusion is needed for privacy as well as safety.

However, if the only reason for exclusion was safety, the only risk that needs to be established is whether a group of male people commit sex and or violent crimes at the same rate or lower than female people. That is not the case. The conviction rates for female people is far lower than for male people with transgender identities.

Also, your argument about low reporting rates applies to BOTH sex categories for sex and violent crimes. Your attempt to make a case that somehow conviction rates are not representative is not relevant because the same can be said about female crimes as well.

There will never be perfect reporting of those crimes, therefore we use the information that we do have. It is a failure of safeguarding to assume that a group of male people do not carry the same risk of committing sex and violent crimes as the general population.

There will never be perfect reporting of those crimes, therefore we use the information that we do have. It is a failure of safeguarding to assume that a group of male people do not carry the same risk of committing sex and violent crimes as the general population.

Iv'e already demonstrated upthread different groups within the broader group don't necessarily match onto each other so a generalisation can't always apply to everyone. For example heterosexual women offend at a substantially lower rate than lesbians so its inaccurate to apply the same conclusions about their offending patterns.

UtopiaPlanitia · 24/02/2026 00:03

YankSplaining · 23/02/2026 17:20

Well, this is disappointing.

”[Reid] has a keen desire not to disappoint her fans, especially when they’re sending her photos of freshly inked tattoos of her words on their skin. ‘I know of another author that a lot of people got tattoos of but then wanted them gone. Like, J. K. Rowling,’ she says. ‘The bar is pretty high for how evil you have to be, but I don’t want to let a single person down.’ I ask if she’s a TERF. ‘No, I’m extremely the opposite of everything she believes,’ she replies.”

Well, too late, she let me down. “Extremely the opposite of everything she believes,” huh? I guess Rachel Reid thinks teenage girls should be forced to undress after PE in front of naked male classmates who gawp as their dicks get hard. Or that female inmates should be locked in cells with male inmates serving time for serial rape.

I don’t expect Reid to agree with Rowling on trans issues. It’s the monstering of Rowling that I take issue with - the “evil,” and the framing of Rowling as so extreme that Reid feels the need to be extremely the opposite of everything she believes.

Edit: title should read “on how evil you have to be”

The woman is writing slash fiction that happened to get published/filmed for telly. It's not like she's involved in creating a realistic depiction of gay men, she's writing for all those female shippers out there who like "cute boys kissing UwU" 🙄

So if she wants to keep selling her stuff she has to be extremely & vocally TWAW + Omnicause-supporting because that's who's mostly her audience. Makes sense for her to signal her allegiances via denouncing the traitorous Snowball...erm, I mean JKR.

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