To think JK Rowling is a fabulous human being

[TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair]

I just came across her book, 'Very Good Lives' which is all about overcoming adversity. I think it's so important that successful women talk about the times they've failed and how success is about pushing past that. I'm reading it just at a time I need to hear that message. I can definitely recommend buying a copy if you are in need of a boost or have some pennies to spend on something nourishing.

I was also looking into her charity, Lumos, and I had no idea just how much she was trying to help disadvantaged children. I love that she's putting her money and position to good use.

The term 'national treasure' generally makes me want to poke my own eyeballs out with a rusty kitchen utensil but AIBU to say she is an utter treasure and we are lucky to have her. She makes the world a better place.

That's all!

It enables us to say "but biology isn't destiny - these biological differences may explain how come we are easy to exploit, but it doesn't say we have to be exploited.

Because we can identify the specific things - access to contraception, equalities legislation, healthcare, childcare - that enable women to participate in society on equal terms with men.

I'm still waiting to find out what the criteria is for assigning babies as female...

Perhaps they come out wearing a bow.

@Ickabog

I'm still waiting to find out what the criteria is for assigning babies as female...

Perhaps they come out wearing a bow.

It really is amazing that the 'transwomen are women and you are just a bigot!!!!' brigade always struggle to answer simple questions...

@yelyah22

What's your 'version of womanhood', how do you define womanhood?

Women are, in my opinion, whoever says they are. It's not my job to define another person's identity. This is where I think I butt heads with the gender crit crowd, because most I've seen say they're not against people being trans, but when pressed on why trans women can't call themselves women, they either say a) they didn't have formative female experiences (which aren't universal) OR b) this means men will self-identify as trans to harm women which unlikely/very very rare. I can't imagine refusing people who struggle with their identity and suffer enormous hatred by lots of people the right to self define because their experiences don't match yours or the slim chance one of them might be a bad person. Lots of football fans smash things up when they go to Europe for away games, but they're not banned from calling themselves City fans in case it makes one of them do something bad.

OK.

So I can identify as a 5yo child if I want to and demand admittance to the Reception class at the local primary school.

I can identify as Black and apply for scholarships and jobs reserved for people from BAME communities.

I can identify as disabled even though there is nothing very much wrong with me. I can join groups lobbying for disability rights and talk over people with genuine lived experience of disability purely on the grounds of how I feel about myself.

Is that how it works?

When people say ludicrous, nonsensical things like 'A woman is anyone who says they are', I am reminded of Chandler's line to Joey in 'Friends':

'How do you not fall down more?'

66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li9a2onL6P1qc9u5so1_r1_400.gifv

Now that Ickbog has turned up, shall we also remember perhaps one of the actions that spurred the timings of the tweets was that activists threatened (and may have, I did not want to look for dicpics) to flood a hashtag meant for children with inappropriate content.

Yes..... that would probably make me upset as an author encouraging children throughout the world to read new content and add to the story with their illustrations during the pandemic and unrest (as was helpfully mentioned also as a 'gotcha' for her vile behaviour).

But you continue to miss this vital aspect of the back history in your defence of this ideology.... you obviously are happy that children see these images. Because as we have seen in the past months, the guidance about how children are educated about gender does seem to have become quite dangerously inappropriate.

That is you to those who are calling her out for her 'vile' behaviour.

but when pressed on why trans women can't call themselves women, they either say a) they didn't have formative female experiences (which aren't universal) OR b) this means men will self-identify as trans to harm women which unlikely/very very rare.

There is no universal experience of being a woman. The only thing that all women have in common is their biology.

There are plenty of recorded cases of sexual predators using self-ID to abuse women. Don't want to derail this thread, but there are plenty of examples on the "This never happens" thread on Feminism.

If we cannot have an objective definition of woman, then we cannot fight against the way our sex class has been oppressed, held back and victimised for centuries all over the world.

If anyone who thinks they are a woman, IS a woman, we cannot have any meaningful discussion on our rights as women, and the sex inequality that is still rampant in the world.

To give you an example, I don't know how we can ensure a more balanced sharing of power between the sexes if any male CEO, politician or judge can now identify as a woman, because it would literally be pointless for me to argue for more women in positions of power or influence, if any man in such a position can claim he is, in fact, a woman.

191.3K likes on JKRowlings tweet now.

I guess the 'a woman is anyone who says they are' crowd have still got a lot of work to do.

If Donald Trump identified as a woman tomorrow, would you believe him?

Would you think he was a woman and refer to him as Donna and berate other women for "violently misgendering" him?

If you would, you are even more simple minded than you appear now and if you wouldn't, you are liars because you have a line somewhere, where you know some men are not women just because they say so.

The only difference between sensible women and you, is where we draw the line.

We draw it at reality. You draw it at who you like.

You are wrong, we are right and JK Rowling is awesome.

Haha about their being many sexes. Let's not forget we're mammals. Where are all the different sexed chimps and orangs? Where are the differently sexed pigs? Or is this some magical development that humans only have managed because we're magical angelic beings whose bodies are somehow separate from their inner 'selves'? Because that's what being in the wrong body is implying isn't it? That you aren't a product of your body and it's chemicals?
Remember the time when we fought to say men could be feminine and women could be masculine? Now if you don't keep in your gender behaviour and appearance box you might be 'in the wrong body'.

If people are assigned either male or female at birth then the people who assign babies as female should be prosecuted for child abuse imo

And it's really weird that female infanticide exists. Why don't the parents just ask the MW to assign the baby as male?

Apologies for the terrible grammar there. And going off topic. Yes, JK is being a voice of reason and she's not phobic of anything or spreading hatred. All the hate is coming from people who cannot be challenged because they have no logical argument.

I would love someone to expand on the "behave as a woman" thing, it's sounds fascinating.
Sadly, I imagine it'll be the usual shite about using the ladies loo . Or trying on frilly knickers in M & S's female changing rooms.

Re sports.

I said spaces, not sports. Or teams. Sports is a whole other subject, and a very very difficult one. And one that doesn't have a simple answer. I avoided the sports issue as no, I don't have an answer for this. I don't have the specialist knowledge to give an answer either. But I think it does need to have open, and honest discussion. ESPECIALLY so no poor athlete has to be treated the way Caster Semenya was.

I may not have used the right word when I said trans women have the right to behave as a woman. I can't think of a better word right now.. but a trans woman should not be castigated for how they behave.

Womens spaces. There are very very rare cases of men "pretending to be trans" in order to gain access to womens spaces.
There are probably more cases of those with a vulva and external female sexual characteristics but testes rather than ovaries.

Or is it simply that you don't want non feminine trans women in womens spaces. How do you know the women in the next stall in the toilet isn't a transwoman?

If there is such a thing as behaving as a woman, then I feel I have probably failed quite spectacularly at it...

Yes, if Donald Trump were to ID as a transwoman tomorrow, would that mean the US had finally had a female President?

How do you know the women in the next stall in the toilet isn't a transwoman?

Usually it's pretty obvious.

Sex doesn't have to be assigned at birth. The harmony test can identify a baby's sex at ten weeks gestation by taking blood from the mother and observing the xx or xy chromosomes of the baby's blood floating around in it .

@BlueBlazerBlack

If there is such a thing as behaving as a woman, then I feel I have probably failed quite spectacularly at it...

Same here .

IMO transwomen are women. They have the same rights to call themselves women, they have to same rights to behave as a woman, they have the rights to be in womens spaces.

Women are, in my opinion, whoever says they are

I'm not sure if both of these are from the same poster, but it is astonishing how anyone can ever think this way.

This way you could have 325 male MPs, and 325 male MPs who say they're women, and it means women are fairly and unequivocally represented in Parliament. In fact, it would be the first time in history, where they were representing 50%. Yay feminism.

Or on a board of directors. Or in your office.

You could check how many of those people needed abortion rights, or maternity leave, or breastfeeding protocols. None? Excellent. Let's dispense with those pesky equality forms then.

We are a fully inclusive office, with men and women represented equally, we never have any need of maternity leave or pregnancy rights.

Life is so much simpler.

It's not my job to define another person's identity

Thank heavens.

I support JK. She is not anti-trans. She stated a fact, people who have the ability to menstruate are women.

Do you really want to live in a world where you are erased? Women's products, gone. Women's healthcare, gone, women's rights, gone.

What will you have?

People who need to wash a vagina soap and collects it's blood products? Really, you want that?

Clinic for people who have a cervix, ovaries and womb? You want that?

Rights for people who lean to the feminine side of life? You want that?

Stop standing by whilst your identity is erased! Just because some men want to shout at you! It's not even a case of man-up. Woman-up!

If they steal your identity you become but a vessel. People who have babies, people who menstruate, people who... people who have no identity, people who don't count.

But I think it does need to have open, and honest discussion. ESPECIALLY so no poor athlete has to be treated the way Caster Semenya was

What has Caster Semenya got to do with a discussion about trans people in sports? Caster has a disorder of sexual development. She is not trans.

@WikkiTikkiWoo Caster Semenya is intersex...

Womens spaces. There are very very rare cases of men "pretending to be trans" in order to gain access to womens spaces.

An example that springs to mind is Karen White: a convicted sex offender who self-identified as a woman and went on to abuse female prisoners. How many Karen Whites do we need before we can discuss the conflict of rights without being labelled transphobic?