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!

Once that process is done,the penis is removed etc and you have your gender change cert then bob's your uncle.

This isn't true. There is no requirement that anyone should have their penis removed and only a minority of trans women have had this procedure. That is understandable - a penis is a bodily organ with a particular purpose and there is no good way to remove it or replicate it. However no particular level of physical transition is necessary to obtain a GRC.

Fundamentally the 2004 legislation is a bit of a fudge because humans can't change sex, and, biology aside, there is no clear way to live as either a man or a woman.

Lol at all the people who feel excluded by the books. I feel excluded cos I’m not a wizard. What utter nonsense. Are they also triggered by Peter Rabbit because they are not rabbits? This obsessive ID crap is so unhealthy.

I don’t see myself represented anywhere, being a middle aged woman and not the Sharon Stone type of middle aged woman. But I’m not so fragile that this leads me to tantrum and sulk and throw slurs at people. This tantrums are incredibly sad in themselves - how cosseted are some people that they give themselves permission to do that ?

It really is all a bit silly. I don't have a flying broomstick and Rowling doesn't seem interested in providing me with one. Woe and despair, etc.

If anyone is racist, it's the trans rights movement that seeks to re-write the birth of Stonewall by erasing the part played by Storme DeLarverie.

I think culture can exclude which is why we have concepts like the Bechdel film test which measures number of female characters in a film and number of times they interact with each other: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test. Most films fail the test, but I don't think anyone has seriously suggested that films that fail shouldn't be watched - just that women should be better represented.

However, the Harry Potter books are no more or less racist than the work of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett and they certainly aren't intentionally racist or anti semitic.

Also none of us want to be nasty to people who have had a sex change and changed sex under English law as it currently is (and thankfully the Government decided not to change it). Once that process is done,the penis is removed etc and you have your gender change cert then bob's your uncle. People will mostly accept it.

And here we have the problem. The general public believe that a transwoman is a transsexual male who has had their penis removed and that makes them a woman. Yes, people will probably mostly accept that. If that was what is actually happening.

There is no such 'process' necessary. 'Surgery' could mean a boob job or facial surgery - no genitals need to be removed for a transwoman to say they have had surgery to 'become a woman'.

The 'process' could be just changing your name on your gas bill.

I'm not sure whether people would mostly accept it if they knew the realities.

Personally, I think it's barbaric to expect people to have surgery and even worse to tell them that if they do so they can be the opposite sex. But then I've never thought telling boys that they run/jump/throw/cry like a girl was very nice.

Once that process is done,the penis is removed etc and you have your gender change cert then bob's your uncle

Only about 15% of transwomen have any kind of medical transition - surgery or hormones. Most do not take hormones and very few have genital surgery. They simply state that they identify as female. In some cases, like Pippa Bunce, they want to be treated as female for half the week and male for the other half.

I think that Rowling's friend who she refers to in her statement is what many people still think "trans" means - homosexual male, has had surgery to remove their penis, may well generally get along rather well with women. That's not what "trans" means now, and if you look at the responses Rowling is getting on Twitter that will become abundantly clear. What it in many cases means now is a heterosexual male who likes their penis very much and who would like to use it to have sex with women. And who considers themselves to be a woman despite it being very clear that they don't like us very much.

According to Stonewall and other campaigning groups, the individuals referred to above who're screaming abuse at Rowling all over the internet right now are 100% woman and should be granted access to every single space set aside for women, and should be considered women for the purposes of for example requesting a female HCP to do your smear test.

If you would not be OK with any of the individuals who consider themselves women and who're currently demanding that Rowling suck their cocks sharing the changing room with you at the pool or doing your smear test then congrats, you're a "transphobe" and a "TRF" too. Now do you see why so many women have been so worried about all of this?

On a societal level what has happened here is a classic bait and switch. People though they were agreeing to one thing, and now find that they are assumed to have agreed to another, considerably more alarming thing.

Succinctly put Kitten.

When people Chant The Chant I always ask them who they mean by transwomen, the chant rarely includes transmen which is odd.

Do they mean a transsexual or someone with grc or using self id, as in any man can state they are trans and then they are a woman. Rarely answered or met with more chants.

This debate IS toxic, on one side. It is rampantly sexist and violent against women.

Once that process is done,the penis is removed etc and you have your gender change cert then bob's your uncle

Even with those interventions, Bob would very much still be your uncle. People cannot change sex. I used to think I’d be comfortable with a post OP TW in my changing room but now I don’t. The lack of respect for women has hardened my position. Being a woman is an immutable fact and men can neither identify nor chop chop chop their way into it however much they might wish it.

But you are right - the public has thought we were talking about post Op men. In the vast majority of cases we are talking about men who do nothing more than declare a feeling.

Another point to note re surgery is that some men who say they have had sex reassignment surgery are not talking about genital surgery. They're talking about shaving their Adam's apple, or vocal surgery or plastic surgery on their faces (reducing jawline and pulling hairlines forward, lip fillers etc).

I'm going to guess there are some women reading the past few comments going "you must be wrong, surely they wouldn't seriously suggest that heterosexual males who can still get erections should be given access to women's spaces".

We're not wrong, though. These rules cover prisons too, if you weren't already freaking out enough.

Someone tweeted Emma Watson:

'You were great in Little Menstruators'.

They simply state that they identify as female. In some cases, like Pippa Bunce, they want to be treated as female for half the week and male for the other half

I always wonder if Philip Bunce asks for his company to pay him 15% less on those days, and adjust his banker's bonus accordingly.

Oh, and hold him back for promotion or leadership because "he might get pregnant, and value his family more than his job."

YANBU

Highly talented

• unlike those who scrambled to fame only because of her books and who have now turned on her

Honest, fearless - again unlike the spineless turncoats

Pays her taxes in the Uk

Makes big donations, often anonymous, to charity

@Helmetbymidnight that is brilliant.

If I was on twitter I'd be congratulating her on her work for the #theyforthey campaign. Sterling stuff

I do think it's interesting that the celebs who've spoken out are those who've already reached the top of their games: Sharron Davies, Glinner, JKR. Their achievements are indisputable and can never be taken from them, there's no ladder left to climb, etc.

30 pages. Wow.

JK Rowling must be really, really lovely to have so many people want to post on this thread in her support.

I hope she can feel the warm glow which is emanating from this website at what must be a very frightening and difficult time.

She is awesome. Incredibly courageous.

I like that she's expressing her opinion and she's not just becoming a politically correct sheep following what's the right thing to say.
Women are at risk of been written out of history and although I will do my best to educate my children as they grow they will be taught every side to a situation not just the one that suits the narrative now.

@Helmetbymidnight

Someone tweeted Emma Watson:

'You were great in Little Menstruators'.

Brilliant!

Ooh, I've just seen Yasmin Alibhai Brown has tweeted JKR her support.

Phew. Pleased to see that.

I do think it's interesting that the celebs who've spoken out are those who've already reached the top of their games: Sharron Davies, Glinner, JKR. Their achievements are indisputable and can never be taken from them, there's no ladder left to climb, etc.

That's very true.

*Their achievements are indisputable and can never be taken from them, there's no ladder left to climb, etc.&

Martina.

I also don't expect people are aware that violent crimes (including rape) are being recorded as having been committed by women. Even if the man declare himself a woman after committing the crime.