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!

@SchadenfreudePersonified

Someone tweeted Emma Watson:

'You were great in Little Menstruators'.

Class!

Bahahaha

It’s just occurred to me that not all x men are men.
I never heard anyone complain.

Yes to everything goldfinch said.

and I’m sorry that you were raped.

However I must stress that even if you no longer have a penis, you are biologically still a man.

That truth might be painful, but we all have to deal with many painful truths.

You are entitled to a safe space; you have a right to peaceful existence without harm or fear of harm.

But you are not entitled to my safe space, nor that of my daughters, nor that of any other woman.

Thisisworsethananticipated Given the very small number of transsexuals , and then the % within that group who are acting like aresholes - I struggle to get my head around the actual number of people genuinely impacted

Unfortunately, your starting point is incorrect which is why you cannot get your head around the impact. When the GRA was introduced it was correctly estimated that somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 certificates would be issued and they would be issued to severely dysphoric males or females and the reason for this was to help alleviate their severe dysphoria and allow them to marry as same sex marriage was not allowed and due to the homophobia of the time was seen as a hideous thing to contemplate.

That's not the case now, transexual is a term Stonewall and TRA's abhor and abuse is poured by the bucket load on the heads of those who you understand as transexuals. Look at who falls under the Stonewall umbrella under the heading of Transgender and look at what they are aiming for.

If this is a duplicate, apologies in advance, my post disappeared before.

I get that it doesn't impact you directly, or you think it doesn't. If you work and are female, have you considered the potential impact on your work future (which also feels quite less stable as you age) if sex discrimination protections are diluted. Particularly if your employer is progressive and seeks to equal out the 'gender' balance rather than 'sex' balance. Hiring a person that can never get pregnant tends to look rather good if it can help even out that %.

What about if you have children. Are you comfortable with lobby groups who have taken control of how and what students are taught regarding sex and identity? You know, the media report of a pre-teen being set homework related to knowing anything about 'hard-core porn' is the tip of the iceberg.

Did you know that Guides has a requirement that parents are not told that there might be a male bodied person who is transgender out on a camp? Or that if a child tells the school they wish to socially transition at school but don't tell their parents, the school cannot tell the parents.

Please also read up on the NSPCC.

And on toilets in schools.

And well, there are so many things...

If you would like more examples of the type of things, there is a resource thread here

Bear in mind firstly that this is very difficult reading. Bear in mind also that besides these very serious, very dangerous and damaging instances, there are many other, broader, more subtle ways in which this ideology already directly impacts on women’s and girls’ rights and legal protections, and multiple safeguarding problems and failings. It isn’t potentially going to happen, it’s already happened, and will continue to happen. We are forced to push back vehemently in order to keep those very hard-won protections and rights that allow you to feel so safe and as if this doesn’t really impact on you (of course I also accept and acknowledge that there are other factors that might be far more present in your life and experiences, and it goes without saying that these are not any less important).

Not to mention that there are extremely important overarching principles too - this ideology demands negation of biological fact and material reality. No one should be forced to deny material reality; no one should be frightened to state something that they (and everyone else) know full well to be absolutely true. This is a dangerous state of affairs for everyone not just women.

If you want to read further there is a very good thread here

Given the very small number of transsexuals , and then the % within that group who are acting like aresholes

From Stonewall:

"Trans is an umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth."

Ironically, any gender critical feminist would fit this description.

I would really like to know why an additional third space is seen as such a terrible idea, appropriate provision for everyone, no-one excluded, everyone catered for, whatever their sex or belief in gender identity. Just once I would like someone to admit the real reason why that is always ignored or dismissed (of course, I have a sneaky suspicion as to what the objection is but would like them to admit it).

Another current thread that shows a good example of wider repercussions, from another angle:

here

RedDogsBeg

I feel the same. We all know it's not the space that's important, it's the women in it. They are being used as a validation service.

So yes, I would genuinely like someone to ask in a radio show, or on TV.

If all the women in that toilet left and went into that one, that's the one you would want to enter. Because it's not the space, it's the women in it, and access to them.

They are being used.

And it's the most vulnerable women who are being used or women when they are at their most vulnerable.

On the toilet, getting changed and taking their clothes off or trying on bras, in a rape refuge, in a psychiatric ward or prison.

Women at their most vulnerable are being utilised as a validation service.

I know it, you know it, most of all they and those fawning and falling at their feet supporting them know it but they are just too craven, cowardly or duplicitous to own it and admit it.

It's not just the validation aspect either though, it's the power aspect too:

• power over forcing women to submit to the belief these men have of themselves
• power knowing that some women are uncomfortable or afraid and can do nothing about it, cannot go anywhere else or ask the men to be removed
• power knowing that some women and girls will no longer use those spaces and are therefore even more isolated, secluded and left out of society

Women are lesser, they matter not it is male supremacism over women red in tooth and claw.

I know it too.

We all know.

We see you.

@Thisisworsethananticpated last link, I promise. But as you have said that you appreciate the food for thought, here’s another thread that is extremely informative. It will give you lots to mull over and lots more signposts to further research.

here

(Apologies OP, for spamming your thread. Will disengage now.)

I feel very upset about this, poor JKR. One more awful thing happening in the world. She's a very talented world-building writer, and a good, decent person. She is right about the Trans issues of course, and didn't even say anything particularly contentious from what I gather.

Is there anything I can do to support her and let her know that most sensible people agree with her? I don't have FaceBook or Twitter though, and don't really want to get sucked into that, particularly Twitter which seems to be an all-consuming, strange world of its own. So is there anything else can I do?

I have bought one of her Cormoran Strike books (under the name Robert Galbraith) that I was missing, and pre-ordered the fifth one, which is out in September. I already read all the Harry Potter books (my daughter's copies) maybe I should get some Kindle editions too?

As for those young actors, mindless cowardly 'woke' children that they are .... words fail really. I already thought Emma W was a bit of a prat, but I am particularly upset at Daniel Radcliffe, as I had seen him on talk shows and Who Do You Think You Are and thought he came over as a really nice, kind lad, very diffident. But now he has unfortunately proved himself a back-stabbing cowardly little scrote. Very different from Harry Potter! And let's face it, he is competent as an actor but doesn't really have any great talent or charisma. Most of the roles he got were probably off the back of HP. I will now switch off as soon as I see his face. Or the others'.

@Pemba you can email her at [email protected] or you can send her a card / letter c/o her publishers. I have done both.

Thanks SirSamuel I will crack on with that.

This is the postal address if anyone wants it:

J.K. Rowling
c/o Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
50 Bedford Square
London WC1B 3DP
United Kingdom

Thank you SirSam - I'm on it.

Thank you for email address..I was wondering how to let her know I support her and her views.

JK has been given a terrible time by some of her critics.
If you have to be a 'person who menstruates' to be differentiated as female (ie a woman), then what about female people who don't menstruate? Post menopausal people, young people, people with medical conditions which affect menstruation. Also do trans women menstruate? If not are they 'women'? Why not keep the word 'woman' and change the word 'man'? Or 'people who ejaculate'.

She is incredibly strong.

She's a fantastic woman. Helping to shine a light on the gradual erosion of women's rights.

Just a bump to show again just how awesome she really is, here’s the link for the The Ickabog story.

www.theickabog.com/read-the-story/

From JKR on the home page:

“I had the idea for The Ickabog a long time ago and read it to my two younger children chapter by chapter each night while I was working on it. However, when the time came to publish it, I decided to put out a book for adults instead, which is how The Ickabog ended up in the attic. I became busy with other things, and even though I loved the story, over the years I came to think of it as something that was just for my own children.”

“Then this lockdown happened. It’s been very hard on children, in particular, so I brought The Ickabog down from the attic, read it for the first time in years, rewrote bits of it and then read it to my children again. They told me to put back in some bits they’d liked when they were little, and here we are!”

“The Ickabog will be published for free on this website, in instalments, over the next seven weeks, a chapter (or two, or three), at a time. It isn’t Harry Potter and it doesn’t include magic. This is an entirely different story.“

She is amazing.

She really is.

I see Rupert Grint has joined the fray.

@FruitPastillesaregood

I see Rupert Grint has joined the fray.

FOMO.

Pathetic.