I'm Jack Monroe. Ask me anything.

[MxJackMonroe]

Hi Mumsnet.

It seems every time I am in the news, a MN thread about all things transgender crops up. I didn't see the last one (yesterday?) as I don't come on here very often these days - people who eavesdrop etc etc. I was cooking in a tent in a muddy field all day, having a ball, not googling myself on the internet!

The thread was deleted - which was nothing to do with me, nor my lawyer. The day I call him about a MN thread is the day I pack everything in for good. So far only the Mail and Hopkins have had legal action taken against them, and both for quite serious statements. I'm not rich enough nor quite bothered enough to call him every time someone says mean words on the internets.

ANYWAY. Threads about me tend to get deleted. So here's a new one. Because there are clearly some questions that keep coming up, criticisms that I could answer, speculation I could clarify and untruths that could do with correction.

So I'm taking questions. I'm an adult and I take an awful lot of criticism and unkindness online, on the chin. I am pretty mentally stable right now, and feel this could be a constructive discussion.

In order to stop this descending into pandemonium, using general 'chair' rules, to start with I'll take one question from each user - if it's quiet and everything gets answered, feel free to add follow up questions.

It doesn't have to be about boobs, dresses, hormones. Literally ask me anything.

MN - please don't delete this thread. I think people have valid things to say and I'm here with my big girl/boy pants on to hear them.

Over to you.

Mephisto
You state that males who go through all the processes of transitioning to become trans women but are also sexual predators are not true trans women. How do you know that? Could they not just be trans women who are also sexual predators?

Somehow you managed to miss where Jack said "with the sole intention of abusing other women".

Even though it was in bold.

I can easily see how interviews get skewed away from the point a person wants to make if you can misunderstand that when it's right there in front of you, available for re-reading as many times as you need, in bold.

What thedogstinks said.

I've re-watched the interview, Jack, although I can see the conversation's moved on quite a bit since last night.

I still see you saying that transwomen are women & should have access to women's spaces without question, that Julia (and every other woman presumably) doesn't have the right to define what a woman is, and I still don't hear anything about gender being a harmful, oppressive and sexist concept.

I still think that the natural inference from what you've said is that if anyone can use a women's toilet anyone can use a communal women's shower at the pool - have I misinterpreted that?

Women & girls have self-preservation instincts drummed into them almost from birth. Man in the wrong place, get out, sound the alarm. But now we're meant to suppress our instincts because that's probably a transwoman.

Even if they look like Danielle?

I think you are very admirable person Jack. I think you have done a lot of good in the world. I hope you can live your life however you see fit, without censure or abuse.

There's some ignorant sounding posters on here that should be ashamed of themselves. 'Oh I've never even heard of you', 'Hark at Lady Muck, needing formalwear', 'Stop worrying and wear a camisole and heels'. FFS.

dog's post really resonates with me. It feels likes it's ingrained to budge up and eat the burnt chop and I feel that's being taken advantage of. I can see why someone would not want to be a woman.

Hear hear Basil.

Brilliant post from thedog

It's not 'live and let live' at all. If only it were. It's women, budge up. It's women - know your place. It's your biology doesn't matter and if you say it does you are transphobic and reducing people to their genitals. You can have 'live and let live' or you can have 'women is feeling' so all sex based protections is gone, whether that means being able to access same sex accommodation in rape crisis, or a same sex carer or HCP, or competing only against women for a place on a sports team or a college scholarship.

Multivac, in my mind variances exist within both the binary forms, but on the whole I see it as binary. My gender is still very much female. Just not pink frilly female, though this doesn't mean I am more or less of a woman than someone who always wears dresses, high heels and war paint. But I am a woman, I identify as a woman in my head. My gender and sex are both female to me, despite not conforming to the societal stereotype of a woman. Even within a binary split there can be a society devised 'ideal' as far as I'm concerned. It may not be right to have that, but it's not impossible.

Whether any of this fits a certain label shouldn't really matter. As long as you are happy within yourself.

Women & girls have self-preservation instincts drummed into them almost from birth. Man in the wrong place, get out, sound the alarm. But now we're meant to suppress our instincts because that's probably a transwoman.

I think this is really important. Remember those 'women - other people know better' posters that went up in women's toilets in some universities a few years ago? Women are socialised to put other peoples feelings ahead of our own. Other peoples oppression is more important than ours so of course we must accommodate everyone else. There was a thread a few weeks ago where a woman said if her 14yo dd objected to changing in front of an adult man in a womens changing room she would give her short shrift and tell her not to be so silly. It really summed up where women are placed, and how women's rights are regarded. It's all a bit silly.

Another +1 for thedogstinks and all of those others posters so eloquently expressing similar thoughts.

Not a direct question to you Jack, just generally, as gender stereotyping seems to be getting worse these days rather than better, I would be interested to know more about these gender clinics.
How many there are now compared to a while ago. How many people get referred and NOT diagnosed as trans. The attitudes of the staff there - I imagine them as stuck in thinking in rigid stereotypes or how can they be diagnosing people as trans?
I expect there's been a Channel 4 documentary I've missed.

Thedog has nailed it.

Jack, you have said that you are not a woman but non-binary, but in the recent piece you described yourself as a woman and also as a lesbian.

If you are a woman born into a female body, how does that mean you are trans? This is not a snarky question - I am genuinely struggling to understand.

If you are not a woman but non-binary, then why do you describe yourself as a woman, and feel entitled to eg, accept awards intended for women, or wear a t-shirt that says you are a lesbian?

You have publicly asked not to be "rejected" from women-only spaces or lesbian-only spaces, but if you are not a woman and not a lesbian (in that you are non-binary and also occasionally have relationships - even if "exceptions" - with men) what makes you entitled to those spaces? Why don't you put your considerable energies into supporting other non-binary people into setting up non-binary spaces and services, just as women did, instead of trying to co-opt women's space? (If a women-only space has people who are not women in it, then it is no longer a women-only space. Same with lesbian-only spaces, although that's pretty theoretical because most of them have already been bullied out of existence.)

What worries me is the complete refusal to discuss much of this stuff - due to the twitterati etc bombarding and abusing anyone who doesn't tow the line.

It seems 'Emperor's new clothes' obvious that a hulking great MTF rugby player in an otherwise born-female team could put the smaller players at risk of injury.
But...................................we can't even mention it as that is being transphobic.

Or that the statistics recorded by the NHS since its inception, or even before, on men and women's health will be totally messed up if hundreds of transgendered people are added. These stats are used world wide as a valuable record of changing health conditions. But who cares, let's throw it to the wind, the transgendered might be offended.

NO ONE, including Jack, I suspect, will say a teensy word about the downsides of allowing free gender assignment by individuals.
This is what makes me mad.
Be whatever you want but don't lie about what you were at birth. It's too important for everyone in the long run.

I do think one of the most pertinent points from this thread was when you said you don't take your six year old son into the men's loo, because you don't want him to see half a dozen penises. What will you do when we reach a point where people with penises are just as entitled to use the ladies as you are?

thedogstinks, I agree with every word in your last post.

Anyone arguing that there is a difference in criminality between tw and men must genuinely believe (in 'male' brains, for a start) but also that men being violence is 'natural' to them. that they rape and commit 90% of violence because of their boy brains. Otherwise it obviously socialization that teaches men to be abusive. And if that's the case well then of course tw are a risk.

So 'men are violent and can't help themselves due to boy brain'

Who is the fucking bigot now?

It is difficult but not impossible to keen an eye on tw patterns of violence as they aren't recorded as tw. They are recorded as 'women' or as the biological males they are. You have to look for individual stories that mention the trans factors. We need better methods of recording trans violence.

Hi jack, have you seen this article? I think it's really interesting. nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/07/whats-missing-from-the-conversation-about-transgender-kids.html?mid=twitter_scienceofus

I've already asked a 'harder' question, hope you don't mind if I ask an 'easier' one too?

Do you have any plans to cover how to eat LCHF (which would also nicely encompass gluten free :) ) on a very small budget? As a lot of people eat this way for medical needs, and also they tend to be those who have a smaller food budget.

I am a biologist and I find it very difficult to accept that someone with XX chromosomes can be anything other than female, or that someone with XY chromosomes can be anything other than male. But I am open to hearing the arguments that might convince me.

Swisswank yy - and we won't get better methods of recording trans violence, employment, health etc etc if the definitions of women and transgender are thrown open to anyone who says they are a member of those groups.

I have read that the Swedish study is flawed, but it is a study of medically transitioned transgender people. The move in this and many other countries to make absolutely no distinction between a man who says he's a woman, and a male suffering from gender dysphoria who has made a meaningful transition, effectively makes the study irrelevant. Both would be trans, and both would be women under the laws proposed by the Women and Equalities Committee.

I haven't RTFT, only Jack's comments.
I still don't understand what you are all about, Jack; I find your replies opaque. To be fair, you are answering questions rather than issuing your manifesto but I can't see that you are very different from any other cook with a media profile, trading on their USP.

I find your complaint about the world only being interested in your sex/gender/whatever as disingenuous. You are, after all, the one who introduced yourself to the world as "a girl called Jack". You started the conversation!

Jack,
This isn't actually a question.
I have an older teenager who identifies strongly as non binary. They have aspergers and severe anxiety. School were almost using them as an "aren't we cool and inclusive" poster child for having someone a bit different on the register.

I have (ex) adult friends who mockingly refer to my beautiful child as "it" because they pronouns are such hard work. A lot of people think I am ridiculous for "indulging" them. I feel like I've learned a whole new language over the past few years.

They have a small group of friends who are non binary or trans and they are so much happier to have some acceptance and not to be mocked by their peers for being themselves.

Thank you for speaking out about it. You're ace. Thank you.

...am actually reading through the whole thread - not quite there yet but have stopped to say this:

Jack you may know people who describe themselves as lesbians who still occasionally sleep with men, but whatever their self-image, they are not lesbians. Many lesbians have had relationships with men before coming out as lesbian, but if they continue to have sexual relationships with men after they come out, they are not lesbians, however much they may wish to describe themselves as that. They are bisexual. Words mean things. If they did not mean things, there would be no point in us talking at all.

(And kudos for actually sticking around and answering questions, which is a lot more than many people do on the official webchats.)

This has been really interesting.

Fair play jack, you've been bloody brilliant putting yourself up for this.

I hope it's been useful for those with genuine questions.

I'm off to google some cheapo recipes to feed my ever hungry kids throughout the summer holidays!