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.

multivac: Jack, I am genuinely interested to know why you tweeted a link to this thread to nearly 80K followers on Twitter? What did you hope to have happen?

Nothing, really. Same as the original reason for my post - to generate a discussion.

... but not the discussion that developed in either place, presumably (on Twitter: mumsnet = aggressive, boring, mean ol' TERFS; on here: 'if gender isn't real, why are so many people insisting on defining themselves by it?')?

How do you pronounce Mx?

Seek 'celebrity' my arse Just happened to do stuff for a while that meant was in slightly public arena and was a major frickin eye-opener (& not in a good way!!!)

Hi Jack,
My daughter is writing her PhD on security and justice for non monosexuals. Will you interview for her? (Would be anon).

We think you're fab

Jack, you wrote a Guardian article criticising MN posters for treating your breasts as trophies on the subject of breast reduction.

I agree with you that breast reduction should not be more of an issue than breast enhancement.

Can you not see that if a woman talked about their breast enhancement as a way of resolving their unhappiness around gender, most people who care about young women and their rights would see that person as a role model for young women, think that person should be speaking out about gender, or appear across from Julia Long in a debate.

It makes no more sense than having one of the Kardashians debating Julia Long on women's rights.

The issue that many people have with surgery as part of a resolution for gender issues is that psychiatry and psychology have a horrific history of mutilating the bodies of gender non conforming women and gay men through both hormones and surgery.

There is a lot of talk about 'being on the wrong side of history' on this issue. If history ends up judging trans activists and medical gender experts as being wrong on all of this, isn't that side really dark, like eugenics dark?

And surely that's why you're seeing so much push back here. It's not because breasts are a trophy of womanhood, it's because of the horrendous history of women altering their bodies because society will not accept we have a right to be both human and whole.

Sorry, will add a missing not to that...

Can you not see that if a woman talked about their breast enhancement as a way of resolving their unhappiness around gender, most people who care about young women and their rights would not see that person as a role model for young women, think that person should be speaking out about gender, or appear across from Julia Long in a debate.

For all of us who are now puzzled and to lazy to google: Who are you? What are you doing? And why are people outraged?

I'm working my way through the thread and came to this.

The current default is that women's spaces and women's facilities are "expanded" to fit in everyone who does not strictly fit the definition of a man - so nonbinary people, transwomen, genderfluid people - and that means that these spaces and facilities are no longer accessible to women who want and/or need women-only space.

It's something I've noticed in recent articles a lot, that it's the women's toilet that becomes the gender neutral on, while the men's stay as the men's. Surely, in most cases it makes more sense to change the male toilets into gender neutral ones, as they usually have urinals and cubicals. So men and women with penises (peni?) have urinals if they need them and men and women with vaginas have cubicals with bins in for changing tampons etc.

I've often wondered why it's mostly the women's services and facilities that are opened up to everyone in order to be exclusive while the men keep their own, and also what is it that makes a woman selfish, nasty, hysterical and all the other insults they are often called for not wanting to be around male bodied people when naked or in vulnerable postitions, yet when TW don't want to be in toilets etc with male bodies then its understandable.

I guess what I'm asking is why is TW wanting privacy away from male bodies a reasonable request, but women wanting privacy away from male bodies and fighting to keep those spaces are TERFs and transphobic etc? And is the opening of women's facilities, instead of the men's more about validation?

Thanks for the thread Jack, I don't always agree with your opinions but I do have a lot of respect for you starting this thread. You are being asked some tricky questions and it's understandable you'll want to take time to out your answers together. If I blurt the wrong words out or offend someone by accident, or I'm taken in a different way to what I meant, as I've posted in haste then I can apologise and people will move on, if you do the same you'll be flamed and quoted on it forever.

Off to read the rest of the thread now.

I hope by linking to Twitter, that people who never come on here; who only read what they've seen mentioned in The Guardian, or The Mail online, will open their minds a bit.

I hope that. I am not sure.

And clearly I am incapable of basic orthography today: too lazy

I've not had a chance to read all the replies but just want to say I think you're wonderful. I love your blog and recipes.

All answers to that are within the thread, Nicola :)

@BeyondBeyondBeyond - I will therefore have to remain eternally curious.

Nicola, she's a fairly well known cook who came out as trans and then keeps slagging off MN posters in interviews.

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this one has already been asked. But WHY are you so desperate for attention?

Untrue, unkind and unnecessary, magical. Well done, three card trick.

Nicola, you could've googled Jack in the same time it took you to write one post, let alone three.

Not specifically aimed at Nicola, but I find the posts asking who jack is very weird. Almost like they are hijacking our 'conversation' by filling the thread with disingenuous?? questions...?

God there are some rigid people on here. Wake up call- just because something doesn't fit with your own personal experience, it doesn't mean it's not real for somebody else. What interests me is, why do you feel so threatened that you have to try to invalidate Jack's experience? What on earth do you imagine could happen as a result of the way Jack identifies?

Untrue, unkind and unnecessary, magical. Well done, three card trick

Unkind, possibly. Untrue, no not at all. Unnecessary? She posted the thread inviting people to ask her any questions, this is mine. It's as valid as anyone else's.

I do find Jack Monroe's seeking of attention baffling, given that she's complained so much about the negative effects of her media exposure. So its a genuine question.

Beyond I think it will be a pity if the thread ends up deleted because certain posters who are late to the thread and/or new to MN try to hijack it.

There's no way MN would make the same mistake as before and delete the whole thread rather than individual posts.

*MNHQ

That's true SuburbanRhonda

Sorry but who are you? Now googling you....