Eddie Flipping Izzard

[ReluctantCamper]

excerpt from his autobiography in which Eddie recounts:

1. using the ladies loo to get changed, because why not. I mean he sometimes wears nail varnish so what woman on earth would object to having a poo or inserting a tampon with Eddie in the next cubical

2. shouting at some teenaged girls who objected to his presence. This is totes empowering and women could definitely use this tactic when we're shouted at by men in the street and it wouldn't end with us getting beaten up.

You go Eddie. You're a fucking inspiration.

incorrigiblyplural

Why are you ignoring the fact a man was in the female toilets?? He had no business being in there, these girls were children ffs!

Exactly ReluctantCamper Labour should be able to do so much better.

Camper - it has to be between those two because Izzard was the next one on the list in terms of votes for the NEC - don't take it up with me, take it up with Labour members who voted for him. I didn't.

But the alternative to him is Shawcroft, and as posted, I think what she did actually falls into the category of 'morally evil', rather than just 'ill-advised' or 'thoughtless', which I guess Izzard using the ladies' loos back in 1980 something or whenever it was, when this wasn't really an issue people talked or thought about, is rather an example of.

As I said, his description of shouting back, “You want to know why I’m wearing a dress? I’ll tell you why.” sounds quite reasonably to me - he was being followed by three girls, all mocking him publicly. Was he supposed to just continue being unable to go home, walking in circles for hours, while they continued? I think his words sound quite reasonable and measured in that context.

I'm sure Labour has better people than both Shawcroft - who appears to have a long history of trouble-making and sounds probably the least suitable person alive to chair a Labour internal disputes panel (see labourlist.org/2015/05/nec-member-christine-shawcroft-suspended-for-continued-lutfur-rahman-support/ and www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/03/commons-confidential-momentum-s-christine-shawcroft-loses-comrades-furious - and a celebrity comedian.

That these are the people who get chosen to lead Labour's ruling body points to a problem within Labour - decent, hard-working and long-standing Labour people are being marginalised right now.

You can put a man in a dress but you can't take the Y out of his genes.

It's an odd world when an adult man undressess in a female public toilet and the girls present are seen as in the wrong.

They're not seen in the wrong because they happened to be present in the female public toilet, LostArt.

I never actually described anyone other than Christine Shawcroft as being 'in the wrong', but assuming that your post was directed at me, I certainly don't see 3 teenage girls pursuing a transvestite across London shouting “Hey, why are you dressed as a woman?” as ideal behaviour, no. It certainly doesn't suggest they felt the least bit intimidated by him. If I was scared by finding a man in the public loos, I wouldn't follow him home to demand he explained his clothing choices to me.

I actually find the fact that you think that in this exchange, those teenage girls were 'in the right' purely by virtue of their age and gender a little worrying.

I don't think you do those of us who are opposing self-certification any favours at all. There are plenty of good examples that make the point I think you might cackhandedly be trying to make. Attacking a politician on the very day he takes over from another politician in an extremely charged political atmosphere on grounds that frankly sound a bit ridiculous makes you sound like a political shill, rather than someone with a serious point to make about self-certification.

Wow... that excerpt shows such incredible self-absorption and lack of any attempt to see this incident from the POV of these three girls.

I used to like Izzard too, but telling that story as if it was something to be proud of ...urgh.

If he'd had the guts to use the men's loos (he did not, and AFAIK does not actually claim to be a woman so wtf entitled him to think it was ok to use the ladies?) and had been harassed by 3 teenage boys, maybe he'd have had a story.

incorrigiblyplural
What Izzard shows is a lack of hindsight that it was him that was in the wrong, he had no place being in those female toilets, that's the point. He showed a complete lack of respect for those girls by being there on the first place. He was 23, these were young teenage girls......

@incorrigiblyplural - as I wrote on the last thread, if you know Highbury Corner, Izzard alleges they pursued him across the park and across three separate sets of traffic lights. I find that extraordinarily hard to believe.

Say there is a kernel of truth in there, I can believe they challenged him and took the piss. By why wouldn't they? He was a bloke in the women's toilets. They were already in there. Rather than deciding to use the men's when he saw there were teenage girls in there, he continued to place his needs to validate himself above their discomfort.

I think I might have met him once, and he was a dick.

Just saying.

"if I was scared by finding a man in the public loos, I wouldn't follow him home to demand he explained his clothing choices to me."

So how should those girls have behaved?

Eddie izzard had no need to be in that toilet. He was there, if it happened at all, because he wanted to be there. He didn't care that anyone there might feel his presence alarming. And he was disgusted that girls might challenge him. Not just girls, but bad girls, the wrong sort of girls who would skip school. He thought that then, he thinks that now. That's the man you are defending.

He might well be a dick. He's a celebrity comedian. Though the fact that some anonymous poster says he is on the internet is not exactly proof.

I agree that he shouldn't have been in women's loos, though he was dressed as a woman (when he went in) and can see that I probably wouldn't have fancied my chances going into a men's public toilets dressed as a woman in Islington in 1980-something. Nothing in what he wrote suggested he did it in order to 'validate himself', as JigglyTuff put it - that seems to come from your imagination. It comes straight after a section where he talks about his fear, so that is at least as likely a reason for his choosing not to brave Islington men back in 1980-something. Islington then, by the way, was a long, long way from the posh, gentrified area it now is - it wasn't multi-million pound houses and lattes, it was extremely down at heel and notorious for its council estates and crime.

And the whole issue of which sex toilets you use just wasn't something I ever remember people discussing until about 2 years ago. I guess he put his own safety before worrying if he'd frighten anyone else in the toilets at the time, but to be fair he makes it very clear he was desperately hoping there'd be no-one in there, he wasn't hoping to intimidate anyone. I daresay these days he'd think more about which toilets to use, because it's something that's talked more about and no, for the record, I have no idea whether he is in favour of using female toilets now.

Again, I just find it odd that this piece, exploring an interview published last year, is being discussed on the very day Izzard takes over from Christine Shawcroft, who is indisputably guilty of far, far worse.

LostArt - seriously???

You think it is suitable, nay apparently inevitable behaviour, that if you see a transvestite, you should follow them home and demand they explain what they're wearing?

WTF?!

I repeat, you seriously are not doing the side you purport to support any favours here at ALL.

Why are you so critical of the school girls alleged behaviour, but so ready to make lots of excuses for the man's behaviour?

Don't you see that to the outsider, it might look theres a lot of misogyny within the Labour party? The Labour party, after all must have read his book and thought his actions were acceptable, otherwise why let him be a candidate?

Don't you see that to the outsider, it might look theres a lot of misogyny within the Labour party?

I probably now count as an "outsider" so far as the Labour party. It looks more like a continuation of the Labour party's mission to make itself unelectable.

I am not in favour of three teenagers pursuing someone - whether trans or not - and mocking what they're wearing. That sounds pretty threatening. I don't understand who you think you're benefitting by arguing this is normal or acceptable behaviour. You can validly argue he shouldn't have been in the ladies' loos, though as I said, given the way he describes it and given the era it occurred, I don't think it's such a serious crime either.

But misogyny??

There may well be lots of misogyny in Labour, but nothing you've presented is an example of it.

I'm open to hearing about real examples - please post.

"l probably now count as an "outsider" so far as the Labour party. It looks more like a continuation of the Labour party's mission to make itself unelectable."

I don't think Corbyn wants the responsibility of government. He wants to be remembered as the best leader we never had.

And you have some wires really badly crossed, LostArt, if you think that to attack Izzard is to attack the current Labour establishment.

The current Labour establishment hate Izzard, because he's not one of Corbyn's inner clique. Hence the determination to hold on to Shawcroft even though she had been exposed as secretly conspiring to ensure a known Holocaust denier was allowed to be a Labour candidate.

Because if she went, Corbyn and his mates knew it would automatically let Izzard in. Eventually, they had no choice and Shawcroft had to go.

But if you have a problem with how Labour under Corbyn is managing things, then Izzard is much more likely to be on your side than he is on Corbyn's.

incorrigiblyplural, where have I said that they did the right thing?

So you agree pursuing someone home and mocking their clothing choices was the wrong thing to do?

Then we agree.

I know exactly what Islington was like in the 80s. Which is why I don't believe his story of those girls following him across Highbury fields, around the roundabout and down canonbury road. It's a fantasy

He has made a career out of making up stories.

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/940060/Labour-anti-Semitism-row-Eddie-Izzard-NEC-orders-Jeremy-Corbyn-stamp-out-hate

I hadn't realised Izzard was not in favour with Corbyn. I wonder how long he will last.

Eddie Izzard has described a common AGP fantasy. Lesbian handmadien who is a possible sexual partner - check. Humiliation fetish, ie being humiliated dressed up in front of other people, especially other men - check. Young teenage girls bossing and dominating him because of dressing - triple check.
Not saying that EI has made up this story, but what a coincidence that Sissy Fetish themes are all over it.