James Kirkup: On bomb threats to WPUK meetings: apathy or fear or speaking out?

[R0wantrees]

Article in Spectator concludes:

(extract)
"...Yet women turn up anyway, in large numbers. And what does it say about public and political debate about gender issues that this stuff has become normal and almost unremarkable?

In Britain in 2018, women trying to hold public meetings to talk about politics and the law are being subjected to intimidation and threats. The police are investigating a bomb threat against one of those meetings. Yet politicians and large sections of the media are silent. Would that be the case if any other group or community were subject to such threats and intimidation? Why aren’t politicians, of all parties, shouting from the rooftops about this?

It’s not as if they don’t know or don’t care. Since I started writing about the gender debate in February, I’ve lost count of the number of MPs and other political people (of all parties and ranks, from policy advisers to Cabinet ministers) who have privately told me they are worried about the nature of this debate and worried about the implications of policy. Yet almost all of those people have also said they are not willing to talk about this publicly, for fear of the criticism and vitriol they believe they would face from people who believe the interests of transgender people are best served by shouting down questions with allegations of transphobia and bigotry. I understand that silence, but it has costs. When the people who are supposed to speak for ordinary people – and the rules that allow those people to exercise their basic democratic freedoms – stay silent, they leave a vacuum of leadership and moral courage that can be filled with hostility and fear.

I’ll end by repeating the basic facts of this story once more, in the hope that some of the politicians who talk so much about free speech and equality and fairness finally pluck up the courage to talk about this. Some women had a meeting to talk about their legal rights. Someone threatened to blow up the meeting with a bomb. The police are investigating that threat and say it is being “taken seriously”. And this happened in Britain in 2018."

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/06/why-are-women-who-discuss-gender-getting-bomb-threats/

I think R0wantree is right. Not everyone knows about Section 28 but it is a rallying cry for those who DO know. Nobody wants to be associated with the ‘next’ Section 28. The other line the TRAs like is to tell people they’ll be on “the wrong side of history” - to make out that trans rights are the next frontier in civil rights. So if you were supportive of equal marriage, then you must be in favour of self-ID.

It doesn’t really matter what Edna from Huddersfield thinks about trans rights - it won’t make a difference to how she votes. It does matter what Felix from Islington thinks - who is likely to know about Section 28 - because he likes to think of himself as a person with the right values and votes for the party that best reflects those.

If you listen to the appeals from a number of prominant TRAs, it demonstrates where and how they are making their appeal.

eg Its all about the children who are transgender.

also at the moment, there seems to be focus on a claim that the only 'so called feminists' protesting are white and middle class.

oops, sorry meant to say white, middle aged/older and middle class

It does matter what Felix from Islington thinks - who is likely to know about Section 28 - because he likes to think of himself as a person with the right values and votes for the party that best reflects those.

Felix may say the right things on Twitter and at a dinner party. If Felix isn't in the LGBT community, he will vote quietly where nobody can see in the polling both, on things that make a difference to his life. Choice Corbyn and Trans rights v May and some other issue that makes life better for Felix?

twitter.com/oliverburkeman/status/1009786981214277634

Oliver Burkeman's comment with retweet of JK's article:

"Threats of physical violence against British (and other) women for Wrongthink on sex and gender need to start being an integral part of general media coverage of this topic, and it’s odd that this isn’t the case yet"

[OB writes a column on psychology, This Column Will Change Your Life in The Guardian. He has challenged the condemnation of Transgender Trend's School resource recently as well]

Owen Jones will not be happy.

Outrageous comment.on that Twitter thread:

"Trying to smear minority groups by associating them with terrorism is a common tactic that transphobes have borrowed from racists & xenophobes. Moreover, not all transphobes are women. Are you a woman, Oliver?"

interesting comments with Julie Bindel about the Guardian.

The 'yet' at the end of his twitter comment above is telling...

ShreddedCheese - Felix is comfortably off and likes to imagine that that’s all down to his own hard work. He doesn’t believe that the party in power will affect his own standard of living so he has the luxury of using his vote to indicate the change he wants to see for everybody else. Trans rights (which he hasn’t examined too much, being neither trans nor female) fit within a portfolio of political beliefs that include equality, environmentalism and better funding for public services. If he hears someone saying something that sounds vaguely bigoted or anti-trans, he assumes that they’re not a politician he will vote for.

That’s where the TRAs are being very effective - presenting their struggle as part of the wider LGBT struggle - so you only oppose them if you’re part of a shrinking homophobic minority. It’s very hard to get the counter-message out there that this debate is about something very different.

That's a really good analysis, Treats. We've all come across Felixes.

I think it's the analysis that got us Brexit, sorry Treats! Felix isn't the default voter in the UK and if our mediating class don't realise that by now, then there is no hope for any of them.

Prawn I thought the next comment was the perfect put-down, though - "James is a woman if he says he is..."

But yes, that comment was dreadful.

I agree Felix isn't our default voter. But he makes a lot of noise.

But he makes a lot of noise.

He does! And the noise he makes turns off more voters than he turns on. I don't think our default voter is the arch Brexiteer either. But there is no way a (super)majority of people in this country think like Felix.

The British default voter thinks what one of the fucking idiots-in-charge thinks my daughter should sleep overnight with someone who could make her pregnant and not I'm scared of being told I'm mean to those poor oppressed gender swappers.

There's a reason we've had three election results in a row without a decent majority. The default British voter is quite moderate and commonsensical. Of course they can identify and object to clear safeguarding issues - but they're only going to do that if their politicians and opinion-formers actually say something.

I'd imagine the average voter doesn't much like most politicians and votes for the party they think is the least bad choice.

Agree Lang.

Lang - I agree that Felix isn’t in the mainstream of political opinion and that most people will be much closer to the Mumsnet view of this issue. My point upthread about Edna from Huddersfield is that she isn’t thinking about this issue when she’s deciding who to vote for - she’s thinking about the NHS and rising crime and job losses. Felix IS thinking about this issue because he can afford to.

There’s a small number of voters who will centralise trans rights when deciding who to vote for. There’s a much wider group (although still a minority) who will prioritise civil rights and anti-bigotry when choosing how to vote. But the majority will not think about this issue at all when putting their cross on the ballot paper. The TRAs are targeting the middle group who can be persuaded that this is an issue like gay rights and that they should use their vote to support that agenda.

MPs know that they are probably speaking for the majority if they highlight the issue in the way that it’s been highlighted on this thread. But the majority don’t know or care - they want to hear their MP talk about the NHS or schools’ funding.

So there’s a lot of political risk involved, which is why so few are speaking out. I’m encouraged to hear Kirkup say that they’re coming round in private. If a consensus is building, especially if it’s cross-party, then there’s a chance that they will find a way to oppose this issue and give cover to each other.

My point upthread about Edna from Huddersfield is that she isn’t thinking about this issue when she’s deciding who to vote for - she’s thinking about the NHS and rising crime and job losses. Felix IS thinking about this issue because he can afford to.

I managed to peak in person many an Edna over either Girl guides or M&S changing rooms and explaining AGP. They are very interested now.

I have been told by people that I peaked, various people they know are starting to become aware from the press coverage. I won't repeat their opinions, other than to say they don't agree with Felix and it is a vote loss for pro trans politicians.

Voter wise older women were absolutely critical in Corbyn's level of support in the last election. There are critical votes available for the party that can take hold of this in a sensible and balanced way. Connecting the moderates on both sides Janice Turner has talked about.

If Felix has a stroke, do you think upon learning he is on a long waiting list for speech therapy due to a AGP receiving long term every word taught from scratch NHS funded acting lesson, will Felix still feel the same way?

Felix can pay to go private.

Prosperous- yes! That’s why we need to keep writing and getting others to write. If MPs start to think that Edna will move her vote because of this issue, they will speak out. Right now, they’re not convinced, but I think that’s changing.

It’s good to get Kirkup in the Spectator and Aaronovitch and Turner in the Times, but the Daily Mail (alas) would be pivotal.

But that’s why I think girls’ sports has to be the focus. Anything that was too easily categorised as transphobic and you couldn’t get Felix onside as well as Edna.

AngeyAttackKittens - precisely!

That tweet from Julie Bindel:

"Feminists on the paper have been silenced, & major articles examining the reality, spiked. There is cowardice (& some bullying) in the air."

is quite chilling in its description of what's happening at the Guardian. I think we've all suspected as such. Take Hadley's article: it was a lone article, no comments etc. They're now pre-moderating articles if they do have comments open on this subject. There has been nothing about the bomb threat. Horrible newspaper. I'd like to hear more about who's doing the bullying...

The problem with pandering to Felixes until a critical mass of Ednas is on your side (without any attempt to get a critical mass of Ednas on your side) is that you leave what is an inevitable backlash - when safeguarding failures have led to a crisis, eg Rotherham, Savile, etc - to the far right. They can say, a la Tommy Robinson, we were the only ones talking common sense.

If MPs don't want the far right to hoover up a large number of Ednas, they are going to have to be proactive opinion formers, not reactive lobby group slaves. I have no sympathy with them at all.