Guardian: LGBT activists criticise minister for women over trans comments

[HavingALittleBabyToolshed]

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/27/lgbt-activists-victoria-atkins-minister-women-trans-comments?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The minister for women has been condemned by transgender campaigners for saying that young people are having their gender reassigned as “an answer to questions they are perhaps not asking themselves”.

Victoria Atkins cited an increase in the number of teenagers who were being referred to undergo gender reassignment surgery and declared: “We need to get down to the reasons why this is happening.”

The remarks provoked criticism from leading LGBT rights activists who said it was “damaging to imply that trans teens are being given treatment lightly”.

really think it is time people stopped feeling scarred of expressing considered views. We have been brain washed in to thinking this is risky but those trying to shut us up.

100% agree

They've linked it to other Green Party articles but no link to their Transgender feed.

Who guards the Guardian?

Their whole handling of this issue has been appalling.
Not "quality journalism" by a long shot.
I wouldn't even call it "journalism" anymore.

Looking forward to OJ putting his usual anti-female spin on this...

Also looking forward to the PinkNews "hot take," considering an article prominently displaying Aimee Challenor was talking about "safety" in response the the lesbians at Pride.

These activists are campaigning against women and safeguarding.
They care more about their reputations that actual rape and violence. They couldn't care less about female lives. Or the lives of children.

At least the Challenor case really shows us who these people really are.

I see the Guardian has run an article - centering AC and the Green Party leadership elections, rather than the rape and torture of a child.

Well, of course. And it's written in a way that makes AC seem particularly brave and stunning, don't you think?

This from the Guardian twitter feed:

The need for independent journalism has never been greater. Become a Guardian supporter

I'm not in Mensa but even I understand independent journalism. Independent my derriere.

Yes, Aimee is a rising star.

What is that all about anyway?

Does anyone see politicians as stars?

Thank you Wanderabout

I'd write to the Guardian but I can't be bothered with them anymore. It has made me question everything I read form them (aside from Hadley Freeman) and the BBC as well.

The Twitter thread is cheering though

OJ has been quiet on trans lately AFAIK. Focussing on Brexit where he won't get pesky women presenting real facts to him

OJ got rinsed by a pesky female journalist the other day on the subject of journalism, representation and standards.

Jen Williams of the Manchester Evening news is a legend.

She blogged about it, and its well worth a read:

medium.com/behind-local-news-uk/why-society-should-fear-the-constant-political-attacks-on-journalists-and-journalism-df8aa15ea03e
Why society should fear the constant political attacks on journalists and journalism

Its a general take on the state of journalism in 2018, but as usual there are some good take homes from the article relevant to current debate.

Jen wisely quotes Orwell:

“If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better"

I'm a huge fan of her writing. She is worth following on twitter even if you are outside Manchester. A lot of her better pieces are resonant far beyond the city. She's recently done a fabulous piece on hidden homeless and how homeless deaths go uncounted by bureaucracy.

One of the best journalists in the country atm.

@ jenwilliamsmen

I've finally had it with The Guardian.

I can't get my head round why the Challenor case has not been shouted from the rooftops.

Oh goodness that last comment was meant for The Archers' thread - please ignore it.

Isn't it bizarre that The Guardian story features the transactivists' hostile reactions to Minister Atkins caution comment BEFORE quoting her actual words?
And that the author hasn't bothered balancing these reactions with quotes from the growing number of academics, carers and parents urging such caution?
Looks to me like what we call a "hit piece"... maybe designed to offset the current discredit of transactivist reformers, around the Challenors scandal.

The write-up and follow-up interviews by Camilla Turner and Steven Swinford in The Telegraph put those of The Guardian to shame. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/27/transgender-activists-accused-attempting-shut-downdebate/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

Just read that article by Jen Williams - excellent piece.

You can see the comments under the Telegraph article despite the paywall.

Most are from ill-informed men who have missed the central point (safeguarding children from life-changing decisions to mutilate their healthy bodies).

thanks for the link to the Jen William piece, redtoothbrush. Excellent journalism, I'm now following her on twitter.

and, for everyone who's surprised that the Guardian does this, a big fat WHY? When was it NOT packed full of fuckwittery? So many people seem to cling onto the idea of it being a beacon of wisdom in a naughty world, when that particular boat sailed a long, long time ago (pre- Cologne NYE, anyway).

when that particular boat sailed a long, long time ago

IIRC, my parents lost patience within about 10 years of it ceasing to be the Manchester Guardian.

I'm on my phone, and I just can't type out what I think about this. My fingers would fall off.

It's so fucked up.

The irony, of course, is that the GRA was a Conservative project, with cross-party backing.

And it looks as though only the Conservatives have the sense to start backing away slowly from this clusterfuck.

It's such a shame that WEP was Co-opted so early on. We really could use a women's issues-based party. But not WEP. They're shit. Finished before they even started.

The Guardian is the Daily Mail of the left. But in fact, it's worse than that in reality, as, with the Mail, you know what you're getting. They don't try to hide behind fake virtue like the Guardian do. All the while sitting in their gilded, home counties home-offices, preaching to the rest of us.

I'm done with it now. I used to buy it, but since I realised I'm (originally) from their most despised demographic group (working class, white), they can fuck off. Their minimising of mass child rape by Pakistani Muslim men and the Germany NYE attacks on women pushed me to the precipice. Their pro-trans agenda, at the expense and physical safety of actual women, has pushed me over it - and there's no coming back. I hope they go bust.

Which is a shame, as the UK needs a decent left-leaning newspaper.

Rumledore, you will find a detailed analysis of that statistic and its misleading character at www.transgendertrend.com/stonewall-school-report-what-does-suicide-rate-mean/

The stat that jumped out at me from this article was that the figures they gave for the increase in child referrals are only from 2016/17 to 2017/18, which is the 25% increase quoted. But if looked at over a longer period, the increase is hugely more significant - from 2009/10 to the present there has been a 10x increase in referrals (1000% if you like percentages!). I'm sure if that figure had been used it would have caused much more concern (hence probably why it wasn't!).