Alice Thomson (The Times): Gender obsessives are old-fashioned sexists

[TimeLady]

In our bizarre new world we have become fixated on a set of rigid Victorian ideals of gender roles for men and women

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gender-obsessives-are-old-fashioned-sexists-5xrnhknhn?shareToken=6b3a59bda0dae1c2390bbef255beb886

Thank you, Alice, for this comment piece.

Thanks for the share token; very good article. I didn't realise the BACP had at least removed the reference to northern women. Shame about the rest of their statement.

Oh shame. I loved that reference to Northern women. I'm sure it made us all wish we were northern.

Excellent article. Many good topical points.

He has seen several cases where patients have asked to have their nipples removed so they can become androgynous.

Wait what? Both sexes have nipples - are these patients wanting to be androgynous non-mammals?

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jan/15/what-does-the-trend-for-smaller-nipples-say-about-us Nipple removal is I hope on the extreme end, but yes, apparently your nipples must also be "on fleek" these days.

Great piece. Thanks Alice!

Great piece (glad the northern bit is retained for posterity), and all the better for being about the daft definitions and not their author.

Very very good.

It's starting to feel like the media ban on talking about how absurd "gender" is has eased up, isn't it?

The Times, I think, only considers something banned if there's an actual D notice or injunction.

It's starting to feel like the media ban on talking about how absurd "gender" is has eased up, isn't it?

It is. I hope it makes its way into the youth market soon so that all our poor young people can stop being suffocated by these diktats.

I’m still transCumbrian

Excellent piece though.

I didn’t realise they’d taken the northern bit out!

I identified as trans northern can’t believe they have erased my identity.

I’m so confused. I’m Irish but live in Manchester. I wear black scrubs but pink shoes to work and this morning stopped a patient falling out of bed using only my arse. Am I northern yet?

Maybe “plastic paddies” are now trans-Irish and I am cis-Irish?

Good article. The Times are really showing some journalistic integrity in this particular debate.

Re the nipples/androgynous thing there are a small subset of people known as nullo's. It's rather disturbing so I don't advise googling but some go as far as removing genitals and navels too as part of extreme body modification.

I discovered this a few months back via datalounge who had some rather horrifying photos in the discussion. Up until then I had no idea it was actually a thing.

Glad to see her calling out the offensive stereotyping of autistic women too. It's high time the National Autism Society started waking up and making a noise about the fact that autistic young people are overly represented in gender clinics before their potential sterilisation begins to look like eugenics.

I identified as trans northern sad can’t believe they have erased my identity.

Pfft, as non-British woman in Britain, I have never even existed for the BACP.

There was also the young Japanese man who had his genitals removed, and paid for it by offering them up cooked (by himself, wearing chef's hat) to paying sponsors in an attempt to rid himself of gender/sex/whatever it was that he thought that would accomplish. Luckily the number of people whose obsession with gender roles and trying to escape them who go that far is small, but it's a thing for sure.

Oh shame. I loved that reference to Northern women. I'm sure it made us all wish we were northern.

I am Northern - can confirm all this gender stuff makes me angry.

I'm currently identifying as Geordie, but am region fluid so may change my mind tomorrow.

Oh and a bit aggressive - at least in my speech.

I take it today you are out and about in the cold in as few clothes as possible as per the stereotype AAK?

May have some K cider later just to make sure everyone notices today's choice of identification.

snorts

I’ve known people to remove nipples as part of extreme body modification but not as gender thing.

In my world, this stuff is done by body piercers and not doctors. This is a legal grey area (can you consent to harm?) but I would imagine it’s far more ethically troublesome for doctors, I mean, what diagnosis would you need to justify it? It can’t be considered purely cosmetic, surely? I mean, you can justify a nose job based on aesthetics/self esteem, but you wouldn’t remove a nose entirely based on the same argument...