Janice Turner: "When self-identification trumps biology, men can be women, white can be black and age really will be just a number"

[TimeLady]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/if-identity-politics-win-a-man-of-69-can-be-49-bqh6rsjqw?shareToken=4fd4aac12f70686bfe4311abe13e7c50

Pretty much backs up what Trevor Philips was saying last month

Confusing and disorienting people is pretty much the entire point of Butler, and post-modernism in general. There is a certain kind of person who enjoys baffling and hoodwinking with walls of text and incomprehensible terminology.

Janice is such a fab writer. Clear, concise, to the point, joins the dots and puts it all together into something that makes sense.

Oh thank the lord! Just read the Wikipedia piece and came back to see these Butler comments. Even the dictionary isn't helping!

The Times comments don't appear in the app, only in the browser version.

Yes with much of the ideas which come from Continental Philosophy I feel enraged with the waffly, self-indulgent, bullshitty word salad. Funny how Empiricists don't feel the need to talk out of their arses.

It is all about poetic licence to imagine what might be - instead of cutting the crap and getting down to what actually is.

All of that self-indulgent imagining without testing or proof needs to be confined to art and amusement and stay they fuck out of science and law.

I've notice that Americans often have this insecurity about their intellectual status so the pretentiousness of correctly pronouncing the names of French philosophers is appealing. Makes people look wonderfully clever.

I think that's why there is an appetite for swallowing Butlers bullshit over there.

materialist I agree. I think it just says gender is made up. It doesn’t say why sex is made up. But it does say Foucault so it sounds super clever.

Another great article from Janice. Thank you!

I cannot understand a word Judith Butler or Foucault ever wrote. I consider this to be their problem, not mine. Janice Turner, on the other hand, is always clear, concise and to the point, even when she's talking about tricky stuff. I know what I think is the greater skill.
Another article that's bang on the money. Thanks for the link and thanks also to you, Janice.

Yep. If reasonably intelligent people consistently struggle to understand your writing then your writing is bad and you should feel bad about that.

If it is universally agreed that Butler's work is hard to understand how did it become so influential?

Can anyone explain in simple language what her views on hate speech are? I couldn't make head nor tail based on Wikipedia's account.

I saw a university student's union advertise a 'hate speech workshop' yesterday. A few months ago I would have seen this as helpful and benign. These days I have my concerns that it's a workshop to shut up the opinions you disagree with.

I want to self identify as 20 years older
I can claim my pension and not have to work anymore

The 69 year old who wants to be 49 that is satire right?
he's not serious?

I was just thinking about how lovely and clear Janice Turner's writing is and something that is such an amazing antidote to the ridiculous waffle of Butler, is Professor Sheila Jeffreys' 'Unpacking Queer Politics' -so good, clear, extremely well-informed and 100% waffle free. I remember being surprised at how little ego, self-indulgence or pretentiousness there is in her writing. Almost like she actually wants as many people as possible to understand what she is saying and let the facts speak for themselves.

And of course Janice Turner for doing the same.

I'm not sure if he's performing political theater or if he's serious. Can anyone here read Dutch? It might be more obvious without adding a layer of translation.

If it is universally agreed that Butler's work is hard to understand how did it become so influential?

The same reason people say the Emperor wears clothes... a tale including swindlers, powerful idiots and the majority not wanting to look stupid or unkind.

From the article:
People have identified as the opposite gender, cross-dressed and subverted gender roles throughout history. But in the 2004 Gender Recognition Act trans people were granted full membership. Anyone with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria could after two years apply for a new birth certificate.
No one thought a trans person could literally change sex, rather this was a legal fiction to protect, rightly, the privacy of a small, vulnerable group from exposure or blackmail

I'm going to identify as age-fluid - 67 for pension purposes, 37 for going-on-the-pull purposes.

Can I self-identify as a new profession when looking for my next role? I'm a gardener but I feel like an engineer.

Janice is a solid gold

As to our sanctimonious derailer, they only do it to annoy because they know it teases , to paraphrase (badly) my beloved Alice In Wonderland

I know it's not the point of the thread but I'm getting a bit grumpy at all these posts about claiming your pension. Do you know how much you would get? Here's the clue - the guy has said he'll give his up if he wins (I think he's in The Netherlands but I assume they're comparable).

I don't want to derail but seriously - I'm one of the lucky ones in a half decent pension scheme and I'm still way better off working as long as I can.

Age fluid?
where do I sign up 😁

Sound like you're wanting to be age fluid FermatsTheorem. And why not?

Hmmm, age fluid had already been written several times. Should have gone to Specsavers.