Martina Navratilova states the obvious

[Glinner]

twitter.com/Martina/status/1075193284660785153

At first I was delighted to see thisat last a big name in women's sport is speaking up! but then I got angry all over again that this utterly obvious point has to be explained to an adult, in this case, a Guardian journalist. It boggles the mind.

I have just discovered I am blocked on Twitter by the fragrant Rachel. It has made my day

This isn't as completely unrelated to the thread as I had thought, as it turns out that carrying angle is yet another source of difference in men's and women's sports performances

If you watch the race the two 'girls' won in America, you can clearly see the difference in running style. They are bolt upright, almost leaning back to run and pounding their arms. In contrast the girls are running almost bent forward, for we have two appendages which make us naturally do that thing. It was interesting to watch. Also the girls don't pound their arms so much, because I gues they would be hitting those appendages on their front.

I just skim-read the last chapter of McKinnon's book, which focused on speech norms and gender.

It seemed like accurate analysis - nothing groundbreaking in that chapter, just the kind of stuff Deborah Tannen talks about, although RM was working the analysis into their own specific framework which I didn't bother to read about.

What struck me was that RM is very consciously aware of the gendered norms which RM, and TRAs in general, exploit to attack women, and which TRAs generally benefit from because they are not treated like women. Here's a relevant quote.

in Western cultures, for example, a woman in many contexts ought not directly assert something, even if she knows it. If she does directly assert in these contexts, she may be viewed as a bitch, for example.

Was RM leveraging that cynically and consciously when attacking Martina Navratilova? Or is the projection so extreme that they believe they are at the sharp end of this dynamic, and the pushback they receive on their bullying is sexism?

It means that McKinnon knows precisely what McKinnon is doing.

I admire Martina immensely.

Why do the TRAs think that they can bully greatly respected figures like Martina, Jenni Murray and Alison Moyet, try to force them to grovel, and still think that they will have popular support. I just don't get it, when these people could have been allies.

But it's been working for them so far, Genderwitched

www.outsports.com/2018/12/21/18151025/martina-navratilova-trans-athletes-twitter

They're not looking for allies. This is the re-education/Great Purge stage of the revolutionary process.

Yep, they have all the allies they need, this is about maintaining silence from other opinions.

Less people will speak up if the think they are few.

People who think men are not women can’t be few.

Trying to stay off Twitter but I think this thread should be shared far and wide. Unbelievable.

twitter.com/4th_WaveNow/status/1076193722558164992

Yes that is a very good thread.

Hope the break is going well

So someone wrote an article in the NYT saying their 7yo daughter was “a tomboy, not trans” and activists plotted to track down the child by any means necessary so they could “recruit” her?

And yet Martina is the bogeyman because she thought that articulate was good, at the time?

Jesus

It's beyond awful, isn't it.

This is a resume of todays stuff janeclarejones.com/2018/12/21/disciplining-martina-heretics-and-the-church-of-trans-normativity/

God, DYAC, I obviously meant “article” not “articulate”

Oh my god Glinner that thread.

I read the TRA thread before the opinion piece and even though I thought I made due allowance for the TRA reality distortion field, I got the impression that the author of the piece was somewhat uncomfortable with her daughter's gender expression, and had forbidden her daughter to wear ties. And I thought "that's a bit shitty though isn't it?"

Then I read the actual piece. Daughter is entirely clear and insistent that she is a girl despite multiple adults asking if she's sure. The daughter has chosen to stop wearing ties and start wearing grubby tracksuits and the mum liked the other look better, but isn't interfering with her child's choices. The TRAs are mass-misgendering the girl and accusing the mother of doing so. It's awful.

McKinnon: the gift that keeps on giving.

Fighting back after I call you out for naked transphobia never ages well for people. No one wins, but someone sure loses...and it's never me.

Just thank us for correcting you, apologize, and do better.

It's really that simple.

twitter.com/rachelvmckinnon/status/1076208241124741120?s=19

This was 20 minutes ago.

It's breathtakingly awful isn't it? McKinnon really does plumb the depths of awfulness - bullying, intimidation and misogyny alongside an overwhelming sense of their own "importance" writ large all over that exchange with Martina. Repellent individual.

In contrast to Martina's fab inclusive twitter posts.

Male arrogance in all it's "glory"
Quite breathtaking

Can we get Rachel McKinnon to do some kind of nationally televised broadcast? Perhaps we could all write to the BBC saying what dedicated McKinnon fangirls we are, and begging them to invite McKinnon onto primetime TV.

Yes the World champion cyclist should do the Reith Lecture.

Trying to stay off Twitter but I think this thread should be shared far and wide. Unbelievable.

I think you have learned by now, as much as you want to have a break from it, the fucking madness just keeps escalating, like a boil that is taking over the world human by human. There is no end.

Just found out I’m blocked by McKinnon too. all I have ever done is liked a few tweets, so there’s been some serious hunting down of people to block...