John Boyne's new book 'My brother's name is Jessica'.

[Helmetbymidnight]

John Boyne (author of boy in the striped pajamas) is bringing out a book called My brother's name is Jessica, and this is simply not acceptable, apparently.

He's written an article here:

www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/john-boyne-why-i-support-trans-rights-but-reject-the-word-cis-1.3843005?fbclid=IwAR0WqWp2a3dIu-4pxDKS7k9XQO5lZR4PCKh_AFhAeTRoZMm0TmuiCBvoUjQ

Doc and co are going nuts at him. Not as nuts as they would if it was written by a straight woman, I imagine, but even so.

It's about time the world of books got stuck into this debate. They've been very slow on this one.

And nobody is going to buy/read such books except TRAs.

Do TRAs actually read books? On that twitter screenshot I posted yesterday, the third point from the TRA, regarding not having read Boyne's book was:

3) Reading the novel is not mentally feasible for everyone.

I'm not sure if that's saying that they're incapable of reading a novel, or if all the 'literal violence' in it would upset them too much.

But generally speaking, they don't seem to read anything apart from twitter posts agreeing with them.

I know I don't read YA fiction but is it true that sibling perspectives on transitioning have been done to death, as one of John Boyne's detractors said?

I don't read YA fiction either, but that seems extremely unlikely. I don't supposed they mentioned any actual novels which did this, did they?

So people wanting to literally live in a fictional world are disallowing people who write fiction to write fiction that they haven't 'lived', thereby changing the definition of 'fiction' to 'fact' whilst simultaneously redefining what most people think of as 'fact' into fiction.

Excellent work chaps.

I read, and follow, YA fiction (English teacher) and know of no other books. Certainly not popular ones.

One of my favourite YA books recently is Sal by Mick Kitson. In which the protagonist is a teenaged girl. Mick is a man in his 50s.

Mick is a man in his 50s.

But does he identify as a teenage girl? Because what you identify as is more important than what you actually are.

They laid into another author, a woman didn't they? Lord, I can't remember the details, but she was writing about a female doctor who had to disguise herself as a man in order to access the education and experience necessary. Which, of course, made her a trans, in their eyes.

They hounded this poor author despicably on twitter and, I believe, had the launch of the book delayed and/or cancelled.

(She is quite a famous woman of history, that I didn't know about, so apologies for not remembering the name).

I hope the author contacts Boyne, compares notes and offers support. I hope Boyne understands that, despite the abuse he personally has suffered, it is women who are losing out for the most part here.

(And what is really galling , is that transactivists wouldn't give a shit about women of the past who were denied education on the basis of their sex, under any other circumstances).

EJ Levy.

They laid into another author, a woman didn't they? Lord, I can't remember the details, but she was writing about a female doctor who had to disguise herself as a man in order to access the education and experience necessary. Which, of course, made her a trans, in their eyes.

This makes zero sense, a woman pretending to be a man to access what was only given to men is in no way trans.

Dressing as the opposite sex doesn't make you trans. I suppose they want to say Yentl is really about trans people?

Can't believe they affected the release of the book!

I saw John on the Iplayer from this morning. I'm glad to see they are continuing with his publication as normal, I hope he avoids any protests in any events.

Incidentally, I know I don't read YA fiction but is it true that sibling perspectives on transitioning have been done to death, as one of John Boyne's detractors said?

If anyone knows of anything, I'd be interested.

That was discussed a couple of months back bethy15. Here you go :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3508364-Dr-James-Miranda-Barry

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/18/new-novel-about-dr-james-barry-sparks-row-over-victorians-gender-identity

Sorry for guardian link. The book was bought by LittleBrown but, following the twitter shitstorm, hasn't been scheduled for release.

James Barry, that's right.

Apparently they left instructions in their will to say they wanted to be buried in their male persona. Which is where 'they must be trans' comes from.

It really is the heart of enough that a woman who had to disguise herself because of the patriarchy has now been subjected to further sexist treatment from the very same patriarchy - in the name of progression.

This whole thing is such a TRA own goal. If you wanted to promote trans rights and acceptance and were sensible then surely a book like this would be a good thing. As in it probably appeals to a broader base than with a main trans centered character, more readers would be able to put themselves in the siblings shoes and would hopefully discourage peer bullying of trans kids AND their siblings. And using a sibling/servant/child/friend of a person you want to talk about acting as narrator is hardly an unusual technique.

But anyway, even the relatively woke in the publishing/media worlds will likely struggle to reconcile the backlash in their own heads even if they can’t come out and say it public ally.

TRAs seem to be taking offence to the fact that people are pointing out that Boyne has received a backlash, boycotts called for etc when that is exactly what has happened and people can see it with their own eyes. I guess this is one of the consequences of indulging narcissism to such an extent- it creates an entitlement to demand that everyone bends to your will but God forbid anyone reacts negatively to that.

mobile.twitter.com/MrAComerford/status/1118432925744336896

Comerford is having a proper rant this morning. He's not let up for days.

Comerford makes my skin crawl. I think a big factor in his 'activism' is professional jealousy of Glinner.

im blocked from comerford- (despite never tweeting GC stuff...) whats he say?

I’m blocked too though I have never interacted with him. Agree he is jealous of Glinner. You can look anonymously or log in with a different account Helmet.

He says what he always says:

"I am morally superior to these other people. If they really try hard, perhaps they can put their bigotry aside and be more like me."

When Boyne started his book, he probably thought that he was capturing the zeigeist and on the right side of history. Trans activists focussed on the need for compassion in the face of unprecedented attacks, suicides and murders. It was all very "Layla Moran" - seeing into souls and relieving suffering.

All that has changed because, as the myths have been busted, the TRAs went terrorist-like.

First they came for Radical feminists. Then they came for other outspoken women, including Mumsnet. Then they came for anyone who was sceptical. When the accusations of "Transphobia" became meaningless, they tried other tactics to smear and intimidate.

They went for journalists, who closed ranks. They went for academics, who fought back. They cried 'wolf' to the police and scored own goals. They went for Mumsnet through a civil action and were told to 'Go Well'. They made Trans Allies abase themselves.

Today, the internet is full of images of trans terrorists wielding knives and baseball bats.

And at this point, John Boyne publishes a novel that is greeted with brickbats and threats from TRAs rather than the expected plaudits.

Poor John. Wrong side of history.

I wonder if the book signing will go ahead?

Maybe there'll be a book singeing instead.

Brilliant summary Pam

Ha! I'm blocked from Comerfeld too, (never heard of that person till now) though I have never retweeted a GC comment by anyone, nor made such a comment myself. Must have researched followers of Glinner et al.

I doubt that TRAs read books; they are too busy on Twitter. It would do them good to read, for example, Second World War and Holocoast novels. It might put their poor hurty feelings a bit into perspective.

All that has changed because, as the myths have been busted, the TRAs went terrorist-like.

Indeed. The book was probably written one to two years ago, went into the publishing pipeline maybe last summer at the latest. So very much has changed since then; the tide has turned dramatically as far as public awareness of the ideology is concerned. A year ago I too thought I was trans-friendly and that they had all had surgery. So much has changed even in the last half-year.