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.

I wonder what the twitterati made of Libby Purves's novel several years back, in which the young hero/ine is trans (and also vaguely saintly, and a twin, and so delicately built as to be totally 'passing' and no threat to anybody except a massively clodhopping yet somehow understanding father).

Dear Mr Boyne

Your correspondents say that the title of of your book inflicts untold damage on trans people. They say that you are the worst form of transphobe because of your bogus claim to be an ally. They demand that you pulp the books and undergo some sort of penance that they alone will describe at length.

Publishers and book shops will be targeted. Online reviews of your novel will be awful. There will be protests at book signings by people in masks.

Do you think that GC people may have a point, in the light of your experience?

There is probably very little overlap between 'twitterati who get offended about stuff' and 'people who read Libby Purves.'

I think if the publishers stuck it out they would be fine because although in theory John Boyne is a YA writer, he is successful not because all the teens love him but because he crossed over to the adult market. So he won't need their approval.

pombear I did what you said and followed some links. I was expecting the usual AGP porn, but instead I found reams of the worst misogyny I have ever seen. And I am on Twitter a lot.
What was so truly shocking was the amount of it, absolutely buckets of bile from many many different posters including some women.
Basically the messages were nearly all of the 'men need to take back control by force' variety, and looking forward to a time when technology would provide them with good enough sex robots and uteri (sp?) so that they would be able to dispense with women altogether.

He's supposed to be doing a book signing in a London Waterstones tomorrow evening, wonder how that will turn out? 🤔

Yeah, I did smile at the "done loads of research" thing.

He clearly cannot have done so. The howls of outrage for apologising to Glinner (which he was correct to do) were wearyingly predictable.

Half an hour on this board would have prepared him sufficiently.

But it's not over, John. You've shown yourself to be weak in recanting your apology (for the deletion of even a single Tweet is equivalent to a full recant in TRA world).

And you've got a book to flog.

Those two things make you an ideal target in the transgender cult.

The denunciation/boycott phase is the most important and thrilling phase in the transgender cult. These feeding frenzies are what ensures the survival of the cult. They are the fuel. Genderism would be over in a week if they had no new victims to hound.

So they'll come after you all the more. They have to.

You're Glinner now.

The denunciation/boycott phase is the most important and thrilling phase in the transgender cult. These feeding frenzies are what ensures the survival of the cult. They are the fuel. Genderism would be over in a week if they had no new victims to hound.

Exactly this.

He's supposed to be doing a book signing in a London Waterstones tomorrow evening, wonder how that will turn out?

I hope the safety and well-being of staff is being taken into consideration. They may want to hire some additional security personnel.

I tweeted this thread to John Boyne but probably by the time I did it he'd stopped reading any tweets.

I notice that the Irish Times article is no longer open for comments.

And now he is off Twitter.....

twitter.com/Glinner/status/1117971376076357632

I'll put money on it being cancelled eresh

Daily Mail is on it.

Transgender activists demand boycott of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas novelist John Boyne after latest book follows lead character's decision to change sex

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6926981/Transgender-activists-demand-boycott-Boy-Striped-Pyjamas-novelist-John-Boyne.html

So they'll come after you all the more. They have to.

You're Glinner now.

Oh god, Popchyk, that post was better than anything Boyne has ever written. It was truly chilling. I've got goosebumps. But at the same time, very league of gentlemen-esque.

☠️

And yes, truly, if he called it my sister Jessica, absolutely no one would have the smallest clue what it was about and it would never sell.

Idiots

I tweeted this thread to John Boyne but probably by the time I did it he'd stopped reading any tweets.

I actually saw that and I'm here because of the posted link.

I believe I'm an interesting case, and one that will become the norm soon.

I am very liberal, and always advocated fro trans rights. Until recently. Their anger and vitriol at certain people, Martina being one (I'm a big tennis fan) made me stop in my tracks and reassess everything.
Also the author of the book Invisible Women: Exposing Gender Bias in a World Designed for Men gave an interview and described why women are different to men, every cell in our body is different, and everything in the world is designed for me basically.

I disagreed on the sport issue. I don't think those who were born male, with the advantages that permits should compete against women. I was harassed for it, a lot. I was told over and over that there is zero difference between those who are trans and those born women. I began to see that that's idiotic, of course there's a difference!!!

Then I was thinking and looking into it more. You don't get these 'warriors' from the section of trans people who were women and are now men the same as you do from those who are now women. Why? Because women have learned to keep their mouths shut and men are used to telling women what we should be doing.

It's always the women, and acknowledging that they are the same as all women. The reason there are things such as women's prizes is because of the way society treats women from birth. We are naturally quieter, less likely to speak up and raise our hands in class for fear of being wrong. To take those prizes and allow those who were men and boys to be able to win them means overlooking the issues it's trying to balance.

I've done a full switch, and it was because I as a woman, with all the issues that come with it (I've got endometriosis and have been sexually assaulted and harassed since I was a young teen) and I'm told how to perceive my womanhood by essentially men. I'm told it shouldn't be called women's health as it doesn't include trans women!

Honestly, with how they act I think they turn more people the other way, but they're too afraid to say it now because of all the fuss and that you're called hateful and worse. I believe these people are damaging their own cause.

We're letting less then 1% of the people decide how 50% should be represented.

What a stupid, stupid state of affairs we are now in. Acting will soon just mean "being yourself" as people can only be portrayed by people exactly like them. Tell that to all the drama teachers getting people to be the floor, a baboon, their mothers etc. Or my son who enjoys doing the female parts in the school play in high camp. Wasn't the point of acting to be able portray a character, a story. Will James Bond now have to be played by Gavin, an MI5 analyst who goes down the gym. Will The Globe Theatre have to close because there are no dodgy Scottish kings left to portray Macbeth?

The other massive hypocrisy that strikes me is that the 40y old java programmer trans types tend to be rather fond of the science fiction and fantasy genre. Will Tolkien now have to be purged because he wasn't actually a Hobbit? No more sci fi or speculative fiction about humans exploring space because noone actually has. I guess all that anime and manga the furies are so fond of will have to go too.

What massive, massive hypocrites the TRAs and woke are.

Welcoem, Bethy. It sounds as if you've discovered feminism. You've come to the right place.

bethy15

It's long been noted on here that one of the overriding characteristics of transactivism is how comprehensively it can turn people gender critical.

They are masters of their own goal, the shooting of their own foot. All you have to do is listen. All it requires is sunlight.

Welcoem, Bethy. It sounds as if you've discovered feminism. You've come to the right place.

Thank you, I've always counted myself as a feminist, it just shows how entrenched the voice and control of the patriarchy is, I didn't even realise that essentially I was being told how to feel and what I should think about being a woman by men!

Women becoming men are never so bold as to tell men how to be men!

Great to see you here bethy15. The trans issue and the growing disquiet with "repeat the mantra or STFU" has drawn all kinds of people to Mumsnet, and particularly to this Feminism chat part.

Once people start thinking about what's involved in the gender identity ideology, they often end up thinking "but hang on, isn't that misogynist/homophobic/sexist/racist/massively intolerant?". So this place attracts all sorts.

If you want to have a discussion about this issue with a diverse group of people, many of them very well-informed and capable of good analysis (ie people other than me), stick around.

They're gloating over John Boyne deleting his twitter.

"we did it ladies"...

(vom emoji)

Ladies?😒

"We did it ladies".

Back of the net.

The massive, rather amusing irony - of course - is that the TRAs have almost certainly shot themselves in the foot and lost more allies with this appalling bullying.