Meghan Muphy: Gender Identity in the era of Covid 19

[Lamahaha]

This is a fabulous article that says it all and for anyone who has ears to hear, puts the spook to rest. How could any sane person argue with this?

www.feministcurrent.com/2020/03/22/what-if-your-identity-doesnt-matter-at-all/?fbclid=IwAR1ATmWiJ00IZeeIh7Fosq_3ZaSGRU36N0kRH1eamvf4tvbb3ZdwvXLvm5M

She sums up:

But the truth is that anyone who is so heavily reliant on a weave, surgeries, laser treatments, filler and botox, as well as on fashion, for their “survival,” is not going to survive trying times like these. Claims that “misgendering literally kills” or that one’s cosmetic surgeries are a matter of life and death are laughable at best, and contemptible at worst, considering our current circumstances. Those who are so weak of mind that they fall apart without strictly controlled forms of validation will not have the mental fortitude to withstand isolation and a sudden withdrawal of fawning attention from yes-men, due to society’s sudden need to pay attention to, well, things that actually matter. Currently, no one is going to care about your OOTD or the trauma of being “misgendered.”

Great article. It's a shame it should take something as serious as this to bring a return to reality and yet it was surely inevitable. I have been thinking for some time that something like this would be needed.

Brilliant article.

a demand that the entire world become your helicopter parent

well put.

Agree. I think in a few months time when many people will know someone who's died, anyone trying to push the literal violence line is going to get very short shrift indeed. We're seeing a return to bravery and sense and getting on with things under hardship without drama or demanding special consideration being the modern values expected and needed.

I noticed my grey roots this morning and had a brief moment of wistfulness as I realised it could be a while before I saw my hairdresser again.

Then I copped the fuck on.

Great article. Thanks. Some very insightful comments below the line too, for example:

“ We have come to a point in political culture where (certain peoples') narcissism is not only celebrated and venerated, but is seen as a symbol of human freedom. This contradicts all of the world's religious and secular humanist tenets that link personal freedom with transcendence-of-self, not descendence-into-self. The attachment to self is seen as a barrier to authentic being and to freeing one from the oppressive and infantile fear of what others think. Identity politics has infected the political Left with the exact same kind of self-cherishing that the Right has encouraged and relied upon to dismantle the welfare state and to prevent the creation of a genuine politics of solidarity that can offer an alternative to capitalism. ”

I identify as immune to COVID-19 ... oh wait...

Yes, that comment in particular is brilliant.
We are getting to see what "brave and stunning" really means.
This is a return to the value of caring and selflessness as the true values we appreciate and which are necessary for survival of us all: traditional female values.
Isn't it strange that of all the female stereotypes TW were trying to usurp, those two never came into play.

I honestly think the party is over. In such sobering times nobody is interested in cultish over-the-top narcissistic wokeness.

I've seen reports that women die at a much lower rate than men of CV? If this is true, then I guess it would be true regardless of what you're wearing and demonstrates yet another fundamental and biological difference between men and women that no amount of 'brave and stunning' can identify out of.

The narcissism really is on full display when everyone in the world is currently in the same boat and yet some people still seem to make it all about them. This tweet being a prime example.

I think that anyone on social media should use the tag braveandstunning to symbolize those working in the most dangerous roles to help others. To reclaim the words back. At least brave. And show just how much the superficiality has crept in. Shine a mirror on it all at this moment and maybe it will shut down the false pedestal culture.

I wonder if the special identity trend will die out or at least lessen now that people have to self-isolate (no one to validate your identity irl) and the focus is on the pandemic that threatens lives, economy, society.

Ezra Miller: physical appearance as a determining factor for fucking anything

No doubt Miller disregards physical appearance in choosing his dating partners.

www.whosdatedwho.com/dating/ezra-miller

Actually yes, I'm stunned by the bravery of everyone on frontline NHS and people like checkout staff who all still have to be close to the general public.

#reclaimstunningandbrave

Actually yes, I'm stunned by the bravery of everyone on frontline NHS and people like checkout staff who all still have to be close to the general public.

Absolutely. And let's not forget our teachers who are still going to work and looking after the kids of key workers, thus exposing themselves to the virus. My primary school teacher friend says she's been told they'll have to work through the Easter holidays and potentially the summer.

I think this reclamation has legs and now is the time to do it. It doesn’t need to dip into sarcasm or denigrate anyone except to point out what braveandstunning should mean. Just by reclaiming the words will rob them of ownership of the phrase.

Oh wait. They are probably so narcissistic that they will think it elevate them even to a higher pedestal.

But we could try. It might ‘pique’ some more people’s interest.

Brilliant. On a related note, all those A-listers and stars who now announce on the daily basis that they are corona-positive, no symptoms, they just felt like taking the test and, therefore, bought one: They also seem to fall into that 'desperate for attention' category.

I work in the NHS and so does DD2. Neither of us feel brave or stunning. We both work in areas away from the wards albeit with patient contact (theatres and radiology) and feel slightly relieved about that. One of the theatres has been designated as infectious ITU (there's a lot of secrecy in the hospital so I'm not sure if the main ITU has been protected for "normal" non infectious work or not), anyway I don't think DD will be required to work in there unless things get really desperate as she doesn't have appropriate training and I'm hoping I won't get sent to work in the wards, I think our department will still need to be staffed by the regulars.

I'm grateful that along with DH we all have jobs with safe incomes and generous sick pay.

It's only in the last few days that it has hit me how much the NHS workforce and smooth operation of the organisation will be impacted with respect to non clinical staff.

We have a woman of 80 among our appointment clerks plus a couple in their 70s! Many of the porters and cleaners are older, I know one of our porters is 70 as he was debating when he'd have to stop coming to work, and our department cleaner must be near that age. The man that delivers our supplies - (boxes and boxes of disinfectant wipes, hand gel and masks etc these days) looks pretty ancient.

I'm REALLY worried about a senior colleague who has brittle asthma. My children are young adults. Hers are primary school age. I just don't think she should be coming to work any more.

Still awaiting news regarding whether these people should now be self isolating.

People, including me, tend to focus their thoughts on the clinical staff, and the short staffed wards, but the NHS can't function without all the support staff.

So on the plus side I'm sure there will be lots of volunteering opportunities. Perhaps a spell working in the NHS is the way to go for teens missing school. There will be lots to do.

I saw that Lothian health trust is actively recruiting for all those sorts of roles on six month contracts, ideal for rearranged gap years.

This is probably a the wrong thread for this post but just to say thanks but we really don't need the brave and stunning label - it's a bit tainted anyway!

I think the world is getting a very sharp reminder about what is truly important and what isn't.

The selfless and self-aware already get it. The self-obsessed don't, and never will.

Am I the only one to agree entirely with what Megan Murphy says while wishing she'd go easy on the condescending 'dear' and the sarcasm?

I had no idea who or what this person was/is, but I have looked at the photographs, and honestly if that is a poster-child for anything in particular, I have to say I think the ones we had back in the twentieth century were rather better-looking as well as less us-us-us (can't be me-me-me if they are plural, right?)

I know who Ezra Miller is! Because I watched a movie with dd, Justice League. Not FWR recommendable. Main characters were Wonder Woman, Batman etc. Ezra played a minor character, Flash. Played as a geeky possibly aspie male, definitely not the alpha male or female.,.

I don't mind the condescending "dear", Linda. After all, us women get called "dear" in a patronising way all the time. Remember David Cameron?

So, these new improved "women" get to share in our condescension? What's not to like?

Ezra Miller was very good in We Need to Talk About Kevin and not bad in Fantastic Beasts, so in other words he can act if he gets the right role. Sometimes I wish actors would shut up outside their jobs so we could appreciate their talents without having to cringe at their real-life "wisdom".

Am I the only one to agree entirely with what Megan Murphy says while wishing she'd go easy on the condescending 'dear' and the sarcasm?

If you follow her on Instagram you see that she is sarcastic about everything.

I was pondering earlier if this might stop ROGD in teenage girls in its tracks. On the one hand kids will be spending even more time online, which is a risk factor. But on the other hand there won't be any stunning and brave accolades in person or any pressure/desire to fit in with a certain group at school. It's possible a lot of girls will just drift away from trans/NB identities.

Okay. We're on the right side of history so I don't really see the need for it. Ezra et al are so ridiculous that sarcasm seems unnecessary.