Daniel Radcliffe responds to J.K Rowling's tweets on gender identity

[EddyF]

Daniel Radcliffe responds to JK Rowling’s tweets: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people”

Daniel Radcliffe Responds to J.K. Rowling’s Tweets on Gender Identity – The Trevor Project

FULL STATEMENT

I realize that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as in-fighting between J.K. Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what’s important right now. While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honored to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment.

Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I. According to The Trevor Project, 78% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.

I am still learning how to be a better ally, so if you want to join me in learning more about transgender and nonbinary identities check out The Trevor Project’s Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth. It’s an introductory educational resource that covers a wide range of topics, including the differences between sex and gender, and shares best practices on how to support transgender and nonbinary people.

To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.

Love always,
Dan

Have any of these people actually specified what exactly the issue is with JKR's tweets? Have they actually discussed what exactly it is about them that 'deeply saddens' them?

And more importantly, have any of them addressed the abuse JKR is now on the receiving end of?

They may think they're a lesbian, Datun, but 99% of lesbians would say no. Those are not lesbian shoes.

@TooOldForSims

Have any of these people actually specified what exactly the issue is with JKR's tweets? Have they actually discussed what exactly it is about them that 'deeply saddens' them?

And more importantly, have any of them addressed the abuse JKR is now on the receiving end of?

Of course not. They have been told...

And just to point out:

Those male born people could extend compassion, understanding, inclusion towards female born people for those needs that are incompatible with the removal of all female only spaces. They could accept that for some females this is essential. They could allow some facilities to remain.

They will not, because it upsets their validation. It challenges their identity which is intolerable. Harm to female people, the exclusion of female people, the injustice, the oppression, the disproportionate harm to the vulnerable, it's all inevitable but apparently acceptable collateral damage to meeting their wants. Female people should accept their greater burden in this better world for the happiness of male people. A burden that comes with the unlucky chance of being born without a penis.

This is morally appalling.

I have honestly never seen anything like the public lynch mob out for JK Rowling right now. It's like a witch-burning. Shame on them all.

#IStandWithJKRowling

She's my heroine

Decided to have a look at how men's health issues are dealt with and have a look at this from the Movember movement about prostate cancer:

Only men have a prostate gland. The prostate gland is usually the size and shape of a walnut and grows bigger as you get older. It sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra, which is the tube men urinate and ejaculate through.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Men who are black, and men who have a family history (a brother or father with prostate cancer), are 2.5x more likely to get prostate cancer.

How is this not the most blatant transphobia? "Only men have a prostate gland" i.e if you have a prostate gland you're a man - doesn't really fit with "transwomen are women" does it? Yet somehow Movember are untouched by howls of protest and claims that they're condemning trans people to suicide. Wonder why?

uk.movember.com/mens-health/prostate-cancer

@CaraDune @Shedbuilder thanks for the replies and the link, Cara. I’m all over this now.

Michelle of the resistance 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 say it again for those in the back!!!

Yes, yes and yes 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Welcome to the upside down, Justjoshin.

The truth will set you free. But first it will really, really piss you off.

I know JK Rowling's words and her subsequent detractors is big on Twitter world, but on my facebook feed and in real life amongst friends and family, it is just not a topic of conversation.

If I remember rightly, Owen Jones looked at twitter and thought Corbyn was a winner.

One thing I would say is the current culture of trial by social media is dangerous to those who choose to participate, because next time around it might be their head on the block.

Also, poor bloody JKR. I know she’s well able to defend herself but it seems as though most public figures speaking out are against her. I mean, WTF?!

This is the twilight zone that we're entering. Where to even raise the rights of girls and women is automatically transphobic. I have never knowingly found myself feeling like a fascist before. But it's now considered really anti-trans to question anything apart from the prevailing orthodoxy that TW's rights trump everyone else's against all possible logic. To argue against this is equivalent to being like Enoch Powell's views on race.

In reality it's always been the case that we should be seeking to balance people's rights. No one group's rights should be absolute because it means another group's is infringed upon.

But we're not even allowed to say, but what about women's rights to compete in sport. In theory we could have 'women's races' at the Olympics entirely comprising of TW. It's madness and means that the best female athletes are sidelined.

Meanwhile crime figures by gender are skewed because a male offender can claim to be a woman and their violent crime gets recorded as a female crime. Then once they're sentenced, even for a sexual offence, presumably they can claim to go into a women's prison. If they aren't criminals, and decide to go into business they can apply for women in business awards and scholarships, even if they only identify as women for half the week, discounting the reasons why women's awards exist (because it's traditionally been accepted that women have had a harder path than men in business because of socialisation, lesser opportunities etc.).

And yet some of the most vociferous supporters of all this are in fact women. I just don't get it.

This “non binary” female person here. She so nearly gets it, yet ties herself in knots supporting gender norms, while thinking that she is outside them.

She is spectacularly missing the clear points being made on the thread. What is this about ? Is it wanting to be special and different and not grasping that everyone is non binary ? Is it a lack of critical thought ?

One think I am fairly certain of is that these women who have been treated with so much respect by JKR may throw her under the bus, but she is unlikely to respond in kind. There's nothing vindictive about her stance - I'm sure she's probably disappointed by their betrayal, but I suspect she has class enough to know when women with less integrity and courage are performing compliance to the mob.

I have endometriosis and am currently scrunched up in bed in bloody agony whilst flooding a super plus tampon every hour. I am really offended by the 'trans women are women' statement. Fuck you Daniel.

Oh. I wouldn’t have picked those grey platforms with a white jacket.

BTW. My grovelling apologies BaronessFloral, do forgive me for my inadvertent demotion of your title. In my defence, it was 3am and the cats were squabbling about bed space.

(As an aside, I love Gia Milinovich).

Actually, my new title is quite amusing me because I'm finding myself with a Killer Queen earworm every time I post.

Yes she knew and she still did it anyway.

Courage called and she stood up.

I note that if you type in #weaslylittlegit sorry #danielradcliffe an emoji appears that vaguely looks like him with a crown on his head. Never be in any doubt that Twitter hates woman.

As the proud granddaughter of the witches they couldn't burn, I place a hex on Twitter. May they go the way of MySpace, spill their caramel Frappuccino's over their servers and be pulled down to the seventh ring of hell by Cthulhu where they will be forced to wear 'I use pronouns because I'm a tit.' badges and write 'woman are adult human females' over and over and over and over...

@Newdadtogirl

I like Daniel's statement, he's been very supportive of LGTB people and the Trevor Project for years. I like his clarity when he says, "Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people" and "It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm" Honestly, I feel his statement is to some extent, an antidote to some of the views I've read on MN!

Would you be happy for a primary school aged boy, unsure of his sexuality and possibly being gay, ringing the Trevor Project up and being told, no, you're not gay, you've just been born to the wrong body. Don't worry though, we can fix that. Then starts the downhill slope to puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and surgery. Because that's what they do. Under the guise of saving 'trans children' from suicide. Even though the actual statistics on suicide amongst gender confused children is the same as that of non gender confused children? And telling parents that they don't need to worry, puberty blockers and hormones are reversible, even though NHS England have said this is not true too. Can you not see that just saying 'I am a woman' does not mean they are. Those who go along with is fallacy are living out 'The Emperors New Clothes'. Do you believe the earth is flat? Do you believe in aliens? Do you believe that vaccines cause autism? All of these are undeniably untrue, and yet some people don't agree. Would you change your opinion just because someone else said you're being a bigot if you don't?

Yes, she is amazing.

It's because there's a cooler among your peers option than being an actual feminist for some of those who are gender non-conforming. And it means less thinking.

That was re GM , in reply to CaraDune

Sorry this is from way back (am about 15 pages behind) but:
CaraDune In other news, my version of the onion headline for this is:
"Mediocre young man tells talented older woman responsible for his fame and fortune that she has no right to political opinions of her own."

Hmm. This expresses his error wrongly: "she has no right to political opinions of her own." She's not expressing an opinion and her observation is not political. He thinks it's a matter of opinion and politics. Conceding that observable facts of nature are political is crazy talk.

Yes she knew and she still did it anyway.

Courage called and she stood up.