Jameela and Josie backing away

[gardenbird48]

I’ve checked as much as I can and apparently Jameela Jamil and Josie Long (I’m not sure who she is but lots of followers) have deleted their tweets supporting Mermaids. Jameela also seems to have removed her unpleasant tweet(s) to JK Roeling (I don’t think I’ve missed them on the searches) An interesting development.

That insta post...

It's another world, innit?

They must be exhausted. I was losing the will towards the end of reading that.

@SerenityNowwwww

I can’t even begin to understand what that’s all about.

Me neither. Sounds like a load of navel gazing self involved nonsense from the little I read.

Are they saying that Mermaids or someone's use of 'two spirited' to mean non-binary is cultural appropriation from American indigenous people? Also that is is a pig's ear use of the real symbolism of the term? And for Mermaids are expressing a colonial attitude in trying to steal the term so they should wind it in and also give a heartfelt apology for such arrogance?

Jameela appears to have done the deleting a month ago - her total Tweet count dropped by 30,933 on 4th July. Wonder if there's any significance to it being Independence Day, given she's living in the States at the moment?

@contactusdeletus that describes most undiagnosed Autistic Womens teen years.

A great turn of phrase there ..
Vapidity with viciousness..

@contactusdeletus

That Mermaids pdf was unreal.

Two entire slides asking you to put yourself in the agonizing daily life of a trans child - but every single thing they describe (bar showering in the dark) was something I experienced as a child, and into my teens. I was lonely and friendless and my day-to-day life at school looked exactly like that. Right down to the little things like spending your lunch hour in a toilet stall and no-one noticing, or having "friends" who would pass the time of day with you in a shared class but didn't think you were good enough to be seen with outside of it.

I wasn't gender nonconforming. I wasn't visibly gay, and I went to huge lengths to hide how poor I was. I was just bullied because, frankly, children bully each other sometimes. I was a quiet, sensitive child who was top of every class, and a kid like that is often seen as an easy target. That's it. It happens in every class in every school in the country.

It horrifies me to think that a child might read that description of "living with secret dysphoria", connect it to their discomfort with their changing pubertal body, and then compare it to the rigid gender roles of the Genderbred man (or other Mermaids-sanctioned "teaching aids") and decided "oh, this feels like me. I must be trans".

Horrifying.

sounds like my childhood after moving to Scotland. The upside is I read a lot. Realised it was pointless being silent in class as they would hate me anyway. And being talkative in tutorials when I got to University did me good. And now I'm a GC feminist there is very little you can throw me to make me cower since I wasn't part of your bloody gang in the first place....

Cailleach1, as far as I can make out, there was some definition of 2 spirit that the person didn't like, and so did this 'call out' thing and Mermaids then deleted the post, so we can't really see what they said that was so terrible. At least, I can't find the post.

'Mermaids' is actually trending on Twitter today from people discussing this, and as far as I can tell it all started with this thread. Crazy! Especially since based on the subsequent posts it seems it was a misconception, at least in Jamil's case - I guess it's brought renewed attention to the fact that the BBC and NHS no longer endorse them. Was there a particular reason you were searching for the Tweets @gardenbird48?

Honestly, do people really exist who think that sending a couple of emails is "expending labour" ? You typed for a bit!

Actually, it is.

I’m severely physically disabled. I’m currently job hunting, in a field that prides itself on being “woke” and which should automatically be disabled accessible as all jobs of my type are wfh. I come up against disability access barriers literally constantly - I reckon I spend about an extra hour a day at work due to having to overcome those access barriers. It’s not just one email, it’s hundreds of emails and letters. Plus the term “emotional labour” indicates that it’s emotionally stressful for black or disabled people to have to talk/write about their experiences of oppression.

“Emotional labour” is a very real thing - look at how many overtly racist threads on MN are completely full of tantrumming white people demanding that black posters detail every incidence of racism they’ve ever experienced so the white posters can sift through every word in order to judge what they personally consider racist or not. Forcing minorities to jump through hoops is the definition of emotional labour.

Native Americans have been subject to some of the worst racial abuse and attempted genocide in history. I’m sure this person has to deal with racism every single day of their lives. It’s not ONE email it’s thousands of letters/emails/conversations that ethnic minorities are forced to have to justify their existence.

I agree that 'expending labour' is a thing that includes emailing. It's exactly why trolls troll or derail, to get people to spend time explaining things they shouldn't need to. Let alone people than genuinely need it explaining to them.

With true equality we wouldn't have to fight for it, so yes, I see it as labour to have to go out of your way to explain yet again. I have sent emails to MPs and orgs that took time to draft, I have decided not to bother on others because I often don't have the time or energy. Plus it is bringing yourself into a debate that might have negative consequences for you in real life.

The last couple of pages on a thread about JJ on a certain fruit-growing site are rather illuminating.

Not least the suggestion that several education authorities are ousting all Mermaids references. Very interesting ...

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if JJ had genuinely been doing a bit of innocent tweet-tidying, yet due to her past vapid and vehement support of Mermaids her assumed volte face inadvertently instigated a Twittersphere reverse-ferretting on a grand scale? 🤣

If you read the thread elsewhere it's clear there are plenty of reasons for JJ to wipe JJ's social media without it needing to be anything to do with Mermaids.

Yes, I think on one hand we're adding 2+2 to get 5, re JJ and JL. On the other, there does seem to be something going on in general...

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if JJ had genuinely been doing a bit of innocent tweet-tidying, yet due to her past vapid and vehement support of Mermaids her assumed volte face inadvertently instigated a Twittersphere reverse-ferretting on a grand scale?

I think that's what is actually happening! I haven't seen any evidence that anyone's actually deleting their Mermaid-specific Tweets, but if they have/do, it'll for sure be because of an unfounded rumour that JJ did, which has turned into a fictional 'scandal on the horizon' that they'll want to get out from under sharpish.

On the other, there does seem to be something going on in general...

I honestly think all that's happening is that this thread has (inadvertently) sparked a round of Chinese whispers on Twitter.

And Mermaids seem to have got extremely twitchy, getting Stonewall etc to reaffirm their support.

@QuimReaper

'Mermaids' is actually trending on Twitter today from people discussing this, and as far as I can tell it all started with this thread. Crazy! Especially since based on the subsequent posts it seems it was a misconception, at least in Jamil's case - I guess it's brought renewed attention to the fact that the BBC and NHS no longer endorse them. Was there a particular reason you were searching for the Tweets *@gardenbird48*?

it weren't me guv! I was just pootling around on Twitter and a post came up that mentioned JJ, JL and then other commentators who were pointing out a number of other high profile orgs. NSPCC, Childline, BBC etc so I checked out JJs tweets to verify and she hadn't deleted the bulk of her tweets like she has done now (so is it a misconception or defence against a backlash?) - but I then did a search and found the Mermaids and JK tweets that I had previously seen gone so concluded that it was appropriate to mention it on here. (I have also seen tweets describing her as transphobic for something so maybe she is just tired of trying to please people that are quite hard to please?) I was very surprised that Stonewall might have been on the distancing list (and a bit concerned because of the various theories around that) so their recent support puts everything back to where I thought it would be - high profile orgs. are distancing themselves because they are finding out the issues around Mermaids but Stonewall are maintaining their current position. An interesting suggestion that there might be enough MNers to cause someone like that to trend?

@QuimReaper

On the other, there does seem to be something going on in general...

I honestly think all that's happening is that this thread has (inadvertently) sparked a round of Chinese whispers on Twitter.

that seems to be what some people are praying for - sadly for them the rumbles predate this thread.

I can only imagine the threats being thrown around in the background.

garden ah, I had it wrong - I thought you'd kicked it all off! So was the earlier poster wrong about JJ having deleted everything up to 2020 in July? She seems to Tweet constantly so it'd be hard to scroll back that far to be fair. It still seems likely she did do the delete some time ago and it just didn't come to anyone's attention, because to be fair why would it.

So has anyone else of note actually had any recorded deletions?

I used to love the guilty feminist in its hay day but last time I listened to the podcast it was awful. Just gender politics and pushing an agenda that made me feel uncomfortable. And I’m just a typical lefty female. I haven’t listened to it since.