JK Rowling's has written another post

[MilleniumHallsWalledGarden]

calling once more for a more nuanced debate around gender identity and women's rights. It's here https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/statement-from-j-k-rowling-regarding-the-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-ripple-of-hope-award/.

JKR

According to that FPFW page about suicide, Paris Lees has already been refuted by Full Fact before when on BBC Question Time in 2018 Paris said that 45% of young trans people have attempted suicide.

standupstraight there have been a lot of GC articles in the Times and I think they like to present both sides. I suspect their has been an absolute avalanche of criticism from TRA's and they are having to deal. I am watching and waiting.

Word leaking out on Twitter....
Well obviously I can't be sure it's true either, but if they're using Twitter to - as you put it yourself - leak the story then that's kind of revealing.
Why not make a proper public statement like JKR did?

Any one who is primarily worried about the health of children affected by this issue knows that there is a current legal case Re: professionals whose PRIVATE concerns have been suppressed.

Yes, I wonder if Kerry Kennedy has OK'd Kristopher Sharpe to say that on Twitter?!

The thing is, even if the stats about suicide/suicidal ideation were true (they’re not -GIDS has confirmed this), that still not how responsible organisations and people talk about suicide, because doing so like that increases levels of distress and likeliness to make suicide attempts.

I wrote this on the mermaids thread, forgive the repetition but I really need people to see how wrong and harmful this narrative is. ...
——————————————
I would urge everyone to read the guidelines that the Samaritans have for media coverage of suicide. Mermaids violates at least three of them with this statement. I’d particularly urge those sympathetic to transactivism to read them and reflect if you think Mermaids offers the best support to you, your children or your friends. Demand that they do better, because this style of talking about suicidal ideation and suicidality is likely to cause an increase in suicides in trans identified young people.

Oversimplification of the causes or perceived ‘triggers’ for a suicide can be misleading. As mentioned in the previous section, the suggestion that a single circumstance or incident, such as bullying, job loss, relationship breakdown or a bereavement, was the cause increases the risk of contagion. Vulnerable people experiencing similar issues are more likely to over-identify with the deceased when a single reason is given

Don’t refer to a possible rise in suicides in a specific place or among a particular group as an ‘epidemic’, ‘spate’ or other similar term. Two or more people taking their own lives who, for example, share a similar background, age or live in a similar geographic area may be coincidence. Steer clear of implying a connection where there may be none. Evidence suggests that reference to clusters can lead to additional suicides

When talking to particularly vulnerable groups, for example children and young people, apply caution when quoting statistics. Bear in mind that while the statistics may be concerning, alarmist reports can have the effect of normalising or exaggerating the prevalence of suicide.

media.samaritans.org/documents/Media_Guidelines_FINAL_v2_TABa8C6.pdf

————————————

highame yes, it’s the main reason I subscribe. But I have definitely noticed a change recently. I hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

The world of fandom does attract a lot of people who have difficulty coping with the real world, and for some it may offer a literal lifeline.

That does NOT make JKR personally responsible for the mental health of all HP fans.

Even IF the suicide stats are true (they’re not) there’s STILL no evidence that puberty blockers are the answer! The so-called study by Jack Turban that he thought showed they were the answer, actually showed that adults who had been on puberty blockers were TWICE as likely to have been hospitalised for a suicide attempt in the previous 12 months compared to adults who hadn’t been on puberty blockers.

Wow, Mermaids just keep going:

What world is this when you highlight the very real damage done to trans young people and they still attack? It needs to stop. @Twittersafety must take action.

These are not the words of a professional organisation. No responsibility shown for the potential impact of the statement. It's so disturbing that not only is their statement still available with no direct link to Samaritans or any suicide support but it has then been shared and retweeted countless times. Thank you to those who have put links in under the messages. Suicide ideation and causal links like these are dangerous and reprehensible.

I'll be contacting Samaritans to see what their take on it is. I'm amazed it has been left on a public site for this long.

If you contact The Samaritans, ask them if it’s true they signpost to Mermaids, as Mimmymum claims:

mobile.twitter.com/mimmymum/status/1299471595853971456

Yes, thanks @NotBadConsidering I saw that message too and it made me wonder. A quick search on Samaritans website for Mermaids brought up no results though so it's not exactly clear.

0 results for 'mermaids' on a search of the Samaritans website. And I found no mention of them at all on their links page.

www.samaritans.org/scotland/how-we-can-help/if-youre-having-difficult-time/other-sources-help/

Under the 'sexuality' heading, Samaritans link to 'Switchboard' and a different org in the Rep of Ireland. That's it.

Samaritans have a very carefully curated list of organisations they may refer callers to. Mermaids were not on this list a couple of years ago, they may be now. It used to be only LGBT switchboard.

What world is this when you highlight the very real damage done to trans young people and they still attack?

'attack' doing a lot of work there.

Interesting

twitter.com/awkwardblkchild/status/1299400306963484673?s=21

Hang on ... is this award by the same people who are antivaccers and speaking in Berlin later or am I muddling Kennedy's ?

JKR just goes from strength to strength. This is really helping shine a light on the insanity of this debate. I'm horrified that TRAs and Mermaids might be pushing young people to suicide by their spectacularly irresponsible tweets.

I'm not buying it. If they were going to take it back, they'd have mentioned it in their brown nosing, biology denying statement, surely?

Like everything else that comes out of their mouths, this sounds like bullshit.

[quote Lisz]Interesting

twitter.com/awkwardblkchild/status/1299400306963484673?s=21[/quote]
in what way is it interesting? it doesn’t seem as if that twitterer can lay claim to any particular inside knowledge. they just seem to repeat the claim that the award was being taken back without offering any proof, or timeline.

Don’t you think they’d have mentioned that they were going to rescind the award in Kennedy’s original statement? or that there would be some verification - a statement from them dated before yesterday is all that’s needed here.

@yourhairiswinterfire

I'm not buying it. If they were going to take it back, they'd have mentioned it in their brown nosing, biology denying statement, surely?

Like everything else that comes out of their mouths, this sounds like bullshit.

Exactly. What we're seeing is both damage limitations for their own shitty behaviour and an attempt to smear JKR at the same time. How very pretty and ungracious.

Petty not pretty!

Hmmm, the original RFK employee who was claiming on twitter that they had already taken back the award has protected his tweets.

@miri1985

Hmmm, the original RFK employee who was claiming on twitter that they had already taken back the award has protected his tweets.

Haha. That's a recurring theme isn't it?

Make bold claim, get asked for evidence which you should have no trouble providing if you're being truthful, scream bigot instead of providing, and protect account (or block). So boringly predictable.