Jo Maugham

[GoodbyePorpoiseSpit]

I follow Jo on Twitter and feel that the GoodLaw project is a needed and good thing when it comes to holding ministers/gov spending to account. He seems to take refuge in the rule of law and facts .... so, so WHY after the recent ruling on puberty blockers is he tweeting and retweeting Trans folk who are sharing (in emotive and extra detail) their experience post ruling. What his deal?? What’s his skin in the game? Looked through some old tweets and he really seems to have come down hard against women’s rights.
Ca anyone explain his deal here?

@merrymouse

His arguments are quite out of date I think and even I could debate his points back to him and point out the problems with his position quite easily and I am no great debater or particularly knowledgeable.

You are implying that there are some 'in date' arguments that are better.

I still think he must be close to somebody who is personally affected by this.

Well yes. The Keira Bell judgement for example is bang up to date and he seems to be on the opposite side of this?

He's a wealthy, middle-class (if not higher) middle-aged white "cis" man. Where's his privilege check?

Also, true intersectionalism would recognise that female rights fall through the gap when we pretend there is no such thing as sex or sex based oppression.

See the funny thing is with people at great pains to point out their class roots, is that it doesn't stop them now being Upper Middle Class now, and that in itself can be blinding to current class issues.

Also, true intersectionalism would recognise that female rights fall through the gap when we pretend there is no such thing as sex or sex based oppression

YY. Why is he not harassing Black Lives Matter saying there’s no such thing as race / ethnicity and aren’t we all black anyway, it’s about thr feelz so let’s be inclusive?

I’m not a scientist but I’m pretty sure that race is a hell of a lot less binary and a whole lot more culturally defined than sex.

Really? We're all wealthy, white and middle class?

Well if Jo says so it must be true

Do you think he consults anyone else before making proclamations on behalf of good law project? Is it basically his own organisation? I always got the impression there were a few people behind it, but could be wrong. If I was in some way involved I would think it really petulant, unprofessional & foolish from a communications pov to say 'we are never ever speaking to the Times again, so there!'

It's the new "GC Feminists are aligned with the far right", GC Feminists are middle class white women who should get back to baking and Xmas decorations. Sally Hines does this as well.

I'm getting increasingly irritated and exasperated with appeals to "intersectionality". It's often just used as a buzzword. Female people as a sex class have specific needs and need their own representation and no truly intersectional approach would ignore that.

It reminds me of the Coop and the Spectator earlier this year. That was very amusing.

www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2020/09/04/co-op-no-plans-to-stop-advertising-in-spectator-amid-hostile-transgender-coverage/

@HecatesCatsInXmasHats

It's the new "GC Feminists are aligned with the far right", GC Feminists are middle class white women who should get back to baking and Xmas decorations. Sally Hines does this as well.

Middle class women = code for shut up and stop being gobby. know your place.

Do you think he consults anyone else before making proclamations on behalf of good law project? Is it basically his own organisation? I always got the impression there were a few people behind it, but could be wrong.

Check out the diversity: goodlawproject.org/about/ (scroll down)

He wants people to forget that he's a barrister with two homes and no doubt a large bank account so he can paint himself as a defender of intersectionality, calling out "middle class white women" in the process. I don't doubt he had to work hard to get there. It must have been very hard also to have a father born into such privilege who cut ties with the family. However, he fails to identify that as a man he was always more likely to succeed in his chosen profession. It's not irrelevant.

Does that include the windmill?

woodforgood.com/case-studies/jack-windmill

I, for one, am interested in intersectionality. I just disagree with the likes of Jolyon as to where the lines of intersection arise when it comes to transideology.

I personally think ad hominem attacks on his wealth/class are unneeded given that his arguments can be shredded just on their own (lack of) merit.

It was a response to him making this same accusation towards women he doesn't approve of, so entirely relevant.

@SonEtLumiere

Jolyon might be completely ridiculous on this issue, but he has not had a silver spoon in his mouth all his life. I personally think ad hominem attacks on his wealth/class are unneeded given that his arguments can be shredded just on their own (lack of) merit.

And yet the article he linked to, and the quote he took from it, calls JKR the queen of white, wealthy, middle class women

She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth either but can be dismissed now due to her privileged position.

Excellent point Thingy. It's a cynical ploy and one that he should be criticised for. It requires people to overlook that he himself has reached extremely well-off middle class status and to direct their anger towards "middle class" women who have the audacity to speak their mind once they've done the same, rather than busy themselves in the domestic sphere (not that there's any evidence that GC feminists are a homogenous group, see Lipstick Alley). "White feminism" is another misogynistic import designed (more than anything) to shut women up. JM on the other hand believes that he is allowed to wang on about matters that concern women interminably. I wonder where he gets the conviction that his words matter more?

Does the new ruling mean that those who were imprisoned back in the 80's for failing to 'Be Kind: Rewind; their video-tapes might now have some hope of early release (thogh not, of coures, a pardon)?

The hubris of the man. He's a self appointed guardian of feminism now is he? I actually think he might peak a few people with this sort of stuff. He's a middle class white man who specialises in tax law. Wtf does he know about feminism and where does he get off telling women how to do it.

Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement

"And don't get me started on how disorganized and scatterbrained their old fundraising methods were," McGowan added. "Let's just say the movement never really had a head for numbers."

Having read that Guardian article about his background, my totally unqualified diagnosis would be that while he is good at analysing dry technical questions concerning tax legislation, his sense of self is delicate (for perhaps understandable reasons) and he struggles to think rationally in situations that are highly emotional.

He identifies so strongly with people he perceives to be victims that he can't distinguish between personal attacks and reasonable argument.

I'm white and middle class and, compared to most people in this country, relatively wealthy.

Does that mean I have to just fucking shut up and listen to other people tell me about how my life is and what it means to be me?

Just like white, wealthy, middle class women for ages past, eh? Is this really it? We had, what, 50 years of being people and now we have to go back to being passive vessels to reflect somebody else's sense of who or what they are?

I. Will. Not.

Interesting theories. Do you think it's because he got a taste of social media "fame" with Brexit and he thinks this will replace that (in terms of keeping his profile high?)

We're a phalanx, now, then? I thought we were a cabal? You'll be telling me that we're no longer The Vulva People next! FFS.