English teacher tells class that JKR is transphobic

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Just that really.
I'm absolutely fuming.
30 kids now "hate" JKR apparently.
This is an abuse of influence surely, not to mention a worrying lack of critical thinking.
I've printed out the "transphobic" tweets so my Y7 child can make up their own mind. With a lot of ranting from me in the background .

I strongly suspect there are no more than 10,000 vocal antagonists on Twitter who think she’s transphobic.

I would say there are rather more unthinking virtue signallers who don't apply much critical thinking and just react according to how they think they should.

She's been analysed to death by people all over the internet

Indeed, Blaire White has at least 3 videos saying J K Rowling is not transphobic.

Here are India Knight and Nicole Gibson saying the same.

I expect Bliare, India and Nicole aren't the right sort of trans women.

neu.org.uk/advice/its-just-everywhere-sexism-schools?fbclid=IwAR0lEzAgW29_9kPbzwJhlL35ZYlUncDzuCeVafyNE9K8tBxOFHl5t19KOZk

Relevant, perhaps - new report on sexism in schools

'it's just everywhere'

@JustSpeculation

I'm about 10 minutes into the contrapoints video, above, and I'm getting really bored. Does anyone know when the substantial arguments come in? I'd like to skip straight to them, if possible.

I had a look..Well let's see contra's points shall we: "There's two things that Joanne can't stand "bigotry and the transgenders""

Jk Rowling has never stated this. She has never even had a position on whether transwomen are women. She has expressed some concern about self-id. (Ie. Not hormone treatment, surgery or any diagnosis to be required for someone born male to state that they are now equally able to access all female spaces- eg. Prisons)

"The average person's understanding of transgender is still "I don't really get the whole trans thing"" and the answer to that is to always "educate yourself and listen to trans people", but (obviously not) Blaire white, Debbie Haynton, rose of dawn, Scot newgent, Buck Angel... You have to listen to only the people who agree with how contra defines gender

"I don't know amber, you be a feminine man".. um... Contra I can't because I don't have the male reproductive anatomy, that's kind of the point..

Then goes on to talk about JK liking a transphobic tweet,
JK's tweet she liked was about how trans-women and gender non-conforming men would have more protection than females. She was quite good at predicting the Scottish hate crime law which gives cross-dressers protection but not Women.

And "followed an anti-trans account" - Magdalen Berns YouTube videos I have seen seem to be calling out Riley Dennis for saying that "genital preferences are transphobic" and a trans-woman who has a beard "that doesn't make me any less of a woman". Maybe she's said some bad things whilst angry and after being insulted. Does that means that if you follow Rachel McKinnon/ Veronica Ivy that you are endorsing everything that she says?

"The standard transphobia starter pack: that everyone born female is a woman and everyone born male is a man". Good to know that Contra explicitly states that this position is transphobic.

"What if I'm a griffindor trapped in a Hufflepuff's body?".. I think that Harry potter houses were based on personality, not immutable characteristics based in biology. Is gender = to personality Contra? wasn't Harry potter kind of a slitherin who got put in griffindor?

"'Sex is real' is a line trabsphobes use to imply that trans people don't understand basic biology".. yes well talk amongst yourselves on this one as you say that noone is denying biology, but equally say that it's is a spectrum and also that even someone with the most masculine features and highest testosterone possible would be a woman if they stated that they were...and the use of the term "assigned sex at birth" which implies sex and gender are interchangeable.

Contra talks about the y chromosome being dainty and soft

Jk's statement about "dress however you please" is picked apart as being offensive as it implies that being trans is just wearing clothes, however jk could be covering protection for gender non-conforming people, not just trans-women, as is covered in the Scottish hate crime bill

Compares JK tweeting in support of Maya as a "homophobe tweeting in support of Kim Davis".. except Kim Davis didn't get fired for saying her beliefs on social media. She got fired for not doing her job. The only equivalent for someone who distinguishes between a transwomen and a female that has led to them losing work I can think of would be the Muslim and immigrant beuticians who got their businesses shut down in Canada by Jessica Yaniv.

Contra then goes on to imply how having "concern" about theoretical males lying to access vulnerable women or children is just another form of bigotry, gets in a milk bath, pours milk all over Daniel Radcliffe (ok I got bored and starting skipping here)...

To get an understanding of Contrapoints' positions on this and other issues, you need to look at monetisation:

socialblade.com/youtube/user/contrapoints

graphtreon.com/creator/contrapoints

The word meretricious could have been coined to describe their social media.

In real life very few people give a shit about trans rights. The reason why it gets so much air time is because they have hijacked the safe spaces designed for people who have the guts to live life with their sexualities and genders rather than change their gender to fit their sexuality which a lot of trans people tend to do. That’s the bitter truth here. I imagine when that support dies down (there is already a divide) then we will see less of this damaging trend.

People all over the internet say JKR is a transphobe.

People all over the internet say JKR is not a transphobe.

Yes she is.

No she isn't.

Yes she is.

No she isn't.

It basically mirrors the arguments you get on the internet around are transwomen women? Yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no...

Only one of those groups are on the receiving end of rape threats, threats of violence, threatening language and personal abuse from the other group, with further real life consequences.
Eg have had to leave their job from stress after a campaign of abuse (J Cherry 🍒,) had to quit social media after a campaign of abuse, suffered from PTSD after a campaign of abuse....

Who is on the "right side of history" really. Those sending erection dick picks on a thread aimed at school children?
Or a woman thoughtfully putting it out there that women have the right to same sex spaces, away from people with a penis. Seriously.

I wish JKR had sued for libel/slander the moment anyone not hiding behind an avatar had started saying she is transphobic. Whilst I admire her dignified silence - and suspect that she did not want to distract from her publication of the Ickabog, and the money she was raising for the NHS through its sales - this has not blown over as some were predicting last year, and is completely out of hand. There is absolutely nothing out there to prove she is transphobic (in the true sense of the word, not the ridiculous made up version used to deflect any comment about or criticism of the trans lobby), nor anything that shows to say so is fair comment.

Maybe she still could. It could be quite helpful moving forward in terms of what damaging stuff people post up to try and influence our kids.

If JKR had sued someone little she would have risked ending up in a McLibel situation as McDonald's. She could have triggered thousands of activists driven by righteous anger to join in repeating the libel she was acting over.

She would do better to hold back until some substantial entity properly steps over the line, she can hit them for damages without them going out of business, and that have the capability to publish a high impact grovelling apology.

But even with those criteria in place I still think she does better to avoid the courts.

@MorrisZapp

I've read Troubled Blood. There are no trans characters in it. One male serial killer uses disguises to escape from his crime scenes. On one occasion his disguise is a wig and a womans coat. One paragraph is devoted to this, in a book thicker than a house brick.

That's it. Absolutely no transphobia at all.

Agreed. It's a great book and there's no suggestion that the killer is trans - he just wears a ladies mac and wig as a disguise!

She would do better to hold back until some substantial entity properly steps over the line, she can hit them for damages without them going out of business, and that have the capability to publish a high impact grovelling apology

Fair point.

What does it mean to talk about the "right side" of history?

Thank you to @Mumofgirlswholiketoplaywithmud for doing the heavy lifting and writing about it. I got as far as "dainty" before I lost patience. There are no serious arguments there, and I don't think further watching is likely to reveal any.

She is transphobic.

She is transphobic

Why?

Because twitter says so. And tweets and memes don’t lie.

Good post GNCQ

Ahh. Ok. The twitter and meme gods have spoken. I get it.

@Erkrie

She is transphobic

Why?

Same reason 'Transwomen are Women' - because it fits the agenda and the truth can go to hell.

Going back to the original post, totally understand why you would be wary of causing a problem for your daughter especially in this intolerant toxic environment that we sadly seem to be in, but it's so important that we try to put some barriers in the way of this dogma, in schools especially. If u can do it and get the schools reassurance that your daughter won't be named, it might even make the teacher concerned go away and question herself. It would be a signal to other teachers to remember to teach children to think critically about difficult ideas. It's so important.

...and to save you some time: I suffered through the "refutes," videos and they all reek of MRA/Alt-light. The King Critical one I got linked in another thread literally has Carl "Sargon of Akaad" Benjamin (a failed UKIP politician and proud misogynistic anti-feminist) as a guest.

Hibari, could you provide a link to such a video? I didn't notice one when I checked the video list, but I did see a video "featuring" Carl Benjamin. That's really quite different to having him as a guest.

So is there another video I missed, or are you misrepresenting things?

As I said, even if "King Critical" had Carl Benjamin as a guest, it doesn't tell you much about the quality of argument; you don't refute someone's arguments just by pointing out they invited on a sexist guest. They could even be good buddies and it still wouldn't mean much.

As it happens, this "King Critical" guy has actually done videos attacking Carl Benjamin's viewpoints.

So it looks like you are trying to smear someone through association, when they aren't even a fan of Carl Benjamin!

I find this all very worrying. My understanding is that teachers have to be impartial regarding religion and politics, and not project their opinions on children in class.

I base this on an experience I had in the Sixth form at Grammar School - all girls - when I was heavily involved in school productions and had a couple of bit parts in an original play written by my English teacher and her husband. This was mid - to late 80s.

The story was based around a woman and her three daughters, and their life after the father sadly died, and the experiences they had. So far so good. Might seem heavy going but the school usually ran two productions, one for Sixth Form and one for rest of schools - Toad of Toad Hall for example, which balanced out age appropriate content etc.

One brief scene explored the dynamics around the mothers relationship with one of the daughters who she went to retrieve from Greenham Common, fearing for her education and future prospects. i recall no in depth analysis, or attempts to influence - it was just a pertinent bit of story line in the context of things like the Mother, for the first time having to apply for benefits and try to get a job after being SAHM, but it was very character driven, and the issues covered were not extreme.

The play went ahead, and must have been approved by HOY and HM, but good God, the furore that erupted from the governers resulted in the teacher being disciplined and leaving not that long after IIRC.

The only stretch I can see as an adult is conflating what were patently women's issues with political radicalisation.

It sticks with me to this day.

As I say, at no point were we Indoctrinated, and we certainly didn't all stomp off the Greenham with placards.

While there were alot of "middle class private school girls", we also had a good cohort of those who got in just by passing the test, which in those days (late 70s / early 80s) didn't seem to require extra tuition, I certainly didn't have it, and indeed didn't even realise I had taken the 11+ until I got my result, so I was quite bewildered by the hoo ha.

The irony of course being that those of us who did take notice of the fallout became way more politically aware than if nothing had been said or done and we'd just moved on to the next production.

So, sorry for the long anecdote, but a directly stated as fact opinion from a teacher like this, especially in the current climate is absolutely out of order and should be throughly addressed.

Goodness knows I totally understand not wanting to cause a problem for your y7 daughter - but if this is happening in school, then there is already a problem for your y7 daughter.

I would ask for clarification from the head teacher, rather than go blazing in with accusations. And the form that I would express the concern as coming from, is that JKR wrote her infamous essay directly as a survivor, and she wrote in defence, of, among others, lesbians. It's sexist and homophobic of the teacher to cast those concerns as "transphobia", and that teacher should not be taking those opinions into the classroom, and especially not to a group of 11 and 12 year olds.

There's another thing: there's a reason schools love Harry Potter, and that's because it reached unreachable children, got non-readers reading voraciously, and got kids who couldn't give a shit about books staying up late at night waiting for the next one to come out. For a teacher to shit on Harry Potter as a phenomenon, and to frame Harry Potter as something no reasonable person should touch, risks alienating those very kids that it got reading.

I had an english lecturer at uni do the same. An english teacher who did her phd in womens studies. I debated raising it but have decided not to as I hope my fellow students are old enough to form their own conclusions.

But a year 7 I would absolutely complain.

I had some Year 8s ask me about this the other day, and I tried very hard to be partisan and not give my view (that she is not at all transphobic) I just said that JK has spoken up for women and women only spaces and some people feel that she shouldn't because it excludes trans people. My very lovely Year 8s had a really interesting, balanced and mature conversation about it, and whilst they didn't all come to the same conclusion I think that they were really decent and respectful of each other's views. I can't get over someone (an English teacher of all people) outright saying they boycott things associated with JKR. For gooodness sake Dickens was an absolute pig, Larkin a misogynist and most of the Romantic poets drug abusers and all sorts. I doubt she's refusing to teach them.