Jess de Wahls

[Mollyollydolly]

The Royal Academy have removed Jess' work from their shop due to a handful of complaints that she's 'transphobic'. If you want to support Jess her website is here.
www.jessdewahls.com
So sick of these utterly craven organisations. I hope she has a legal case against them for discrimination.

Utterly pathetic. Who the fuck do these wannabe-thought-police think they are? The irony is that the sort of people who think they’re so incredibly open-minded, so liberal, so bohemian; they’re also so quick to police everyone else. They don’t see that if this was North Korea, they’d be the ones informing on their own children.

Rachel Ara did a really interesting YouTube with Cambridge Rad Fems recently. It really highlighted the hypocrisy of how it’s only women artists who are being cancelled. But we’re the ones who are “not real feminists”

And women authors and poets

Surely this is covered by discrimination law?! Fucking idiots.

According to the RA, Gill didn’t have a sex but he did have a gender.

Wait, is this even legal after the Maya ruling?

Surely this is direct discrimination?
I hope she gets legal advice.

Oh that Twitter banner is a thing of beauty

@Beamur

Surely this is direct discrimination? I hope she gets legal advice.

I hope she does too. They are a disgrace.

@EmbarrassingAdmissions

The RA removed her for 8 complaints? Assuming this report is true:

twitter.com/Obsolesence/status/1405259156500713472?s=20

Were the complaints from:
the Pope;
Dalai Lama;
Archbishop of Canterbury;
HRH Queen Elizabeth;
Joe Biden;
Barack Obama;
Grayson Perry;
[equivalent of 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square]?

I've looked at their Instagram and it looks like it was a bunch of comments piling in under a totally unrelated RA post of a painting. I'd be surprised if many of those posting comments could even find London on a map, let alone be the sort of person who visits the RA. I suspect the vast majority of their regular visitors (and I'm one) will be horrified by the RA's actions yesterday.

Littlebrowndog that's brilliant.
If you go on Twitter you can get a link to buy directly from Jess.

Jealousy is a terrible thing... the person who seemed to have kicked this off seems to have an axe to grind. Silly of the RA to roll over to show their tummy so fast.

This is a gem of a Twitter thread:

mobile.twitter.com/royalacademy/status/1405174592856113154

You can guess how the responses are going..

Hahahaha. I done a thing (my years at arts school didn’t fail me)...

Like PPs, my first thought on hearing this from the RA was 'What about Eric Gill' but of course it's different comparing what men do vs what women think

Sigh.
Here’s a link to buy Jess’s wonderful work.

@Etinox

Sigh. Here’s a link to buy Jess’s wonderful work.

Dang it, the "heretic" one is sold out!

It’s just so bloody relentless, one woman after another suffering economically and emotionally because of these tyrants.

Have written to the RA tonight.

I have emailed RA:

• What evidence do they have JDW expressed transphobic views?
• Are they aware of the recent MF ruling that gender critical beliefs are protected beliefs?
• Having and expressing the belief that you cannot change sex and that trans woman/men are in fact not biological women/men is not a transphobic view and it is a perfectly legal and protected belief.
• Are RA sure they are on the right ride of discrimination here - seemingly discriminating against a female artist (sex is a protected characteristic) for her truly legally held views (GC beliefs are a protected belief)?
• Are RA thought-policing every artists to ensure no artists have distasteful views? How are they conducting this review?
• Who at RA is deciding which views and beliefs are deemed to be distasteful - since RA is not using legality to decide?

Hopefully if enough people email they will back down?

This is an incredibly clear and exemplary piece of writing

www.jessdewahls.com/blog/2019/8/5/somewhere-over-the-rainbow-something-went-terribly-wrong

Sex Matters have written the RA a letter:

sex-matters.org/posts/the-workplace/the-royal-academy-and-belief-discrimination/

@YellowFish12

I have emailed RA:

• What evidence do they have JDW expressed transphobic views?
• Are they aware of the recent MF ruling that gender critical beliefs are protected beliefs?
• Having and expressing the belief that you cannot change sex and that trans woman/men are in fact not biological women/men is not a transphobic view and it is a perfectly legal and protected belief.
• Are RA sure they are on the right ride of discrimination here - seemingly discriminating against a female artist (sex is a protected characteristic) for her truly legally held views (GC beliefs are a protected belief)?
• Are RA thought-policing every artists to ensure no artists have distasteful views? How are they conducting this review?
• Who at RA is deciding which views and beliefs are deemed to be distasteful - since RA is not using legality to decide?

Hopefully if enough people email they will back down?

This is superb.

Sex Matters letter is much better than my own :-) I shall use SM template for writing to other organisations

What a shower of weak, pathetic, cowardly, hypocritical bastards. They need to be asked straight out why they think it's ok to support Eric Gill's work but not Jess'.

[quote SoMuchForSummerLove]This is an incredibly clear and exemplary piece of writing

www.jessdewahls.com/blog/2019/8/5/somewhere-over-the-rainbow-something-went-terribly-wrong[/quote]
Amazing essay. I wasn’t aware of her at all thanks again to MN for the ongoing education!

Surely what RA is doing is illegal as they are discriminating based on her protected belief?

The thing that women have, that the trans community do not have, is a solidarity and willingness to help each other out.

The trans community tend to be primarily focussed on themselves, their own issues, their individual upsets and their individual rights.

I see what has happened to JdW, and I bought from her shop, wrote the the RA and tweeted "how can this be right?".

I'm not saying that the sisterhood will save us, but, I do think that women are far more likely to collaborate than any other population.