Alex Massie on JKR and Death Threats

[Igneococcus]

I put the link into the old thread but I think this deserves its own thread. Thanks Alex Massie, excellent piece of writing:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/8547d582-ecbf-11eb-a9f0-ebe3f77d4a7e?shareToken=f64b5e8f965fddd747c4d63ffcdc03a3

Thanks

Many thanks for the share token. Excellent.

No evidence, let alone any convincing evidence, is ever produced to substantiate the accusation that Rowling — or other feminists — is transphobic. The assertion is considered proof of guilt itself. If you suspect this speaks to what is, at root, a suffocating new orthodoxy familiar in the pattern of its thinking to students of totalitarianism you would, of course, be correct.

That is a really good piece

Absurdly, we are asked to believe that those threatening violence upon Rowling are the people who, in their own pious, self-aggrandising phrase are “on the right side of history” and it is Rowling who, in defiance of all evidence to the contrary, is guilty of fomenting hatred and violence. That being so, the death threats sent to her daily must be considered a natural response to her provocations. They are but a means by which truth may be spoken to power and if it is regrettable that some folk take this too far the fact remains she started it and it is she who bears responsibility for the violent fantasies of those who promise to kill her

Excellent article, thanks for sharing!

Many of the loudest voices in the so-called trans-rights movement are not those of trans people themselves but, rather, of men whose self-professed alliance with trans people often seems like a convenient cloak for rampant misogyny.

This, we all see it. From those who make death threats, to those who try to end women's employment, or silence women voices, (Side eyes the Labour Party and the SNP) or stays silent when when of your own MPs are subject to abuse.

This is super and very well written. Every time I came to an ad I thought I'd finished and felt genuinely excited to discover there was another paragraph to read! The part about prominent male allies' misogyny was spot on and brought a few suggestions to mind, I must say.

Gawd that’s great article

Awesome mr massie

Absolutely brilliant article. Thank you for the share token.

Have there been any voices in the trans community calling out the threats of violence. I don't remember hearing any. Certainly not from any of the major organisations. I cant think of another movement where the mainstream has stayed silent when others use threats of violence. Hmmmmm.

Thanks for sharing, that's refreshing.

A minor point but this always fucked me off, I'm pleased he addressed it
Scottish PEN will remain silent and so will the actors and other artists whose fame and fortunes have in large part been made as a result of Rowling’s work. That may be their right, but it is craven nonetheless.

Excellent article , thank you for sharing

I get fed up reading 'it is not trans people themselves but others'; still the need to have that sacred caste. It is very much trans people and trans organisations.

Yeah the erection pics with lipstick face sent to the children's Ickabog thread were very much selfies of transwomen.

Are you so oppressed you need to send a picture of your erect dick to children? ?

Excellent. I just want everyone in the world to read it!

They all hate women - the TRAs. the men like sprout and Paisley. They are united in their absolute hatred for half the population.

The fact that the likes of Sturgeon stay silent while abuse is heaped on Scotland's most famous resident is despicable.

^ agree Tib. Otherwise an excellent article.

Do we need to commission the Leeds Spinners to create JKR her very own RIght Side of History or simply JKR banner?

Josephine March is in there, doing civil society's work in the comments - always good to see.

archive in case the share token lapses: archive.is/BiEth

Sturgeon is frit about this, no two ways about it. That pronouns video a few months ago. Disgraceful coward. What I struggle to understand is why the Tories don’t (yet) make more of this open goal.

Perhaps they don’t need to (yet), but the further into woo-woo land the SNP, Greens, LibDems and UK Labour go, the more glaring the opportunity is. Not sure if Scottish Labour will build on the baby-steps of acknowledging the need for single-sex spaces they took in the Holyrood campaign.

And down in Westminster, how long will it be before Johnson asks Starmer at PMQs what a woman is? (BJ routinely asks questions at PMQs rather than actually answering any). It’s one thing for Dawn Butler etc to “beclown” themselves about sex and gender, but for the supposedly forensic-minded human rights lawyer Starmer to do so too would be such a damning state of affairs.

Apparently it’s Carrie’s influence on BJ which is holding them back - I’m not sure that that will last when they need the electoral capital.

Excellent article.

As to who is behind threats etc, I think that herein lies the problem highlighted by the letter penned by a group of transmen. Those awful pictures are not being sent by transexuals or people with gender disphoria , they are pictures of people satisfying a sexual fetish.

Thanks for sharing, fantastic article

Excellent article and excellent comments.

Why is this in the Scottish edition. The Scottish edition is only available online to those of us south of the border. Or is it that we have a quota which limits what is published, maybe a little unfair, the Times is usually pretty good on this subject.

I meant, ONLY in the Scottish edition - what about the offline readership in the UK

It shouldn't matter but JKR's position on independence makes her persona non grata amongst many on the pro independence side. They of course are the same people telling women to shut up about the GRA as independence is more important than women's rights.

@334bu

Excellent article.

As to who is behind threats etc, I think that herein lies the problem highlighted by the letter penned by a group of transmen. Those awful pictures are not being sent by transexuals or people with gender disphoria , they are pictures of people satisfying a sexual fetish.

Yes, a certain fetish that we are not allowed to mention or talk about, even though it is very relevant to the discussion.

This is why the intimidation and harassment and no debate - because if the wider public knows about their dirty little secret, then they see it for what it really is.

All the while women are being unwilling participants in men's twisted fantasies.

But hey, don't forget to be kind .