Article about JK Rowling in The New European

[HPFA]

Very good, fair, balanced article here:

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/jk-rowling-trans-culture-war/

It's quite noticeable how mainstream "Liberal Remainer" types (I include myself in that description) are now coming onside - Ian Dunt doing a joint event with Julie Bindel being another example.

And for anyone tempted to say "where were they before" part of being a successful political movement is always being welcoming to latecomers!

Just to clarify - obviously in real life very few people conform absolutely to the cultural labels devised by commentators and political hacks.

But that doesn't mean general trends are not important. The issue is getting more coverage and people are expressing opinions that previously had not been aware or were reluctant to stick their heads above the parapet.

That's an opportunity but also a challenge - remember that ;latecomers will likely feel less strongly about the issue, won't understand decisions taken in different circumstances and probably won't prioritise the issue over their other strongly held beliefs.

They have also published an article by Shazia Mirza the comedian, about Dave chappelle.

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/contributor/shazia-mirza/

I hope this doesn't lose her gigs with the Guilty Feminist. She is very strong on the right of comedy to offend. It doesn't pussy foot around. It mentions trans women using the ladies swimming pond.

The New European twitter account is fielding people saying they will cancel their subscription but says they've only had 2 actual cancellations. I've signed up for some free articles. If I like it maybe I'll subscribe. There seems to be a weekly print edition?

They have published things vaguely in this area before- sarah ditum on sexist lefty men, an article during the gra consultation by Caroline criado perez. It didn't come down against the changes but was written in very clear normal language about what it was about, which for the time when most media was using very obfuscatory language about the issue, that was quite something.

But this seems quite definitive. They have just had a management buy out, so it's now owned by the founder and a number of people. All the named ones i can find are male and have backgrounds in newspapers. So it might not just be Johnny come latlys. It might be they now have more freedom.

Liberal Remainer here too. Good for JKRowling I say.

I know that if I were a sportswoman I would be thoroughly pissed off at having to compete with 'women' who had gone through male puberty and had all the advantages that testosterone brings.

The New European doesn't seem to be backing down on this!

Their Twitter feed very robust:

twitter.com/TheNewEuropean/status/1455540225967640577

all the advantages that testosterone brings

And none of the bodily disadvantages of being female, either. No periods. No chance of pregnancy. No cycle of hormonal variation. Different pelvic structure.

Men aren't just women-on-testosterone, after all.

Iirc Ian Dunt defended JKR’s right to speak, though he disagreed with some of what she said. Did anyone used to listen to the Remainiacs podcast that ID did/does? Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith are very TWAW I think. Interestingly a few who were lauded on there and were guests on the podcast have showed their misogyny on this issue - I’m thinking of Kirsty Blackman and Jolyon Maugham for example.

Yet didn't Robert Winston speak out the other week and say that no, you can't change sex. That was every bit as much plain speaking and he expected the trans lobby to censor him, but he doesn't seem to have been villified in the same way.

As one who has been reading the New European regularly, I would be very sorry if this issue helped to kill the newspaper off. It could do, so powerful is the TWAW lobby, even though deciding to wear a dress doesn't make you one, any more than women wearing trousers makes us men.

I’m really impressed with them for this.

The Twits are outraged. Hilarious beardy blokes having mantrums and cancelling their (imaginary) subs.
mobile.twitter.com/TheNewEuropean/status/1455510582472368131

Someone in the replies is counting beards

Well I’m going to buy a copy so that should balance out all the imaginary sub cancelling...

Same!

When I get my copy and read the offending article in print, I must write to say, Good for you.

Out in the wild at my local shop! Glorious. Yeah, there's no u-turning on that, is there?

“The rage against Rowling is actually rage against her for being a woman who has not politely faded into the background, but who has instead asserted her voice and her boundaries. That is what is specifically infuriating about her – and it’s why one of the favoured tactics from her attackers was to reply to her tweets with images of pornography.”

I think I’m a liberal remainer too.