Dr Jessica Taylor New Book

[Seiheiki]

Hi,

Is anyone else going to the Birmingham book launch of Sexy But Psycho on Sunday night?

Fucks sake. My book has arrived. At my brothers house.

I ordered a bunch of stuff to go there at Christmas and I hadn't changed the address back.

I'll have to order another one off Amazon. Quicker than getting my brother to do anything.

For better or worse, she is standing up for abused women.

I don't understand this comment. For worse? There are plenty of comments in this thread that have outlined the possible harm JT can cause with her derivative sound-bite tik-tok style commentary on complex and highly sensitive topics.

Her inability to reflect on these concerns actually does concern me. The moment she gets a hint of criticism, she perceives it as homophobic, or misogynistic, or classist. She complains that other radical feminists don't like her, as well.

I agree with the pyramid scheme comments. I worry that she is, by and large, self published. I don't know who can challenge her professionally, if her public persona is clearly as prickly as she appears.

I'm not surprised she's reading this thread. I hope it gives her pause, because a lot of vulnerable women look up to her and listen to what she has to say. She has the potential for bringing about immense good in the world, and I want that to happen. But the click-bait nature of some of what she's saying can have an opposite effect. She's put herself out there, which means she has a responsibility to consider the impact of her words.

I wrote the 'for worse' comment. What I meant was, she's putting issues on the table and better qualified people like you can now wade in and progress the debate. And given how little help there often is for abused and traumatised women, having had the argument may change the outcome for the better in some way. She's done the same sort of critique of advising rape crisis centres for rape victims, on the grounds that it will harm them further. Having that debate could spark some change through the professionals in that field?

Having that debate could spark some change through the professionals in that field?

I certainly hope so.

@BeyondPurpleTulips

I wonder sloe - as a fan - could you maybe shed some light on the truth regarding (I'd always assumed this was a dodgy rumour, but this seems a good time to ask) whether Jess did indeed meet her wife when she was one of her students?

Dr T met her wife at a protest against Andrew Griffin.

Interesting points made so far. Perhaps someone who is outwith the field with a bit of knowledge is well placed to ask questions of the entire field? And some people are better at disruption and dismantling than at careful evidence based balanced methodology. Maybe both approaches are potentially helpful. And potentially flawed?

But if someone wants to tear down a system without any recommendations of what comes next, how is it doing any good? We need better mental health services, to be sure. We need to tackle bias in the medical community. We need to approach health with a trauma informed and strengths based modality. I'm completely supportive of all of this. But how will this be achieved?

I'm not in any way qualified to answer that!

But in a spirit of what the fuck: I think we have to start from a position of enquiry. Not from within the existing system. Maybe start from the position of people in need rather than from the position of providers?

I'd also say we need a holistic approach that is evidence based and encompasses a varied and individually tailored approach that includes professionals from many different disciplines. Of course at root we need massively increased spend on health and mental health provision.

Perhaps someone who is outwith the field with a bit of knowledge is well placed to ask questions of the entire field?

Yes definitely. Except Jess is profiting from doing so, and handsomely and again, is not listening to other experts when they tell her she's actually wrong about certain things. If you want to challenge things, you do need to be able to check your own biases and listen to what a variety of other experts are saying. I'm all for the system changing, but with this, I think worse case scenario, there might be women who are on medication who stop taking it because of what she posts. Medication that was otherwise helping things like suicidal feelings, emotional disregulation and very low mood. It has the potential to really do harm. I am a bit addicted to TikTok and there was just a video which came up yesterday from someone who had been on medication for her mental health for years, stopped it and went from functioning well to being hospitalised having tried to kill herself. It happened very quickly. She'd got back on the medication and had stabilised. She had a young child to stick around for. That case had nothing to do with Jess whatsoever but it demonstrates how vulnerable some people are.

If it helps understand my position, I was just saying on another thread here yesterday I have cPTSD. I currently have a lovely, compassionate (male) psychiatrist who has recommended I go back on some medication after years off it. He isn't pushing it on me, he isn't wanting to shove me out the door on pills - but he is highly experienced and that experience has shown him that this particular medication can really help with certain things I'm trying to manage right now. I am not going to take it just yet as it's such a balance for me, I want to see if getting back into things like mindfulness helps me first and he's ok with that. Even carrying some pretty negative feelings about medication, I am so aware it saves lives and can be a useful tool. I looked into this medication online for reviews and there are bad ones from people saying they felt ill on it or got worse but there are also many hundreds of reviews saying 'this saved my life, it has been incredible.'

Anyway, here's a balanced and recent systematic review on antidepressant medication if anyone is interested. It tells a much more nuanced picture than what Jess is communicating.

www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k1073.full

I wish Jess well with her book launch, she clearly touches lots of people with her message. She is clearly an incredibly strong, passionate woman who is doing lots of good alongside the bits of her work I take issue with. I have loved some of her lesbian visibility posts in particular. As I said upthread, this isn't black and white.

Ah, thanks for the link, sadly it's paywalled.

Cityofwomen..

I am sorry to read your post. I think that criticism is a byproduct of being in the limelight sometimes. She is not immune to it. And it is true that we all can benefit from criticism isnt it? Her goal surely is to help, and many heads are better than one right? It doesn't matter that its us women criticising her. Surely she would be wise to consider the opinions?

I dont know anything about the GCSE's story or whatever. I do know that lots of us survivors make massively successful lives once we get into healing, and there are hugely qualified individuals whose routes are wildly individual.

The main thing I think about this debate is that what we say is affected by how we say it. For some she is too abrasive and she loses people. For others, she is not quite correct and they cannot stand beside her in what she says.

I would consider both of these criticisms if they were levelled at me, and I wouldn't use feminism as a reason not to. We are all on the same side and want the good changes x

I think it's regrettable that the Tahitian Pearl stuff plus the tittle-tattle about how she met her wife got mixed in with the pertinent points that a number of posters made. I know she knows about this thread and predictably she's only engaging with the trivialities such as the Pearl thing.

But when you set yourself up as an authority and seek to become a public figure who influences people (and profit financially from it) then you should expect to be held to account, surely? And why does being young/working-class/feminist/lesbian exempt you from that?

Posters who are more knowledgable and experienced than me have outlined their issues with (aspects of) her work and her approach.

Predictably, posters who came here to scold us didn't engage with any of the more measured posts - and now all the Tahitian Pearl nonsense and gossip about her marriage (I really don't care how they got together) have given her a cover to totally ignore all the legitimate questions. It's frustrating.

@AnnesBrokenSlate

I genuinely don't understand why confusion over school results (from different sources/journalists who could have made the error) would cause anyone to discredit someone's entire professional output.

I like Jess. That doesn't mean I agree with everything she says. But some critics of her, are deliberately misunderstanding what she is doing. She's using broad brush strokes and trying to start debates/conversations about women, sexism, classism, trauma and academia.

There is lots of research (across different medical disciplines) to support that women are treated differently in the healthcare system and that trauma/unhappiness are pathologised and often medicated.
That doesn't mean there isn't a place for medication. It means we can't and shouldn't ignore the patterns around women, diagnosis and treatment.

And I'm suspicious of 'women' who see a young, woman trying to carve a niche and make a difference and their response is to trawl through articles looking for inconsistencies. I was trying to think of the last time I read a thread about a young man working on VAWG where his school results and holiday stories were deemed worthy of critique and also as some sort of barometer of the value of his work. And the answer is 'never'. Firstly, because there aren't many high profile young men working in this area. Secondly, because no-one cares about high school results when you're over 20.

I looked at my own old CV recently, and noticed that I'd got my own A level results wrong - I'd put my self down a grade in one subject. I'd just never noticed until now. It is possible to do.

Nein, you don't think it's important if (big if) someone who talks about the frequent abuse of younger women potentially exploited her senior position when she met her wife? It would be a bit hypocritical, wouldn't it.

I'm very happy if it is not true, but it is certainly relevant - even if you feel it can be dismissed it as tittle tattle.

She’s insufferable. I’ve had plenty of personal interactions with her and she’s an obnoxious self publicist. Unfortunately for her, one doesn’t view someone’s work in isolation and so how she behaves personally impacts, quite rightly, how someone is viewed professionally.

@cityofwomen I don’t hold women up to a higher expectation than men.

I’m simply saying I once asked her a question (not even a contentious one) on Twitter and got a really aggressive answer back. Do you want to know what her answer back to me was? ‘I’m not answering that as otherwise I will not make money’ (I paraphrase). And also highly critical of other organisations who are trying to work bloody hard with not much resources.

So will I buy her book? No.

Beyond I've re-read what I wrote and realised that I would have taken a different view if it was a male tutor and young female student. So yes, point conceded.
If the previous poster is correct it seems that wasn't how they met, thankfully, but I do take your point.

Agree with the previous poster who said that your can't view her work in isolation and that how someone behaves personally impacts how they are viewed professionally.

And I hate that argument about people holding women to a higher standard! I can't bear rude and abrasive men either!

@Dobedodo

I figured I’d duck out of this but what the heck.

Since we’re asking for critiques of her work rather than inconsistencies in her life story here’s one that’s made me uncomfortable and I can see has been raised: she claims 99% of anxiety meds are beta blockers. I can’t find the actual % ( nor has she when challenged for a source) but I doubt it’s anywhere near that high. Although beta blockers are commonly used, most will be SSRI’s. She implies most women aren’t told what beta blockers do and that it’s impossible for beta blockers to help with panic attacks.

beta blockers are used because unlike SSRIs the physical relief can be almost immediate. Speaking from experience, the beta blocker interrupts the physical panic attack symptoms so you don’t go from “feeing anxious” to “heart racing hyperventilating”. No it doesn’t fix trauma but it can help people function and for many allows them implement cbt and other coping mechanisms because they aren’t preoccupied with feeling like they’re having a heart attack.

She’s completely dismissed anyone who’s raised this with her saying there is no proof they help and any personal anecdotes are placebo.

Yes, I totally agree, and I'm uncomfortable with her throwing this statistic about (and defending it) when people raise these concerns.

I find her stance that her criticisms of psychiatry - its over-medicalisation, its blind spot to trauma and its misogyny are a new idea quite bewildering. It's been going on for years within psychiatry/psychology and by user/survivors of these systems.

Having said that, I wish Jess all the very best and agree with those who say that she would benefit from a mentor or the like in terms of what and how much of herself she puts in the public domain.

@antiseptic75 , you do realise that it's perfectly possible for two different people to share the same name?

@SpittinKitten. I thought the same but googled and it is in fact the same person using a pen name, there's even a photo of her on goodreads alongside all of her poetry books. It's perfectly acceptable to have a pen name imo.

I’ve also just had a search and YouTube videos from 2019 have her listed as Jessica Eaton and she has published some poetry under that name. I don’t think it’s the same Jessica Eaton who is American though, I can’t see any links there.

Tbh, I'm only really interested in engaging with the ideas that Jess puts in the public domain.

Sounds like those books may have been written by another Jessica Eaton?

They are linked as the same author on Goodreads but all the books by the American Jessica Eaton have a different publisher.