Guardian interview with that trans Gaelic footballer

[Fenlandia]

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/08/trans-gaelic-footballer-giulia-valentino-leave-legacy-inclusion

It contains the usual "I'm just a poor weak thing now I'm on wrong-sex hormones". (I'm surprised it didn't include the trope of "Now I'm a woman I can't open jars any more!")

Also has no photographs due to 'harassment' - so no chance for readers unfamiliar with the story to see that picture of this person closing in on the young girl holding the football and to think "golly, isn't that a man?"

Is it the photo where everyone thought the trans player was the referee?

This quote from the article:

"The Guardian agreed not to publish this or any photograph that identified Valentino, who has been harassed. “Safety is a privilege that doesn’t belong to trans people,” she said."

That's the one. It's still there on Twitter and in the Daily Mail article.

Mind you...

"Research, including a study by Joanna Harper, a trans woman at Loughborough University, has found that trans women may retain strength during the first three years of hormone therapy."

That's unusually truthful for the guardian isn't it. They normally prefer to skirt around facts in this sort of cuddly, be kind, most oppressed ever, article

has found that trans women may retain strength during the first three years of hormone therapy."

They kind of want you to read into that an implied "they don't after 3 years", but there's just a limit on how long-term the studies are. We have yet to discover any time period over which they might fall to "female" strength.

And, as we have seen in the science from Hilton, Tucker etc, reducing testosterone doesn't negate the advantage of bigger heart, lungs, lean muscle mass.

Also it still isn't fair! I'm slow enough and old enough that I wouldn't win a girls' race or team sport match but I still don't belong in their younger age category.

I wonder if the stated reason for no photos was the actual reason.

Kidding! I'm not wondering at all. One 'person'...erm...mountain guide.

Also it still isn't fair! I'm slow enough and old enough that I wouldn't win a girls' race or team sport match but I still don't belong in their younger age category.

As Tucker has said (from memory) - women's sport exists to celebrate exceptional females, not mediocre males.

A male managing to diminish his ability down to female level via drugs is not an achievement.

I’ll just pop the photo here - a shame for ppl to miss out

Shocking piece of writing. All women's concerns are down to Irish people being reactionary , conservative Catholics.

As opposed to a nation that voted overwhelmingly for gay marriage and a woman's right to choose. But they think they can put this lie across on their UK and American subscribers.

I think they ran with quite a good photo of balls.

I would not be the least bit surprised if they actually believe it themselves.

We see it all the time here in other contexts, ther eis the thread now about Liz Truss, where there are still people who confidently proclaim that Conservatives wouldn't want to vote in a woman and would only do so if they were trying to avoid someone non-white - despite all the evidence that actually, conservative voters seem to pretty regularly vote for women and non-white MPs, and seem to be at least as inclined to do so as the LP.

People believe these ideas because they treat them as unchanging truths.

It really is a case of a picture being worth a thousand words, so I'm not surprised they didn't use one, the gaslighting cowards.

"I didn’t score anything. My position is half-back and I’m not such a good player.”

Boo-hoo.
I never scored anything, and this "toxic narrative".
And generally mamma mia.
Whaaaah...
Tissues, please

There are no comments under the article and I couldn't find it on the Guardian's twitter feed, just the twitter link on the piece under the journalist's name.

The person who picked the photo is secretly gc, or is a comedian. Balls!

This person is trans, they're not under witness protection. Do sportswomen in the news get this level of protection from a media outlet? Or black footballers who face horrendous racist abuse on social media?

At least they describe the photograph! At quite some length too. I think anyone getting all the way to the end of the article would probably Google this person’s name out of curiosity… and be usefully surprised.

"The Guardian agreed not to publish this or any photograph that identified Valentino, who has been harassed. “Safety is a privilege that doesn’t belong to trans people,” she said."

So Valentino is so frightened that they don't want their (widely available) photo to be published, but not so frightened that they're unwilling to have an article about them published in a national newspaper. Yes, makes sense.

@ArabellaScott

I came straight here from the Graun to say the picture showed a lovely pair of balls. I wonder if they'll change it.

Medium height and build - for a man

Balls in a sack, no less.

Guess Giulia doesn't like the photo of them in bondage gear or want people to know they worked at Torture Garden when they lived in London either.

So less of an article, more of a puff piece.

What happens during a match? Does someone run around holding a coat over em?

I keep seeing the subject title and thinking this trans Gaelic Italian is identifying as Irish, which make as much sense as identifying as a woman. How would a Gaelic Recognition Certificate be awarded? Dress as a leprechaun for two years? Eat only boiled potatoes? Any other faintly offensive stereotype?

It says this person is gender fluid. Does this vary as to whether it is a football day?

Yes he might be a different gender for Camogie or soccer. Or maybe a different fluid?