Independent Article 1989

[Jackofallsorts]

This.

Yeah the first paragraph is infamous for its terrible description of a transwoman. Why she doesn’t get many invites to events these days!

Bollocks. She's taking part in the Canberra Writers Festival this year, and considering she is 83 and still appearing at events like this she's doing well. So churlish and mealy mouthed of you Mishy, what a surprise.

I still remember the thrill and total amazement at reading The Female Eunuch as a young teenager. Great to have such challenging concepts to think about at a formative age.

Religions like gender identity ideology need folk devils. All the better for them to be female and old.

There's already been a thread about this. But thanks, I enjoyed reading the article and the comments on the previous thread.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4430375-germaine-greer-in-1989-sex-change-is-a-lie?flipped=1

I can't read that even when I zoom in. Is this one any better? From Twitter @terfcitations

I can't read that either. I can read it on twitter though.

twitter.com/terfcitations/status/1550465693073567744

Never one to mince her words.
The feminist voice I grew up hearing - and being rather scared of. So fierce. I'm glad she hasn't mellowed but her words will be very hard for some to read.

Germane ahead of the curve as always.

the first paragraph is infamous for its terrible accurate and honest description of a transwoman
**

What makes you blame Greer’s (presumably accurate) description rather than the transwoman’s choice of behaviour and make-up?

Oh of course. Mustn’t challenge trans people’s view of themselves.

I've just seen a child using the pronoun "it" in school on a new thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4639637-teachers-face-significant-challenges-to-avoid-outing-trans-pupils-to-parents

Her description seemed harsh (though not necessarily inaccurate) until I read on and saw that this man appears to have stalked and harrassed her for the remainder of her stay. I don’t blame her at all for what was probably an accurate description of someone demonstrating a form of predatory behaviour that is much more common amongst men than women.

Her description seems unkind.

But why is she obliged to be kind? Why is she expected to indulge, to play along? She is not said individual’s mummy & she should not have to endure a game of “pretend” that has been foisted upon her without her consent. Given the way the individual in question grabbed her, Greer could easily have reflexively clocked them, not just pointed out - in an article long after the fact - that they were unmistakably not of the female sex; that they could not become female; & that their behaviour as much as their appearance betrayed them as male.

Why should Greer lie about any, let alone all, of those things? And why is it considered kind to pretend it is possible for humans to change sex? It is a truly dreadful lie to tell; almost made worse because [so many of] those who want to believe it are incredibly vulnerable.

i think when someone is appropriating your sex, without having a clue what it’s like to be that sex, and doing so by adopting stereotypes, it’s ok to be angry about that and harsh about them. It’s just that we’ve been trained not to be and to “be kind’ about someone’s delusion or feelings - but if it was a white person doing blackface and a bunch of racial stereotypes, or an able-bodied person cosplaying disability, we can all see that it would be understandable for a black person or disabled person to be angry and harsh. This is no different IMO. It’s just that culturally it’s been treated differently.