To feel incredibly sorry for Eddie Izzard

[ColdstreamAnnie]

I don't want to pity Eddie but I felt a wave of sadness after reading that Rosie Duffield (MP) said she would rather be arrested than refer to Eddie as a woman.

Any adult man going on about being a "girl" is going to come off as being a bit creepy. Eddie isn't identifying as a menopausal woman. Eddie is identifying as being an adolescent female.

Now Eddie probably didn't intend to sound creepy by talking about boy mode and girl mode - probably intended to sound funny and like it was switches that go on and off in Eddies genderflexible amazing wild funny mind! Yay!

But words matter don't they? That's what TRAs are always telling us.
Identifying as a girl is creepy.

So what Eddie Izzard really needs now is an "Old Lady" mode. I look forward to seeing it.

Yes, for the true womanly experience you have to also take menopause and old lady mode. Funny how it's only ever girlhood and perky breasts they get excited about. Don't see many elderly ladies in high heels I suppose.

Can't wait to hear Eddie's 90 minute special about Saga holidays. And how the TV is always on too loud at the care home. We're not all bloody deaf y'know. And why can't padded jackets be in more exciting colours?

I’m hoping for more conversations about fucking terrifying ‘brain fog’ is, when you can’t have a normal conversation because you forget every second word. Menopause really doesn’t feel like it gets much attention in the world of inclusive womenhood, other than when we all have to agree that it happens to transwomen too.

I think I'm going to start identifying as cat, if I get a collar and an all in fur suit, would this be possible.

I can see the advantages, I would no longer have to pay taxes, I could freely gain admitance into other houses, have sex in public spaces, shit on the high street and attack others without provocation.

Or is that too soon in our development to alter peoples reality for my own purposes, would I be shot down for taking advantage of others, to consider them fools, or can I get away with it -

Too Soon ?
Yes I thought so.
Maybe later.

I have no shame.

Actually @BeenCounter its been done. A school in Bristol has to refer to one of their pupils using cat pronouns, there is a gender called nyangender and yeah.. it’s as crazy as it sounds.

Seriously? They identify as a cat?

We have a 12yo who identifies as a bear.

We have a 12yo who identifies as a bear.
I'm sorely tempted to ask if the school has a convenient wood...

MN is well known for being v TERF-y.

You say this like it's a bad thing.

Thinking of friends of mine who identified as Klingons and spoke the language fluently, but were expected to do all that out of school time. Oh those so unprogressive times. They weren't allowed ear surgery or to carry axes or anything.

Yes - I've seen that.

No mention of a large litter tray at the end of a corridor for their personal use though - Terry bigoted ailurophobes, the lot of them!

Bet there isn't a plate of dead mice with Dreamies for desert at lunch time, either. So unfair.

Terfy, not Terry - don't know why autocarrot stuck its oar in - it didn't this time.

😆😆😆

The only thing I would suggest is that rather than calling it "gender dysphoria", we use the term "body dysmorphia". Gender is a meaningless term. It has no real definition - it is whatever someone decides it is to them, so they can hardly be uncomfortable with it.

Thank you @Emotionalsupportviper I did actually think about using the term 'body dysmorphia' - I've had several conversations with various friends (all feminists) about the difference. I suppose I was thinking in this specific case, it's about gender roles & stereotypes.

Although Eddie Izzard seems pretty comfortable in a masculine gender role ....

Well, @WindyHedges - heels hurt.

that’s why women give them up.

You wouldn't even need the fur suit or the collar. Just say you're a cat. That should suffice.

Why are there posts on here being deleted for using he pronouns about this person when they themselves refer to themselves as such when acting or on certain days?

I just googled nyangender (soft and fluffy like a kitten's fur) and saw further down the entries that someone identifies as

...an omni genderfluid catgender softgender nyangender pincusmic alagender aromatic with ADHD who uses they/them...

Is this the modern equivalent of collecting Pokemon cards?

Surely (and I might be very wrong, trying to think it through) -

"Gender Dysphoria" - is about gender roles, gender expression.

"Body Dysphoria" - is about have problems with your body

"Sex dysphoria" - is a subset of body dysphoria and is about having a problem with your body's sex.

People talking about gender dysphoria may have gender dysphoria and that alone, but in which case there is zero need for hormones or surgery.

If they have sex and gender dysphoria (which you could also call body and gender dysphoria) then they may wish to change their body and their gender expression.

It seems insane to allow surgery for sex dysphoria without first being 100% clear that either -

(1) Equally risky surgery is allowed for other types of body dysphoria (and as far as I can work out "sex reassignment" surgery is riskier in terms of long term complications than amputating a healthy limb.

or

(2) It is riskier to NOT do the urgery than to do it (with, clearly, suicide threats not being a factor in assessing risk of not doing the surgery).

Flippin' Ada @pattihews - that's a right mouthful!

I would say this is getting silly but that ship sailed long ago.

As a perimenopausal woman suffering badly with brain fog, this is sooooo true

Thank you @YouSirNeighMmmm

You've got me really thinking about now - It's all bliddy confusing (as I think it is intended to be).

I still don't think that "gender dysphoria" can exist (or at least not in the way that trans people use it ie "I'm a man who likes a frock, so that means I'm a girl") because they are using "gender" as a synonym for "sex", which it is not. As gender is a social construct which varies from culture to culture and age to age, it can't be defined the way sex, which is biological and unchanging can.

I fully agree that many people are uncomfortable with gender roles/expression expected of their sex - and good for them! Smash those stereotypes! We will all be a lot freer and happier without them. There is no reason why men, if they want to, shouldn't wear make up, or clothes which are associated with the female sex, and vice versa. You could argue that women are fortunate in that they are much freer to wear what they like.

However, despite what they might claim, TW are NOT smashing stereotypes - they're desperately conforming to them by adhering largely to the stereotype of the "sexy girl" (in their minds, at least). Can't say I've ever seen one coming out as Hilda Ogden. No-one changes sex - sex is physical and innate, and no matter how much surgery, how many hormones an individual ubjects themselves to, all changes are surely cosmetic.

I agree that sex dysphoria is a subset of body dysphoria. I used "dysmorphia" because I think that genuine transppl perceive their sexed bodies as being so appalling that they can't come to terms with them. I think that these people are a tiny minority, and I also believe that they should be supported and helped as much as possible

(I have to admit I got myself tangled up in the differences between the terms "dysmorphia" and "dysphoria" and I had to look up definitions to try to sort it out in my own mind. I'm still not sure I've got it properly worked out.)

I agree with the two points you made in your post re: surgery etc. Only true dysmorphic individuals require (or will benefit from) surgery.

I had typed a lot more other stuff, but reading it over I realised that I risked a ban for some of the descriptions I used,* so I've deleted the rest. But thank you for your comment - it really got me thinking

*They were not untrue, rude, or unkind terms - just things that some people on here don't like to read on here.