Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie interview with Zoe Williams

[irishfeminist]

www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/28/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-bbc-reith-lecture-freedom-truth-trans-rights

Good for her, refusing to back down. Williams is a woman from a wealthy background who went to an extremely expensive private school and Oxford (like most Guardian writers) who revels in the virtue of her luxury beliefs. She doesn't offer anything or argue anything new here and I hope it'll peak a few more people.

If you find Zoë writing on a subject you know something about, it becomes increasingly clear she just pulls opinions out of her arse. She writes at the level of a conversation had at a bar while waiting to be served, with the same amount of research that entails. And considerably less scope for self reflection than a person two drinks in.

I don't like tearing down other women's work especially. I blame the Guardian just as much for allowing this standard of journalism (I've seen opinions backed up by reference to a single poorly liked tweet before). But Zoë epitomises class privilege by managing to hold onto that gig, she doesn't even realise how unworthy she is of landing this interview.

Oops, I'll have to whip myself with 118-gender-coloured lanyards to make amends

Just to point out that Chimamanda also comes from a privileged background but has the intelligence and imagination to see outside it. It's what writers are supposed to do.

Having worked with a man doing the ‘living as a woman trial period thing’, I would say it’s more about finding out what it’s like to be perceived as trans. No one ever perceived him as a woman, but being perceived as trans is no walk in the park, and it’s sensible to mandate that people must experience this before they commit to surgery

@BernardBlacksMolluscs Completely agree.

I loved that interview!!

💯

she’s not got form for writing articles about ‘checking your privilege’ though. Unlike Williams.

Having worked with a man doing the ‘living as a woman trial period thing’, I would say it’s more about finding out what it’s like to be perceived as trans. No one ever perceived him as a woman, but being perceived as trans is no walk in the park, and it’s sensible to mandate that people must experience this before they commit to surgery.

I can see that, never thought about it like that before but it makes perfect sense.

Chimamanda is amazing. Was Williams really the best the Guardian could do?

Privilege is subjective and should be contextualised. By Nigerian standards, yes.

I need to read HF's interview with Margaret Atwood again - I remember HE'S views being very present.

A very good piece. Interesting quote when asked about JKR: “I don’t want to talk about this and I’ll tell you why: it’s a subject which I have been a part of for quite a while in which it is easy for people to twist into what they want it to mean."

Et tu, Zoe Williams - who, when CNA similarly refused to be derailed, just went ahead and decided what she didn't want to tell her about must have been trans-related, giving ZW the spring board she needed to dive right into, erm, twisting it into what she wanted it to mean?

Yup. Quite.

Looking forward to the Reith lecture. Should be very interesting!

Yes, that's very much what I felt about this.

Hadley's left, Suzanne was hounded out, who's left?!

Maybe sonia will do a repost on Sunday

What makes her think that a man would would change his appearance in order to 'live as a woman'?

Has she never heard of Danielle Muscato or Alex Drummond?

'She is a commanding presence: flawless to look at, serene in her confidence, vivid and trenchant in her quest to smash every point and win every argument.'

Weird sentence construction. Anyway. Continuing to read.

'Ngozi Adichie didn’t get her reputation as a straight-talking provocateur from her novels.'

I'm sorry this is barely bloody legible.

She said in the Times Article "“I don’t want to talk about this and I’ll tell you why: it’s a subject which I have been a part of for quite a while in which it is easy for people to twist into what they want it to mean. I’m writing about it and I want to wait until I’m done writing about it so that I’m using my own words, with thought.”...

yet ZW insists, several times.... give me an example.. 'CNA says she will not... the whole point of this discourse is that cancel culture is damaging yet ZW spends the entire interview looking for an offensive opinion to hang on CNA.

'So the next day I ask her straight out: what was this true thing that the accosting American hadn’t wanted her to say? “Something,” she says. “I will leave it there.” I suspect it was something to do with trans issues- - Zoe making assumptions..

ZW: 'This is the driving logic of her fear for free speech: that she can’t say biological sex is inalienable without sparking a storm.' CNA has been clear - she does not want this one topic to be the centre piece of her discussion about her fears for free speech.

The dialogue about 'living as a woman' descends into absurdity.. 'you can't say all women and threatened by trans women' - it is different from saying 'women's rights are threatened by trans rights'.

The article is peppered with: 'I'm not having that'.. 'she probably thinks', 'the paradox of her lecture', 'is that real though' , 'The word was that it would be a cat-among-the-pigeons moment' 'the subtext, I think, is to set a grenade off under some issue of the day.' 'It’s all a question of perspective, I guess.', 'I think the opposite is true'..

My understanding is that CNA is deliberately trying to take a wider perspective and is refusing to be drawn into limiting the discussion to one issue...

I LOVE her writing and I am so grateful that she has remained strong against the tsunami of pressure to conform to the trans narrative as so many others have done.

And yes.. exactly who was 'trenchant in her quest to smash every point and win every argument'... she was determined not to be drawn and not to concede.. but it was ZW who seemed to want to smash and win and talked about a fight...

The first Zoe piece I read was about being pregnant. Nowt wrong with that , it's an important subject. The last article I saw was about how awkward it is having a younger , pretty husband on your arm.

In between there were some OK writings. But yeah , she's no Suzanne Moore.

'But in combat, as she is in her prose, she’s exhilarating and I’m glad we had the conversation.'

How very gracious of you, Zoe.

Also - 'combat'?! You had a discussion, mate. 'Disagreement' is not going to cause you actual bodily harm.

@Ginmonkeyagain and @BernardBlacksMolluscs Those are insightful ways to think about "living as a woman", thank you both.

Has she never heard of Danielle Muscato or Alex Drummond?

Apparently not. And I agree with pp, Zoe Williams picked that fight herself.

Zoe Williams has clearly not done her Gender Awareness Training - I sat through it at work and heard that we cannot tell someone's gender by looking at them, that some trans people do not change how they look or dress and this should not be a requirement, "for example some women have beards and you must not question someone's stated gender or they will feel unsafe".