Kathleen Stock was on Good Morning Britain This Morning

[dunBle]

although she got talked over by Ed Balls quite a lot. It'll be on ITV1+1 at about 7:40 I think until just before 8am.

One of those killer lines where the person on the other side is so slow to process that they've been insulted that they're three hours late with the comeback. Bet he woke up with the perfect answer this morning. Absolute class from the Prof. Out-debating an ex politician so comprehensively is no mean feat, even when your position is based on solid fact.

I’ve just watched the video and agree with the fleeting second of intense dislike. I’ve experienced this when in discussion with a couple of men - they can’t bear the fact that a woman has a viewpoint that’s more solid than theirs.

Ed “the scrotum” Balls was also embarrassingly inarticulate. He thinks that his public, Strictly persona with the clownish chubby grin makes him popular; actually he comes across as ill informed and bumbling. He should stick to silly dancing. But at least the interview gives Kathleen Stock a chance to shine so overall, it’s great.

Did anyone see KS on BBC Breakfast?

It was a short report with an interview but appeared to be fair & Ahe had a chance to speak.

The overwhelming feeling I sense coming from Kathleen is one of incredulity. She must go into this situation thinking something like: I'm being interviewed by a senior politician who was once shadow chancellor, has a degree in PPE from Oxford, must be pretty intelligent and well-informed, I expect he has some thoughtful questions to ask. And then he comes out with a line of questioning that not only displays complete ignorance of the matter under discussion but complete stupidity as well. He doesn't understand the argument she's making, even though it's a very simple and coherent one. You can see from the look on her face that she's thinking: Do I really have to explain the basics here? Do I really have to explain that humans can't change sex? That pretending that they can has consequences?

What I want is for some smart and enquiring journalist to actually listen to Stock, realise how utterly mainstream and reasonable she is and then do some digging about who has so comprehensively painted her as an extremist, how they’ve got so much traction and why they’ve done it

now that would be investigative journalism

I liked when Kathleen talked about women being upset… this has not been said much except by Germaine in the past. And also how it is affecting our mental health , having to fight this ridiculous ideology. well done Dr Stock.

Yeah it's like they think women are doing all this (campaigning) just because they are bored, or want to be hateful bigots for the sake of it. No one has really considered the 'upset' on the feminist side of course as Trans Are The Most Important People. Thank you to Prof Stock for pointing it out.

She's brilliant. Cool, calm, thinks on her feet, knows she has facts and truth on her side. The state of Ed Balls. What a mess of an interview

The people prancing around still trying to uphold this argument need to stop now, it's just getting embarrassing. Most of them believe anything that avoids them being labeled a bigot (the indignity!) And are willing to throw women under the bus to save face. The tide is turning though and they're soon going to be on the wrong side of the fence.

Poor Ed. He's have to say a few decades of TWAWTMAMNBLAVs as public penance once his TRA son hears him saying women don't have penises.

Yes. I watched her do an interview right after her book came out, and she actually went red and put her head in her hands, briefly, in sheer disbelief of watching the stupidity. And, quite unbelievably, having to spend 99% of any interview reasserting that no, human beings cannot change sex.

The frustration of never been able to get beyond the premise of no you can't change sex is palpable. She can't even get to explain why it matters!

I believe it's also hardened her stance somewhat, despite still being fairly moderate.

It's become quite obvious that the players in this all come from quite different places. And the truly malign influencers are perhaps not that many, but they're so adept at the manipulation of eg young students, their support grows. But it grows down an avenue of complete misrepresentation.

That's no excuse for Ed balls, obviously. I suspect his information comes from his son. Which is why he flounders when he has to argue it himself.

He's been served up a stance to defend that has no basis in reality. But more than that, he's been told that objections to it are unreasonable and bigoted.

When he's faced with completely normal reactions, it's he who looks like the bigot. Uninformed and sexist.

Thinking about it, it's perhaps not surprising that his son is a TRA.

KS was really impressive. She came across as sensible, rational and articulate. EB looked like a fool. He knows perfectly well she’s right, and so will the vast majority of viewers.

This is what really gets my back up and you have both articulated it so well.

Ed Balls, a man, declaring that a man must have the choice to say that he is now a woman - what about the choice of women? It is yet again men telling woman what they are and what they are allowed. Fuck off Ed.

Ed and Charlotte both sounded so stupid from their inane questioning which they were directed to do obviously. But they can't be coherent because they are trying to use 'acceptable' words and therefore lose the fluidity of natural language.

Prof Stock was clear and articulate. She knows her stuff inside out. She's lived and breathed it but, most importantly, she's no longer afraid to speak in plain English. She doesn't have to tiptoe around the prescribed language like the others did.

It's so much easier to debate when you remove that obstacle. That fear of being labelled, that fear of being cancelled. This is what women like her have been up against and everyone knows it otherwise they would use natural language themselves.

I mean, Ed using the phrase 'women who are sexually women' in order to differentiate us from transwomen. What the hell? Did he come up with that himself because I don't think anyone would think that's acceptable, not even TRAs

yeah that phrasing is such a lot of shit. Just say biological women if you really have to include males with gender identity in the category of women (and therefore need to have some way to distinguish between the male women and female women )

EB is a smart guy, he and KS are of similar age and I suppose vaguely comparable educational & professional attainment, but he's out of his depth here against genuinely a subject matter expert - sort of like a pro footballer taking on a pro tennis player at tennis.

Haven't finished catching up with this thread but this genuinely made me snort my lunch over the table.

He is a populist who has backed the wrong horse here and the panic behind his eyes shows that he realises it too.

True. And of course anyone would be out of their depth. This is why the mantra was always no debate.

You can't possibly defend a premise that starts with the idea that you can change sex, and ends with rapists being given state sanctioned access to incarcerated women.

There is no rational, or indeed humane, defence of this ideology. None.

TRAs are invited to speak all the time - Posie Parker's rallies, billboard Chris does it, numerous Podcasters. They never will. Because they end up looking as stupid as Ed Balls just did.

What else can you possibly expect from a middle aged ex-labour party MP? Misogyny. Dressed up, of course. The Labour Party hates women. Mind you, so does Gillian Keegan, Penny Mordaunt and lots of Tory tosspot handmaidens.

@FlirtsWithRhinos Yes that is a brilliant post! Puts it perfectly.

I'm wondering how Ed Balls coped when his offspring went through the inevitable toddler cat phase. Did he rail at Yvette Cooper for not allowing them to literally be cats, through the magic medium of her compliance and belief?

He picked the wrong team.

The Cooper/Ball family should be a lesson to any future PM considering minister of families, wait to appoint them when you know they produced a good product in their own home first!

I find it difficult to tolerate that it is being framed as Doctor Stock has the right to speak at the Oxford Union as part of 'free speech'. Its's reality. It's science. It's biology. It is truly truly fucking nuts that anyone thinks this is controversial.

'Its's reality. It's science. It's biology. It is truly truly fucking nuts that anyone thinks this is controversial.'

It's ridiculous. She must feel like she's having to explain to people that water is wet and the sky is blue

Professor Whinston has this a lot, he said Said so on Question time. It's not an educational issue, there is something wrong with the wiring in some people's brains, no matter the IQ.