Two 14yo girls write to Gillian Keegan

[ResisterRex]

This covers a lot of ground, best read in full:

www.transgendertrend.com/gillian-keegan-open-letter-teenage-girls/

Likewise. It's not the vocabulary, it's the tone and style that doesn't sound right for 14.

So how does a 14 year old write? Answer, the way they have been taught. I think you underestimate quite how mature 14 year-olds can be

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at 18.

I have no problem with the idea that this was written by two14 year old girls. I know mine would have been capable of this at that age.

As an aside, we have been pumping stuff down children's throats in the guise of fact when really opinions and beliefs are being discussed - and that is in the sphere of religion. Teachers do not preface their statements with "Christians believe" - they simply present it as fact. So there is a precedent for this sort of dishonesty.

That I can believe.

I’m pretty convinced this WAS written by 2 fourteen year olds. It doesn’t read like adult text, but very well done to them, it is clear and coherent. I hope it’s read widely. I think lots of people who don’t have kids in state high schools will be horrified by the contents. I don’t think many adults would think it was a good idea to make teenage girls & boys change together or be forced play certain sports against each other. The girls highlight how this is being embedded in their education, and make a convincing argument that all sides of the argument should be heard without any appearance of being anti-trans. I really hope GK and also Kemi Badenoch see it

No-one is here is trying to discredit the source. I personally believe that it was written in the way @stillherenow describes. Thinking that the girls had help or the text was ghostwritten doesn't mean that I doubt the contents of the letter. Obviously.

Smart move to publish as an open letter - Gillian Keegan will have a bit of difficulty pretending she doesn't know anything about it.

In Joanna Russ's brilliant feminist textbook "How To Suppress Women's Writing" on how the patriarchy discredits women writers, tactic number 3 is: Deny she wrote it.
Alive and kicking on this thread.
Interesting to see that a textbook I read in the 1980s is STILL fucking relevant today.

Me neither. Is that grammar?

Mary Shelley had had a child that died and had been living with Shelley - she eloped with him. Also she had been extremely well-educated for an eighteenth century young woman. I think she was probably more mature (though not much) than two girls of 14 now.

Not all 14 year old girls are average, Malala wasn't, Thunberg wasn't. They might be highly intelligent. They might, like Mary Shelley, be raised in homes that are intellectual and encourage debate and clarity of thought.

So you really think education has gone backwards since the 18th century? I am concerned at how keen posters are to discredit teenagers.
I am not sure exactly how having a deceased child affects literary ability.

Yes, deceptive coercion at its worst.

Indeed!

How misogynistic to think girls can’t write a decent letter

Christ, and I was going to criticise the lack of differentiation between the narrative voices in Frankenstein but decided against it...

My dd is 14 and could definitely write this. But usually these letters are written by the campaign. However I can see in the tweet posted up thread that one of the mums has said it was written by them so that’s pretty definitive to me! I do write a lot of these types of letters and I don’t think it means they’re not worthy- often it’s giving a voice to people who wouldn’t be heard otherwise , sometimes just because they’re too busy or in a too stressful situation so we don’t ask them to, but they always approve it and it’s based entirely on what they’ve said.

It’s a great letter regardless and it would be worth an edited version being sent to a paper.

Ministers read all letters @Tallisker. Us civil servants draft the responses but the Minister reads all of them and puts their signature to them.

Otherwise the civil service could say anything. And yes private office are full of youngsters but they have to be liked by and supportive of their Minister. Unlikely that full on woke would go down well with the current crop!

Oh FFS. Will the women of fwr please stop mentioning interesting sounding books all the time? 😬

My tbr pile/kindle contents are growing to monstrous size and on bit sure how I'm going to get through it all while also identifying as a responsible adult/parent🤣

Some teenagers are very well read and like words and debating and making their point. It really is a cheap shot to try and suggest the girls couldn't possibly have written it.

*I'm not sure 😳

Likewise. It's not the vocabulary, it's the tone and style that doesn't sound right for 14.

Intelligent 14 year-olds are capable of adjusting tone, style and register to the task at hand. They also presumably had plenty of time to tweak it, with the entire internet at their disposal. It's not as if they will have written it in exam conditions!

How crushing for girls to now say that not only must they believe this utter garbage but that they are now not intelligent enough to write words to try and stop it?

Can we please just give kids a chance to rail against this and support them when they do? Rather than negging them like some weird pick up artist?

My youngest could genuinely have researched written that at 14 (my eldest not so much!)

Can we please start giving our young women some credit! We do have some incredibly brilliant youngsters in our midsts!

@Wimpod
How To Suppress Women's Writing

Also FREE on Amazon Audible right now.

You're welcome! 😉🤓

He wasn't non-binary but he definitely identified as a bull, a swan, a shower of coins, an ant...

Definitely bepenised and rapey, though. I don't know how you sex a shower of coins, to be fair.

I think competent 14 yos could write this, and even if they did have help, does that matter? If I were writing something like that, I might well ask a friend to review it before sending, just as I've reviewed things for them.