Conservatives in bother for stating reality again

[Tallisker]

Tory deputy chair Rachel Maclean accused of transphobic remarks www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-67650988

Harsh and rude, but not actually untrue. If the person only started transitioning last year, they won't have a GRC yet, so will be classed as legally male, surely?

Admittedly he looks slightly better in a dress, but why wear a grotty T-shirt that shows off his beer-belly anyway? Dress better.

Play the ball, not the player, please. It's horrible when people focus on women's looks and not their actions and their words. Let's not do the same. There's plenty of words and deeds to go on

I see why this example is a bit Punch and Judy. However in general, I think the principles of showing people respect and not judging on appearances are important.

This person could have stood for the seat, lost it and that's it. He seems to be muddled and confused, not particularly good at presenting as a woman, ok fine - let him go off into obscurity.

The campaign of derision seems to be a bit over the top.

Do we really want to judge someone's ability to participate in politics based on how slick they look, how closely they conform to gender norms? By that token, wouldn't a butch-looking woman be fair game for derision as well? Or an effeminate man?

I think you can object to the principle of self-ID etc without being nasty about the personal appearance of one individual.

Agree about the comments on appearance. Personally I am not bothered if this person wears a dress and wig. They can wear what they feel happiest in and their clothes don't appear to be revealing or overly sexualised etc.

I just don't think this makes them a woman or a lesbian or part of the LGBT community, or Roma for that matter, and that is all they go on about in their Twitter blurb. They are appropriating other oppressed/minority groups after changing their appearance less than a year ago. If they happened to wear a dress but their blurb covered sensible policies and environmental issues I would not have a problem with them.

It's not about what he wears, it's about pretending to be something he's not, i.e. lying. He's calling himself a lesbian, with all that this entails - cotton ceiling and lesbians being called 'racists' for not wanting to have heterosexual relationships.

It says a lot of very very bad things about our society that a woman MP saying 'this isn't a woman nor a lesbian' gets a newspaper report repeating allegations that correctly stating reality somehow makes her a bigot, but the fact that a man working with children claiming to be a safeguarding lead who has made paedophile jokes (jokes about raping 8 year olds) and has sissy porn all over his social media profiles isn't the headline.

Massive great walking safeguarding failure red flag should be the headline.

I don't think we should have to lie about men wearing dresses where it's CLEARLY a sexual fetish either. It's one thing David Beckham wearing a sarong, it's another some clearly predatory male using other people as unwilling props in their fetish.

Not 'transphobia' which as far as I can tell these days means not being willing to lie about reality.

He can wear what he wants but he shouldn't be able to force other people to lie about reality. Or we're in 1984 territory.

I don't think we should have to lie about men wearing dresses where it's CLEARLY a sexual fetish either. It's one thing David Beckham wearing a sarong, it's another some clearly predatory male using other people as unwilling props in their fetish.

I agree. I've seen Harry Styles sport very feminine clothing. Looks great.

This man makes no secret of his sexual fetish, of which the dress is part and even noticing it is unwitting participation. Humiliation is often an integral part too. Deliberately courting it.

You can't agree he's a woman, you can't admire his dress sense, because it's exciting for him, you can't criticise it either, because he might enjoy that, too.

What the fuck are we supposed to say!! I'm infuriated at the controlled ways we're meant to handle this.

Restraint, fairness, kindness, respect, integrity, benefit of the doubt, etc.

If I had my way I'd violently swear my arse off, and insult him all the live long day.

The double standards we are expected to uphold don't even nod at restraint, fairness kindness or respect.

Sexism tho...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12858719/amp/Family-aspiring-MP-branded-man-wig-row-rival-Tory-candidate-say-want-changed-gender.html

The ex wife and her son have spoken

@pronounsbundlebundle

Absolutely agree. His appearance is the last concerning thing about him.

His dubious online history is out there and yet the enablers are ignoring all that and only focusing on the big bad woman who dared state what’s obvious to anyone with eyes.

It's his appearance that informs us that he's a man, and that confirms he's a grotty man with a feminisation fetish. I see no reason to ignore what his appearance reveals about him.

His appearance is deliberately calculated to look ridiculous. Do previous posters not understand what 'sissification' is? A fetish that revolves around being humiliated.

This man has several posts about sissy lifestyle on the Pinterest shared upthread.

Basically 'sissy' fetish relies on men 'debasing' themselves by dressing in so called women's clothing. It's fucking offensive by nature; predicated on the assumption that it's demeaning to 'lower' oneself to be 'womanly'. Pretty much made out of offensive pornified tropes.

Oh gosh, his poor poor family

I’m glad Rachel McLean denies apologising. It cannot be against the law to say that a man (even in a dress and wig) is a man. We’re not in Canada (Australia, NZ…..)

Yes, my heart really aches for this man's poor family.

I'd like to suggest a new word for you all to consider. "Translighting" a portmanteau of transgender and gaslighting, meaning "when a trans person complains of gaslighting if someone points out the inconvenient truth" also contains the concept of bringing sunlight to the issue.

In his linked in he says he's "passionate about supporting transgender and gender diverse children.

Whilst on his Pinterest he shares jokes about 8 year old virgins!

Make of that what you may.

Exactly. They are forcing themselves to become sexually stimulated by women's oppression. It's the fetishisation of misogyny.

I'm not sure people quite grasp that.

I can understand the attitude that he can do he likes, as long as he doesn't take over our rights, but I disagree with it. I don't agree that getting aroused by presenting as a woman because it's so degrading, is anything other than abhorrent.

And it's compounded by the fact that people can't, or don't, address it (not necessarily on this thread, I mean in general). Because everyone has been indoctrinated to treat men identifying as women with respect.

Well I don't.

I agree, and stand corrected ☺️

@DinoDays that 'joke' is horrific.

Yes. And as you say, Datun, we can't win.

Mention it, we risk both exciting him for his humiliation fetish and/or being told we're being unkind.

Don't mention it, we risk our silence being taken as tacit approval - 'I've been using the ladies' for years with no problems'.

To be fair, I do understand the argument about picking on people for how they look - I'm not interested in being unkind for the sake of it. And men who are deliberately trying to elicit a reaction provoke all sorts of responses from women, none of which benefit us. The whole fetish revolves around debasing and insulting women. This was bad enough in the old days, before we were enjoined to 'be kind' and 'celebrate diversity' or 'die in a grease fire'.

And another thing ...

I can also find some compassion for this man, who has been enabled and encouraged by society to the extent his fetish has taken over his life, devastated his family and brought social opprobrium on him*. What used to be a very niche fetish has been amplified and dragged out of the shadows and put on a pedestal in a way that must be very difficult to navigate if one is disordered, vulnerable, and/or suffering from various compulsions. Removing boundaries for men struggling with disorders that depend on pushing boundaries create more risk and escalation of the disordered behaviour.

But again it's important to note that 1. his actions have impacts - often devastating - on others, including of course his immediate family, and 2. 'vulnerable' does not de facto equal 'innocent'.

*yes, some of the opprobrium is sought out, but I don't know to what extent that is compulsive/controllable.

Worth quoting in order to repeat this.

This man seems to have got well out of his depth, and it looks as if various people (at the Trans Tearoom, in the Greens and probably elsewhere) have been heaping approval on him. This may be the first period in his life when he has received such affirmation and attention, and he doesn’t appear to have any realistic idea of his own abilities. I had a look at his LinkedIn page, and it includes more than one instance of appearing to hold two roles at once, which look as if he’s got his dates confused. The chances that he could have been an effective Conservative Councillor or Green MP (or even candidate) or safeguarding lead for a small Trans support organisation are vanishingly small, but he has been given the impression that he’s capable. And now he’s being brought back down to earth very rapidly, and being mocked very publicly. He’s brought it on himself, he’s treated his family appallingly, and I still feel a little sorry for him.

More than that, though, I am angry with the idiots (Conservatives, Greens, very liberal progressive church) who have enabled his attempted rise to a position he is unsuited to. It’s grossly irresponsible, unfair on him, and is having unintended consequences.

Exactly. They are forcing themselves to become sexually stimulated by women's oppression. It's the fetishisation of misogyny.

I'm not sure people quite grasp that.

I can understand the attitude that he can do he likes, as long as he doesn't take over our rights, but I disagree with it. I don't agree that getting aroused by presenting as a woman because it's so degrading, is anything other than abhorrent.

And it's compounded by the fact that people can't, or don't, address it (not necessarily on this thread, I mean in general). Because everyone has been indoctrinated to treat men identifying as women with respect.

Well I don't.

This.

Must be a shame for the family. They weren't together "nearly two decades" though if they met in 2011. Totally controlling for him to change his surname to his ex wife's though.

Why take your ex wife's maiden name? Is that a bit odd?
I Don't understand what their justification would be.