JKR - Private Eye podcast

[Brewdug]

Ian Hislop and Helen Lewis go head-to-head about Scottish hate crime law. An interesting listen. Helen gets it, but Ian and the other male host are appalled at JKR's 'misgendering' and defensive of Monroe Bergdorf in particular.

To me it seemed clear Bergdorf made the list for something specifically said, a deft example of exposing the ideology rather than Bergdorf's very existence, which is what they seem to think was being called into question.

Private Eye has its moments and obviously some very good GC cartoons but this explains why they have never really got stuck in. Still a blind spot for some.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/page-94-the-private-eye-podcast/id973958702?i=1000651416301

I’m listening now.

Have I heard right that both Hislop and the other chap have described JK Rowling’s list as “sex offenders and Munro Bergdof and India Willoughby.”? Which may come as a (slanderous?) surprise to the person who runs the Scottish rape service and possibly (I cba to check) others?

As Indy described it as a list of sex offenders and Indy it will be interesting to see if any reaction is applied equally or if we see a bit of what Orwell might have described as 'sex good, gender better' when it comes to offense taken.

I think The Eye pod can be emailed (although given how they respond in print to complaints/corrections it probably isn’t worth it*) but I do think it’s ridiculous of them to say “obviously these sex offenders were just “at it” (I paraphrase) so it’s FINE to call them men, but won’t somebody think of the poor innocent transwomen, for whom it’s cruel to be reminded they are, indeed, also chaps!” (Again, paraphrasing).

Eapecially as the Scottish butcher was pretty much known to be out as trans before conviction which suggests not only have Hislop and co misgendered him but also denied his actual transness, which we all know is the action of a horrible transphobic bigot (if you’re a middle aged woman, at any rate).

It’s ALMOST funny how all the things women get hammered for are just stuff guys like this are very comfortable doing, with no pushback. No wonder they don’t see a problem.

(*don’t forget to tell them you’re cancelling your sub!😂)

That’s a very good point.

Me: ''Sings bass, you say.'
DH: 'Um?'

That’s hilarious.

Peter Boghossian in a recent interview with Kara Dansky dismissed sexual assault of women by trans identified men by saying he never heard about them. When Dansky said the attacks are reported in feminist media, Boghossian asked for actual numbers and he started by saying have there been 100? That gives us an idea of how many attacks Rational Man ™️ might accept as a starting point.

@Emotionalsupportviper I'm sorry that happened to you

Years ago I can remember going out drinking with my younger brother and my father telling him to "look after your sister". I tried to say that I was quite used to looking after myself in a way that my brother was not, in fact I was used to looking out for danger, dodgy men or situations that had even remote chances of escalating since I'd hit puberty and found myself the target of unwanted male attention, plus times where I'd inadvertently put myself in danger and learned from it the hard way. That risk assessment and mitigation is hard-wired into women and girls from a really young age. That I would see risks and dangers my brother would not even consider.

He was utterly bemused in a "What the hell are you talking about, girl?" way. I think he thought my brother being bigger and stronger was the answer to everything.

We'll file that with all the other things men Do Not Get.

IW did the same ("Sex offenders and me") and then furiously backtracked when several people pointed it out.

Oh, and I'll add that - like @Emotionalsupportviper's experience - the response to any situation where I've had problems with a man has been "Why didn't you hit him?!"

Now, I'm no shrinking violet and I'm quite strong. I lift weights and I've got a decent right hook in me. But I know as sure as hell that if you're going to escalate something you've got to finish it, and a small woman - no matter how strong - is no match for most men. It's why self defence is taught as shin/bollock-kicking and eye-gouging, not combat. And we all know how things can end for women when a man is angry. But that just wouldn't occur to a man, rape is just not something they have to consider.

<stuffs more things in the They Do Not Get It bin>

<stuffs more things in the They Do Not Get It bin>

We're going to need a bigger bin.

Substitute "your twelve year old son" for the woman, bet the men wouldn't be saying, "Why didn't you just hit him/throw coffee over him" THEN

I’ve just listened to that podcast. Very disappointing. The men can’t or won’t understand it. But look at Hislop - for all his good points, he still grew up in a boys’ public school, and it shows.

As a PP said, I'm sure IH gets it, he's preserving his career.

I had never seen that Paula Yates HIGNFY. How horrible. So many men treat women like meat. Ugh.

This makes me sad because I've always had a soft spot for Ian Hislop. I thought he was more switched on re: womens rights than that.

See Philip Pullman as another example

Nah, he minimised the women in Parliament who were complaining about harassment, saying it was 'pretty low level stuff', fortunately Jo Brand was chair that week and put him straight, getting a huge round of applause in the process, Ian had a bemused look on his face, still didn't get it

Misogyny trumps intelligence.

Actually someone has posted the video clips on a previous page, plus another poster has put a link to the shocking treatment of Paula Yates in the '90s. He's no friend to women in my book!

@SidewaysOtter misogynistic creeper men who won't leave women alone when told to fuck off, are much more likely to actually fuck off if the woman they are harassing has a male with them (even a clueless brother who wouldn't recognise the risk unless it was spelled out to him). So that might have been what your dad was thinking about.

I agree that most men just do not get it. My own DBro keeps saying "I don't understand why you care about this trans stuff, I wouldn't think about it unless it affects you." We are both parents and I am a woman - it's affecting me and our kids right now!!

I agree that most men just do not get it.

My DS says "I don't know why you're always ranting on about this stuff!*. It's not that big a deal."

I just said that if he had had a daughter instead of a son he might think differently. He actually didn't reply, which is unusual - he normally has an answer for everything. I'm hoping it made him think a bit.

*Men in women's spaces

Wouldn't it be nice if a woman reading all this, who knows/is related to IH, could let him know what a tone deaf twit he is.

I mean, I'd like to think that the women in his circles are strong, intelligent, well informed, humorous and well able to think critically and hold their own in an argument - in fact I imagine he would expect nothing less of his own daughter (I don't know whether he has one/any).

So, do we think there are women like this is IH's life who tell him stuff and he doesn't listen? Or are they all 'be kind'? Or are they all doormats? Or what?

Private Eye can't make much money. It's a daycare service for public school boys. IH's children's school fees wil be paid by his gig with the BBC. And we all know how unbiased the BBC is about men in dresses. IH is just an establishment shill.

I've always thought that IH was a smug, slightly creepy little fecker. Seems to have a very high opinion of himself for a man who looks like a cross between a suet pudding and Dan the potato man from the Woodentops.*

*People over 60 may remember him. He was very full of himself and sang little song along the lines of this . . .

<clears throat>.

<hums a little to find the pitch>

I am Dan the Potato Man
Find a better if you can
You will never, ever see
Another po-ta-to like me.
Little Bill and Little Ben
You are only Flower Pot Men
But I am Dan the Potato Man

<bows>

Edited to say - I know that none of us can help our looks, and I have more than a passing resemblance to the Snork Maiden myself, but with Little My's dress sense - however IH has the arrogance of a Really Good-Looking Bloke With Tons Of Personal Charm, yet he is, as my grannie would have said, neither use nor ornament.

Well, someone at Private Eye has been covering the gender stuff for nearly as long as James Kirkup. I'd just not related it wasn't IH.

I'm so sorry, Viper. And I'm so tired of having to explain all this over and over.

What about 'me, too', were they not actually listening?

Because it really did take me aback then how utterly clueless men were on the subject. Its so ingrained in women that it's background noise. I thought a lot of men had their eyes opened. Maybe they just forgot about it as soon as the next wave of Curious Information came along.