Jolyon jumps the shark - is trans a cult?

[CantDealwithChristmas]

Jolyon 'fox killer' Maugham has been on one for 6 days straight now. It all started with Streeting's PBs ban and ratcheted up when JoMo sent Streeting a list of 25 questions which Streeting ignored - and on a Sunday too. As of yesterday JoMo, a KC (though Guido Fawkes reported his licence expired in May), was encouraging people to break the law by accessing banned PB drugs from abroad. As of today he has well and truly jumped the shark with the below, horrible post on X.

My question to this board is why do TRAs feel the need to ratchet up the emotional temperature of the debate so high? Why do they so quickly devolve the conversation to death and suicide? It's an ugly strain that runs right through all TRA talking points. I personally think TRA is an eschatological cult and the focus on death is a intrinsic part of that. Others may think it's all about emotional blackmail.

Either way, please use this thread to discuss JoMo, Streeting's unaccounably cruel ignoring of him, and TRA emotional hysteria / threats in general at this crucial time just after the PB ban was announced.

EDIT - could not upload the screenshot of JoMo's post but it reads as follows:

"And don't underestimate the political tail of Wes Streeting's decision. His colleagues will slowly be coming to terms with him locking them into a future of bereaved parents tipping ashes outside Number 10 and a revival of mass die-ins wherever they go."

Latter group. Delayed puberty + hormone receptor mutation left me in a state not dissimilar to blockade which was then entirely suppressed by GnRH agonist treatment prescribed by GIDS.

His wife is a big shot in gender activism.

Lets break down JM's achievements in the last week:

1 His badly written attack on Wes Streeting over PBs in contrast to Streeting's obvious concern for child safety enhanced the narrative that Streeting knew what he was doing and was right. It also made Streeting and other Labour figures understand the madness he faces more fully.
2 - His attempt to support the transing of a 4 year old child demonstrated exactly the horror we are fighting - it confirmed we are right and peaked others.
3 - His irresponsible use of self harm/suicide tropes along with fake statistics resulted in an official refutation from a government official. It has wrecked one of the TRAs biggest talking points for good.
4 - His meltdown has further damaged GLP and ALL the cases it is pursuing giving us a useful legal advantage. Our side has the truth, BUT that is not enough presentation and strategy matters too. If the leading TRA legal team are a joke that works through the profession crucially shifting preconceptions.
5 - Media coverage once again made our side look rational while the TRAs got to look deranged.
6 - Brought the gift of black comedy to us all.

As we move onto the battle over conversion therapy in the coming months thanks to JM our side is way way stronger.

ButterflyHatched · Yesterday 15:05

The claim used to be 2 years. Then it was pushed to 5 years. Now it generally hovers at 10+ years.

It's already been twelve years since GIDS started authorising GnRH agonists for under-16's.

Where are all these people? The numbers should be overwhelming by now

Unfortunately, GIDS didn't keep adequate records, and adult services refused to supply any data they had to the Cass review team. So nobody knows precisely. Handy, eh?
Although the adult services did say they would supply data, when forced, so I can only assume this is ongoing research.

My line of work involves working with parents who have, or have had, extremely distressed children. I encounter them as (i) service users (ii) advocates for other service users (iii) professionals working with service users.

Groups 2 and 3 can be amazing, or a nightmare. It is common for people with lived experience to be drawn to working or volunteering in a field that has been transformative for them on a personal level. When they have processed their own trauma and are open (and curious about) different ways of making sense of experiences that are similar to their own, these advocates and professionals can be an invaluable source of support. However, when their thinking and reasoning is still impaired by overwhelming emotions their input is problematic and deeply unhelpful to the service users. Primarily, it tends to shut down options.

There are many ways into gender distress and many ways out. Those with 'lived experience' who think that the story that they tell of their own experience is the only valid story to make sense not only of what happened to them/their loved one, but to anyone else, hinder not help.

JM seems to be in this boat. He presents as still being very damaged from his own distressing experiences in this area. I expect his thinking and reasoning about his own distress, his loved one's, and that of others are all conflated in his mind.

What he needs is a compassionate friend or family member to advise him to step away and help him focus on his own wellbeing and to process the distress and overwhelm that arose for him as a result of his child's experiences. They should let him know that despite his intentions, he isn't helping is making things worse.

That is very insightful.

I lost my brother to suicide when he and I were in our early 20s. I had often though over the years about volunteering for connected charities or campaign groups but I still don't think 20 years on I am in the right place to give helpful and objective support. I can cope day to day with the loss, but there is a deep well of pain, anger and frustration about what happened that I am still processing. So I am not sure I would be able to turn that in to helpful support and advice for others.

So I work on helping myself and our family and donating financially to organisations like CALM.

That’s a very compassionate post @Brainworm , far saner and kinder than I’m capable of. Thanks.

@Ginmonkeyagain it doesn’t feel adequate to commiserate how hard that must be. It’s truly admirable that you can acknowledge how it impacts your ability to engage in this area and to find different ways to direct your grief and energies constructively.

It is a complex area rife with blame, anger and guilt. The causes and drivers of suicide are very complicated and multi faceted. I have no words for the deep deep contempt I feel for people like Maugham who weaponise threats of suicide or use it as a campaigning tool.

I agree with the issue of volunteering after experiencing trauma. It is 8 years since I lost my child. I am in a small group of bereaved mums locally and we do support each other. I am still far too traumatised to be getting involved in any kind of official advisory position. (The only thing I do try to do on MN is to exhort parents of young people going off to university to ensure they do a first aid course before they go).

Watching someone play out his family’s private struggles in public is just excruciating.

i feel that it is not so much that he is convinced of his own righteousness but that he wants to demonstrate to his daughter that he has fought tooth and nail for her in every way to back up her belief that she’s actually male.

DH worked in a high profile CS Dept. On a Friday evening, he was there, 2 layers down from the SoS.

He was passed a phone call to handle from the member of the public who wished to harangue the SoS for the way Civil Servants took Fridays off or went home early. DH had to take this call for 90 mins. At no point did the caller wonder why they were able to harangue a Civil Servant for the lack of Civil Servants working on a Friday until 20:15. The caller only left off to announce that they had "things to do."

33 TwiXes would seem like a dream to handle…

I genuinely think he's lost the plot. Does this sound like a genuine message? Not to me.

And demonstrate to himself that he didnt enable a potentially catastrophic decision.

"I hope we'll see your work taken up in a select committee investigation at least"

😂😂😂😂

Someone has had a clever joke with him, appealing to his pompous huge ego and he's swallowed it hook line and sinker.

Unless he wrote it himself 🤔 there does seem to be a similarity in writing style.

Glinner perhaps?

He didn't redact the final "o" in whatever that phrase was. Any ideas?

So 8 letters (probably), ends in 'o'?

Portfolio?

Nah, it says "Dr. Who"

That'd work! 😄

Could be London Zoo ... from one of the animals, perhaps.

Hadley Freeman in the Sunday Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/406f2268-9efa-45d1-a1ab-85533dbe93ba?shareToken=5936b316e3bc016c5568026fa752f8ab

Thank you very much for that article, @Igneococcus. She's right, it's been an eventful week!

I missed most of it @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I only skim-read during the week. I will catch up now over a nice cup of tea.