The Five Stages of Victory - Helen Joyce

[lcakethereforeIam]

Just read this in the Critic, thought it was too good to not share and, feck it, let's give it its own thread

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-victory/

Enjoy

Might be my favourite paragraph

Nothing I can say about the violent, fetishistic narcissism at the heart of trans activism is half as persuasive as what trans activists say themselves. Every time they speak, they make it harder for all but the most gender-addled politicians to continue insisting that every “transwoman” is a vulnerable sweetie nobly coping with the tragic, albeit puzzlingly metaphysical, disability of having been born looking exactly like a man.

Reminds me of a MN thread. Goes from deadly serious to hilarious via profound. We're very lucky.

@RoyalCorgi same but about five years maybe. Furious !

I am never buying Fairy Liquid again

Me neither, he must use it to clean it after dilation of the wound.

Almost certainly never done the washing up. May have pretended to in stereotypically feminine pornified clothing. Actually done the work? Not so much. I think he's mixing up fairy washing up liquid (colloquially called 'fairy liquid') with fairy laundry detergent that comes in biological and non-biological forms. Typical bloke knowing nothing about cleaning products!

I'm at rage with a strong undercurrent of intransigence and have been for years - particularly when it comes to safety for children. And the rage and determination won't go away until the massive safeguarding failures and experimentation on vulnerable children is totally at an end, preferably with some personal legal and criminal accountability for those in public institutions who have caused the harm.

Why have I never bloody heard the word scofflaw before??

It's absolutely perfect.

If Helen Joyce hadn't been an economist, mathematicianand a women's rights activist, she would have to have been an actress.

She has that indefinable thing, presence.

And ugh to washing up liquid. What the fuck is that all about?? 🤣

it can't possibly be because it's got the word fairy in it, can it??

Why have I never bloody heard the word scofflaw before??

Because you is Honest and Hlaw Habiding, innit.

I first came across the word scofflaw in the Alphabet Murders series of books featuring Kinsey Millhone, my favourite female detective. Apparently it was coined to describe those who scoffed at Prohibition laws and continued to drink anyway.
I was surprised to find that, because to me it sounded as though it might have a long history and perhaps be one of those words considered archaic here, but current in the US.

Excellent article, thank you cake for posting it.

I'm at 'fucking furious', have been for about 6 years, and it shows no sign of abating.

Hai may not be. Hai might be a desperado.

Datun the Desperado has a certain ring

Me too. To know that in a (hopefully dwindling) number of schools children are still being taught all this nonsense and persuaded that their bodies are flawed and a sex change is the cure, is enraging.

We have to keep going until children are safe from all this.

Our Helen has become much more hardline which i take great comfort from because i have become very hard line at 100 miles an hour.

And worried about it a bit

though not anymore.

"A middle-aged cross-dresser with fake boobs spilling out of a baby-doll dress"

The image of him is, unfortunately, burned ito my memory forever and he was not middle aged but elderly, which made him look even more ridiculous.

Me too! Always thought it was some Scots dialect word that survives in the southern USA. I love Helen's sort of composite Dublin/ Edinburgh accent. I have a friend whose voice and accent is exactly like hers so it's sometimes a bit disconcerting when I first hear her speak.
But by ' leftwing press ' I'm guessing she means the Guardian? They've been dreadful on this. But they're dripping wet liberals not leftwing. HJ was editor of the Economist so I imagine she is a 'sensible' Tory? If they still exist.

I want to be Helen Joyce when I grow up 🙂

DH told me I was 'more militant about this' than he is.

I pointed out that he doesn't read MN. I do. Some of it is horrifying, and he misses that. However, me ranting doesn't have the same clout to him as a news article.

I thought that including detail about what was on the protestors' banners was particularly insightful - I would never have sought out photos or videos to find out myself, and never would have guessed those kind of messages. And no doubt the same is true for other readers.

She's a genius writer, I shared it with my ex who also loves her