Disingenuous piece full of misrepresentation and false victimhood, as per.
I mainly try not to get personal about individual transactivists/trans people as I think it’s victimhood fuel for their movement and also I do worry that many trans people are vulnerable and have poor MH, from personal experience. Also there are some that I find perfectly personable and would be happy to chat with (if they were).
But Dawson is, along with Jeffrey Marsh and Abigail Thorn among others, someone who gives me a very uncomfortable feeling of aggression and misogyny that would make me actively scared to meet them. With Dawson it’s actually a possibility as I work in the same field. I’m horrified by the works that have been published (both fiction and non-fiction) by Dawson (as Juno Dawson) that are clearly based on personal sexual fantasy and are absolutely horrific as content for minors. Not just massively inappropriate and dangerous but full of appalling stereotypes and expectations. It’s a massive egregious example of how no one dares to question or challenge anything a trans person does and it must all be fine because it’s an “underrepresented voice” or “authentic”.
I’ve worked with people who have been involved in publishing and editing Juno (as opposed to James) and they are perfectly nice sensible thinking people in other contexts. If anyone non-trans tried to sell them a pile of misogynist sissy porn or unevidenced harmful activist nonsense for kids, from the pen of an unashamedly outspoken homophobe, they’d see the problem. But all publishers can think of is how great and inclusive they are for having a big name trans writer on their list. It doesn’t matter what dodgy pornified content or unscientific shite they produce. See also “Grandpa’s Pride” with its fetish gear and “MAP” and “Jamie” which extols the virtues of “harmless” puberty blockers.
I do hope and think it’s starting to change and people are asking more questions, but Dawson has been an absolutely prime example. I think the same goes for JD’s journalism. Write anything, your word is gospel and no one will check if it’s accurate or makes sense!