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Graham Linehan on the chapter about him in Jon Ronson's new book

311 replies

impossibletoday · 29/08/2026 21:50

Graham Linehan on Jon Ronson's new book

My ex-friend Jon Ronson may be a case study in the corrupting toxicity of trans ideology. An interesting read.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/29278d258cf0921b

My ex-friend Jon Ronson may be a case study in the corrupting toxicity of trans ideology

His book chapter about me stands as an indictment of him and the cowardly social class of people who refuse to confront uncomfortable truths

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/29278d258cf0921b

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8
TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 30/08/2026 17:47

Having fallen down the Michfest rabit hole, I've learnt a few things, like who coin the phrase 'transphobe' and that the word TERF goes back to Michfest.

There's an article on Twitter written by some called lorelie that was very interesting, long but very detailed re Michfest and it's demise.

It seems the 'trans'taliban ruined a good thing, another reason to despise this ideology.

https://x.com/hatpinwoman/article/2048807147748647383

So, with beauty in mind, I will end this with words by Sara St.Martin Lynne. She wrote this in the book “Female Erasure” as part of a much longer letter, and it is a paean, or a rallying cry, for women:
“…That Land has taken root inside thousands upon thousands of women and girls. And She will grow. And we will grow. There is a wilderness in each and every one of us that will never be tamed, re-named or erased. Our cells have shifted. Our DNA has been altered.

Sorry for the derail but that's the thing about MN it sends you in all directions, the more you learn the more you know.

Cover image for "Michfest: Women’s Land and Men’s Rage"

Michfest: Women’s Land and Men’s Rage

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival “Michfest” was a lesbian feminist music festival started by then nineteen year old Lisa Vogel. The event ran from 1976 to 2015. Some of the women who attended, over the

https://x.com/hatpinwoman/article/2048807147748647383

Taytoface · 30/08/2026 17:49

I can't agree with much of what is on this thread. Whilst Glinner has not been wrong about much of what he has raised on the damage and madness of the TRAs, he has become totally unhinged. He lacks any sense of perspective and attacks people who agree with him if they are even vaguely critical of his methods. And his methods are I think at times really distasteful. And don't help in making the reasonable arguments he is trying to make.

He has lost so much. He is clearly very brittle. What I want for him most of all, is for him to leave this behind and go back to being the creative genius that he is. He has done his bit.

sandgreen · 30/08/2026 18:20

Taytoface · 30/08/2026 17:49

I can't agree with much of what is on this thread. Whilst Glinner has not been wrong about much of what he has raised on the damage and madness of the TRAs, he has become totally unhinged. He lacks any sense of perspective and attacks people who agree with him if they are even vaguely critical of his methods. And his methods are I think at times really distasteful. And don't help in making the reasonable arguments he is trying to make.

He has lost so much. He is clearly very brittle. What I want for him most of all, is for him to leave this behind and go back to being the creative genius that he is. He has done his bit.

I agree with this - I was a paid up member of his Substack for years until recently. I have never been a fan of his calling out detractors on social media personally (including Ronson). Not that I keep a particularly close eye on these things but it seems to me Ronson has completely ignored him in online debate, has been part of the class making Glinner look like an obsessive yelling into the void, then turned around to humiliate him with an entire chapter in a book about the masculinity crisis. I’d have liked to hear him put his own real argument forward before him doing something as shallow and abusive as this. Unless his chapter vindicates Glinner in some way, it looks like bullying of the worst kind, which is beyond ironic coming from the ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ guy.

BackToLurk · 30/08/2026 18:22

What I find interesting about these threads is the absolute conviction that a middle-aged professional man can be negatively impacted by online communities or being ‘terminally online’ coming from the same people that don’t think online communities could have any negative impacts on ND teenagers.

MyAmpleSheep · 30/08/2026 18:41

PerkyBlueZebra · 30/08/2026 17:05

But River’s only documented connection with camp trans is attending one of the protests. No evidence of being an organiser, founder, key figure in the movement or even a regular attendee. Those were all floated as possibilities after Rivers was charged and ultimately found to be baseless.

Ronson didn’t include the murders in the piece, I think it was the right decision.

If Rivers had been a key figure in camp trans, the victims had attended then yeah, it should have been included. Graham’s making up that is the case and getting annoyed about what he made up.

The truth is he got some mild criticism and has spun out to a ludicrous degree and doesn’t care about the accuracy of his accusations and it’s a repeating pattern

That’s enough from me!

But River’s only documented connection with camp trans is attending one of the protests.

I'm afraid I'm not a scholar of this area, but I do note that one can be a pivotal or important figure without having a "documented" connection. I asked Google "was rivers a key figure in camp trans" and the answer came back overwhelmingly a positive 'yes', with examples and citations. Perhaps that's a biased answer, and those examples and citations are inaccurate, but It's not perhaps as clear cut as you suggest.

zanahoria · 30/08/2026 18:46

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 30/08/2026 17:47

Having fallen down the Michfest rabit hole, I've learnt a few things, like who coin the phrase 'transphobe' and that the word TERF goes back to Michfest.

There's an article on Twitter written by some called lorelie that was very interesting, long but very detailed re Michfest and it's demise.

It seems the 'trans'taliban ruined a good thing, another reason to despise this ideology.

https://x.com/hatpinwoman/article/2048807147748647383

So, with beauty in mind, I will end this with words by Sara St.Martin Lynne. She wrote this in the book “Female Erasure” as part of a much longer letter, and it is a paean, or a rallying cry, for women:
“…That Land has taken root inside thousands upon thousands of women and girls. And She will grow. And we will grow. There is a wilderness in each and every one of us that will never be tamed, re-named or erased. Our cells have shifted. Our DNA has been altered.

Sorry for the derail but that's the thing about MN it sends you in all directions, the more you learn the more you know.

It was only when I read about Michfest that I truly understood this issue

Datun · 30/08/2026 18:48

It's a real indictment of the paucity of trans arguments, that they resort to well how many years was it before the close of the lesbian Mitchfest and the horrific murder of a lesbian family by the same man who disagreed with it.

And they get it wrong by about nine years.

Seriously, if you're trying to win an argument because of these totally irrelevant details, you've already lost it.

UtopiaPlanitia · 30/08/2026 19:01

Datun · 30/08/2026 08:32

Ronson has argued in his book that the friendship became strained because Linehan was consumed with anger over the transgender debate, and lost all “polite, mannered civility” as he campaigned against gender ideology online.

What an indictment. Even using the concept of 'loss of manners' is so telling.

It's the bloody Bananarama argument again. It's not what he said, it's the way he said it.

From those two articles Ronson was blaming Linehan for his own reaction and allowing only that to negate his argument! Never mind the rapist attacking incarcerated women, or the psychopath killing Mitchfest lesbians. He's wringing his bloody hands over Graham's rage.

No one will fail to understand how numerous people do not want to put their head above the parapet for fear of their career, friends, status.

But this is different. This is blaming somebody else for doing exactly that. And getting all fucking prissy about it because it was messy for Linehan.

edited ad, I'm wondering why I'm finding it so infuriating.

I think because there's a massive element of Jesus wept man, you lost everything for the sake of women's rights, what the fuck is wrong with you??

it's barely concealed. In fact, I'm pretty certainly he doesn't even notice how that runs through it like a stick of rock.

Edited

I'd also like to point out that as well as belief differences, there are different cultural backgrounds involved in this as well.

As an Irish woman, I agree with Linehan that we have different types of social behaviour in Ireland than in England. And also, like Linehan, I've been on the end of a patronising telling off from middle-class English people for saying something that is perfectly normal in Ireland (i.e. blunt) and yet considered impolite in middle-class England. It's very frustrating to be on the receiving end of the 'fainting couch vapours' behaviour for no good reason.

Manyanamanyana · 30/08/2026 22:19

YouHaveAnArse · 30/08/2026 12:10

Well, you can look at the Wikipedia page on it for a start. Internet is good for helping you look up terms you don't know. This board alone is full of shibboleths that are meaningless to those not already entrenched in GC discussion.

But if you're going to be disingenuous and pretend that something that's been widely discussed enough to have academic papers written about it as a sociolinguistic phenomenon being mentioned but not spelt out for you is some form of sly "TRA rhetoric", then my time is probably better spent pairing my clean socks.

One of the enduring social issues, just one of many small things, resulting from this trans insanity, is that Wikipedia is no longer a neutral source (captured by trans ideology) and academia is similarly no longer reputable. I honestly can't see either of them as a decent resource for facts these days. It's a real shame, and an enduring legacy of an ideology that has infiltrated much further than it ever should have. I think if Graham had lost some of his equilibrium, there are many of us on his side of the argument who can understand and relate to the rage he feels over what has been done, and what needs to be undone.

napody · 30/08/2026 22:26

Taytoface · 30/08/2026 17:49

I can't agree with much of what is on this thread. Whilst Glinner has not been wrong about much of what he has raised on the damage and madness of the TRAs, he has become totally unhinged. He lacks any sense of perspective and attacks people who agree with him if they are even vaguely critical of his methods. And his methods are I think at times really distasteful. And don't help in making the reasonable arguments he is trying to make.

He has lost so much. He is clearly very brittle. What I want for him most of all, is for him to leave this behind and go back to being the creative genius that he is. He has done his bit.

On the contrary, I think your view is very much in line with most posts on this thread.

ElenOfTheWays · 30/08/2026 22:54

BEAchDays2 · 30/08/2026 07:39

Does anyone know what sort of causes for women’s rights Graham fights for outside the trans debate?

Wow. You really thought you did something there, didn't you? 😂

ElenOfTheWays · 31/08/2026 00:08

BEAchDays2 · 30/08/2026 11:00

So basically, abortion laws, which pretty much was probably led by his wife. Tells me everything I need to know. Won the argument, so thanks all!

You... won the argument that you were having in your own head?
Ok well done. Have a cookie.

IwantToRetire · 31/08/2026 00:13

I wish it wasn't so easy for FWR to be derailed.

Really bonkers comments dont need to be answered. It only encourages them to come back.

Anyone with even an ounce of keeping in touch with what is happening and being said about women's sex based rights knows that not everyone who is concerned is a feminist.

That is partly the function of this forum. I creates a feminist framework to have the discussion, exchange of views, whatever.But elsewhere others are taking a stand.

Who care what else GL has done? Maybe he didn't give money to a donkey sanctuary.

The whole point is, not forgetting the personal loss for both him and his wife, is that by standing up for women's sex based rights in the style he did that reflects who he is (not putting on some fake persona) has lost him his livelihood, his wife, the country he thought was home.

This is the point. Not is he a saint. Not has he ticked all the right boxes.

As much as anything he has said and done he is a daily reminder of just how far those who are TRAs will go to attack those who are gender critical and in the public eye.

Not only dont feed the trolls, but dont masturbate their ego by making it seem it is worth engaging with them.

lcakethereforeIam · 31/08/2026 00:16

Manyanamanyana · 30/08/2026 23:25

I couldn't get the twitter link to come up, but this is a good article about the fall of Michfest. https://www.curvemag.com/blog/festivals/michigan-womyns-music-festival-to-end-after-40-years/

According to that article tw were welcome at Michfest, only one had ever been kicked out (for which the organiser spent decades apologising for), so what were they complaining about? What did they want?

IwantToRetire · 31/08/2026 00:17

I was just thinking what is those who are campaigning for women's sex based rights stooped to the gutter level of Ronson and others and wrote article making inflammatory comments about their trans children, siblings or whatever.

Everyone would be up in arms. Saying this is a totally unacceptable thing to do.

And yet somehow they all sit there at their keyboards, making assertions about those in the public eye who support women's sex based rights.

But I suppose that reflects the reality of mentality of the TRAs.

Bully, denigrate and threaten.

Manyanamanyana · 31/08/2026 02:00

lcakethereforeIam · 31/08/2026 00:16

According to that article tw were welcome at Michfest, only one had ever been kicked out (for which the organiser spent decades apologising for), so what were they complaining about? What did they want?

Yeah I didn't understand that bit, but I understood (and I'm sure you did to I'm explaining for people who don't click on the link) they wanted it to be female only, born female, and so even though they appeared to say that they consider trans-identified men as sisters, women even, you had to be born female to enter the festival. So I don't really understand that part about only 1 ever being kicked out, unless he was the only one who got in and the operation of kicking him out was unpleasant but necessary, and so the apology is for the indignity of it? Am speculating of course.
I remember hearing about this ages ago when Ani DiFranco made a gentle comment that maybe people should think about not taking this away from women.. is a sad story I think.

Mikatdo · 31/08/2026 02:11

This sort of post on X a few hours ago doesn’t really help him.

I presume those of us on the 'radical right' have received the title because we don't support jihadists raping and murdering Jews, unlike a small but not insignificant number of left wing 'feminists'.”

Not only has he not appeared to have made the distinction between Palestinians and Hamas, he appears to believe a group of “left-wing feminists” support rape and murder on the basis of anti-semitism. That is sickening, misogynistic and he doesn’t back it up with fact. I don’t see how so many feminists can line up , one after the other, on this thread to defend such a person.

x.com/glinner/status/2094162448844783779?s=61&t=3wYru9P_J0h74BXKFXAfmw

SockPlant · 31/08/2026 05:44

Where did he confuse Palistinians with Hamas? Or are you saying all Palistinians are jihadists?

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 31/08/2026 06:38

Mikatdo · 31/08/2026 02:11

This sort of post on X a few hours ago doesn’t really help him.

I presume those of us on the 'radical right' have received the title because we don't support jihadists raping and murdering Jews, unlike a small but not insignificant number of left wing 'feminists'.”

Not only has he not appeared to have made the distinction between Palestinians and Hamas, he appears to believe a group of “left-wing feminists” support rape and murder on the basis of anti-semitism. That is sickening, misogynistic and he doesn’t back it up with fact. I don’t see how so many feminists can line up , one after the other, on this thread to defend such a person.

x.com/glinner/status/2094162448844783779?s=61&t=3wYru9P_J0h74BXKFXAfmw

I also recall a resounding silence from the 'feminists' in the West when it came to protesting about the horrific attacks the female Jewish festival goes suffered by the Palestinian 'freedom fighters' I think the left insists on calling them.
Very similar to the deafening silence the 'feminist's' in the West have for the plight of the women in Iran.
I don't see it as misogynist to say so, criticising women for the lack of support for other women in peril, because of a warped political agenda, isn't women hating, it's calling them out for being the useful idiots they are.
Bit like all those young dimwitted women who are voting for the Greens.

Mikatdo · 31/08/2026 08:10

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 31/08/2026 06:38

I also recall a resounding silence from the 'feminists' in the West when it came to protesting about the horrific attacks the female Jewish festival goes suffered by the Palestinian 'freedom fighters' I think the left insists on calling them.
Very similar to the deafening silence the 'feminist's' in the West have for the plight of the women in Iran.
I don't see it as misogynist to say so, criticising women for the lack of support for other women in peril, because of a warped political agenda, isn't women hating, it's calling them out for being the useful idiots they are.
Bit like all those young dimwitted women who are voting for the Greens.

Wow.

DworkinWasRight · 31/08/2026 08:16

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 31/08/2026 06:38

I also recall a resounding silence from the 'feminists' in the West when it came to protesting about the horrific attacks the female Jewish festival goes suffered by the Palestinian 'freedom fighters' I think the left insists on calling them.
Very similar to the deafening silence the 'feminist's' in the West have for the plight of the women in Iran.
I don't see it as misogynist to say so, criticising women for the lack of support for other women in peril, because of a warped political agenda, isn't women hating, it's calling them out for being the useful idiots they are.
Bit like all those young dimwitted women who are voting for the Greens.

Except, of course, the woman Glinner is attacking did make clear her revulsion at the 7 October attacks.

Mikatdo · 31/08/2026 08:19

SockPlant · 31/08/2026 05:44

Where did he confuse Palistinians with Hamas? Or are you saying all Palistinians are jihadists?

Glinner very frequently has made this particular dog-whistle. All Palestinians, to him, are Hamas (read: Jihadists). I don’t know if he actually believes this or is folllowing a party line of some sort, just as many conservative would-be ‘influencers’ are. Some have been paid by Israel to say certain things. (Not suggesting this of Glinner to be clear, and of course, the same could be said of the other side).

In this post, the particularly unpleasant part is the suggestion that left-wing feminists support raping and murdering jihadists because of anti-semitism - and stupidity.

Shedmistress · 31/08/2026 08:28

Mikatdo · 31/08/2026 02:11

This sort of post on X a few hours ago doesn’t really help him.

I presume those of us on the 'radical right' have received the title because we don't support jihadists raping and murdering Jews, unlike a small but not insignificant number of left wing 'feminists'.”

Not only has he not appeared to have made the distinction between Palestinians and Hamas, he appears to believe a group of “left-wing feminists” support rape and murder on the basis of anti-semitism. That is sickening, misogynistic and he doesn’t back it up with fact. I don’t see how so many feminists can line up , one after the other, on this thread to defend such a person.

x.com/glinner/status/2094162448844783779?s=61&t=3wYru9P_J0h74BXKFXAfmw

This was a response to someone who accused him of lunging to the Radical Right.

a - he is not wrong. This is exactly what happened and the whole point of the ' around the word 'feminists' is the point he is making.
b - he IS allowed a response and the response he makes is that 'the left/'feminists'' are not the 'goodies' they make out to be.

BackToLurk · 31/08/2026 08:28

Mikatdo · 31/08/2026 08:10

Wow.

No need to ‘wow’. There’s an element on the left whose support of their “Jewish sisters” always has more than a whiff of “yea, but what did they expect?”

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