I read through the student magazine piece in some amazement. If the illogical statements by SU Trans Association and Queersphere in the "Palatinate" magazine are in any way representative of university level rhetorical standards and debate, this has got to be of great concern. The following points struck me.
After affirming that it is indeed the legal right of the SU to invite whomever they wish to speak to members, they then request the union to "account for itself". Erm, why does the SU need to account for itself if the right to invite a person to speak on any subject is just that? Furthermore, who gave the SU Trans Association the authority to request or hold someone to account in this respect? Where did they get the idea that the event's purpose was to shock and offend? Did it not even occur to them that the aim of the event might be to discuss and inform on what is undoubtedly a controversial and emotive issue? Why would you automatically assume bad faith?
Nowhere is it explained exactly how the decision to invite Helen Joyce to speak to the DUS was in any way an "irresponsible and uncaring" one?
The reference to "Trans joy" is somewhat scuppered by the statement that trans persons were (allegedly) feeling "very very nervous" "depressed" and struggling to come to terms with the fact that Helen Joyce was even coming to Durham! Trans joy must be a hugely fragile concept if even the thought of a gender critical person turning up at an event provokes such claimed anguish.
Congratulations to Helen and the DUS for holding firm and continuing with the event. If is shameful that in this country so many hoops have to be jumped through, weak reasoning and cowardice all have to be confronted and overcome to simply have a debate.
Thank you Helen. I truly appreciate that you are willing to go out there and be articulate about this emotive subject. I just become tongue tied when I try to explain, especially to my Lib Dem MP. She is desperate to be kind to the ‘trans folk’.
I’m off to Tranada next week to visit family and one visit will be to my captured stepsister and her ‘trans counsellor’ son. When I tried to explain that proper counselling for confused children was not ‘conversion’ but they weren’t buying it. So glad I live on Terf Island. Thanks for all you do.
This is a reminder that when I challenged trans extremism in the House of Commons I later received none of the abuse and threats experienced by Rosie Duffield and Joanna Cherry. Do the extremists understand their sexism?
I also recall the shouters outside the first LGB Alliance conference at QEII admitting none had read the books by Kathleen Stock and Helen Joyce.
The entire ideology is sexist, even actively misogynistic. No-one on the trans side seems to care at all that trans men who take hormones have nowhere effectively to play competitive sport, as they still don’t have all the male advantages but are taking a performance enhancing drug (testosterone). They don’t care that trans men could be raped in men’s toilets or men’s hospital wards (as has already happened) and have nowhere to go once that has actually happened as women’s rape crisis centres are closed to them and men’s rape crisis centres aren’t talking about the same thing. The only time trans men come into the equation is when they want to erase the role of women in reproduction and child care - hence the “birthing parent”, “chest feeding”, “menstruators” language that is so utterly demeaning of all women.
The trans movement is profoundly misogynist and deeply sexist. And yet it calls itself a “human rights” movement. The reveal of stupidity and woman hatred amongst those who vote on our laws is one of its horrifying side effects.
I so admire your continued, at least publicly, good spirits in being on the frontlines of this terribly depressing attack on sanity, reality, women/girls, children, lesbians and gays (oh goddess, that's practically everyone) from trans mania. I am an activist against it all and am tired of the STUPIDITY and cruelty, misogyny and homophobia. Good for you for pushing on and making a difference. The other hero of the night is Edward Tye. Easier for a man, as you say, but still his persistence to do the right thing under pressure shows character and hope.
Oh, Helen, thanks again but how bloody awful that, at the end, you were shovelled away into solitary confinement -- I'm not in any way blaming Edward for this but good grief -- to treat a person like this is to treat them as less than human -- I can only hope that in years to come, it occurs to members of the audience that they've missed out on the absolute treat of being in your company. I hope too that they have the integrity to appreciate how wrong they were in casting you aside like this.
Thank you for all that you and Sex Matters do. It means so much to me. I was an English Literature student at Durham in the late eighties and found feminism so exciting. It opened my eyes. Squeezed in between the classics we studied feminist and lesbian poetry – Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker. Also the work of Andrea Dworkin and Elaine Showalter. Taught by formidable HD specialist Diana Collecott. I loved it all. Forty years later I struggle to comprehend what has happened and to understand why women are still so little thought of. I am glad though that my uni days as a young feminist were then not now.
I read through the student magazine piece in some amazement. If the illogical statements by SU Trans Association and Queersphere in the "Palatinate" magazine are in any way representative of university level rhetorical standards and debate, this has got to be of great concern. The following points struck me.
After affirming that it is indeed the legal right of the SU to invite whomever they wish to speak to members, they then request the union to "account for itself". Erm, why does the SU need to account for itself if the right to invite a person to speak on any subject is just that? Furthermore, who gave the SU Trans Association the authority to request or hold someone to account in this respect? Where did they get the idea that the event's purpose was to shock and offend? Did it not even occur to them that the aim of the event might be to discuss and inform on what is undoubtedly a controversial and emotive issue? Why would you automatically assume bad faith?
Nowhere is it explained exactly how the decision to invite Helen Joyce to speak to the DUS was in any way an "irresponsible and uncaring" one?
The reference to "Trans joy" is somewhat scuppered by the statement that trans persons were (allegedly) feeling "very very nervous" "depressed" and struggling to come to terms with the fact that Helen Joyce was even coming to Durham! Trans joy must be a hugely fragile concept if even the thought of a gender critical person turning up at an event provokes such claimed anguish.
Congratulations to Helen and the DUS for holding firm and continuing with the event. If is shameful that in this country so many hoops have to be jumped through, weak reasoning and cowardice all have to be confronted and overcome to simply have a debate.
Great comment
Thank you Helen. I truly appreciate that you are willing to go out there and be articulate about this emotive subject. I just become tongue tied when I try to explain, especially to my Lib Dem MP. She is desperate to be kind to the ‘trans folk’.
I’m off to Tranada next week to visit family and one visit will be to my captured stepsister and her ‘trans counsellor’ son. When I tried to explain that proper counselling for confused children was not ‘conversion’ but they weren’t buying it. So glad I live on Terf Island. Thanks for all you do.
This is a reminder that when I challenged trans extremism in the House of Commons I later received none of the abuse and threats experienced by Rosie Duffield and Joanna Cherry. Do the extremists understand their sexism?
I also recall the shouters outside the first LGB Alliance conference at QEII admitting none had read the books by Kathleen Stock and Helen Joyce.
The entire ideology is sexist, even actively misogynistic. No-one on the trans side seems to care at all that trans men who take hormones have nowhere effectively to play competitive sport, as they still don’t have all the male advantages but are taking a performance enhancing drug (testosterone). They don’t care that trans men could be raped in men’s toilets or men’s hospital wards (as has already happened) and have nowhere to go once that has actually happened as women’s rape crisis centres are closed to them and men’s rape crisis centres aren’t talking about the same thing. The only time trans men come into the equation is when they want to erase the role of women in reproduction and child care - hence the “birthing parent”, “chest feeding”, “menstruators” language that is so utterly demeaning of all women.
The trans movement is profoundly misogynist and deeply sexist. And yet it calls itself a “human rights” movement. The reveal of stupidity and woman hatred amongst those who vote on our laws is one of its horrifying side effects.
Thanks, Perer Bottomley, for seeing this for what it is and for speaking up about it.
I so admire your continued, at least publicly, good spirits in being on the frontlines of this terribly depressing attack on sanity, reality, women/girls, children, lesbians and gays (oh goddess, that's practically everyone) from trans mania. I am an activist against it all and am tired of the STUPIDITY and cruelty, misogyny and homophobia. Good for you for pushing on and making a difference. The other hero of the night is Edward Tye. Easier for a man, as you say, but still his persistence to do the right thing under pressure shows character and hope.
Oh, Helen, thanks again but how bloody awful that, at the end, you were shovelled away into solitary confinement -- I'm not in any way blaming Edward for this but good grief -- to treat a person like this is to treat them as less than human -- I can only hope that in years to come, it occurs to members of the audience that they've missed out on the absolute treat of being in your company. I hope too that they have the integrity to appreciate how wrong they were in casting you aside like this.
Thank you for all that you and Sex Matters do. It means so much to me. I was an English Literature student at Durham in the late eighties and found feminism so exciting. It opened my eyes. Squeezed in between the classics we studied feminist and lesbian poetry – Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker. Also the work of Andrea Dworkin and Elaine Showalter. Taught by formidable HD specialist Diana Collecott. I loved it all. Forty years later I struggle to comprehend what has happened and to understand why women are still so little thought of. I am glad though that my uni days as a young feminist were then not now.
Why would trans identifying women ("transmen") not be allowed in women's rape crisis shelters? They are of the female sex.