User avatar
By Crabcakes
#111641
Thoroughly recommend the recent 2-part Origin Story podcast on JK Rowling. It lays out her descent into full-on troll while remaining sympathetic, balanced and fair, as well as tackling some of the terrible “research” used to back up the rights-eroding political changes of late.

It also touches on the Hampstead ponds debacle.
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#111651
This sounds remarkably self-aware by Sharron Davies. Alternatively, as Iain Macleod said about Enoch Powell, it's one thing to be a fell traveller, it's quite another to stay on the train while it crashes through the station buffers. Mr Wynter might also reflect on that.

Last edited by Tubby Isaacs on Fri Jun 05, 2026 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#111652
Here's another person who might reflect on Macleod's words. One minute you're protecting women's sports, the next you're monitoring Police office at Pride marches.

User avatar
By Abernathy
#113374
I’ve just read this piece. Maybe I’ve missed something, but it looks like it can be summarised thus :

- Trans-gender kid grows up, experiencing prejudice, hatred, trauma, and wilful misunderstanding.

- Trans -gender kid finds inordinate comfort in the works of J.K. Rowling. Becomes something of a mega fan.

- Trans-gender kid, now grown-up and successful, says that she is now in great pain because JK Rowling, the author of the stories she loves, because Ms. Rowling allegedly considers her “not valid” .

She does not elaborate on what exactly Rowling has said or done to cause her such pain, and explicitly refuses to argue logically against any of the, in my view extremely cogent , points that Rowling makes in her essay on the subject of a couple of years ago. It’s almost as if for her it is taken as read that Rowling is a malevolent TERF.

I can’t see the point of this. Lord knows what Jo Rowling makes of it.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jk-rowli ... 1P_b_4BK4g
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#113375
Crabcakes wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 9:00 pm A long, but very well written and interesting read on how banning trans kids in sport was always a gateway, not an end in itself.

https://www.readtpa.com/p/reasonable-concerns
It's good to see an acknowledgment of the issue around women's sports in there. I don't think the IOC are wrong though, and don't understand why he thinks they are.

I can see of course that there's a wider agenda than sports and single sex spaces, but doesn't that make it more important to deal with these issues in a way that satisfies a wider public than have been satisfied by them? Because treating these matters as not being up for debate hasn't worked.
The Weeping Angel liked this
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#113376
Abernathy wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2026 5:17 pm I’ve just read this piece. Maybe I’ve missed something, but it looks like it can be summarised thus :

- Trans-gender kid grows up, experiencing prejudice, hatred, trauma, and wilful misunderstanding.

- Trans -gender kid finds inordinate comfort in the works of J.K. Rowling. Becomes something of a mega fan.

- Trans-gender kid, now grown-up and successful, says that she is now in great pain because JK Rowling, the author of the stories she loves, because Ms. Rowling allegedly considers her “not valid” .

She does not elaborate on what exactly Rowling has said or done to cause her such pain, and explicitly refuses to argue logically against any of the, in my view extremely cogent , points that Rowling makes in her essay on the subject of a couple of years ago. It’s almost as if for her it is taken as read that Rowling is a malevolent TERF.

I can’t see the point of this. Lord knows what Jo Rowling makes of it.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jk-rowli ... 1P_b_4BK4g
Rowling's embraced the Terf label, hasn't she?
User avatar
By Crabcakes
#113861
Rowling very much is, now, a malevolent TERF by any standards. She actively seeks out conflict online, she makes no effort to educate herself on the facts of matters before weighing in - even when these directly contradict her claimed stance (for example, with the female Olympic boxers she decided were men), she is abusive as a starting point in such conversations, and has made it clear she uses the proceeds from her work to fund groups and causes that seek to roll back and erase trans rights, and further that she sees any purchase of her work or related products to be an endorsement of her position.

I’d recommend the 2-part Origin Story podcast on her, which covers how her public position has shifted quite dramatically from even a few years ago, and how her actions are very hard to interpret in any way other than outright hostility.
Arrowhead liked this
User avatar
By Andy McDandy
#113871
The main anti-trans argument of "What if a male sexual predator claims to be a woman in order to enter female-only spaces and sexually assault someone?", aside from taking an extreme situation and portraying it as much more frequent than it is, misses the points that a) men can (and do) do that already, and b) it reduces sexuality to a stereotype - do you conform to my (or society's) mental image of a man or a woman?

A shame Rowling has gone down that route, as she was a great supporter of progressive causes for a long time.
Samanfur liked this
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#113995
The main argument is that very many women don't want to share spaces with trans women. They may or may not fear sexual assault, that's a separate issue. It's the objection on principle to sharing the space.

I can't see how this can be resolved for public spaces, though I'm interested that the Corporation of London (which presumably isn't short of credible lawyers) think they've found a way to resolve it.
By mattomac
#114002
Tubby Isaacs wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 3:17 pm Here's another person who might reflect on Macleod's words. One minute you're protecting women's sports, the next you're monitoring Police office at Pride marches.

It said many things but the eradication of trans women I don’t think the ECHR covered that as much as this lot hope it did.
User avatar
By Samanfur
#114009
JK Rowling claims Amnesty 'don't believe women deserve rights' in report row
Rowling wrote on social media: "It appears that (as many of us have suspected for years) Amnesty believes certain kinds of humans don’t deserve rights: women, girls and those who are proudly same-sex attracted. I hope donors from those groups are taking note."
The sad thing is that her fan club will actually believe this.
By satnav
#114012
Judging by the uniforms being warn in the photograph the officers are Police Community Support Officers so they would be expected to work closely with local community groups.
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#114014
Sarah Phillimore seems to have plenty of time on her hands. She's posting people being nasty about Anne Widdicombe's death, who are I assume supporters of trans rights. However tasteless and ill informed they are- for instance Widdecombe never demanded women in labour be handcuffed- they are at least being nasty about a particular individual, not about a whole group. Does she think others can't find nasty gender critical people being nasty? What's the point?
  • 1
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
Clacton by-election

If the "Establishment" really wa[…]

Over in America...

The American left is the most useless in the wo[…]

The Gender Identity Issue.

Sarah Phillimore seems to have plenty of time on h[…]

Mail Hypocrisy

As ever, there are a couple of puzzling things t[…]